They young bloke has had a PSP bought in thailand a couple of years ago. Last night he managed to brick it using a game borrowed from a school friend. Supposedly it started to update its firmware and he took the game out of the back and now there is nothing. Does anyone know if there is anywhere in Phuket I can get this repaired.

They young bloke has had a PSP bought in thailand a couple of years ago. Last night he managed to brick it using a game borrowed from a school friend. Supposedly it started to update its firmware and he took the game out of the back and now there is nothing. Does anyone know if there is anywhere in Phuket I can get this repaired.

If not mistaken, you would have to take it to Sony if its bricked.

Dont know ANYTHING about phuket but they should have a tech center like every other city right? If you have an area known for selling computers and electronics go there and find a psp tech. He should be able to fix it. Lots of people brick and fix it..... but if he was using custom firmware from 2 years ago it might not have had the safeguards installed that the new custom firmwares have, but who knows, get a psp guy to look at it.

thanks for the help have found a place that can sort it for me

If it's REALLY bricked, there is a method called "Pandora" which uses a backdoor sony put in the batteries after some modification (yeah i know, go figure).

Have a Google.

had a google already and guess that is the way the shop will fix it. But thanks anyway, but wouldn't reccommend any one buying one of these things for their kids as they are dead easy to have the memory wiped and then be totally useless. Will steer away from all sony products now as they just don't care.

had a google already and guess that is the way the shop will fix it. But thanks anyway, but wouldn't reccommend any one buying one of these things for their kids as they are dead easy to have the memory wiped and then be totally useless. Will steer away from all sony products now as they just don't care.

My guess is that you are unfamiliar with the details of the PSP. The "young bloke" most likely had the PSP modified with "homebrewed" firmware which allows for the playing of copy games. Some homebrew firmware allows for the accidental "bricking", either over the WiFi link or from an internal backed-up copy. So Sony really didn't do anything wrong, as the young bloke voided the warranty running homebrew firmware and running illegal copy games. The young bloke is probably being less than forthright with you on this subject thereby causing you to go whacko on all Sony products. Of course you are not going to get this unit repaired?

This is true.... your child bricked the psp by starting to download the new firmware and then panicking midway and pulling out the game.... he didnt want to download the new firmware because then it would stop him from using illegal copied games. It isnt THAT easy to brick.... and it is easy to fix so it's not really a big problem and certainly nothing to do with SONY at all. They want you to buy original games not use pirated software.

I want to back the post preceding up - it's a method sony use to stop exploits and hacks to allow pirated software to be ran. What i do disagree with is that Sony WANT us to run their software on their device. Do they release an MP3 player on the market with restrictions to only listen to Sony released music?

Sure if they want me to play their games - release something worthy - nothing i have played native (and/or the "try before you buy method") has made me think "yeah, i'll buy this". Kids may be a different story - but the cash it takes to make that financial commitment as a parent may sometimes be a bit too much.

Me personally, loving the PSP - i play Quake or Quake2 multiplayer at work when i can, otherwise I play some emulated games - Uridium being a coffee time favorite. Sony have a great mobile gaming platform - and so does the open GP32 - but the foremost have the marketing power to push their (yes technically superior platform) on the masses.

Bottom line: get a 4GB sd card, download a few emu's and a few thousand games - Robert's your fathers brother.

Google for "pandora battery", you need a spare battery.

had a google already and guess that is the way the shop will fix it. But thanks anyway, but wouldn't reccommend any one buying one of these things for their kids as they are dead easy to have the memory wiped and then be totally useless. Will steer away from all sony products now as they just don't care.

My guess is that you are unfamiliar with the details of the PSP. The "young bloke" most likely had the PSP modified with "homebrewed" firmware which allows for the playing of copy games. Some homebrew firmware allows for the accidental "bricking", either over the WiFi link or from an internal backed-up copy. So Sony really didn't do anything wrong, as the young bloke voided the warranty running homebrew firmware and running illegal copy games. The young bloke is probably being less than forthright with you on this subject thereby causing you to go whacko on all Sony products. Of course you are not going to get this unit repaired?

You are wrong there the psp was never homebrewed, so would only play genuine games, he decided he didn't want the update after it started and removed the game, and this caused the problem. I have since got it fixed and homebrewed at the same time for 500bt and was done using the pandora battery method

This is true.... your child bricked the psp by starting to download the new firmware and then panicking midway and pulling out the game.... he didnt want to download the new firmware because then it would stop him from using illegal copied games. It isnt THAT easy to brick.... and it is easy to fix so it's not really a big problem and certainly nothing to do with SONY at all. They want you to buy original games not use pirated software.

have a go yourself then, it is that easy to brick. The machine was in its original configuration, not homebaked.

Something still sounds amiss, but kudos for sticking with Sony products, repairing the PSP and running 'homebaked' software.

Something still sounds amiss, but kudos for sticking with Sony products, repairing the PSP and running 'homebaked' software.

There was nothing amiss if you look at the forums on psp(sony dont advertise this) they are easy to brick and this disappointing thing about it is that this is a kids toy and how are you supposed to make this foolproof for your kids. I hve learnt now and will be steering well clear of sony products.

If you call ripping out the software in the middle of a firmware update "easy to brick" well..... there was absolutely no reason for your child to stop the update if its not a homebrew psp.... absolutely none, he yanked out the software in the middle of a firmware FLASH why? Updating would have simply added more functionality to a non homebrewed psp, this is a good thing. Your child is responsible for bricking the psp, nobody else and not the product. If you give your child electronics they will break when kids do things they shouldnt do to them.

If you call ripping out the software in the middle of a firmware update "easy to brick" well..... there was absolutely no reason for your child to stop the update if its not a homebrew psp.... absolutely none, he yanked out the software in the middle of a firmware FLASH why? Updating would have simply added more functionality to a non homebrewed psp, this is a good thing. Your child is responsible for bricking the psp, nobody else and not the product. If you give your child electronics they will break when kids do things they shouldnt do to them.

Look mate, you try explaining that to a 10 year old and then explaining it to him that its broken. After all they are childrens toys, just look at many of the games made for them if you disagree, in which case they should be made reasonably child proof. After all kids will be kids.