Tag Archive for firmware

tehjay | March 31, 2010
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PSP 5.50 GEN-D3

Disclaimer: This article is for informational and archival purposes. If you use this information and break your PSP sorry, I cannot be responsible for your mistake.

This upgrade will allow you to play homebrew software that requires the 6.xx Sony OFW.

Requirements:

Fat PSP (My PSP is version PSP-1001 Mobo TA-081)
Previous custom firmware, not sure if this works from the OFW (original firmware)
Battery charged above 80%, I kept mine plugged in aswell.

It clearly states when the upgrader loads up that you will need a Fat version PSP, if you do not have this type of PSP this firmware is not for you!

Step 1:

Download the firmware package here xgen-550gen-d3.zip.

Step 2:

Uncompress the .zip file you just downloaded.

Step 3:

Hook up your PSP via the USB cable, and copy all the files and the PSP directory to the root directory of your PSP’s memory stick. At this point the PSP folder you are copying will be merged with the current PSP folder on your memory stick.

Step 4:

Go to the games menu, select the upgrader and press x. Say “Enter” at the first screen that comes up.

Step 5:

Select “Flash Install CFW 5.50 GEN-D3″ and watch it. Once the upgrade is complete, you will be prompted to restart or turn off your PSP. I chose to restart mine.

Step 6:

Reconfigure your settings. The PSP will revert back to factory settings because the nvram gets wiped during the installation.

Step 7:

Enjoy

Category: Hardware Modification | Tags: , , , , ,
tehjay | April 28, 2007
43 comments

HOWTO: Upgrade your PSP to Firmware 3.40 OE-A

In the off chance that YOU brick YOUR PSP during the upgrade process, please do not complain here. I moderate all comments and yours just will not be added.

Sony has released a couple firmware versions since my last posting, but here is a tutorial for getting the OE version of 3.40 running on your PSP. I am going to structure this HOWTO a little bit as a test, if you like this structure, let me know.

*NOTE* You will need atleast 75% battery charge. You may also want to have your PSP plugged into the wall just in case. You will also need a larger memory stick, the 32mb one doesn’t cut it. 1 gig sticks are uber-cheap now.

Step 1:

Download the 3.40 OE-A Firmware, uncompress it, then copy the uncompressed files as follows:

PSP 1.50 Firmware: You will place the uncompressed files in /PSP/GAME

PSP 3.XX OE Firmware: You will place the files in /PSP/GAME150

Step 2:

Goto the game menu and run the 3.40 OE-A Update Maker. This will take a couple of minutes to create the DXAR file.

Step 3:

You will need to access the USB menu on your PSP go into the oeupdmaker directory and copy the newly generated data.dxar file to the 340oeflasher directory.

Step 4:

Once again go back to the game menu and now run the 3.40 OE-A Firmware Install. You will need to agree by pressing X. This will check the integrity of the DXAR file before attempting to flash the firmware to prevent bricking. Once this is complete, press X to turn off your PSP. Turn your PSP back on, and you are now running 3.40 OE-A!

This is the easiest way to upgrade your PSP. I upgraded mine in under 10 minutes following these exact steps.

Category: Hardware Modification | Tags: , , , , ,
tehjay | February 14, 2007
49 comments

HOWTO: Upgrade your PSP to Firmware 3.10 OE-A’

Caution! – This may brick your PSP if the steps are not followed properly! Please follow all of the instructions carefully, and if it doesn’t work and you brick your PSP, I didnt twist your arm, or hold a gun to your head, so don’t come crying to me.

3.10 OE-A and OE-A’ boasts an impressive list of feature updates including:

3.10 OE-A Changes

  * Change from 3.03 firmware to 3.10.
  * 4th level of brightness (aka battery eater) can now be selected also without ac adaptor.
  * Changes in hen core:
    - Static user elf’s can now be executed in the 3.10 kernel. (this includes snes user version between other programs)
    - Tyranid’s patch (added in 3.03 OE-C) consequences was not explained very well in the changelog of 3.03 OE-C:
      o For programmers: it allows kernel modules to have user imports, making kernel programming in 3.03/3.10 less strict.
      o For users: plugins and applications that worked in 2.71 SE, but not in OE, *may* now work in 3.03OE-C and 3.10 OE-A.

Note 1: the installer will disable all plugins to avoid incompatibilities when booting. You can enable them again in the recovery menu.

Note 2: the plugin to load 3.02 pops won’t work anymore in 3.10 OE, due to some changes in pops modules structure (meaudio fused with popsman, idcanager/idmanager behaviour slightly changed). A new plugin for 3.10 could be written next week.

3.10 OE-A’ Changes:

  * Corrected a bug that caused Metal Slug 6 (from Metal Slug Anthology), and other umd/iso games containing a static elf to show error 0×80020148.

To upgrade to firmware 3.10 OE-A’ you must first be running 3.10 OE-A, so we will start by upgrading to that firmware first.

Step 1. The first thing you will have to do is download all of the files needed for the upgrade.

310oe_a.rar
310_a2update.rar

Step 2. First you will need to upgrade to 3.10 OE-A before you can go to OE-A’. Uncompress the 310oe_a.rar and copy the contents to /PSP/GAME150 on your PSP using the USB file transfer mode. *NOTE* If you are upgrading from PSP 1.50 firmware just copy the directories to /PSP/GAME.

Once these directories are copied, go to the game menu and run the 3.10 OE-A Update Maker. This step will take a little bit, so be patient. Now would be a good time to make sure your PSP is plugged into the power and not running off battery mode. You will need to have your battery at, at least 75% for the upgrade to be a success.

Step 3. After the Update Maker is complete, initiate USB file transfer mode again and go into /PSP/GAME150/oeupdmaker and copy the data.dxar file to /PSP/GAME150/310oeflasher. Once this file is copied over, exit the USB file transfer mode, go back to the GAME menu, and run the 3.10 OE-A Firmware Install.

Once the installer loads up press the X button to continue with the upgrade. It will now verify the data.dxar file and proceed with the upgrade. Once the upgrade is complete you will then press X again which will turn off your PSP. Turn the PSP back on manually.

You are now running the 3.10 OE-A firmware.

Step 4. Now proceed with uncompressing 310_a2update.rar. Go back into USB file transfer mode and copy over the 310_a2update folder to your /PSP/GAME150 folder. Exit USB file transfer mode, go into the GAME menu and run the 3.10 OE-A’ Updater. This will quickly update your firmware and exit back to the XMB. You are now running the 3.10 OE-A’ firmware.

Step 5. To clear up space on your memory stick you can now go back on your PSP and delete all of the files we copied over.

Enjoy your updated firmware!

Any questions or concerns? Please post them in the comments section.

Category: Hardware Modification | Tags: , , , , ,
tehjay | January 14, 2007
84 comments

HOWTO: Upgrade PSP firmware 1.50 to 3.03 OE-B

Caution! – This may brick your PSP if the steps are not followed properly! Please follow all of the instructions carefully, and if it doesn’t work and you brick your PSP, I didnt twist your arm, or hold a gun to your head, so don’t come crying to me.

Step 1:

You will first have to upgrade to 3.02 OE-A then to OE-B before you upgrade to 3.03 OE-B. So the first thing you have to do is download 1 of the following files:

For 1.50 firmware download 3.02 Basic Installer for 1.50
For 2.71SE firmware download 3.02 Basic Installer for 2.71SE

You will not need both files, so download 1 of them. Once you have the installer downloaded to your computer, plug your PSP in and activate USB file transfer mode.

*NOTE* I backed up and formatted my memory card before installing the firmware updates, you may want to do this aswell. You will also have to have atleast 75% of the battery remaining or you will not be able to upgrade.

After activating USB file transfer mode, run the installer, choose the drive your PSP is setup as, and hit next. The installer will do everything for you. You may notice the installer stop at 37%, but let it copy all files, so sit back and relax. Once all the files are copied, exit USB file transfer mode, goto the game menu, access the memory card and you will see the Launcher for the 3.02 updater. Execute this.

You will have to agree to the agreement, do this by pressing X and the update will now start. Once the update is running DO NOT turn off your PSP, or remove the memory card! When the update is complete, it will advise you to restart your PSP manually, you can now do so.

When you restart your PSP you will get a message saying the configuration is corrupt and has to be rebuilt, dont worry, press O and re-configure your PSP.

Congratulations you have no updated too 3.02 OE-A!

Step 2:

You will now have to upgrade 3.02 OE-A to 3.02 OE-B, which is easy, just download oeb.rar which is the upgrade file. Again, reactivate USB file transfer mode on your PSP and extract the contents of oeb.rar to GAME\GAME150 on your PSP memory stick.

*NOTE* You may have to create the GAME150 folder in the GAME folder.

Once everything is copied, run the updater from the Game menu on your PSP.

Easy enough, you are now upgraded to 3.02 OE-B!

Step 3:

Now to actually upgrade to 3.03 OE-A.

First you will have to download 3.03OE-A.rar Once the files are downloaded, initiate USB File Transfer mode on your PSP and extract 3.03OE-A.rar to GAME150 in the GAME folder on your memory stick. Once all the files are copied, close down the USB File Transfer Mode, and goto the Game Menu, and run the 3.03 OE-A Updater.

Again, you will have to agree to the agreement by pressing X and the update will now start. Once the update is running DO NOT turn off your PSP, or remove the memory card! When the update is complete, it will advise you to restart your PSP manually, you can now do so.

This time I didnt receive an error stating that anything was corrupt, and everything booted up just fine.

You are now running firmware 3.03 OE-A!

Step 4:

Now you are good to update to 3.03 OE-B. Download OEB_UPDATE.RAR. Once the files are downloaded, once again initiate USB File Transfer mode, and uncompress the contents of MS_ROOT to the root folder of your PSP.

Once this is complete, exit USB File Transfer mode, and execute the 3.03 OE-B updater from the Game menu. As soon as this is complete you will be fully updated to the 3.03 OE-B Firmware. You can confirm this by going to the settings menu on your PSP and looking inside of the System Information menu.

Step 5: (Optional)

You may want to now format your memory stick again before copying any of your old files back. If you do this step, you must then initiate USB File Transfer mode once more, then go into the GAME folder, and create GAME271 and GAME150.

All of your old homebrew software can now be placed inside of the GAME150 folder and will still run. Ultimately GAME271 is for stuff that runs on the 2.71 firmware.

If you have any questions/concerns or comments. Feel free to comment below!

Category: Hardware Modification | Tags: , , , , , , ,
tehjay | December 10, 2006
39 comments

HOWTO: DevHook 0.51 Installation

DevHook 0.51 has been released, and now emulates firmware 3.01! There are 2 different Ultimate Installers available for this release, Ultimate Installer v1.5.2 for firmware 1.50 and Ultimate Installer v1.5.2 for 2.71se firmware.

The installation is almost the same as the DevHook 0.50 installation however a couple of the steps are different. For instance, the supplied .bat file didn’t do its job properly so each step will be explained here.

Connect your PSP to your computer using the USB port and initiate the USB file transfer mode. I recommend making a backup of your memory stick first. I went as far as backing up my memory stick then formatting it to install DevHook 0.51 on a fresh stick. Follow the on-screen instructions. You will be prompted to choose which version to install. I chose the Full Install.

Accept the license agreement, then select whichever drive your PSP is. The files will now be copied to your PSP.

The files are now copied to your PSP, you can hit the circle button on your PSP and exit out of USB file transfer mode. Now head over to the GAME menu, and select the PSAR Dumper. This will load a program that decrypts everything that is needed. Once the dumper loads, press the X button.

Once everything is complete, fully turn off your PSP. Don’t just put it into power saver mode, turn it right off.

Okay, you can now turn your PSP back on. Once again go and initiate the USB file transfer mode. Access your PSP through My Computer, you will see alot of files and directories. Some of these files and directories your going to move, or delete, some you won’t touch at all.

The first thing you want to do is access the folder labeled “f0″ and you will then find a folder labeled “kd” go inside of this folder aswell. Once you are inside of the folder labeled “kd” delete the file “audio.prx”

Now copy audio.prx from the “x:\temp” folder and put it back inside of “kd” folder inside of the “f0″ folder.

Now access the folder labeled “dh” and create a folder labeled “301″. Now move select the “f0″ folder and completely move it to the newly created “301″ folder, inside of the “dh” folder.

Now go back into the “temp” folder and move everything inside of it to “x:\dh\301\f0\kd”.

Now access the folder in “x:\dh\301\” labeled “f1″ and create the following folders: “dic”, “gps”, “net”, “net\http”, “vsh”, and “vsh\theme”.

You can now go back to the root folder and delete the “temp” folder, the “DH_README” folder, and the file labeled “DevHook Setup.bat”. Also while you are deleting stuff, you may go into the “x:\psp\game” folder and delete the PSAR dumper, as it is no longer needed.

Turn off USB file transfer mode and go back into the GAME menu. Now you can Launch DevHook 0.51.

Once you are inside of DevHook 0.51 go to the “FIRMWARE” menu and select the 3.01 firmware. You can now start DevHook 0.51 and watch your PSP boot into the 3.01 firmware.

Enjoy :)

Category: Linux | Tags: , , , ,
tehjay | December 2, 2006
15 comments

HOWTO: Install DevHook 0.50

DevHook 5.0 has been released and it now supports up to firmware 2.82! I have created a simple tutorial on how to get DevHook 5.0 running on your PSP.

The first thing you will want to do is download the Ultimate Installer 1.5.1 file. This is the DevHook files and the firmware files.

Now connect your PSP to your computer using the USB port and initiate the USB file transfer mode. I recommend making a backup of your memory stick first. I went as far as backing up my memory stick then formatting it to install DevHook 0.50 on a fresh stick. Follow the on-screen instructions. You will be prompted to choose which version to install. I chose the Full Install.

Accept the license agreement, then select whichever drive your PSP is. The files will now be copied to your PSP.

The files are now copied to your PSP, you can hit the circle button on your PSP and exit out of USB file transfer mode. Now head over to the GAME menu, and select the PSAR Dumper. This will load a program that decrypts everything that is needed. Once the dumper loads, press the X button.

Once everything is complete, fully turn off your PSP. Don’t just put it into power saver mode, turn it right off.

Now hook up the USB cable, turn your PSP on, and initiate USB file transfer mode again. Now access your PSP through My Computer on your computer and run the DevHook Setup.bat. After this whole process completes you may delete DevHook Setup.bat.

Turn off USB file transfer mode and go back into the GAME menu. Now you can Launch DevHook 0.50.

Once you are inside of DevHook 0.50 go to the “FIRMWARE” menu and select the 2.82 firmware. You can now start DevHook 0.50 and watch your PSP boot into the 2.82 firmware.

Category: Hardware Modification | Tags: , , , , ,
tehjay | October 15, 2006
3 comments

DevHook, probably the only utility you will use

So you have downgraded your psp to version 1.5 firmware and now you are wondering what you can do. First thing you should download is a utility called DevHook. I have found a link to the Ultimate Installer which includes some patches and extras. The current version as of the writing of this post is DevHook 0.46.

What is DevHook?

DevHook is a way of emulating different firmwares ontop of the 1.5 firmware. So you don’t have to upgrade your firmware to play a game, then re-downgrade it. DevHook also provides ways to modify and run a modified firmware. With certain mods you can take screenshots of games, load game iso’s from the USB port etc.

You can download DevHook by downloading the Ultimate Installer which will install DevHook 0.46 with the 2.71 firmware. There are also a couple mods included in this installer which include: the usb loader, Naruto Icon Set and Background, and Bleach Icon Set, Gameboot, and Background, X5 Web Portal, and the CISO Tools for compressing iso’s into cso’s.

Features

DevHook has some pretty amazing features. Aside from running the 2.71 firmware ontop of the 1.5 firmware, it allows you to:

- run homebrew apps/games on 2.71 firmware.
- change the clock speed of your PSP cpu from 133MHz to 333Mhz.
- boot into multiple firmwares (aslong as you have them installed)
- play UMD backups in .iso and .cso format

Installation

Installation is easy, once you download the Ultimate Installer hook up your PSP to the USB port of your computer and initiate the USB file transfer mode on your PSP. You will want to check “My Computer” to see what drive your PSP has been assigned to. Once you know this information, run the Ultimate Installer. Obviously the first thing you are going to install is “DevHook 0.46 with 2.71 Firmware” so choose this option and click on Next. Agree to the terms and conditions and then choose the drive letter of your PSP, and then click next.

The files will now be copied to your PSPs memory stick. You will have to exit the installer. Realistically you are done at this point, you can boot into DevHook 0.46 and play your games and your homebrew. However, you should at least install the USB Mod. This will allow you to mount isos on your computer over the USB cable.

Note: I had issues with DevHook crashing while loading alot of isos over the USB cable until I formatted my memory card and re-installed everything.

Another mod I downloaded was the Devhook Launcher/VSHEX Mod. I use this launcher all the time. It works for me, it should work for you.

Installation of this is easy, once again connect your PSP to the computer using the USB port, and initiate file transfer mode. If you are running 1.5 firmware copy the files from ms_root to your PSP memory stick. Just copy both directories from within the ms_root folder and paste right into the root folder of the PSP drive. When it asks if you want to overwrite files, says yes to all.

DevHook is a great utility for all PSP enthusiasts. It gives a whole new level of flexibility to your favorite handheld console.

Attention!
This is a brief outline of what to do, I followed the directions step by step. All of the instructions are included. Your pretty safe with this app as long as you don’t go changing any of the firmware settings in the last couple of menus.

Category: Hardware Modification | Tags: , , , ,
tehjay | October 11, 2006
26 comments

Howto: Downgrade PSP firmware 2.71 to 1.50

The easiest way to download your 2.71 firmware PSP would be to download the downgrader, plug your PSP into the computer using the USB cable, and run the executable you just downloaded. It will transfer all the proper files to your PSP in order to downgrade it to 1.50 firmware and also give audio commentary and some pictures of what to do while it is going through the whole process.

Why?

Why would you want to downgrade your PSP firmware you may ask? There are lots of reasons someone would want to upgrade their firmware. Homebrew software probably being the largest reason to upgrade. 1.5 firmware seems to be essential if you plan on doing development with the PSP, or running software developed and/or ported to the PSP platform.

Emulation is another reason. Sure alot of the stuff being emulated is technically illegal, there is legitimate uses for some of the emulators out there. Bochs for example runs linux, windows 95, and attempts to boot a couple of the bsds. Is there a use for this? absolutely not. Is it cool? Of course. Also, emulators play a large roll in development for other consoles. Most people cant afford the expensive development hardware that is needed to get their game on a console, so emulation is the best way of playing their work.

How?

Its easy really. Goto this url, and download the full version of the downgrader. I read you get the best results when you format your memory card pre-downgrade, and even better results when you use the default 32 meg card. So I did both and the downgrade started on the second attempt.

After you have your PSP setup, plug in the USB cable, and enable USB transfer in the Settings menu.

Go into my computer and find out which drive letter has been assigned to your PSP, then run the downgrader. Follow the onscreen directions. You will be asked which drive letter your PSP is, select the appropriate drive and continue on. All the files will be copied to your memory stick.

Once this is complete, goto the photo section and load up whats on the memory card. You will get 1 of 2 results, either a red screen which is good, or your PSP will lock up, which simply means you turn it off, and restart. Continue this process until you get the red screen. When you get the red screen let the PSP do its thing until it turns itself off.

Turn your PSP back on, you will be prompted with an error. Don’t worry about this error, just hit the circle button and continue on. You will have to reconfigure all of your settings, but once you are in, voila. 1.5 firmware.

Who?

Anyone running the 2.71 firmware can downlgrade their PSP, except for the people with version TA-082 PSPs. To check if you have one of these open up the UMD drive and look along the top, if you have a version TA-082 you will see writing along the top of the exposed motherboard. It may say ic10003. Do not attempt a downgrade if you have this version. All other versions will have no text and are good to downgrade.

Caution!

Proceed with caution. I may have succeeded with my downgrade, and so has many other people. However I am not responsible if you brick your PSP.

Category: Hardware Modification | Tags: , , , ,