I bought this unit for super cheap. It was described as "Died one day and won't turn on". I've seen numerous Vitas with batteries that have been discharged below what the protection circuit limits and the Vita stops recognizing them. I figured that's what the issue was. Upon opening the Vita I discovered some corrosion underneath the shields, and some other indications of water/liquid damage. I cleaned the board off with >99% isopropyl alcohol. It did the same thing so I put the board into an ultrasonic cleaner and still nothing.

I've also gone through all the normal troubleshooting steps.(i.e. hol;d power for 30 secs, change cords, power+ps+vol up, etc.)

I have a feeling this particular system isn't coming back, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any components on the board that would go out first?

Thanks in advance!

**Also to note, the battery is actually being charged when plugged in. The voltage has gone up normally during the charging session/s.**

⟐ Commented March 31, 2024 at 11:08 MST

⟐ Answered October 13, 2025 at 7:45 MST

⟐ Commented February 09, 2023 at 22:56 MST

On monday 15 september i was in school and after the break (pauze) i put my water bottle in my bag. When i got back in class and did a hour of working i wanted to pick up a worksheet that i had in my bag. For my suprise i saw that my water bottle was leaking. My Vita and charger were completely drounced in it. The idiot that i am tried to dry it and right after that tried to turn it on (i know, i'm dumb). Of course it didn't work but i was really in a stressful state since i got on my birthday (9 september) and i don't often get these expensive things.

Since i was in school i couldn't do anything. The teacher allowed me to dry off everything in my bag but i couldn't do anything about the Vita. I tried whipping the Vita with my hand a couple of times to get the inside water out. When i got home i tried opening the handheld with a screwdriver (i dont do these things often so i followed the tutorial here). Both halves were connected with eachother trough the battery cable that i was to afraid to remove so i left the battery on the system. I noticed a lot of water droplets so i let it dry 90 degress open with both halves (battery cable and black ribbon still attached). After a day my dad tried to charge it because he said the water would have been evaporated already. And it didn't work. After 2 more days i tried again and it still doesn't want to turn on but everything inside looks dry and ok.

Did i do something wrong or do i have to wait for some longer? I would really appreciate it if someone could help me directly. I can send some pictures of the board and the insides and you could tell me if there is some corrosion or other problems. I am really stressed out since this cost me a lot of money and i really want it to run again. I come from the netherlands so i hope my english wasn't that bad.

Thanks for reading and hopefully you can help me out!

Garik Sandrosian

⟐ Answered January 05, 2018 at 17:00 MST

⟐ Commented March 26, 2021 at 8:34 MST

⟐ Answer deleted May 06, 2020 at 14:37 MST

⟐ Edited December 30, 2014 at 5:18 MST

⟐ Commented March 08, 2024 at 13:24 MST

I tried restoring, restarting, and rebuilding, but the memory card could not be read no matter what I did. I was unable to format the memory card in safe mode since I kept getting errorc2-13209-5. I have not tried another memory card yet as this happened at an unexpected time.

I was following the instructions on ifixit and now I wish there was some kind of warning to take all cards out.

A solution to try is inserting the memory card to your PlayStation TV, if you own one. I don't know if this is guaranteed to work for anyone else but it did for me and worth a shot.

⟐ Commented November 17, 2019 at 17:39 MST

I am wondering. Is there any possible way to swap out the Sony card reader and switch in a MicroSD card reader?

I understand the pinouts are a bit different and shape, but other than that the size in dimension make it seem possible.

Or will the new security on these cards prohibit me from using the MircoSDHC?

⟐ Commented December 21, 2020 at 23:18 MST

It seems that the wireless module has been really overly fastened on my device and I'm having a really hard time with it.

One screw got loose eventually, but the other just do not want to budge.

The real problem is that it got pretty badly stripped during my attempts.

Stripped Screw

Is there anything I could do to get this thing to move, or am I screwed (I know...)?

Thanks!

⟐ Commented February 12, 2019 at 21:34 MST

⟐ Answer deleted May 24, 2018 at 1:53 MST

⟐ Answered March 27, 2017 at 2:02 MST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzwqB9Tj...

⟐ Commented December 16, 2024 at 2:16 MST

Then the power and home buttons stopped working

When I fixed them all the other buttons stopped working in games like the start button and playing buttons pls help

⟐ Answered October 20, 2016 at 20:20 MST

⟐ Answered November 22, 2022 at 2:32 MST

Well… on the 3 solder points, the one on the far left tore a piece of the board off. I'm going to assume this is probably something that is out of my depth and I need a whole new board. But maybe this could be fixed! Who knows?

Update: I just realized after further examination, another part of the motherboard has also been torn off, both of these parts of the board are stuck to the battery connector.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

⟐ Commented July 20, 2022 at 0:10 MST

⟐ Commented January 24, 2022 at 9:22 MST

⟐ Commented October 07, 2019 at 16:20 MST

I've tried 2 different charging cables.

Plugging into the Power Brick.

Plugging into PC with Vita in USB Power mode.

Nothing appears to work.

History: I recently replaced the battery myself. The replacement worked as the system works, but I have since noticed the charging issues mentioned above.

Any ideas?

⟐ Answered February 11, 2017 at 12:59 MST