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Sony PSP just hangs with "Please Wait..."?

I just bought my son a PSP and I have read the manual, and nothing helped with this problem. Problem being that he turns it on and it says Please Wait....only it stays there? Thinking it might be the memory card I took it out and tried again... same result... can you please help me out, he has to go back to his mothers in a week... Thank you for your time.

Dave's Answer:

There are days when I have to admit that using wooden tools and pencils seems like a really nice alternative to our battery-powered, high-tech world, and for you, this sounds like one of them!

My first thought is that you should check the UMD disk or game you have installed. Is it good? Can you try it on another PSP unit for comparison?

You've already pulled out the memory card, that's a good idea, but I'd also pull out the game or UMD disk too, so that you have just a stock Sony PSP with nothing in it. Then turn it on and see if it hangs. If so, that'd strongly suggest that it's an internal problem. :-)

There are two ways you can try to proceed from this point. First, do a full system restart, which is done by pushing and holding the power button upwards for about ten seconds. Then push it again, once, and let the system start up (rather than the default of sleeping and waking from sleep).

If that doesn't work, do the "battery shuffle": pull the batteries out of the unit and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Put the batteries back in, restart, and see what happens.

If none of those help, I'd take the PSP back to where you bought it and ask them for a replacement unit.

Good luck to you and your son!

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Comments

I had the same problem, tried the reset procedure and it fixed the hang-up. Thanks !!!!

Posted by: Luis at July 22, 2005 8:49 PM

Dave, I just bought a ipod. I have a very hard time to figure out how to transfer my music from my cd to my ipod. I am using xp for window. Please help me out. thank you

Posted by: Nancy at August 2, 2005 6:47 PM

Hi Nancy. I strongly suggest that you download and install iTunes for Windows from the Apple site. I bet that'll make your life quite a bit easier...

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Posted by: Dave Taylor at August 3, 2005 5:42 AM

is there any aother ways to fix ur psp i have tried those ways that u have told me and the have not worked can u please help me?

Posted by: mike at November 25, 2006 7:54 PM

my son has been on a game and i dont know what he has selected but the whole screen has gone blank.I have tried a restart please could you suggest anything else????? the game is called midway arcadetreasures

Posted by: alan at January 3, 2007 11:23 AM

Sorry to say this, Alan, but I fear your son has "bricked" or frozen his PSP. If you pop out the battery and leave it unplugged for an hour, then plug it all back and it's still frozen, I think that you might have to get someone else to help you out, either Sony itself or a third party repair facility. Here's what I suggest you check out:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/about_psp_repair.html

Posted by: Dave Taylor at January 3, 2007 2:15 PM

i cn play my music on the psp but when wanted to switch to another folder by pressing the O button....it start to hang......why?please help me here....thnaks....

Posted by: viva la loco at April 10, 2007 6:44 PM

Thankyou so much for helping me out. I couldn't have done it without you

Posted by: Javier at May 27, 2007 11:54 AM

Dave Taylor... you are the freakin' man! i had a problem with my PSP and just by reading your forum i was able to solve it... Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Thereon at October 4, 2007 9:22 PM

when i switch my psp to standby mode and on again the game can process awhile then come to loading then hang. what the problem? please help me

Posted by: gary at October 20, 2007 11:34 AM

Dave, just wanted to say thanks for posting this forum. I had a problem with my PSP saying "please wait". Your answer solved my problem. Thanks again.

Posted by: Kirt at January 30, 2008 6:04 PM

i have a probem with my psp,it start to hang after i put game from the internet into game root,please tell me.which one that make the problem,the game or the psp.thankss

Posted by: toni at April 12, 2008 10:57 PM

Dave my freind, YOU ROCK!!! had the same problem fixed it right up. Thank you very much.

Posted by: Reynolds at April 24, 2008 6:20 PM

Dave! i need ur help! my psp died while in sleep because i lost my charger and didn't have a memory card to save it with, and now, the psp will cut on, but no games will work with it! help me plz!

Posted by: Chris at June 7, 2008 2:12 PM

Dave I have a another question what should i do when my game hangs up to loading... until it hangs?

PLease is it the game or the system it slef

Posted by: Miguel at June 26, 2008 3:32 PM

Hi dave i need some details on why da PSP is hanging while loading the game. i bought 2 PSP's and got them cracked, now the one i'm using seems to be working fine but my brother's seems to always keep getting hung while loading any of the ISO's. at times it doesn;t even detect the memory card. i tried what you have said to the other person. but i still isn't working

Posted by: Akshay Sangle at October 4, 2008 2:22 AM

Thanks! worked like a charm to fix my sons psp. I could not find this info elsewhere. You saved me.

Posted by: Dave at November 26, 2008 3:27 PM

dave help me!when i try to run my iso games (fight night round 2,nba live 2008 & 2009)it hang..and i close the game,i will just take off the batt. to close it..i just play all the games that i mention a week ago.pls help

Posted by: jheff at February 20, 2009 7:49 AM

Im seriously going to break this thing! I have spent hours and hours trying all the things you've suggested for my PSP. I continue to get a transfer error on PSPMM and a hang up on PSP when doing a simple mp3 transfer, I've also downloaded a Windows xp hotfix for usb after troubleshooting the code my driver gives me. PLEASE HELP!!! I think i'm going nuts!

Posted by: Steve Acosta at March 10, 2009 11:06 AM

huhuhuhu.. nid some HELP! my psp hung and when i turn it on.. there are no games.. what should i do??
huhuhu.. please help!!.. email me if u have suggestions .. ASAP.. xhuphisticated_143@yahoo.com

Posted by: xhubeh at July 24, 2009 3:50 AM

when i turn my psp on it just hangs up. none of keys work except the volume key. and when i turn my hold key on "m33 vsh menu" appears on the screen. i've tried it with the charger on&off. my psp is full charged. please help and thanks :)

Posted by: jeanne at September 10, 2009 12:00 PM

I've been trying to update my PSP Phat for over 2 hours now and it hangs onto the screen:

"Unpacking done...
Please wait..."

There is 100% power and it's plugged into a power outlet. Is there anything wrong?

Posted by: bryan at September 12, 2009 1:35 AM

tnx dave!!!! my psp had the same problem and i just restarted the system then it worked... i wanted my sister to play dissidia and we had the same problem. tnx a lot!!!

Posted by: AC at November 14, 2009 6:45 PM

Hello Dave Im Having a problem with my psp. When I turn it on I hear a grinding sound then it stops.The loading icon just keeps flashing,do to this set back I can not play any games but everything eles seems to be working???

Posted by: kennywoo at December 8, 2009 4:28 PM

tAKE OUT THE BATTERYTHEN RESTART

Posted by: Liam at February 7, 2010 12:51 PM

hello!!! i've updated my psp's software from 4.01 to 5.03 just to be compatible with the "chikhen" software that i already have, when i run the chickhen software, my psp slowed down,then hangs. is there a solution for this? thanks a lot in advance.

Posted by: kenneth at February 16, 2010 3:11 PM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!