Hardware Mod, or at least what we need.

[someone0]

Technically speaking, the firmware is stored in the flash similar to EEPROM in the PC. And we all know that what happened if the data in the is corrupted. But, what I seen from the X2Pro design is what we need in the PSP development community. The ability to reprogram the firmware externally. Even if there is no data in the ROM, but as long as it still take power, it can still be reprogram. This is the kind of modchip that we need for the PSP that will boast the PSP development scene exponentially. As, no one will afraid of bricking their PSP anymore. So, I propose/ask the modchip maker to provide us one:mrgreen:

[Dibblah]

Technically speaking, the firmware is stored in the flash similar to EEPROM in the PC.

No, it's not. It's similar to the BIOS in the PC.

And we all know that what happened if the data in the is corrupted. But, what I seen from the X2Pro design is what we need in the PSP development community. The ability to reprogram the firmware externally. Even if there is no data in the ROM, but as long as it still take power, it can still be reprogram. This is the kind of modchip that we need for the PSP that will boast the PSP development scene exponentially. As, no one will afraid of bricking their PSP anymore. So, I propose/ask the modchip maker to provide us one:mrgreen:

And put what on it? The CPU checks if the bootstrap code it is going to run is signed properly. If it's not, it doesn't run it and you have a brick. Until you get into the shell under 1.50 (kxploit) or 2.00 (image exploit) THERE IS NO WAY TO RUN UNSIGNED CODE.

Therefore, someone needs Sony's private key (not the public key that's used to decrypt stuff) to be able to roll-your-own firmware. Somehow, I doubt that's going to be something they are willing to give out in cereal boxes.

This is, of course, besides the difficulty of "modding" a BGA chip. The lines going between the CPU and the EEPROM are not exposed. At all. This is nothing like the 'standard' SMD stuff in the xbox, etc. It's waay harder to physically get to. All of the connections to each of the chips are physically under the chip itsself. There are no pins that you can see and solder to or snip.

I'm assuming here that Sony is using BGA for the EEPROM. I'd love to be wrong, but if I was them, it would be a no-brainer for various reasons.

Cheers,

Allan.

[Me.]

It's harder than you think. There's barely any room inside the PSP as it is, and there isn't much to solder on to.

[NeilR]

@Dibblah - Just so you know, the PC bios resides on an EEPROM chip. BIOS isn't the name of the type of chip; it's the name of what it does in relation to the rest of the system. So you guys are both right. :)

[iball®]

Everything I was going to say Dibblah said first in post number 2.

[psy^]

Everything I was going to say Dibblah said first in post number 2.

How nice for you

[Dibblah]

No, it's not. It's similar to the BIOS in the PC.

Woah. I have no idea what happened there. I saw EEPROM and read NVRAM, it appears. Many apologies to someone0.

Cheers,

Allan.

[Calum]

i think he was trying to like allow us to try new things with a "mod chip" that reputs everything on your flash if you brick your psp, meaning no one would care if there psp got bricked as they could "mod-chip" it with a new flash chip? althought i dont think many people want to spend hours trying to resolder each pin

[Dibblah]

i think he was trying to like allow us to try new things with a "mod chip" that reputs everything on your flash if you brick your psp, meaning no one would care if there psp got bricked as they could "mod-chip" it with a new flash chip? althought i dont think many people want to spend hours trying to resolder each pin

A BGA chip looks like ftp://download.intel.com/pressroom/i...h/fl030899.tif



There is no way to solder to the pins without completely desoldering it using an IR reflow station or similar. This is not something someone is going to be able to do at home.

Cheers,

Allan.

[twelve]

From what I understand from the first post Someone0 is simply saying that if you brick your PSP there is a way to reflash externally without having to run an update eboot. In which case there is no reason to be talking about removing chips and the like.

I remember seeing an announcement on the news page a while back about a mod chip being released. The mod chip was going to be a prototype run of 100 and sold exclusively on ebay and only in the US. The chip was a no solder design and basically allowed you to have two seperate FW's. So you could have 1.5 for homebrew then Turn off flick a switch or whatever and then turn on and have 2.5 Thus you can update one to your hearts content and keep the other as homebrew friendly 1.5

I haven't heard anything since to say it works or when they were releasing them, but it was definitely on here. I'll look for the post and edit in the link.

EDIT: Mod chip article here
It says 19th of November so we should hear something soon.

[def]

Some time ago I saw someone posting a Picture of the PSP's flash chip. Someone labled a few lines around it and all the important ones that are needed for flashing (re_n, we_n, cle, ale, data lines...) were there perfectly accessible. I think even VCC was there somewhere, so it wouldn't be necessary to acutally power on the psp to reprogram the flash chip (= repait bricked psps). I couldn't find the picture again though.

Also all of the flash chips on the market I know of, and I know quiet a lot about these things, are NOT using Ball Grid Arrays, in fact they are using no kind of grid array, all the pins are accessible from the sides of the chip.

Btw. Those Virtex2 FPGAs DIBBLAH posted are really sexy ;) I'm currently developing some low level flash drivers on these things in VHDL/C, though for a completely different purpose than flashing a PSP firmware. I'd be experimenting with the PSP but I will not open up mine for that kind of purpose, don't want to void the warranty. But if someone is willing to send me their bricked PSP, I'm sure my boss will let me use his equipment to work on it.

[Dibblah]

Some time ago I saw someone posting a Picture of the PSP's flash chip. Someone labled a few lines around it and all the important ones that are needed for flashing (re_n, we_n, cle, ale, data lines...) were there perfectly accessible. I think even VCC was there somewhere, so it wouldn't be necessary to acutally power on the psp to reprogram the flash chip (= repait bricked psps). I couldn't find the picture again though.

Also all of the flash chips on the market I know of, and I know quiet a lot about these things, are NOT using Ball Grid Arrays, in fact they are using no kind of grid array, all the pins are accessible from the sides of the chip.

Btw. Those Virtex2 FPGAs DIBBLAH posted are really sexy ;) I'm currently developing some low level flash drivers on these things in VHDL/C, though for a completely different purpose than flashing a PSP firmware. I'd be experimenting with the PSP but I will not open up mine for that kind of purpose, don't want to void the warranty. But if someone is willing to send me their bricked PSP, I'm sure my boss will let me use his equipment to work on it.

Okay, I've been looking around some and indirectly found:
http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semi...0000098592.htm

... Which shows the flash chip used in the PSP. It's integrated in the same package as the RAM - And IS BGA. So... Anyone who's saying there's an easy way to do a EEPROM replacement modchip is either modifying the board around the BGA (it's a 6 layer board, so good luck with that) or lying.

Cheers,

Allan.

[def]

Okay, I've been looking around some and indirectly found:
http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semi...0000098592.htm

... Which shows the flash chip used in the PSP. It's integrated in the same package as the RAM - And IS BGA. So... Anyone who's saying there's an easy way to do a EEPROM replacement modchip is either modifying the board around the BGA (it's a 6 layer board, so good luck with that) or lying.

Cheers,

Allan.

Wow, that took you quiet some time to find that... But you might be right. Still I won't believe you (or that article) as long as I don't open a PSP on my own ;)

[Dibblah]

Wow, that took you quiet some time to find that... But you might be right. Still I won't believe you (or that article) as long as I don't open a PSP on my own ;)

Feel free to be skeptical!

http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2004/1212/psp54.jpg

The flash / DDR chip is the one between the battery / supercap and the wlan connector. You can read the partcode off there and plug it into google.

Cheers,

Allan.

[def]

Hay Alland!

I've been looking for a picture like the one you provided. I've only managed to find one with poor resolution. After looking at this I have to say you are right, partially. There are indeed those ddr/flash hybrid chips used in the psp. However as I have stated in my earlier post I once saw a picture with a closeup of the region of the chip. (I couldn't remember it correctly, so I thought there were non-*ga chips used) In the picture you provided it's the region where those small white points are right below the chip. Someone figured out what they refer to and they are all the lines that are necessary to read and write to the flash. I guess sony left them there to be able to reflash a brick psp that is being sent in. Therefor I think it actually is possible to create a device that "unbricks" PSPs and maybe even acts as some kind of modchip.