My old Sony PSP-1000 has been giving me a bit of trouble with its buttons, particularly the switch mechanism on the replacement PCB. I figured replacing the whole board would be easier than trying to replace an individual switch. After all, the replacement was only a couple of dollars. What could possibly go wrong?

I also had a replacement DC power jack ready to go, but that turned out to be about as rusty as the original. Not much point installing another rusty connector, so I left that alone and concentrated on the button board. The PSP still had its original battery too, which was rather nice to see.

Getting the faceplate off wasn’t too difficult, although I hadn’t exactly prepared myself with a disassembly guide. Out came the screws, followed by the faceplate and a few buttons that were rather keen to escape. Then came the ribbon cables, awkward little connectors and the discovery that I’d need to get behind the screen to reconnect something I’d accidentally dislodged. Naturally, that turned a supposedly simple board replacement into a much longer adventure.

After getting everything back together, it was time to test the buttons. Triangle and Circle were doing their thing, but X wasn’t playing along. I tried reseating the cables and checking the connections, without much luck. Eventually I put the original board back in and, wouldn’t you know it, the buttons started behaving again!

So the replacement board appears to have been the problem rather than the solution. At least the original board was back in place, the buttons were responding, and I’d learnt rather more about taking a PSP-1000 apart than I’d originally intended.

All that from a cheap little PCB. Thirty-nine minutes of troubleshooting!