Trying to FIX a SONY PSP GO with No Display (PlayStation Portable)

Hi, this 'trying to fix' video shows me attempting to repair a faulty PSP Go (PlayStation Portable Go) with no display.
Remember that this is just for entertainment and I am not an expert in these repairs. The processes in the video may not be the best way, the correct way or the safest way to fix these things.
I do love fault finding and trying to fix broken things so I hope that comes across in this 'Trying to FIX' series.
Many thanks, Vince.

[@mikaeldalc]

I snapped my ankle during jiu-jitsu training. I've since been stuck on my bed and couch. Your videos have been my go-to. Almost therapeutic. Please, don't stop doing what you're doing.

[@smithincanton]

The chip can stand the amount of heat that it would take to melt the solder. The way those boards are made the chip is placed on some solder paste and the whole thing is put through an oven.

[@Laluan]

You’re my real hero Vince! You gave me a big smile on my face when the screen came on! Merry Christmas :)

[@dvdbytes4348]

Guess I can ask you directly. Did you keep it or do you plan to buy a "new" one on Ebay Gamemania, Nedgame, Cash Converters, cex etc ?

[@Laluan]

Dvdbytes He can keep it (as a christmas present)

[@johnwongtw1]

*spoiler alert!*

[@jerrylyaw]

@@Laluan Your a great guy for letting him keep it!!!

[@julieboruta]

Tex how great of you to let him keep it are you planning on buying a new one?

[@ZinfinityX]

This channel puts me in a good freakin mood for some reason. You go through your day dealing with this and that, so maybe witnessing people are learning and growing through experience helps to internalize better vibes.

[@wojiaobill]

"he's kept it in good condition" back has massive scratches in it lol

[@rkan2]

Looks like he has been skating on it lol

[@JosiahRombe]

Hey can i sell pieces of the Xbox One to you

[@caseyplayz4975]

he lost 1 to many times on fortnite

[@thatgraysuburban]

William Hetherington bro that is minor cosmetic issues at least it is not like mine where it has so mAny scratches oh wait i dropped it on the pavement and it slid down a skateboard ramp oops i hate high school

[@retrogamer64007]

William Hetherington also it was packed like new but yeah massive scrape on back lol

[@GadgetUK164]

Great video! Sounds like a cracked BGA point to me! Although what sometimes happens with these is the pad sheers off the PCB with an impact (or the solder just cracks on one or more points). That's why pressure helps. I would probably try reflowing it as you suggested, if that doesn't provide a reliable fix you would need to remove it with hot air and reball it - not something I would dare try tbh lol - too small for my liking lol! Lovely systems these!

[@Mymatevince]

Lovely system indeed :-) I think you are right Chris with the cracked solder or loose pad(s). I was really tempted by the reflow but it would have been a shame to pop the chip especially when the pressure may work for a bit. What I didn't know at the time is that you can get replacement motherboards from eBay for £35 so the risk isn't that bad. I think £50 from CEX is a bit of a bargain for one of these :-)

[@elliotpotter7053]

My Mate VINCE Merry Christmas! :)

[@vladurbanskiy5227]

horrible he found the issue's location. there are people that could most deff fix it with their eyes closed. so why put abuse on it. i understand to double check and what not but i doubt the owner would want the so called abuse. He should have contacted the owner right there and then

[@amristar736]

@@vladurbanskiy5227 What do you mean abuse? He simply shook that lovely thing.

[@danmackintosh6325]

There's always one, on every KZbin channel and in every walk of life.... Always...

[@ErminTr]

Holy moly, i dont know what got into me. I have many chanels that im subscribed to on youtube, but i just cant wait for you to upload a new video. Man keep up the good work, you are doing extremely good job!

[@mazarmark5]

Hope there's a part 2 since it has been generously gifted to you for Christmas. That was good. I like the way you cautiously progressed with it. Merry Christmas dude!

[@ShR33k]

Yet another great video! Good idea with the packing. And not only packing - but thermal pads ... on a chip - brilliant thinking! You've probably given it back now - but I'd of gone with a reflow myself. You wouldn't of damaged the chip, they're built to handle heat. I've never been brave enough to do a full BGA chip removal, clean up and re-ball myself (and don't have any of those sort of tools myself like BGA templates or the clamps, etc). Some people might say a reflow is only a temporary fix, but repairs I've done where a reflow has worked - has never caused any further issues. The way I would see it, it's broke anyway... nothing to lose! But understand it's not yours, so not sure about making that call. Great diagnostics.

[@Mo-pt2ml]

I used to love my PSP GO. Man what a little gaming machine.

[@MohammadZ-xu3nw]

after 5 years and still this video so useful god bless you man

[@sergioeidi5432]

Dude... this video was entertaining as hell. I came to see some solutions for a PSP lcd screen and was really amused by your fix. Best part was when you noticed the backlight was on for the first time, amazing. The screen brightness flickering was also terrific. Thanks for your video and effort to solve it.

[@lionabdou]

This was a pure joy to watch! Keep it up Vince.

[@johnwongtw1]

Merry Christmas Vince & family! 🎅🌲☃️🎁

[@Mymatevince]

Thank you, merry Christmas to you and your family too :-)

[@ad7346]

Operative 🧟‍♂️ 🧟‍♀️

[@ackliph]

This video kept me on the edge of my seat. I root for you to find the problem in every episode!

[@Jrv3192]

Merry Christmas Vince! Only descovered your channel this year but really enjoy your content keep up the good work

[@BloodyClash]

:D even we who studied electonics make mistakes. And not rarely much worse than you do. Your modified trial end error method paired with logical thinking is just awesome In german we say "every street leads to rome". As long as you reach your target the way doesn't matter :D

[@101fng]

“All roads lead to Rome” in idiomatic English. Interesting that two languages would share the same idiom.

[@capralmarines4043]

@@101fng We say the same in Polish, "Wszystkie drogi prowadzą do Rzymu".

[@thedutchretrogamer]

@@101fng in the netherlands we say alle wegen leiden naar rome

[@FireballXL55]

When using a torch you need a smallish one say 15-20mm diameter, put it right on the screen so you see no reflections and with the light bleed around the torch you may be able to see a display. When testing a fuse use the ohms range not the beeper setting, this uses a low voltage and will not turn on any semiconductors causing the meter to beep.

[@__dudewitagun__4607]

entertaining. it was fun watching you undergo this challenge. I honestly thought it was a lost cause until you tapped that area of the board

[@halvorlol]

Great video Vince. You inspired me to fix a few things myself and I now have a couple of ps vitas i fixed from 3 on ebay!

[@smashups400]

Thanks for posting this, on my birthday! :) Also, how can anyone downvote his videos lol...like...for what reason?? His videos are so informative, I love them!

[@willrobinson7599]

Great video vince .the White ones all seem to have discolour on the rubber grips on the back Picked up a psp this week and I'm well impressed . I have a couple of normal psp but this is now the one I use the most. As u say once u put the customer firmware on and drag your fav iso on ,just great

[@johhnnsmith4]

Love the videos vince, I lean as I watch love it

[@Regaljester75]

I would've done exactly what you did with the padding, no shame in bodging it and it seemed very secure. I reckon it'll last longer than the solder would've.

[@bikerdave1274]

Hi Vince 😊, I think I would've given the reflow a shot with this,🤔 as even if it did end up dickered a replacement m/board from aliexpress is £25 and these PSP GO units are infinitely desirable and worth the extra money as they will sell (the box itself adds a lot to the value with these) anyway thanks for the vids and Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to you and your family 👍😊

[@jamess9260]

Thanks you so much, my psp go was having the same problem, by watching you troubleshoot through the problem, I just squeezed my psp go by the back and the button area, and wow " power on ". Who knew ? Great video.

[@techstar6540]

Nice video Vince. I would actually go and reflow the chip with the heatgun. Mostly because i think it will last longer that way than with the thermal pads.

[@hunterspcgaming9805]

Another great video! I enjoy listening at work.

[@edwardryan7332]

I gave up 3 weeks ago on a board replacement. Then I found this video. The very first fuse I checked was the bad one. I soldered a new one top of the broken one and it's all working now. To check the inaccessible fuses, I hooked up a small wire onto my multimeter.

[@IClopToRarity]

I love these vids, they're really good for background noise/chilling out.

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

Great video. I would do whatever I do with PS3 or Xbox 360 boards when they're not working, put flux around the chip and put the board in the oven. 15 minutes at 200 °C has saved quite a lot of boards for me, even lasts longer than a reflow normally.

[@gedmcgaffin1255]

Thanks for sharing the knowledge. All the best to you and yours.

[@Soullessrun]

Merry Chrstmas Vince :) a thanks for your awesome videos through out whole year :)

[@wimwiddershins]

I found one at a boot sale for cheap, as new. Great device, very hackable. Great problem solving. I'd quit while it's more or less working.

[@forevercomputing]

I bought 2x 2003s one Ebay, one turned out to be a 1003. Good and bad. Can't use it for fixing the second, but I can see why people prefer the phat.

[@jvaldez5]

You’re truly doing the Lord’s work here

[@tomthebadasscat]

Hi Vince, Nice find but I would have tried to reflow the chip. Have a great Xmas 😎

[@AtariFitness]

Merry Christmas Vince + family! 💪🎅👍

[@scottchampion3511]

Excellent video and Merry Christmas Vince

[@Insane98]

Netherlands represent! Fijne kerstdagen! (Translation: Merry Christmass!)

[@wobbledobbler]

Great little video of a ''normal person'' doing a good job of mimicking shipping lol. keep the videos coming i love the channel.

[@CRG]

Love the psp myself all be it I prefer the original one with the umd drive. I probably would of left it as you did with the packing to apply pressure then if that failed attempted a reflow with heat but as you say you run the risk of killing it. I don't know just how hot these get but I suppose if left long enough with the packing it may fix itself? Between you and gadgetuk I've been inspired so I'll shortly be digging out some of my old consoles to attempt repair. Cause why not. Fun to poke around them and sure I'm not going to make it any worse...... Great video and keep em coming.

[@GabrielAndroczky]

Also, a tip for this kind of thing, when you are working on one side of a device and need to see the other side, either use a mirror, or use a glass surface and a mirror under it (you can go for an underdesk camera as well, but that might be too much :D)

[@goliath012001]

Great vid. My only recommendation would be to contact the owner and see if he/she would be ok with you applying heat, and make sure to advise that it could wreck the chip. Either that, or a replacement motherboard? I've seen the stand-alone motherboard on ebay going for roughly $35.00 USD

[@pds8475]

Even with a BGA machine your not guaranteed to fix it on the first attempt. I used to work at a company that repaired computers and laptops to component level. About 10% of BGA reflows actually killed the equipment and because the company only allowed so much time to work on each piece of equipment it had to be scrapped. With a hot air gun/soldering station there is more chance that connections will either not solder or two or more connections will short. So yeah like you say if it's your own equipment and your not that bothered then do it. If it's someone else's be a lot more cautious about doing it. Anyway Merry Christmas to you and your family

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks for the great advice on this and all the other videos. Merry to you and your family too :-)

[@hussssshie]

I've actually repaired lots of BGA chips using hot air. It depends on the package size and it takes a little bit of practice, but as long as you are careful with the temperature rise speed and peak temp, you're good to go. My tips are: preheat the surrounding areas to 130ºC, MAKE SURE to cover any heat sensible components such as crystal oscillators, RAM or other BGA chips you don't want to reflow using kepton tape or aluminum foil, making sure it's not pulling anywhere, just resting on top of those components to prevent the blast of the heat. Lay the board COMPLETELY FLAT, set the hot air to 210-230 degrees with a meduim size nozzle and heat up the BGA from all four sides for around 1 minute and a half. When it's hot then set the temp to 350-400ºC pointing directly on top of the chip for 30 to 50 seconds at 3-5cm apart, and let it cool off. Don't touch the board with anything while doing all that, or you're likely to short something. Airflow should be set around 10 to 30%, don't go bananas or the chip could move.

[@pds8475]

@@hussssshieYes it is very possible to do but for someone who isn't confident in their soldering technique I wouldn't advise against it on some one else's piece of kit. If Vince had bought it of Ebay I would of been all for him trying to reflow it.

[@calipacks5025]

My Mate VINCE I’d like to giv u a hoverboard to fix I hav loads I fix them for a living an hav a Facebook group selling them facebook.com/groups/159509004545003/ plz look

[@paulsimms6795]

Thank you for your videos absolutely great to watch. Keep up the good work

[@ovalwingnut]

I can never get over 220V in all the wall outlets. ⚡ R.E.S.P.E.C.T⚡ GOOD FIX inVINCEable. Cheers from So.Ca.USA. Home of the 110V crowd.

[@sweetasbloodredjam]

I hope you come back to this and attempt to reflow it, seeing that Tex gave it to you as a christmas present. Someone left some really good advice on reflowing with a heat gun in the comments as well. As for reballing it, you'd need a stencil for this specific chip and even then it's not easy to do.

[@Pepsiman2006]

Great vid! My PSP Go isn't charging and just bought some replacement fuses. I'll be a little better a ease using your current video as a guide on investigating the source of the problem. Thanks!

[@Rubenvi8179]

Pepsiman2006 did you get that working? Mine doesn’t want to charge or connect via USB

[@spooktasticaparanormal]

That was a great fix. Well done Vince. Kind regards. Paul.

[@Sadman1471]

Vince you should start a podcast, it could be all about ongoing projects, projects coming up and updates on items you have fix/tried to fix :}

[@mattbowman242]

Your a legend bud Merry Christmas M8 and all the best for the new year.

[@rbuschy]

I learned a long time ago to do the Drop/Smack/Squeeze test to see if you can shock things into working again. I once had a Cable Box that had a bad solder on a chip. Just jammed a piece of plastic between it and the case and it worked like that for years. Love your vids.

[@PMCRetroGamer]

Fantastic video again. Merry Christmas to you and your family

[@BobBorakovitz]

i would heat it up, personally. but you got it working and that's a good result in the long run. good fix and interesting.

[@MirceaD28]

You didn't had to cut the metal frame to check to fuse. It's clearly even from the picture that the fuse is connected to the component next to it that is more accessible. Still a good job, and that PSP it's alive again because of you.

[@kyedav]

"I think it might have been dropped possibly" after 34 minutes of seeing the massive scratches on the back xD Oh and it looks like it needs a reflow. Probably a cracked connection on the chip due to the drop. Heatgun should do it, especially with the size of a psp go.

[@etiennevanharen3893]

Great video!! Nice lucky find on the pressure point. I have no knowledge whatsoever about this, but maybe if you heat it from the back you don't fry the chip and it only needs the board to get the heat throug instead of the entire chip? just my 10cents on this.

[@damiennavarro4807]

The problem with that though is there are other parts that will fall off/get damaged on the other side. (Small components and I believe the buttons are located there as well)

[@chriswilliams9734]

My favorite handheld of all time. I bought one on Ebay for $85 2 months ago. The previous owner was a gaming collector so he had a few to sell. It was in brand new condition. Came with the original charger. My first psp was the 3000 version. I wanted to buy the psp go when they first hit the stores but I never did. Im just glad I got the chance to own one because this thing is a one of a kind in my opinion. It had so much potential but people weren't ready for a digital download only handheld when they were first released.

[@tappersreviews4677]

Please tell me the seller. Thanks.

[@chriswilliams9734]

@@tappersreviews4677 I tried looking him up. I hate that you can't really go through your purchase history on ebay to find sellers that you purchased from. Ps sorry I replied 6 months later. I never received a notification of your reply. I ended watching this video again noticed your reply.

[@chriswilliams9734]

@@tappersreviews4677 ok so I found his email in my PayPal purchase history since I purchased the psp go on ebay using PayPal. I emailed him and he told me his ebay name is gamerboy 2002. He doesn't have any psp's listed at the moment but you can contact him to see if he has any

[@tappersreviews4677]

@@chriswilliams9734 no problem. I have since bought a couple of nice ones and even successfully modded one with 128GB inside. All good!

[@chriswilliams9734]

@@tappersreviews4677 where did you buy from ? How did you manage to get 128 gb on it ? I may pick up a second one as a back up.

[@dforaker]

That was great fault finding. Definately was dropped causing a damaged BGA contact. Your fix may last. Too bad you can't test it with a game running to see how it behaves under stress and heat.

[@danmackintosh6325]

Merry Christmas Vince! :) I think given a similar situation I would have done the same (in fact, I have used packing/shims to apply pressure to a laptop screen on which the bonding had failed as an effective temporary fix). Probably if it was my system I'd try and go with this for now, and maybe one more try with different material if it failed again & only if it became unreliable/unusable would I venture toward reflowing. I think it could well be effective in this case (I'd use a good dose of chip kwik flux like you got with the paperboy ROM package, & probably highish heat but lower air & not dare touch the thing for a good half hour afterwards) but, like you, I'd rather see how long it lasts with the "non-invasive" fix before heating it and possibly killing it entirely. Hope you do get to keep hold of the thing TBH, since it'd be cool if you could push it into regular use and find out how it holds up over time.

[@danmackintosh6325]

Just seen further down that Tex has responded in the comments and made the PSP a Christmas gift to you. Nice of him to do so & hopefully that means we get to see how well this lasts... For the record, my LCD bonding "fix" lasted a good few months and even when I got a new laptop it was still usable, just a few areas of lines down the screen again as opposed to the whole panel frozen when it first failed.

[@ArlanFixStuff]

Thanks a lot vince, I learn a new thing

[@HM024]

Have you ever done a live stream by chance? A live stream version of a fix video would be awesome, viewers could give you suggestions on what they think!

[@aggelos_0256]

Hey Vince, i think those chips need reballing because many many times at the factory, impurities on the solder or some mistakes by the engineers could lead to bad bga soldering quality which means that the connections under the chips are much more fragile than normal and as you can see by the scrathes on the back casing this has been droped an kinda hard. So all i want to tell you is that some of those connection are broken. REBALLING WILL FIX ISSUE!!!

[@CasSpell]

Merry Christmas Vince :) ❄⛄

[@richardmewes8085]

Great video, I have a PSP (non online) running homebrew like Megadrive... It's in a draw in a very scratched state, after this I'm gonna look online for a grand new shell and bring it back to life. Btw everytime you say HIT AND MISS I think of that TikTok song ( KZbin search "Hit and Miss TikTok")

[@jerrylyaw]

Merry Christmas Vince!

[@BenCos2018]

Happy Christmas Vince and family

[@creativename2697]

Hi there, Another nice video as always. I was wondering if you could make a list of all the tools you use/have? Would really help me out as I am trying to buy some for the same purposes.

[@adaddylicious1748]

Vince, can you fix my marriage? My wife doesn't love me anymore

[@ThatOwlGuy64]

I imagine him doing brain surgery on her

[@IceSpike]

Merry Christmas from Manchester 👍

[@seanscaddan8608]

Good vid can't wait for next one Vince merry Xmas and happy New year

[@karlwooduk]

magic fingers, last resort fault finding, squeeze and poke everything haha

[@AlvinMarin.]

Excellent video , fault finding at it’s best

[@cassandraclark7359]

Did he take it back???!!!!!! Also awesome video! Probably a cracked BGA ball. Remove the chip and reflow it would probably fix it.

[@ComputerAndTechnologyChannelTM]

Whenever I have had to tighten somewhat together like that, I have done it with cardboard. It works well.

[@MJL1912]

My favourite system! Please (if possible) repair more PSPs or PS Vitas

[@areyouserious3092]

Great vid buddie I'm sure if you used something more rigid like a piece of plastic instead of thermal pads it would be just fine pretty much for the life time of the console but I do see why you decided not to apply heat even though the chip would be fine that board does not take heat well. What you did will be absolutely fine and should not present any issues great job dude.

[@ctg8563]

I know this video is 3 years old but im just curious did he mail it back or keep it an does it still work today? I dont want it or anything im just curious for an update

[@adhemelfaiky6047]

Can you show us your collection Of stuff you fixed

[@firstname4075]

Your accent is truly satisfying.

[@PlaystationBlazingMediic]

I'd definitely try and keep it .. it's a cool place of gaming equipment

[@charlesdeens8927]

Excellent fix!

[@arnudo]

Really love your videos ! Very clever to use thermal pads to shim it ! I was actually concerned about heat/fire hazard when you wanted to put plastic shims Love from France !

[@welshjay74]

Awesome Vince did you buy it or resend to owner?

[@castin5244]

It's the main chip for the system. CPU and GPU. It must be a single ball that's come disconnected, because usually when this happens to the main chip, the system will freeze or turn off completely. I'm amazed it stays running with a bad solder joint on the SOC.

[@jasonbucy]

Hey Vince! Big fan. Can I send you something for a video? I’ll buy any parts that are needed and return postage.

[@weheartdzny8525]

Noob question: How do you know if something is supposed to short or not when testing chips, resistors, etc. with a multimeter? Do you use charts?

[@Shadowmanbluesbluesman]

Another great video, if he sells it to you, you can then try heating it up maybe

[@jomichael1060]

Is it possible if I ask you where you got the blue assembly board from. I'm looking for one & I don't know where on Amazon to look. Awesome video

[@MarkRodenburg]

Nice vids thanks for that. Is it easier to use blueprints off the PCBs

[@CLC-1000]

Great video. Have a great Christmas.

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks, I hope you have a brilliant Christmas and New Year too :-)

[@CLC-1000]

@@Mymatevince You're welcome.

[@wickeduploads]

thank you for making these kind of videos

[@Bloodbound89]

it could really have been the button did you check what happens if you keep the button pressend and than move the d pad? or did you release the button every time (just to improve the diagnosis procedure)

[@dimitrismandas]

You are a genius a love the videos continue

[@BMWfivethirty]

@My Mate VINCE I have a psp go that has a short in what I think may be a faulty capacitor. Do you know how to determine the size or proper replacement smd capacitor? I have researched it some, but not really finding much as to what size each capacitor is on the board and not real sure what to do at this point? Love your videos btw, thanks!

[@faranglaw]

Good detective work... I'd keep it like that until it failed then think about reball/resilder... Nice one

[@jamess9260]

He was like Batman on that psp go.

[@maxplayz1219]

What camera do you use for your videos? I am actually interested in your videos because i plan on doing fixing things like this in the future.

[@welshtony1]

Iv got a standard PSP and always fancied the PSP Go. May have to see if CEX will post one and not got one local to me lol. Side note, What mat is that that you use for working on these items?

[@DjStiv3]

Is the headphone jack easily replaceable? Seems like it is. Ribbon cable and pull it out?

[@talentadoka5770]

Watching this makes me wonder if i can fix mine with the same issue as this, i charge it, continue watching, power on, and boom! Like magic, i works for some reason i dont know, but im happy, not a joke mine now works..