Challenge for the PSP modders here

[slowman]

Okay... I swapped the card reader into my good PSP and it reads just fine. So I can eliminate the card/wifi board.

I'm sure it is the mobo's NAND or *possibly* a display or related fuse on the mobo at this point.

Looks like my good PSP has a ta-086, and the brick has a ta-079. I'm not going to bother switching out mobos to test.

Anyone around Madison, WI have a spare ta-079 to test with?

[BoomBox-Creations]

Like what Goldenfrank0 said, i really wouldnt go with the dealextreme flashing service either... Since you have this lovely forum to help you... lol

Back to subject, just a question, but is your pandora batt fully charged?

And have you tested the pandora batt and MMS in your good PSP that it successfully boots into service mode and you can successfully install CFW/OFW with it?

Have you maybe tried changing the port where the battery goes and tested it, that *might* be the problem.

Theres no point testing the UMD drive because its really not needed....

I probably wasnt reading the other posts much, but didnt you say that your good PSP was a phat? ( i think i did misread something ), if it is a phat, unless you had changed the motherboard in it, it really cant be a TA-86, because my slim is a TA 85, and as far as i know, the phat PSP's dont go any higher than TA-79v2, but i could be wrong with the motherboards...

Ask the clown you had got it from, what he was doing with it when it bricked.

Because i dont think he was listening to music, playing a game, watching movies, etc. to it.

If i think of something, ill tell ya, til then, keep us posted on how things are looking...

[palmertech]

I remember reading of something that had symptoms that remind me of this.

Apparently, if you flex the board too much, the NAND can actually have some pins/traces lifted right off the board.

Worth checking out.

[slowman]

Like what Goldenfrank0 said, i really wouldnt go with the dealextreme flashing service either... Since you have this lovely forum to help you... lol

Back to subject, just a question, but is your pandora batt fully charged?

And have you tested the pandora batt and MMS in your good PSP that it successfully boots into service mode and you can successfully install CFW/OFW with it?

Have you maybe tried changing the port where the battery goes and tested it, that *might* be the problem.

Theres no point testing the UMD drive because its really not needed....

I probably wasnt reading the other posts much, but didnt you say that your good PSP was a phat? ( i think i did misread something ), if it is a phat, unless you had changed the motherboard in it, it really cant be a TA-86, because my slim is a TA 85, and as far as i know, the phat PSP's dont go any higher than TA-79v2, but i could be wrong with the motherboards...

Ask the clown you had got it from, what he was doing with it when it bricked.

Because i dont think he was listening to music, playing a game, watching movies, etc. to it.

If i think of something, ill tell ya, til then, keep us posted on how things are looking...

Pandora is fully charged.

MMS and Pandora tested fully working on my good PSP.

Hmm... battery port. Are you talking about the terminals where it solders to the motherboard? Those were a bit funky looking, and I was considering reflowing them with my soldering iron. I've soldered much smaller terminals than those, so I feel fully comfortable doing that.

Don't care about the UMD drive in the least... I'd rather tear the guts out of it so the PSP doesn't weigh as much!

I thought the motherboard thing was weird too! I saw ta-086, and I thought Slim. However, the warranty stickers are fully intact, and I can't charge from USB.

The clown I got it from said that him and his wife had a child, so he lost the time to play with the PSP. He said it sat for about a year and when he put the battery in, this is what happened. I think that it is somewhat suspect, but I suppose the PSP could have gotten knocked around or dropped while in a box... something!

Therefore, it does make sense to poke around and look at some of the solder joints.

Another thing I noticed when I took it completely apart today was that there were two screws missing. One of these screws is relatively non-essential. It is the top screw for the L shaped bracket in the lower left corner underneath the motherboard. This L shaped bracket holds down the bottom left corner of the wifi/mem card reader board. (Still with me? ) The other screw that is missing is one that holds down the screen mount metal piece. It is located directly to the right of the top right corner of the screen. It pinches the metal tray directly to a copper terminal on the mobo. Maybe it isn't grounding?

I'll see if I can dig up a microscope to check out the nand traces. It IS worth checking out at this point:D

Thanks again folks... I'll let you know what I find, but it'll be tomorrow.

[slowman]

I retouched the battery terminals and a few other questionable looking solder joints. This accomplished nothing, the symptoms are the same as always.

I'm starting to lose faith in this mobo... just looking at buying a new one.

[slowman]

Somewhat of a breakthrough here. I am getting help over at pspmod.com, and I remade an MMS using Cat50 MMS Maker. Put it in the brick, inserted the battery while holding L, and the mem card and wifi lights lit up along with the power light. It turned off about 10 seconds later, but the fact that those lights are responding tells me that there is still hope for this brick!

[BoomBox-Creations]

Pandora is fully charged.

MMS and Pandora tested fully working on my good PSP.

Hmm... battery port. Are you talking about the terminals where it solders to the motherboard? Those were a bit funky looking, and I was considering reflowing them with my soldering iron. I've soldered much smaller terminals than those, so I feel fully comfortable doing that.

Don't care about the UMD drive in the least... I'd rather tear the guts out of it so the PSP doesn't weigh as much!

I thought the motherboard thing was weird too! I saw ta-086, and I thought Slim. However, the warranty stickers are fully intact, and I can't charge from USB.

The clown I got it from said that him and his wife had a child, so he lost the time to play with the PSP. He said it sat for about a year and when he put the battery in, this is what happened. I think that it is somewhat suspect, but I suppose the PSP could have gotten knocked around or dropped while in a box... something!

Therefore, it does make sense to poke around and look at some of the solder joints.

Another thing I noticed when I took it completely apart today was that there were two screws missing. One of these screws is relatively non-essential. It is the top screw for the L shaped bracket in the lower left corner underneath the motherboard. This L shaped bracket holds down the bottom left corner of the wifi/mem card reader board. (Still with me? ) The other screw that is missing is one that holds down the screen mount metal piece. It is located directly to the right of the top right corner of the screen. It pinches the metal tray directly to a copper terminal on the mobo. Maybe it isn't grounding?

I'll see if I can dig up a microscope to check out the nand traces. It IS worth checking out at this point:D

Thanks again folks... I'll let you know what I find, but it'll be tomorrow.

Ye, the terminals. It could also be where the battery actually connects to the PSP... ( sorry if im repeating what you said, my head is going around in circles ) Im thinking, try changing the port from 1 PSP to another, see if that works...

Just because he didnt play with his PSP, it should still work, just to test this, i pulled out my sisters PSP, she hadnt used it for about 2 years, i pulled it out, put it on charge and it worked fine. So it mightve been knocked around or something as you said...

But ive dropped my PSP dozens of times, and nothing, i think i dropped it twice in the box from something like a 1.5m, when it was in the box when i brought it, but no effect.

If you can find 2 screws that are the right size to go in there, try replacing them, they seem like they are not needed, but ti is a worth a try...

I dont think it will be the nand traces, but like you said, it is worth checking...





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I really dont think the MMS maker is going to change anything, but if you think it is the MMS, you could always use PSP Grader or TOTALNewbieEasyInstaller or something else again.

Tell us how it goes...

[slowman]

Ok, I tried making an MMS manually and it tested out good on my good PSP. Nothing I do seems to be working, so I sent it to a friend of mine in NJ that has unbricked about 40 PSPs.

We'll see what comes out of that.

[BoomBox-Creations]

Well, if we cant find out why it cant be modded, i dont think he will be able to, because unbricking/downgrading is still the same process.

eg. make MMS and pandora batt, plug in your MMS, then hold down L ( or selected trigger button in making MMS ) put in your Pandora batt, wait for menu, select your option, and flash.

when you get it back from your friend, and he cant fix it, maybe you should try sending it to sony, and see if they can fix it.

Or go on their PSP forums and see if someone can fix it there.

ay, when you get it back and it is still stuffed, try this guide: http://www.psp-hacks.com/forums/f133/tu ... 2-t225209/

I havent really looked through it yet, but ive heard it works fine for symptoms like yours...

[slowman]

Yep, I've tried Hellcat's Recovery. It was a no go.

This guy in NJ is going to try several things that I cannot. He is going to try a spare ta-079 (which I don't have) and test the display circuitry in the mobo (which I don't have the time nor equipment to do).

It was free to send to him since I work in a shipping department, so I figured, "Why not?".

[BoomBox-Creations]

well, we shall see if he can find the problem =D