Hi
while experimenting with the camera of my mobile phone (w810i) i found that it can make IR visible!
i pointed a common remote control at it while filming and it was like a flashlight on the movie.
Further experiments with IR shell and my w810i showed that
when ececuted in 3.40 kernel the Signal sent by the PSP was much stronger
when i launched IR shell from (at that time) 1.50 the power of the IR LED was very weak.
Maybe this can help you to find bad Hardware!
Today i still use my mobile to determinate if my remotes need fresh batterys
