Screen Replacment stuff up :S

[Max_Kreeger]

Hey,

I bought a broken PSP off my friend because it wouldn't turn on (It wasn't bricked!) When I opened it up I saw that a Flexible Flat Cable was unplugged (The strip where the volume, home and stuff was, that was unplugged). So I plugged it back in and it was working but I put the wrong screw in the wrong whole. It went a bit too far and CRACK!. I broke the screen . So I went to remove the screen but I couldn't tell the difference between the Flexible Flat Cable and the Flexible Flat Cable Connecter because the ends were both black so I didn't know what I was supposed to flick up and ended up ripping the component along with the LCD off the motherboard and THEN I saw the lil plastic cap I was supposed to flip up to remove the LCD. Ok, with what I need help is that I don't know the specs of the FFC connector, is it 0.5mm or 1mm and how many legs it has etc.

SO, could anyone please help me identify which FFC connector I have to get and from where if possible thank you.

Max Kreeger

P.S. THIS PLACE IS AWESOME, COULD BLESS ALL YOU MODDERS!!!!

[Blizzrad]

The LCD ribbon cable connects through a 40 pin ZIF connector with a 0.5mm pitch. Replacement connectors can be found here (see post by VoX below). I have had experiences like that as well, it reminds me of this comic. When opening up common devices like game consoles in the future it is a good idea to search google for disassembly instructions, this can save you a lot of  time and trouble. Anyway, welcome to AcidMods and good luck with your repairs.

[Max_Kreeger]

Thank you very much and thank you again for the warm welcome. You seem awfully familiar, well your name at least. Have you ever modded Halo 2 ? or been part of halomods.com ?

Thank you again

Luka

P.S. LOL! that comic is spot on...hahaha

[VoX]

The Sparkfun PSP LCD ZIF connector was not made to be used a replacement for the OEM ZIF connector. It does not fit on the PSP motherboard as it slightly bigger than the OEM one and is blocked by the on board components. I am yet to see some one successfully fix this problem, you maybe able to fix it if the pins below the ZIF connector are still intact by soldering to the corresponding pin on the LCD screen on the Sparkfun ZIF connector.

Thanks, Vox

[Blizzrad]

Good to know Vox, I take it the one you ordered didn't work out then. I figured this was a safe bet from the way Sparkfun had described it. In this case, judging from the pictures, the Hirose FH19C series connectors (picture and datasheet) might be a good substitute that can actually be used on the PSP motherboard.

Luka, I haven't done any work with Halo or been to halomods.com before (I am embarrassingly bad at FPS games), though I know there are a few other people on the internet who use this goofy name too. Also, if you are planning to solder a new connector in place of the old one, make sure that all of the traces on the board are all still intact and did not lift off with the old connector; otherwise there will be nothing for those pins to solder to. 

[ryan0]

use a desoldering pump or iron for best results on soldering like dat,makes sure ur traces stay in place

[Max_Kreeger]

Ok, lucky I haven't ordered anything yet lol. My friend has some screwed up PSP that he's going to give to me. I was thinking of just transferring the mother board into the current one because its front+back plates are stuffed up but I'm worried that it won't work well since the user (who is a dumbass) poured coke into it through the memory stick slot when it stopped working (problem=cracked screen, I know he's a BIG NOOB). So I was just thinking of taking the component from that mother board and putting it on the current motherboard I have now. I also realized that I ripped the soldering pad off one off the points. So I just scraped some of the green stuff off to get to the copper layer underneath, will this work ?

P.S. Also Blizzard how did you know my name was Luka :S ?

Thank you again

Max

[VoX]

You said your name was Luka in a previous post. The HFN540CT-ND may work but I'm not sure because I don't have it, the is a way to get the Sparkfun ZIF connector to work with the PSP and that is to solder it on a 10 degree Angle and use hot melt glue to hold it in place. I was going to do this except some of the LCD traces fell off which made it harder to fix. I found even with the traces off you can still solder on, but it is extremely hard as there is around a 0.2 to 0.1 mm pitch. Hope this information helps

-Vox

[Max_Kreeger]

Ok sweet,

I got a problem. I don't know what pitch means :S(I'm a bit of a noob) also like I said I'm getting that new stuffed up PSP tomorrow so I was wondering if you knew of a way to take it off that motherboard and transfer it to the other one ?

P.S. lol my bad, I did post my name, silly me...Also I'm doing work exp. at a electro-technology place and I told the boss the problem and he said that you could just lay the ribbon on there and then use the heat gun and melt the solder over it gently (but it would have to be perfectly aligned), don't know how it would work... but yeah :S at the moment the ribbon is just lying on there and if I turn it on the screen back light lights up and I hear the music of the entry screen and stuff and I can see the broken pixels. So somehow its working when the ribbon isn't even aligned properly with the lil strips where the connector is supposed to touch...............I hope all of this made sense lol .

Thank you again

Max

[Blizzrad]

I think it is worth testing out your friends motherboard. As long as the PSP wasn't powered on during or after the time when the soda was poured in it, there is a good chance that nothing got fried (my Ps2 was completely submerged in a flood a few years ago and after disassembling, cleaning, and drying out all of the components it was working as good as new).

The soda will gum up any moving parts when it dries (so the UMD and WiFi board may be lost) but luckily, apart from a couple switches, the motherboard has no moving parts. If you clean it up with some Q-tips and rubbing alcohol, you may be able to salvage this motherboard and swap in the rest of the components from your other PSP (providing they are compatible).

Also, pitch refers to the spacing between pins or leads on components, so a 0.5mm pitch means that there is half a millimeter of space between the pins.

[Max_Kreeger]

Ok, I got the PSP today and its working fine. Now I want to just take that motherboard and swap it with  the one which has the broken connector, could you point me to a tutorial no that for phat PSP's I had a look in the PSP tuts area but its all for slims....

Thank you once again

Max

[Max_Kreeger]

<UPDATE>

Hey, ok I transferred the mother board, took me like 4 hours lol, it works fine it turns on and the screen that was cracked, I can now see like only half the screen where its n ot broken so thats a good sign. But I only have one problem id won't recognize the games. Like I put a UMD in and it doesn't do anything....

Thank you

Max

[Blizzrad]

But I only have one problem id won't recognize the games. Like I put a UMD in and it doesn't do anything....

Did you connect both of the ribbon cables to the UMD drive? I had a similar problem once, and it took me a little while before I realized I had forgotten to plug in the smaller one.

[Max_Kreeger]

Hey,

You mean the one near the speaker plugs, yes I did do that one. But previously that actually connector fell off and I superglued it back on and aligned each of the legs with the lil metal strips. Could that be the problem ?

Thank you

Max