Can't replace plastic umd cover

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

If your PSP isn't reading games and/or movies and the problem isn't that your trying to play dirty, bent, or damaged UMD discs there are a number of other reasons your PSP is not reading disks correctly =

- Your UMD motor may be malfunctioning.
- Your laser may have worn down from use over time.
- Your UMD drive tray may be bent.
- There may be a foreign object in your UMD drive

Common symptoms

* disks fail to load
* extremely slow loading
* strange whirring noise when trying to read disks

For whatever reason your PSP has stopped reading games and/or movies we will get your PSP back to you and playing like like new fast! Our price includes labor, parts, and return shipping via priority mail.

Visit PSP UMD Drive REPAIR if you are interested in an affordable and reliable PSP repair service. We have been serving the whole United States for more than 2 years!

1. Slide the open latch on the top of the PSP? system. The disc cover opens.
2. Insert the UMD? with the disc label facing the system rear. Slide the UMD? down the metal guides and press down until fully inserted. You should hear a slight click, indicating that the UMD? is held in place.
3. Close the disc cover.
   
   the Latch your looking for looks like this
   
   
   
   
   "Please Rate"
   

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

first clean your laser lens. see if that works. next check to see if the laser is working by opening the umd door without a game, press down the umd lever at the bottom til it locks then press down the small black plastic lever on the left hand side approx 1cm down. the laser should light up and go in and out searching for the umd.
i'm afraid if this does not work, it may be time to buy a new laser!

After you put the UMD in, you should be able to see a umd icon in the game section. Otherwise, you might have put the umd up side down or something.

Becareful as you might damage the umd optical lens.

You may be able to rectify the problem by fitting a new UMD drive, visit http://www.psptree.co.uk/store they have replacements for almost everything there.

Please rate if at all useful, thanks!

Look the UMD disc drive to see if anything could be interfering with the Hard to see little white gear.  It is toward the back and underneath.  If you used Alcohol to Clean the laser, you could have damaged or melted the lens of the laser. Alcohol cleaning on PS2 lasers was prescribed for the Phat big Versions of PS2 only.  Sony Lowered the quality from Glass lens to Plastic lens since the slim model.  I think the PS3 has a Glass lens though. If you did clean it with Alcohol, I suggest finding a Repair specialist to replace your UMD Drive. If you live in the USA, I can replace your UMD disc drive for $53 including Return shipping, and giving you a 90 day warranty.

look down the case it there any thing hanging loose and bent metal and are there marks on the umd case or disk