My umd is not working how can i fix this

Hello

Switch on on your PSP and remove the UMD that might be inside

When you open up the UMD door and look down inside you will see the Laser assembly.

If you look to the left there is a black tab that sticks up, this tells the PSP that there is a UMD in the drive.

If you press this down with a small probe, you should see the disc motor spin and the laser light up red (do not stare directly at the laser)

Inspect to see If the Motor is spinning or not.is it moving slightly?

Take the parts out and see if there is another problem also.

If the laser is not lighting up then it could be the laser,check the cables to the PSP and see if there is a bad connection.

If both are running well then put a disc in and get your ear up close so you can hear what is going on in there.

On a working PSP you will hear the disc start to spin up, then you can hear the laser start to twitch, followed by the laser motor moving the laser down the rails.

Can you hear the disc spin up? If not I would take the disc out again and press the switch with your probe again. if the disc motor is spinning again, look around to see if the metal housing is obstructing the disc when you put it in.. there could be too much pressure for the disc to spin freely

Can you hear the Laser focus? This might be hard to hear it will sound like a little tick. If you cant hear it tick I would move on and inspect this internally later.

Can you hear the Laser move down the rail? This will be a smooth sound of the gears, it should not be a really clicky sound.

If you can't hear it move down the track OR it is very clicky do the fpllowing;

You should open the UMD door and carefully manually move the laser to the right side of the assembly.

Use a sharp THIN probe to manually move the WHITE gear under the metal housing.

try and scrape the gears themselves to make sure there is no gunk or debris in the gear..

After this try and see if it is reading UMD again.

If none of this is working, it is time to open your PSP unit

If you are able to find out what's wrong from the troubleshooting steps above you can replace the problem by

Replacing the UMD, Assembly,Replacing UMD Disc Motor,Replacing UMD Laser Motor or by Replacing PSP Motherboard

I have seen many PSP's stop reading UMD discs and for the most part they are repairable with the least amount of opening your PSP.
First we will do some trouble shooting with what might be wrong with your PSP unit.
About 35% of the time I find that there is something stuck in the UMD gear. It is different every time, sometimes its a piece of dust, plastic, soda, and even hair.
Another 25% is the Disc Spinning motor. This will not let The disc in the UMD spin.
About 20% is the Laser motor, this might be hard to spot since it could be something in the gears.
About 10% is the actual laser itself. It will not focus the laser to read the UMD disc.
The Last 10% is the Motherboard. This is the worst outcome, since there is very little what we can do but replace the motherboard.
So first what we need to do is find out what is actually wrong with your PSP.
With your PSP in hand.
Turn on your PSP and remove any UMD that might be in there now.
If you open up the UMD door and look down inside you will see the Laser assembly.
If you look to the left there is a black tab that sticks up, this tells the PSP that there is a UMD in the drive.
If you press this down with a small probe, you should see the disc motor spin and the laser light up red
*** CAUTION DO NOT STARE DIRECTLY AT THE LASER ***

If the Motor is not spinning. is it moving slightly? Maybe a little twitch?
I would lean more towards the bad motor problem BUT would not say for sure, I would recommend that you take the parts out and see if there is another problem also.
If the laser is not lighting up then it could be the laser, I would try and check the cables to the PSP and see if there is a bad connection.
If both are running well then lets put a disc in and get your ear up close so you can hear what is going on in there.
On a working PSP you will hear the disc start to spin up, then you can hear the laser start to twitch, followed by the laser motor moving the laser down the rails.
Can you hear the disc spin up? If not I would take the disc out again and press the switch with your probe again. if the disc motor is spinning again, look around to see if the metal housing is obstructing the disc when you put it in.. there could be to much pressure for the disc to spin freely.
Can you hear the Laser focus? This might be hard to hear it will sound like a little tick. If you cant hear it tick I would move on and inspect this internally later.
Can you hear the Laser move down the rail? This will be a smooth sound of the gears, it should not be a really clicky sound.
If you can't hear it move down the track OR it is very clicky follow this.

It would look like this if your UMD door was off.
You should open the UMD door and carefully manually move the laser to the right side of the assembly.
Use a sharp THIN probe to manually move the WHITE gear under the metal housing. It is quite hard to see it in the photos so I put a red star around it.
I usually try and scrape the gears themselves to make sure there is no gunk or debris in the gear.
After this try and see if it is reading UMD again.
This fixes it about 35% of the time.
If none of this is working, it is time to open your PSP unit Or send it in for repair.
If you know what's wrong you can replace the problem here
Replace UMD Assembly
Replace UMD Disc Motor
Replace UMD Laser Motor
Replace PSP Motherboard

PSP UMD Repair: Not reading UMD discs

I have seen many PSP's stop reading UMD discs and for the most part they are repairable with the least amount of opening your PSP.
First we will do some trouble shooting with what might be wrong with your PSP unit.
About 35% of the time I find that there is something stuck in the UMD gear. It is different every time, sometimes its a piece of dust, plastic, soda, and even hair.
Another 25% is the Disc Spinning motor. This will not let The disc in the UMD spin.
About 20% is the Laser motor, this might be hard to spot since it could be something in the gears.
About 10% is the actual laser itself. It will not focus the laser to read the UMD disc.
The Last 10% is the Motherboard. This is the worst outcome, since there is very little what we can do but replace the motherboard.
So first what we need to do is find out what is actually wrong with your PSP.
With your PSP in hand.
Turn on your PSP and remove any UMD that might be in there now.
If you open up the UMD door and look down inside you will see the Laser assembly.
If you look to the left there is a black tab that sticks up, this tells the PSP that there is a UMD in the drive.
If you press this down with a small probe, you should see the disc motor spin and the laser light up red
*** CAUTION DO NOT STARE DIRECTLY AT THE LASER ***

If the Motor is not spinning. is it moving slightly? Maybe a little twitch?
I would lean more towards the bad motor problem BUT would not say for sure, I would recommend that you take the parts out and see if there is another problem also.
If the laser is not lighting up then it could be the laser, I would try and check the cables to the PSP and see if there is a bad connection.
If both are running well then lets put a disc in and get your ear up close so you can hear what is going on in there.
On a working PSP you will hear the disc start to spin up, then you can hear the laser start to twitch, followed by the laser motor moving the laser down the rails.
Can you hear the disc spin up? If not I would take the disc out again and press the switch with your probe again. if the disc motor is spinning again, look around to see if the metal housing is obstructing the disc when you put it in.. there could be to much pressure for the disc to spin freely.
Can you hear the Laser focus? This might be hard to hear it will sound like a little tick. If you cant hear it tick I would move on and inspect this internally later.
Can you hear the Laser move down the rail? This will be a smooth sound of the gears, it should not be a really clicky sound.
If you can't hear it move down the track OR it is very clicky follow this.


It would look like this if your UMD door was off.
You should open the UMD door and carefully manually move the laser to the right side of the assembly.
Use a sharp THIN probe to manually move the WHITE gear under the metal housing. It is quite hard to see it in the photos so I put a red star around it.
I usually try and scrape the gears themselves to make sure there is no gunk or debris in the gear.

After this try and see if it is reading UMD again.
This fixes it about 35% of the time.
If none of this is working, it is time to open your PSP unit Or send it in for repair.
If you know what's wrong you can replace the problem here
Replace UMD Assembly
Replace UMD Disc Motor
Replace UMD Laser Motor
Replace PSP Motherboard

All photos and content copyright © Llamma Corp. 2002-2006
http://www.llamma.com/PSP/repair/PSP_UMD_Not_Reading_Discs.htm

Hi! I incounter this problem as well even without UMD its still loading and even I disable auto-start UMD still same so I tried reflashing the software but still same problem so I discover the solution before you turn-on your PSP try to open your UMD cover you'll see it will load faster then close again the cover once you see the battery and clock icon... The problem that causing this is the switch inside the UMD possible its stock-up or spoiled already!

maybe something on the inside is moved because ive openened a psp before and the thing in the back of the screen is like a hook that holds the screen shut. or maybe the little thing in your umd door that holds that little closing thing broke off. u can solve this also by hacking your psp and running the games trough the M33 driver. =D

have seen many PSP's stop reading UMD discs and for the most part they are repairable with the least amount of opening your PSP.
First we will do some trouble shooting with what might be wrong with your PSP unit. About 35% of the time I find that there is something stuck in the UMD gear. It is different every time, sometimes its a piece of dust, plastic, soda, and even hair.
Another 25% is the Disc Spinning motor. This will not let The disc in the UMD spin.
About 20% is the Laser motor, this might be hard to spot since it could be something in the gears.
About 10% is the actual laser itself. It will not focus the laser to read the UMD disc.
The Last 10% is the Motherboard. This is the worst outcome, since there is very little what we can do but replace the motherboard.
So first what we need to do is find out what is actually wrong with your PSP.
With your PSP in hand.
Turn on your PSP and remove any UMD that might be in there now.
If you open up the UMD door and look down inside you will see the Laser assembly.
If you look to the left there is a black tab that sticks up, this tells the PSP that there is a UMD in the drive.
If you press this down with a small probe, you should see the disc motor spin and the laser light up red
*** CAUTION DO NOT STARE DIRECTLY AT THE LASER ***

If the Motor is not spinning. is it moving slightly? Maybe a little twitch?
I would lean more towards the bad motor problem BUT would not say for sure, I would recommend that you take the parts out and see if there is another problem also.
If the laser is not lighting up then it could be the laser, I would try and check the cables to the PSP and see if there is a bad connection.
If both are running well then lets put a disc in and get your ear up close so you can hear what is going on in there.
On a working PSP you will hear the disc start to spin up, then you can hear the laser start to twitch, followed by the laser motor moving the laser down the rails.
Can you hear the disc spin up? If not I would take the disc out again and press the switch with your probe again. if the disc motor is spinning again, look around to see if the metal housing is obstructing the disc when you put it in.. there could be to much pressure for the disc to spin freely.
Can you hear the Laser focus? This might be hard to hear it will sound like a little tick. If you cant hear it tick I would move on and inspect this internally later.
Can you hear the Laser move down the rail? This will be a smooth sound of the gears, it should not be a really clicky sound.
If you can't hear it move down the track OR it is very clicky follow this.


It would look like this if your UMD door was off.
You should open the UMD door and carefully manually move the laser to the right side of the assembly.
Use a sharp THIN probe to manually move the WHITE gear under the metal housing. It is quite hard to see it in the photos so I put a red star around it.
I usually try and scrape the gears themselves to make sure there is no gunk or debris in the gear.
After this try and see if it is reading UMD again.
This fixes it about 35% of the time.
If none of this is working, it is time to open your PSP unit Or send it in for repair.
If you know what's wrong you can replace the problem here
Replace UMD Assembly
Replace UMD Disc Motor
Replace UMD Laser Motor
Replace PSP Motherboard

if you need more infomation please just ask ... Symo02

you need a whole new psp chasis. its not major, maybe 10 bucks off the net. email me - [email protected] for replacing instructions

The switch has a small plastic tit that moves a thin metal piece to the side so that the hook on the UMD door is released. If the little tit is broken off it cannot move the metal slide. The metal piece is not likely to break. If it feels like the slide switch is not pushing anything when you slide it, remove it which ever way you see fit. Use a small nail or tack to slide the metal piece inside towards the center of the PSP. This should open the umd door.

Hi Goodhelper,

Check the UMD for any kind of foriegn obstruction. You can use a pencil with an eraser to psin the UMD manually. Do this to check to be sure the UMD is not scrubbing or sticking inside its case. Try a different UMD to see if its the UMD or the UMD drive inside your PSP.

If you find it is the PSP. Services listed with Fixya can repair your PSP. Click on "REpair Directory" at the bottom of this screen. In the next screen, Click on "Video Game Consoles". Pick a good PSP repair service.