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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Categorized: iPod, Sony PSP and MP3 Player Help (Article 4075, Written by Dave Taylor)
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Reader Comments To Date: 47

Luis said, on July 22, 2005 8:49 PM:

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

Nancy said, on August 2, 2005 6:47 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

Dave Taylor said, on August 3, 2005 5:42 AM:

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/

mike said, on November 25, 2006 7:54 PM:

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?

alan said, on January 3, 2007 11:23 AM:

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

Dave Taylor said, on January 3, 2007 2:15 PM:

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

viva la loco said, on April 10, 2007 6:44 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....

Javier said, on May 27, 2007 11:54 AM:

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

Thereon said, on October 4, 2007 9:22 PM:

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!!!!!!!!!!

gary said, on October 20, 2007 11:34 AM:

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

Kirt said, on January 30, 2008 6:04 PM:

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.

toni said, on April 12, 2008 10:57 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

Reynolds said, on April 24, 2008 6:20 PM:

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

Chris said, on June 7, 2008 2:12 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!

Miguel said, on June 26, 2008 3:32 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

Akshay Sangle said, on October 4, 2008 2:22 AM:

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

Dave said, on November 26, 2008 3:27 PM:

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

jheff said, on February 20, 2009 7:49 AM:

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

Steve Acosta said, on March 10, 2009 11:06 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!

xhubeh said, on July 24, 2009 3:50 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

jeanne said, on September 10, 2009 12:00 PM:

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 :)

bryan said, on September 12, 2009 1:35 AM:

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?

AC said, on November 14, 2009 6:45 PM:

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!!!

kennywoo said, on December 8, 2009 4:28 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???

Liam said, on February 7, 2010 12:51 PM:

tAKE OUT THE BATTERYTHEN RESTART

kenneth said, on February 16, 2010 3:11 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.

Zhenghan said, on June 5, 2010 1:21 AM:

Dave. Hey, how are you? :D I have a question. One day my psp was hang and i restart it and all my games are gone. What should i do?

adrian castillo said, on August 4, 2010 7:29 PM:

dave good day!! i have a problem on my psp when i start the game it's start loading but the problem is when loading the game it hangs up and it will automaticaly turned off,,

what could be the posible problem my psp or the games?
but sometimes when the games start it is too slow,the moving of character in the game is too slow,,
what should i do?
pls..help me dave,

Shahriar Tash said, on August 10, 2010 12:10 AM:

I have bought my son a PSP and have some problems. One problem being that sometimes it doesn't detect the memory card. The other one is that the Direction Button sticks to the left in the games, while it works fine out of the games. Please help me out, Thank you for your time.

Shourya said, on August 25, 2010 1:33 AM:

Hi dave, I am facing a real issue here with my PSP-2003 its about 3 years old. I did an off market firmware upgrade on my PSP, as a result it started playing games from the memory card. Now after about an year or so it was working fine one fine day it started hanging and by hanging i mean all the applications are opening but pretty damn slow and also the screen is kind of flickering. So i formatted the memory card. Now the problem is still there and my firmware upgrade is gone too. please help.

raymond1234 said, on October 19, 2010 3:53 AM:

hi! can you help me with my psp? while i was playing my psp turned off, then when i opened it, it stays at the home screen blank, but there are no icons. i can only press select. then i cannot turn it off either. dont know what to do! thank you

dj said, on January 16, 2011 12:59 PM:

help pls!!!...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.......

randy said, on October 22, 2011 11:00 AM:

Hi my name is randy..can you help me? I rescently formated my psp memory stick but when I insert it back into my psp and added my games it wouldnt show in my psp it would just say "no data" so i try to remember the folders that were there before I formated my psp memory stick...I made ISO folder,Music,Video... the music folder works my psp can play it but my games just wont show into my psp :( i desperately need your help.... thank you

sebastian said, on December 9, 2011 6:25 PM:

my psp go frezzed while using P-Twit and I pressed home and exit game... but the psp frezzed on "Please Wait..."and it doesn't want to turn off. I tried to turn it off, the normal way, but it doesn't turn off. AND there's a problem with the psp go that is that i can't pull the battery out.

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rafael said, on December 18, 2011 8:42 AM:

i have a psp 3006 and its modded to 6.20 Pro b5
when i first bought the psp it was wonderful, all the games which i downloaded worked!. but after 1 year my start button doesnt work!
and sometimes..it turns off automatically. Any solutions?..please help!

Chris said, on December 21, 2011 11:06 AM:

Pls anytime i want to start playin a game(pes 2011)it hangs and for some time it turns off PLS HELP! Email me at seunchristopher@yahoo.com

anusherishikeshwaran said, on January 22, 2012 8:31 AM:

nokia phone hanged with "please wait".what shall i do?

ivan cruz said, on February 27, 2012 7:10 PM:

Dave thank you so much for helping me...... this was the first time this happened to me so i kinda got freaked out but thnx to u my psp is working again and right now it is charging so once again thank you

IK said, on April 15, 2012 10:42 PM:

thanks bro....
problem fixed

rohit said, on June 2, 2012 2:33 AM:

Thanks Mr Dave , problem with sony psp. please wait ...... solved it after reading your suggestions. Thanks a lot sir ...

ZENAX6 said, on October 13, 2012 2:03 PM:

same problem really tnx much aprisiated :) real THANK TO YOU

amaan said, on November 20, 2012 9:02 AM:

MY PSP HAD BEEN STUCK WHEN I QUIT THE GAME OF WRESTLING IT IS WRITTEN PLEASE WAIT AND IT
IS HANGED FROM MORNING

Ezra Darunday with bonbon said, on December 28, 2012 6:02 AM:

hahahaha!!! we've gone nevous ty for the advise!!

Ezazal said, on February 7, 2013 3:53 PM:

Pressing and holding the power button up for about 10 sec's.... thats what I needed.... thanks that worked a treat.

aliasgher said, on March 7, 2013 7:12 AM:

thnx dave it helped me a lot .. n d problem of hanging had been finished

Sami said, on April 6, 2013 9:44 AM:

MY PSP HAD BEEN STUCK WHEN I QUIT THE GAME OF
WRESTLING IT IS WRITTEN PLEASE WAIT AND IT
IS HANGED FROM MORNING

Sammy said, on May 8, 2013 1:01 AM:

woooeeee!!!! Thanks... This really Helped me Dave! thanks a lot... my psp was hanged up for 3 days.... thank u!!!

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

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

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

Reader Comments To Date: 47

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

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