Drama - firmware upgrade interupted

[marsm]

In the middle of performing a firmware upgrade (to get the new NBA 2008 running), I accidentally knocked my psp pulling the power cord out in the process and switching the device off.

Now, when I try and power it up, the screen remains blank - is there a hard reset button to get it back to factory settings?

I have tried removing the battery for a period of time and holding the power button up for 10-15 secs - all to no avail.

Any advice - any?

[Monkey Business]

Sorry to say that your PSP is dead.

The only way to fix this is by using pandora battery. Find out more in the homebrew section or do a search.

[psplayer]

Unlucky Mate. That is what is annoying with Upgrading your PSP... You cant take the cable out which is annoying...

Ahh. Well at least you can recover it as the pandoras battery is easy to get hold of these days...

[marsm]

This is ridiculous - the Pandora process sounds quite complicated and requires a lot of work.

Based on this, I have taken this straight to Sony - I can't believe that they have created a product that requires firmware upgrades, but that has no hard reset option to get it back to factory default if something goes wrong.

Due to my work, I have direct access to some of SCEE's top ranking management, and I will not let this slide - for consumers that buy a Sony product (Sony being a luxury brand) they should have a level of "protection". From the sound of things, if something goes wrong, you have to buy a new product if something goes wrong, which is just ludicrous.

I will keep you updated on this battle. This is simply not acceptable.

[psplayer]

But than again. Everything is designed to break or become unuseable at some point. This case being that you knocked your psp over while doing an update causing its power source to come out which in turn "bricks" your psp. Before you actually Start the update it does warn you that if the power source comes out then your psp may become unuseable. (not in those words but i am not getting an update just to see )

With all this in consideration i doubt that you will get very much from sony although if you do it will only be because they think you are hassling them and want you off their case NOT because they hink that you deserve a new one...

[WhiteShadow]

That's life, kid

[javer]

yup it sure is

[marsm]

<QUOTE>Everything is designed to break or become unuseable at some point.</QUOTE>

This has to be one of the most ignorant statements I've heard in a long time - having owned my fair share of flashy gadgets from mobiles to PDAs to MP3 players to portable gaming consoles, there is a degree of "customization" for installing additional software to firmware upgrades on all these devices, with the PSP being no exception.

Now, because live in the real world, not some fantasy la-la land, things happen and things go wrong, which is why every, and I mean every gadget that I have ever owned has had a hard reset option, which merrily resets that item to factory settings and you then have to re-install all the additional stuff that you want - a pain in the ass, but a solid solution.

I agree that I should not have bumped the PSP, which resulted in the power cord being pulled out which "bricked" the PSP - my question, what would have happened if we had a power failure - do you really think that this is fair on consumers to not have the option to merely reset the device back to its original state and then "try again", as opposed to saying, "o f#*k it, I'll just buy a new one". That's just ignorant, especially since this is a SONY product, not a PONY or CONY, which you are paying a premium price for.

Whether Sony, or anyone else, thinks that I deserve a new PSP is completely irrelevant - the fact remains that it's disgusting that you cannot reset the device in the event that something has gone wrong, which is standard practice on even the cheapest and nastiest devices that are made in sweat shops in China.

[High Roller]

Its a real shame and unfortunate the cord came out. But it did. The PSP is a fine product, firmware updates are unfortunately writing data to a permanent part of the PSPs internal hardware, called the flash memory. If this process is interupted before it is done, fundamental data required to make the PSP function ceases to exist or is corrupted. Thats why is imperative its not interupted. you could have a case for sending it off to Sony and having it repaired, which is great, im sure they would be happy to oblige (warranty pending). If this option is not viable to you, there is another solution.

PANDORA BATTERY
the process may seem complex at first, but this is how simple it is
Format the mem stick, copy the 'magic files' to the mem stick - however you can. get hold of a service battery/pandora battery from the net somewhere (you wont find these in shops as they are frowned upon by sony) place the mem stick in the PSP, then the service battery. The update will commence. Then stand 10 feet away from the PSP

Peace

[marsm]

The PSP is a great product - not disputing that.

As a great example, I have a Palm LifeDrive, and I was recently (about six weeks ago) upgrading software and firmware, when my PC crashed. This is not dissimilar to what happened with the PSP on a different level. Just as was the case with the PSP though, the LifeDrive was writing to its internal flash memory overwriting its original "BIOS" settings.

I disconnected it, restarted the PC, switch on the LifeDrive and it wasn't happy - wouldn't start. I simply got a paper clip, pressed the area for the hard reset - five minutes later, the factory defaults were restored - powered it up - perfect - redid all the installations, and it's now perfect. My mobile phone has the same option. There really is excuse for this, and I can't defend SONY on this front.

Yeah - I was told about the Pandoras battery - will leave that as a final resort. I will give SONY another two days to get the bottom of this.