PSP Firmware Problem

[Duddyroar]

I have no idea if the firmware I'm using is custom or not - I'm assuming it must be?

How do I access the recovery mode?

[laruso]

depends what firmware you have - switch it on and go into system information - it will say what firmware you have. if it has the letters "m33" after it then you have custom firmware, in which case to access recovery mode, hold "R" button when you switch the power on.

if you have custom firmware then you can update to a higher custom firmware (lots of videos on you tube showing you how to do this easily).

or as above, the recovery mode will let you go back to an official firmware.

if it is only "3.71" and not "3.71-m33":
you would need the special Datel tool battery to downgrade back to firmware 1.5, then you would have to install custom firmwares to get you up to the current one. and just keep updating the custom firmwares.


its a pain in the arse. i only did it to play homebrew, but after 5 mins it went back in the drawer its lived in for 2 years!

[Duddyroar]

It's only 3.71, not a custom one.

So basically I have to mess about finding this battery? FFS. Is there anyone out there who has one and is willing to lend it to me? Suffice to say, this is really getting on my tits now.

Thanks for the help though guys.

[smshun]

It's only 3.71, not a custom one.

So basically I have to mess about finding this battery? FFS. Is there anyone out there who has one and is willing to lend it to me? Suffice to say, this is really getting on my tits now.

Thanks for the help though guys.

You can convert your own battery into the "Pandora" battery by yourself to change to custom firmware.

After changing, the "Pandora" battery can revert back to a normal battery.

Details of how to covert a battery into "Pandora" battery should be able to found by searching in google.

[Duddyroar]

Looks like I would have to physically mod the battery to do this though, which I'm not too keen on doing.

[Duddyroar]

Somebody please help me here because this is driving me potty!

Basically it looks like I'm running OFFICIAL firmware 3.71, but the firmware was installed by scaling back the hacked firmware 3.71, which has resulted in a PSP that cannot be updated using either the system update or using a recent game.

I also can't install custom firmware because I don't have a pandora battery.

I've contacted Sony customer support and given them a sob story about buying a second hand PSP and finding I can't update it, they've asked me to ring them with the PSP to hand so I can give them some system information, but I doubt very much that they're simply going to fix this for me, I would imagine some kind of charge will be in order (which pisses me off because I'm trying to get this machine back on the straight and narrow so I can actually buy some damn games for it!).

Any suggestions?

[tom-nook]

Not something I've come across so can't really suggest anything other than to try a Pandora battery and then reflash with official f/w.

Hopefully another member will have one they can lend to you. If you get stuck though you can order one here for approx. £6:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12472

[Duddyroar]

Will a pandora battery allow me to get my machine back onto official firmware then? I'm afraid I might still have the issue with not being able to update it. Will look into ordering a pandora battery though, £6 is nowt TBH.

In fact: ORDERED.

[Number45]

Yup, with a pandora and the required memory stick (Which you can make yourself with minimal fuss) you can easily go to pretty much any official/custom FW release.

[Duddyroar]

Cool, will do that then.

[randombs]

Sounds to me like a case of the older downgrading thing where they corrupted some special 'idstorage' keys in order to allow the downgrade to happen on the newer (at the time, anyway) PSP motherboards. It would explain why it won't update even if the firmware you're using is older than the update (custom or not, it will work if the keys are ok, see). See if yours matches this pic:



My stick was made a while ago so only goes up to 3.71 anyway, but the menu had the options to install the proper 3.71 fw or the custom one which is good for what you're trying to do.

I wonder though, if the process restores these damaged keys or not, as if it doesn't, it means when you next want to update the firmware officially you may run into the same problem and I imagine you would have to redo the mem stick to update. Reason I'm thinking you'll probably be ok though, is that it no longer needs to downgrade at all, it simply puts the new firmware on. Back then it would put a cut-down 1.5 firmware on your PSP from which you could update to whatever you wanted, but since the slim PSPs have no support for 1.5, they changed it and instead it would downgrade to 3.40.

We actually had a few PSPs at work that had been downgraded by naughty customers so they worked with official updates up to around 3.30 or something, by which point the fw update program would check the keys and quit if they were corrupted. Back then, you were supposed to back up these keys to a file and then do the downgrade and restore them once it was successful. Unfortunately, I think it's unlikely you can use the keys from another working PSP. All sorts of issues arise from doing this, including stopping the UMD drive working.

There are programs that repair corrupted keys, although when I tried one at work it, umm, didn't work

Of course, all the above could be completely redundant if the pandora software sorts out the keys, but I'm talking about whether or not the keys are already corrupted before you even begin.

[Duddyroar]

I have a sneaking suspicion that that my idstorage keys may well be corrupted. I had a quick look around the net when I first encountered the 'config is not correct' error, and corrupt keys seem to be the cause.

Another forum member has kindly offered to lend me his datel battery and mem stick so I will keep you informed of my progress.

What a kerfuffle!

[Duddyroar]

BTW, just checked my PSP against that photo and the code is the same: IC1003

[randombs]

Lol kerfuffle indeed. Sounds like Boris Johnson's middle name

Good luck matey. I'd recommend (assuming the reflash goes swimmingly) not updating to the latest Sony fw using the battery if possible, instead going for an older version (as old as you can do, that isn't earlier than 3.30 which is apparently the first update to start checking the keys) and then testing a later official update using the conventional means (eboot file or network update) to see if it works, that way you'll know for sure if the keys are really repaired.

May as well try and nip it in the bud and save yourself the hassle later on when you next need to update the firmware, eh?

And from your post about the picture, I think we can almost 100% guarantee corrupted keys are to blame?

[Duddyroar]

My thoughts exactly mate - I can appreciate that all this homebrew stuff is pretty neat but I have a GP2X for that, I just wanna play PSP games on my PSP! I really want to just get the machine back on the 'official' route so I don't encounter this issue again.

Will do as you recommend and report back if it works. Hopefully this thread will be of some help to others in the future.