[Guide] Unbrick or Downgrade any PSP using the Pandora Battery

[Hardrive]

Unbrick or Downgrade any PSP using Pandora's Battery

Requirements Software Requirements Pandora's Battery Files 1.50 Sony Update WinRAR or 7-Zip Hardware Requirements Two separate PSPs: A PSP you want reflashed A non-bricked PSP to prepare the files on. This PSP must also be capable of running 1.50 homebrew. In theory, this could be done with one PSP. However, this PSP would need to be non-bricked, and capable of running homebrew. It would be much more efficient to use a homebrew flasher in that case. Therefore, the Pandora Battery should only be used to downgrade PSPs or un-brick PSPs. A spare battery, of any make. After this process is complete, the PSP will not boot into its normal state with this battery A spare Memory Stick Pro Duo, at least 256MB, less than 4GB. The Memory Stick Duo will not work, it must be a Memory Stick Pro Duo

Terms and Conditions As with any PSP operation that involves flashing, there is some risk involved. Obviously though, there is less of a risk, because your PSP is already bricked. However, you accept full responsibility for your actions. I, nor QJ, nor the developers of this hack are in any way responsible. Additionally, you accept that your battery may not be able to boot a PSP into its normal mode. Please, please, please, if you find a section of this guide to be incorrect or unclear, please PM me, and I will attempt to fix it.

Preparations - Requires the use of a homebrew capable PSP Memory Stick Preparations Thanks to Freeplay for outlining the command line procedure and expected prompts he used. Using a USB cable, connect your PSP to your PC. Backup all data on the Memory Stick. Using any utility, format the Memory Stick. Using WinRAR, open up the pandora.zip file you downloaded (if you haven't already, it's in the Requirements section) Unzip the files to a folder on your PC. Open a command prompt (Start -> Run -> cmd) In the command prompt, switch into the 'mspformat' folder you extracted from pandora.zip... wherever you had put it. Type "mspformat X" where X is the drive of your PSP. Do not include the colon. For example, my PSP is connected at O:, so I type "mspformat O". Spoiler for expected prompt: You should see a prompt like this: >>> C:\psp\pandora\mspformat> mspformat.exe O >>> You are about to format the drive O. >>> All data will be lost. Do you want to continue? [Y] Type 'y'. >>> y and you should see >>> Drive succesfully formatted, and partition moved. Disable the USB connection and remove the Memory Stick Put the Memory Stick back into your PSP, and re-enable the USB connection. Create a folder called PSP in the root of your memory stick (X:\PSP, where X is your PSP's drive letter) Create a GAME folder (for 1.50) or GAME and GAME150 folder (for custom firmware) inside the PSP folder on your memory stick (X:\PSP\GAME) | (X:\PSP\GAME150) From the pandora.zip file, copy the contents of the battery folder and the installer folder to the GAME directory you just created (X:\PSP\GAME) or (X:\PSP\GAME150) Rename the 1.50 Sony Update you downloaded to UPDATE.PBP Copy the UPDATE.PBP file to the root of your memory stick (X:\UPDATE.PBP) Disable the USB connection and remove the Memory Stick Put the Memory Stick back into the PSP Run installer on the PSP. This will create the file needed to reflash your PSP (There should now be a file named "msipl.bin" at the root of the Memory Stick). Connect the PSP to your PC via a USB cable. Copy "msipl.bin" into the folder called "msinst" that was extracted from the pandora.zip file. In the Command Prompt, switch into the "msinst" folder... wherever you put it. Type "msinst X msipl.bin" where X is the drive of your PSP. Do not include the colon. For example, my PSP is connected at O:, so I type "msinst O msipl.bin". Spoiler for expected prompt: You should see a prompt like this. I guarantee that your stuff will be slightly different; it depends on how your computer is set up, what sort of memory stick you have, and so on. As long as you get the "Are You Sure? [Y]" prompt, you know that the msipl.bin file is OK. >>> C:\psp\pandora\msinst>msi nst O msipl.bin >>> PSP MS IPL Installer >>> Load IPL code msipl.bin >>> 241664 bytes(59 block) readed >>> >>> Target DRIVE is 7 >>> Check partation Sector >>> boot status 0x80 >>> start head 0x05 >>> start sec/cyl 0x0004 >>> partation type 0x06 >>> last head 0x0F >>> last sec/cyl 0xB7E0 >>> abs sector 0x00000810 >>> ttl sector 0x000767F0 >>> signature 0xAA55 >>> Check BPB Sector >>> signature AA55 >>> Check free reserved sector:OK >>> Write ABS Sector 0x10 to 0x1E7 >>> Are You Sure ?[Y] Type 'y'. >>> y and you should see >>> Write MS BOOT CODE That means that you now have a "magic" memory stick. Disable the USB connection and remove the Memory Stick Battery Preparation Make sure you have completed the "Memory Stick Preparation" first. Plug the Memory Stick back in. ***OPTIONAL *** Run the "Pandora's Battery Creator" program on the PSP and press Triangle "/\" to back up the contents of your battery's flash into a file on you memory stick. The program will automatically exit. *Note:* This step is REQUIRED if you want to make this a normal battery again; otherwise it's optional. Run the "Pandora's Battery Creator" program on the PSP. This prepares the battery. You will not be able to use it normally from now on unless you've taken the optional step above to revert after the fact (should be using a spare so you can keep it around anyways). You now have a "Magic Memory Stick" and a "JigKick Battery". Proceed to the next section to reflash your PSP.

Reflash your PSP Remove the UMD, Battery, Memory Stick, and Power Cable from the bricked PSP. Insert the Memory Stick ("Magic Memory Stick") you prepared beforehand into the bricked PSP. Insert the battery ("JigKick Battery") you prepared beforehand into the PSP. Boot the PSP. A menu will appear. Follow the onscreen instructions to reflash your PSP. When the flashing process is complete, restart your PSP. If all goes well, a blue screen will appear, telling you that your settings are corrupt, and to press circle to repair them. Do so now, rebooting your PSP if necessary. You should now have a 1.50 PSP

Notes and Restrictions I have taken these right from the readme.txt file included in the pandora.zip file. Originally Posted by readme.txt The firmware in the Memory Stick is not a full 1.50, but a minimal subset. Therefore, not all applications (such as flashers, or recovery apps) will load. Only Memory Stick Pro Duo are compatible. Memory Stick Duo (e.g. 32MB sticks) are not supported. The IDStorage cannot be totally restored, as there is no known way to regenerate it properly. It is strongly RECOMMENDED to make a flash dump of the PSP before any downgrading operation. There might be a BSOD at the end of the downgrade. This is normal, and happens on the standard downgraders. All hardware revisions known at this day are supported. This release contains no Sony-copyrighted material. All required Sony data is generated from the v1.50 update files.

FAQ Can this downgrade or unbrick any PSP? Yes, you can unbrick any currently available PSP. This can also be used as a downgrader on a non-bricked PSP. Do third party batteries work? Yes, according to Fanjita, he uses a Datel brand battery. Can I restore my battery back to its normal state after this process? Yes, you can if you've backed up the contents of your battery's flash into a file on you memory stick; although, this defeats the purpose of having a battery ready for unbricking. That is why you are suggested a spare battery. Freeplay has found some very cheap batteries here. Get them while they're still cheap. To revert a battery: Take out normal battery Power on PSP with AC adapter only Once XMB comes up, re-insert pandora battery Run "Pandora Battery Maker" and press L+R to restore the ms0:/eeprom.bin to your battery Can the Memory Stick be reformatted and reused? Yes, however you will need to redo all of the steps in the "Preparations" section related to the memory stick for reuse as unbricker. Does unbricking work on TA-082 motherboards? It is known to work on all motherboard revisions. The reflasher will ask you to apply the patch. Press 'X' to do so. The readme states that "The firmware in the Memory Stick is not a full 1.50 but a minimal subset."; what's that all about? It simply means that the PSP will not act as a "complete" 1.5 PSP until you place your normal battery back in and restart. Minimal subset? Can I install custom firmware? As stated above, replace your normal battery and restart the PSP so that you've loaded the full 1.5 firmware from flash0 into memory; then you can do as you see fit. The readme states that "The IDStorage cannot be totally restored, as there is no known way to regenerate it properly." They're talking about if you bricked due to a corrupted idstorage. If nothing bad has ever happened to your idstorage, you can safely ignore this note. Will this work on PSP slim? There is speculation about this, At the moment, no one knows but we will specify here when possible.

Revision History 08/25/07 - Added link to DOS command reference 08/24/07 - Formatting and small corrections 08/23/07 - FAQ revision 08/22/07 - Initial Release

Credits Prometheus team (Team C+D): Adrahil (VoidPointer) Booster Cswindle (Caretaker) Dark_AleX (Malyot) Ditlew Fanjita (FullerMonty) Joek2100 (CosmicOverSoul) Jim Mathieulh (WiseFellow) Nem (h1ckeyph0rce) Psp250 Skylark TyRaNiD (bockscar) Anyone not mentioned who has in some way contributed to the PSPSDK. Without you, none of this would have been possible.

Donate Please donate to the original developers - it's a lot cheaper than paying £1500 for it on the black market... Donations via paypal are available by using this link: Donate - This is the link available on noobz.eu. For some reason it is in German.