The Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a video gaming device capable of playing not only universal media discs (UMD) but also downloaded games, user-created content, video, music and pictures. While the PSP is one of the more technologically solid handheld platforms with good reviews across the board, it is prone to damage on its widescreen video display.
Screen Does Not Come On
With older PSPs, it is becoming more common that the screen will not turn on when the system is activated. This is often a sign that your PSP is wearing out or has suffered numerous physical jolts to the hardware (from dropping). If the screen itself is damaged or cracked, your only option is sending it in for service or replacement. However, if there is no visible damage, search for the backlight button, which is located next to the PSP® logo. Hold the button down for several seconds to reset the video display. Turn the PSP off and then back on to finish resetting it.
Black Screen
A fairly rare occurrence that is indicative of a hardware failure is turning on the PSP and receiving a black screen. The black screen is obviously on and lit, but with nothing showing. Like other errors that cause the screen to blank out or not come on, it can often be fixed by resetting the video display as described above. For a black screen, you will not need to turn the PSP off to reactivate the screen. On rare occasions, this will not work because of a defective battery that can no longer hold a charge. To test for this, plug the PSP into its AC adapter and then turn it on. If the PSP works using the AC adapter, you need to replace the battery.
Screen Says Please Wait
Like all pieces of advanced electronics, glitches happen. Luckily this is often a software glitch, but it can sometimes be the result of a damaged UMD disc or bad save data. Perform a normal reset first. If the problem persists, identify when the "Please Wait" message appears on the screen. If it is before the game save data is accessed, turn the PSP off and remove the UMD to inspect for physical damage or debris on the drive and UMD. Once the debris is cleared, you can play the UMD as normal. If the problem occurs while loading saved data, you must unfortunately delete the saved data you were trying to access and then reload the game.
Tags: black screen, video display, Please Wait, save data, saved data