PSP Failure

Caused by : Updated Sony Firmware

posted by : je.saist



This is perhaps an abuse of the Guide Site, but, posting it anyways.

The PS3 Browser and Ipod test guides were not the only guides that were created on the original capture session.

Playstation3 supports, in conjuction with the Playstation Portable, Remote Play. Remote Play is a feature that allows a Playstation Portable user to connect with the Multimedia center in a Playstation 3, and control the multimedia center from any location with an active internet connection. So, for example, if you were in a hotel in Pittsburgh, and your Playstation 3 was turned on in Georgia, you could connect to the Pittsburgh hotel's wireless access point, and stream your music off your Playstation 3.

However, showing the configuration for the PS3 side of the equation meant updating the Playstation Portable to the most recent firmware.

This... was the result.









Apologies for the Blurry Pictures. The first version of the PSP does not lend itself to convient video capture.

What it says is this:

A connection error has occured
(80410A0B)

Connection Name Connection 1
SSID POS

According to various forums, both official and unofficial, this is a known issue with Playstation Portable Units. There is no listed user-end fix available.

So, I called Sony's Technical Support. Now, this is a known issue. It is a problem.

To start with, whoever picked up the phone did not belong in Technical Support, and this is coming from somebody who worked Technical Support. One of the basic rules of phone tech support is to never, ever, tell a customer "I apologize for the inconvience" when referring to a problem. It sounds scripted and the customer instantly knows that you have little interest in the call.

The problem was worsened by the representative having no idea what the error code was. A caller should not give an explicit binary error code, and then be asked what the problem is. The Sony rep did so. Again, coming from somebody who worked Technical Support and wrote out the meanings of binary codes for Outlook Express and how to handle them. The first thing any technician should be asking is whether or not there is an error code, and then cross referencing the error code and making sure it matches the caller's problem. Sony's Rep did not do this. As a Caller, the Rep should be telling me what the problem is. I should not be telling the Rep exactly what the error code means.

I'd like to say that things got better. They didn't. Despite the problem having been caused by upgrading to Sony's most firmware, and it being a known issue with that version of the Playstation Portable, I would have expected an offering to fix the unit from a problem caused by the Sony upgrade. There was an offer to fix it. At $90.

So. To re-iterate. Attempting to upgrade with a Sony provided Firmware to a Sony Product, and I have to pay to fix their bug.

I don't think so.

So, I now have a PSP that won't connect to a network, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it.  It is still operation for playing back local media content and games. So far, those abilities do not appear to have been affected.

Where this turns, interesting, is that the most recent Playstation Portable Revision contains a Video-Out port. As exampled above, attempting to snap pictures of a PSP from an external camera results in a very blurred picture with the equipment I have.

However, being able to catch from a video out source would be a little bit easier to work future guides off of.

So, to put it bluntly, I'm willing to part with my current PSP.  Sony wants $90 to fix it?  Well, for $90, it's up for grabs. That money will go directly towards getting a new Playstation Portable.

Email me at    

Alternatively, if a company or vendor wants to step up and provide a video-out PSP in the same manner that a Playstation3 was provided, that would also be great, same email address.