Guide - To Opening a PSP

Here is a good guide for those who are afraid about opening their psp to replace the MoBo, faceplate, L+R buttons or screen.

First lets change the faceplate.
1. Remove any UMD and MS in the PSP
2.Remove the outer screws that are circled. Not the ones on the right side of the battery placement.
(If your wanting to get at the MoBo or LCD then remove them all)



Since your replacing the faceplate only, only remove the screws on the outside border. not the two on the right side of the battery.
* The bottom silver screw (located on the bottom part, opposite the top part, which has the USB port)
* The top left black screw (underneath the battery)
* The bottom left black screw (underneath the battery and the left side of the warantee sticker)
* The top right screw (located on the back side of the psp in a hole on the outer casing)
* The bottom right screw (located on the back side of the psp in a hole on the outer casing)

Ok, now gently pull off the faceplate and place it aside.

DO NOT TOUCH THE INSIDE OF YOUR PSP WITH ANYTHING BUT COMPRESSED AIR OR A LINT-FREE CLOTH.

Now get your replacement faceplate, and put the buttons like they were when you remove the OEM faceplate. You can use the OEM with the new faceplate if you did not get any with the faceplate.

Then just reverse what you did to put the PSP back toghether.
Also, when you have the LCD screen in the open, it will get dusty. use a Lint-Free Cloth to wipe it clean before putting it all back toghether.

I read that there is a little bugger of a screw that makes every PSP UMD drive close kinda crooked or not straight. Here is the screw that you can remove to fix this.

This is a good working mod if your UMD tray is bothering you.

Wanna replace the LCD screen?
Still haveing the faceplate off, nudge around the LCD screen to pry it up. Having done this is will become loose and movable, but still connected via cable.

There a brown cables, flip up the clasps with a small screw driver or tooth pick, the wide one will be a little difficult. I find starting at one end flip up the clasp and slide towards the other end.

Having remove those the screen is free.
Now there is a peice of metal holding the screen which needs to be removed.
Pry the four tabs holding the screen.


A gentle pull will remove the screen now.

There is a small notch in the lower right of the white plastic case holding the LCD wafer, this is where you start leveraging out the screen.

And just pull.
Get the new screen, remove protective film on the back

Line the screen up top first, its important to get it all the way forward and then the PSP just lays in there.

Now remove the other protective layer.

Now re-attach the cables, start with the wide one first, it slides in there quite a ways so make sure it is in good. Then snap down the clip. Now the little one, this one is usually the hardest, note that there are two tabs that stick out close to the end. I find pushing on those tabs with a small screw driver helps guide it in nicely. If the screen is laid forward the small connector cannot reach so tip up the screen when installing the little one.

The screen wil just layback down in the PSP, snap down the sides.

And it should be up and running. Replace the faceplate to make it look normal.

1.b [bold]How to fix those annoying stuck L/R buttons[/bold]

What you will need-

- A small screw driver
- A small nail file preferably (any size would do just fine)

Ok so if your having this annoying problem this is how it should look, it's not very common but i have seen it a few times
. Luckily enough its easy to fix.



So now that youve confirmed you have this problem open her up again just like described by Ipirate and remove the R button , it is very simple and should remove whithout much pressure


This is a photo of the psp opened exposing the stuck button


This is a photo of the stuck button being removed



Before you start doing this step, check what part of the plastic that actually get stuck and then just use a nail file to remove some of the plastic, put it back, test again if it still get stuck. If it does then file down some more, [bold]Note: be careful not to remove to much or you will end up with a lose button instead[/bold].



place it all back and screw her up , Now your ready to get some serious gaming done


1.c [bold]How to replace the analog stick[/bold]

What you will need-

- a #00 or a #000 philips screw driver


Replacing the Analog Stick Assembly is one of the easiest repairs on the PSP. Here's how you do it.



Step 1. There are 6 screws holding the faceplate to the PSP console. Remove all 6 of these screws. You will need a #00 or #000 Precision Philips screwdriver.



Step 2. There are two tiny screws holding the Analog Stick Assembly to the PSP faceplate. Remove these 2 screws and the assembly lifts right off. Pop in the new assembly, replace all the screws and you're set!

1.d [bold] How to replace the umd door[/bold]

What you will need-

- a small #000 phillips screwdriver
- a small flat head screwdriver
- a UMD door

Ok so open your psp if instructions needed visit ipirates guide here - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/370436

Remove the button bar by inserting your small screw driver tip under the lip and sliding it up until the button bar becomes loose like so..



Now gently life the button bars cable, by lifting it upwards and sliding it free. Or you can keep it connected but you must be 100% carefull that you do not damage or tear the flex cable which is a priority



OK so now were going remove the lcd screen to allow us to get at the bracket, this is a more harder part as it is very fragile look above at the guide for a more detailed instruction on how to do this.

[bold]NOTE: If you are installing a new door and do not need to remove your old door you can either remove LCD and store in safe place or unscrew the 2 screws and carefully work around the LCD. If you are removing the UMD door you must remove the LCD(although i reccomend removing it at all times to do things carefully).[/bold]

Ok so lets remove the lcd brace ,Start by removing the following screws in the photo below , note that the pink stars unscrew from behind the battery back



Right now gently wedge the bracket outwards between your dpad and the housing of your flat head driver



Now that the tabs are free from the Dpad, You can press the latch to open the UMD door. This allows the UMD Latch to move through the hole on the backside of the case. Now you just wiggle her free



Again take your flathead and gently wedge to the side and out like the pic below . [bold] NOTE: Too much pressure will break the hinge so beware [/bold]



Eventually we got her loose Woo hoo!



Now to fit your UMD door correctly!

Start by sliding the left corner in first(looking from the back)


Make sure that your UMD Metal housing is properly connected to the inner UMD door. Also make sure the spring is in its slide grove.



Press the other clip (right side) in and test to make sure your UMD door is opening correctly.Now lets finish up by inserting the lcd back to original status (have a look above for more info) and then screw her back up .Once again back to your original psp with working umd door

1.e i [bold] Making the LED circuit[/bold]

A Parallel circuit for LED's is a circuit which incorperates a number of LED's together in which the same drop is shared between all LED's on the chain. What this means to you is that each LED that you attach will use the exact same voltage as theWe are going to learn how to setup a simple circuit for our project. The circuit is completed in this case by whats called a Parallel the other ones. Which results in all LED's giving off the same amount of light. Here is a textbook example of a typical Parallel LED Circuit provided by Metku.


So now that we have the basic structure of a LED circuit down we need to apply this to our PSP Trigger LED Mod. I measure out the lenth of wire I will need for my project so I have it handy (especially if I am planning to do more then one modification that day.) As you can see from the image on the left we have the wire soldered to the positive conductor, then to the resistor (hidden in the electrical tape) and finally bridging the LED's in parallel and coming back via the negitive wire (not attached yet in the image). Similar to the picture in above and to the right, you can trace the wires to see they make the exact same style of circuit.
Heres a sneek peek into how the resistor was hooked up. I have taking the resistor and bent one of the legs back up against the side of it (typical if you have modified Xbox Controller Ports to add leds. Then you are able to solder a short length of wire onto the end (for the positive connection) and wrap the resistor up. You will be able to then solder the positive wire to the respective contact point and procede with wiring up your LED harness.



In order to get a really good connection make sure that the items you are trying to bond stay in a fixed location for a few seconds after the solder connection is made. Also remember that too much or too little solder can both cause problems. The better your can get the connections the better, however you may need to open up your PSP again to adjust the wires if the circuit isn't working correctly for your LED Modification.

Now that you have your LED's wired up, it would be a wise idea to test them prior to inserting them into the triggers (or the other location we will get to in a minute). Make sure all the wires are looking good, and nothings touching, then pop your battery back into the PSP. Flip the switch to the on position and if you did everything correctly you will be rewarded with some nice bright light coming from your SMT LED's. If your LED's don't turn on, double check to make sure the wires are correct and that you didn't accidently hook up the LED backwards (which happens to the best of us).

If you did not drill your triggers now that you have mastered making a circuit you need to check the spot where the LED is installed. When not drilling the LED will be installed in a tiny cavity behind the trigger. In the small picture on the bottom you can see how the wire is bent keeping a low profile to retain responciveness. When you install the led make sure that it is as far back as possible and you can use a bit of hot glue to keep it in place. Once both LED's are installed put your triggers back in and if you want toss your faceplate on (without LED screen etc to see how they look and modify as necessary. Once you are satisfied, reassemble your PSP and enjoy!



However, If you are putting the LED's in your Triggers then you will need to take the leds and insert them into the holes that you drilled previously and then use the hot glue gun to seal them in. Once sealed inside this will keep them from moving around a bit and aid your solder connections. Then you can simply insert the Triggers back in their normal position and if you want to double check (not a bad idea) toss in your battery and flip on and off your PSP again to make sure they are still working and the buttons motion is not hindered by the wire or glue. If everything looks good you can seal up your PSP and enjoy the new modification thanks to your fine handywork.

Good Luck

Credits to Jamie M from QJ for this Mod


Collaboration by iPirate and tam2oo5
images Llamma and Kevin101, from QJ

 

Cool guide, thank you iPirate.

*edit*
Even more info, cool

 

thanks Erickix, hopefully it gets sticked.

 

yeh ipirate this defo deserves to be a sticky

 

thanks, i havent seen a guide to open the psp, people always need to either clean it or replace something, might as well help them out even more.

 

Great guide ipirate think i might be usin that once this faulty psp arrives

all thats wrong is it wont play UMD's any ides what i should maybe try before replacing the laser?


any help is appreciated

 

But now we will have people asking for a guide to close it back up

 

make sure the UMD Tray is properly secure. So that it stays in so it can spin normally.

 

it said the was a very small crack on the base of it so im thinkin he's dropped it and maybe something has came loose as your sayii ipirate because he also says the umd makes some weird nosies lol

 

so make sure it connect to the things that hold the tray in place/

how can we getr this thread stickied?

 

try pm a mod as its a good guide

 

ok thanks i asked Neph, i would just like to help the newer members out with opening the psp,and also those good aD seniors who need help with this.

 

thanks alot ipirate, this will come in handy when i get my power thingy off hex, it well worthy of a sticky

 

whats wrong with your power thingy

 

wel it doesnt charge never has since the day i got it, it doesnt even have the orange charging light i hope now that this part off hex (the yellow bit)can solve my problems, ive been having to charge my battery through my brothers but when he goes away, im left with a powerless psp

 

oih, ok keep us informed, and lets get this sticked or we will lose it in the pages below. please

 

well im going to put it as a link on my homepage now

 

whats your homepage, like your own website or just a custome homepage thing.

 

well on here,

 

this guide truly rocks. this reminds me of a guy called Blade7866 who wanted to put a faceplate on his psp, but i know hes in thses forums somewhere