PSP on the fritz

[dreggnog]

About a year and a half ago, I bought a used PSP 1000 from my ninth grade history teacher for about ninty bucks. It has lasted me a good year and a half, but now I have a serious problem. When the system is on and I'm playing music, playing games, anything, it will randomly just shut off for no reason. After that, it will randomly turn back on and off for a while, and eventually stop. If I'm playing a game, then when it comes back on it will not automatically go back to the game.

Has anyone else experienced this problem with an old PSP? Is it the hardware? The battery pak? Is my PSP just broke beyond repair? I actually got a hundred dollars from my granddad for my birthday, so if I need to get it reapaired that shouldn't be a problem.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated. I really hope I don't have to get a whole new one.

[Vaan-Knight]

Aug 3, 2009 4:02:34 GMT dreggnog said:

About a year and a half ago, I bought a used PSP 1000 from my ninth grade history teacher for about ninty bucks. It has lasted me a good year and a half, but now I have a serious problem. When the system is on and I'm playing music, playing games, anything, it will randomly just shut off for no reason. After that, it will randomly turn back on and off for a while, and eventually stop. If I'm playing a game, then when it comes back on it will not automatically go back to the game.

Has anyone else experienced this problem with an old PSP? Is it the hardware? The battery pak? Is my PSP just broke beyond repair? I actually got a hundred dollars from my granddad for my birthday, so if I need to get it reapaired that shouldn't be a problem.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated. I really hope I don't have to get a whole new one.

That happens once or twice to everyone, it just suddenly resets itself, it happens when the flash memory is way too overloaded, or so I've read. It's relatively normal, and there's nothing you can do about it I'm afraid. It has happened to me in all three different models, so you won't be free of the problem even with a brand new PSP3000. It's still odd that it happens that often to you... it happens once or twice in each psp's lifetime.

And now that I think about it, it has happened to me mostly while playing SH:0, happened to anyone else? It interests me now.

[chackan]

Well, I had a PSP 1000 for about....2 years i think (before i bought my 2000) and that never happened :S

I don't think it's a natural thing so you better have that checked up. Try to investigate a bit on google to see if there are similar problems or something and talk to Sony Tech Support.

[AlexY]

Which firmware do you have? Official or Custom? Older or newer?

More important, what kind of Memory Stick do you use? If it's a fake or lower quality one, that's almost certainly the cause.

Also, regardless of the MS, if you accidentally put it into standby while the MS writes data, that could lead to data or even flash corruption, which can result in annoying stuff like the PSP shutting itself off. It happened to me with one 2GB MS which turned out to be fake.

Then again, it could be just the power switch is on the fritz. Or your battery is losing contact and not supplying power - a similar thing happened to me - a friend of mine had a simple solution; he put a small piece of paper under the battery in the lower left corner, and this somehow fixed the problem. Guess it's got something to do with isolation or something, I don't know. :/

Try playing without a battery for couple of days, only on the charger and see if it happens again. If not, play with your battery but without the lid and see if it happens. If not, use the paper trick.

[dreggnog]

Thanks, AlexY. I wouldn't have thought of playing it on the charger on my own. If none of these things work, I'll take it to a store or call Sony Tech Support. I'll probably take my time because with any luck my new DS will arrive in the mail in a few hours and that'll be a big distraction. Still, I was at the final level on Crisis Core...

At any rate, thanks everyone.

[Kiryū Kazuma]

double double check the battery as that has built in ram, if thats goosed as said could cause you problems

[dreggnog]

I haven't checked the battery yet, but I will.

At any rate, I have more bad news. My DS arrived from Amazon today and the hinge is cracked. Because the seller mentioned it, I doubt I would be able to get a refund. I could probably get used to it okay, but I'd like to know if this is something I could get fixed.

Also, the new battery for my laptop has not arrived and I don't think it will. This wasn't from Amazon. This was straight from Tech Support.

Damn, this is a bad summer for electronics. I'm glad I didn't spend that hundred dollars my grandfather gave to me. I feel like I'm going to need it for a new PSP, new DS, or new battery.

[dreggnog]

UPDATE

I bought a battery only to realize that it wasn't the problem. It's definently that the power switch is screwed up. I don't know if it can be repaired or if I'll have to buy a new one.

I'm getting pretty used to the cracked hinge on my DS. Zelda Phantom Hourglass is fun.

The battery for my laptop arrived and works perfectly.

[Kiryū Kazuma]

switch can be fixed btu involves taking the bugger apart dude so unless you like mircroscopic components time to shove it into a repair shop

[dreggnog]

Oh wow, I never even comtemplated fixing it myself. (shakes head)

But if it CAN be repaired at a shop I will definentently try. Thanks!

[dreggnog]

Update: Totally forgot to say this but I realized if I keep the power switch down close to the hold area it'll stay there and the system doesn't just shot off, works great!

Kinda fun looking at old threads. Made me realize I've been here almost a year. Damn.