Sony PSP 1003 Teardown

Add Note Introduction

Author: armintalic

After a solid four year run, this old PSP has seen better days. Countless bumps and grazes and now it's pretty much inoperable. So, what better time to teardown a pricey product than when it's broken beyond repair?

If you're here, you love a bit of circuitry, so let's get to it.

This is a relatively long teardown, so buckle up!

NOTE: Please be aware that this teardown is not intended for re-assembly.

View as slideshow

Tools used in this guide
Teardown Warning

Teardown

Teardowns provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions.

User-Contributed Guide

User-Contributed Guide

This guide is not managed by iFixit staff.

Paginated Single Page Steps

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Add Note Step 1 — Teardown

  • This is the easy part, place the PSP upside down, on it's top side.

  • There's only one screw to take out here. Since I'm no genius when it comes to screw sizes, I'll let you pick the right one from your set of twenty.

  • Remove the battery cover.

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Add Note Step 2

  • Start by removing the three screws highlighted by the red screws.

  • Take care when removing the forth screw, as it's slightly tighter than the rest. This screw is highlighted in blue.

  • This is the point of no return, if you choose go on, you're voiding your warranty. So, carefully peel back the warning sticker all the way off.

  • You'll fins two small screws concealed below the label, remove those screws.

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Add Note Step 3

  • You can now start to carefully pry the top cover from the unit, using the spudger. Start from right to left, leveraging slowly.

  • Contrary to what this picture might suggest, this PSP hasn't contracted chickenpox. Each red circle indicates a screw that you need to remove.

  • Carefully unclip the connector circled in red.

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Add Note Step 4

  • Open the UMD slot. With the screen facing towards you, unclip the locks at the bottom right outer-side of the hinge, and the bottom left, inner-side of the hinge. Remove this component.

  • Remove the four newly revealed screws, in any order. If you're afraid of commitment, you might like to assign each screw a number between 1-4, and decide using a random number generator. Remove this component.

  • Place the PSP face up, with the joystick side on the right. There are two lock clips located on the right side of the LCD, unhinge these. Remove this component.

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Add Note Step 5

  • Now don't get all gun-ho, be careful when detaching the LCD, as it's attached with two connectors. You can unlock these connectors by pulling back the brown latches VERY carefully.

  • Same deal again, go crazy with remove the screws highlighted in red... Crazy in a calm and collected way. Remove this component.

  • Disconnect these two cables.

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Add Note Step 6

  • Remove the two screws labelled in red. These are holding down the main circuit board.

  • Almost there, if you've come this far, I commend you on your effort! Again, carefully pry open the cable lock and remove the WiFi component.

  • Remove the circuit board, this might be the most important step. Sit back and gaze at the chips for at least 5-8 minutes. NOTE: You can come back to this step at any point.

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Add Note Step 7

  • You can now remove the WiFi boar and chip, along with the metal plate.

  • The chip Sony used in the original PSP could pick up wireless G bands, which made it a nippy handheld network device for its time.

  • At the time, £280 worth of circuitry, wires, metal and plastic. Beautiful sight.

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Add Note Step 8

  • You're all done, this step is just to bring the steps in this teardown to an even number :)

  • Mmm... circuits. SIDE NOTE: I'm not certain, but I think that the chips circled in red control the DRM for the device ;)

  • P.s. Apologies for the relatively low-res images, but it's the best my camera could muster.

Add NoteNotes: Step 7

iFixit Staff

Flag Reply by Mitra Cline Oct 19 @ 11:23 AM

I like the photo where you show all the parts. It could be on it's own step...

Flag Reply by armintalic Oct 21 @ 10:13 AM

Quote from mitra:

I like the photo where you show all the parts. It could be on it's own step...

Done :)