I just bought my son a new Sony Playstation Portable and every time he starts it up to play a game we see the error message “No Memory Stick Duo found. A Memory Stick Duo is needed to save game data”. What does it mean and why wasn’t it included with our PSP?
You have hit on one of my pet peeves with modern electronics. It used to be that you needed to ensure that you bought batteries for the little gizmos before you gave them as presents or otherwise enjoyed them, but now that so many things — cellphones, video game systems, cameras — require memory, it’s critical that you also buy a memory device for them too.
The Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) is no different, and you really need to buy a small memory card to slip into it so that you can save games as you proceed, etc. It’s not critical (as you can see in the actual error message, below), but it’s a really good idea:
What bugs me about this is that as you can see it doesn’t need a very big device to work: 700K is just over half a megabyte, and typical memory devices are measured in thousands of megabytes (gigabytes). With all of its manufacturing prowess, Sony really could make 1MB Memory Stick Duos and include them in the box with the PSP for another dollar or two.
But they don’t.
Instead, you need to buy one, which is easily done at Best Buy, Amazon.com or just about any other electronics or game store.
A quick look at Amazon.com shows that the smallest PSP-compatible Memory Stick Duo (and yes, you want to pick one that explicitly says “PSP compatible” for best results) is a SanDisk 1GB Duo Memory Card for $9.99.
(which means that the production cost is about a dollar, maybe two. Adding it in the box of the Sony PSP would add maybe two dollars to the price of the unit. Would anyone not buy it if it cost $2 more? I really don’t think so…)
Once you get the card, you need to find where on the modern PSP you insert it into the device. Turns out there’s a small hidden door on the lower right edge of the device:
Slip your fingernail underneath it and pop it out:
Now the Memory Stick Duo slips right into the Sony PSP and next time you start it you won’t see the error message and your son will be greatly pleased to be able to save his progress as he plays through some of the many great games for this little handheld powerhouse.
While I’m here, I should mention that if you’re looking for Sony PSP Help, you’ve found it. I have tons. 🙂
MY problem is first i Upgrade my 3.71 M33 to 3.95 and then after that my games are deleted and the second i try to reformat my memory stick and then my problem is i cannot put or see my games…
Manoj
I know what you mean it would probably awesome but the thing is lets say you have 3 diff PSP’s atm
1000 normal about 3-4 cm wide(these arnt accurate)
2000 about 1-3cm wide
3000 about 1-3cm wide
all the space the lights would put in the 2 new ones would make it thicker but if they combined these altogether andthe lights aswell it would probably fit
plus they would have to use long lasting probably Diodes so it would cost about £10/$12.50-$15
Hi Dave,
Nice job you’re doing by the way.
I had a comment ..why is it that Sony hasn’t given us backlit buttons on the PSP (i.e. the controller buttons are unlit when i play in a dark room)…OK after a while the interface is pretty intuitive but still..the PSP would have looked really neat if those darkened buttons had a backlight like the ones on mobile phone buttons…
i am having a hard time dowdloading music from my pc to the psp, do i insert the mermory stick into my computer, where is saysmemory stick/pro? and how do i know if the music on my pc is mp3?. help I am a grandmother and i want to figure this out please help me, us
thanks
tamara
ps i will keep looking to see if there are any step by step insturction on you page.