Convert your PSP to Custom Firmware
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There’s been quite a lot of info seekers lately so I thought I’ll do them a favor and do a post.
This tutorial will guide you on how to install custom firmware on your PSP. Or convert OFW
to CFW if you’re feeling acronymy.
Before proceeding though, there’s a few things you need to know.
Is your PSP hackable? I could tell you if your PSP is hackable or not but it’s better for
you to find it out yourself. READ: Can my PSP have custom firmware installed?
If you have a hackable PSP, proceed skip the line below and proceed to installing custom
firmware on your PSP.
If you have a partially hackable PSP. DO NOT FOLLOW THIS GUIDE. It will brick
your PSP. Please proceed to the guides that are meant for your PSP model: 5.03 GEN-A
via ChickHEN hack or Custom Firmware Enabler via ChickHEN hack for your custom
firmware needs.
A bit of disclaimer:
Make sure you follow instructions completely. If you’re not sure how to go about things, post a
question in the comments. Note that if you don’t follow instructions, the worse thing you can do
is brick your PSP.
Also note that installing custom firmware MAY void your PSP’s Sony warranty so proceed at
your own risk.
How to install Custom Firmware on your PSP
This guide will help you turn your official firmware PSP to a custom firmware one. Make sure
you read and understand the instructions thoroughly before proceeding.
What you need:
1. A Hackable PSP. Again if you don’t know what a hackable PSP is, please READ: Can
my PSP have custom firmware installed?
2. A battery to convert into a Pandora Battery [it's a safe bet to use an extra battery for this]
3. A Memory Stick Pro Duo to Magic Memory Stick [at least 64MB - 4GB]
Important: If you don’t want the trouble of making a Pandora battery, you can use this guide to
convert your PSP to custom firmware without pandora. What’s a pandora battery you ask? Let
me answer that for you.
A Pandora Battery is a hacked battery that can be used to un-brick a PSP and/or put it to
service mode to install custom firmware.
What’s a bricked PSP? A bricked PSP is usually a unit that has something wrong with its
firmware that renders it inoperable and completely useless (hence the term brick). A bricked PSP
would normally have to be sent back to Sony for repair. However, if you have a Pandora
Battery, you can use it to recover your PSP back to life.
What is the service mode? The service-mode reset that is triggered by a Pandora Battery
allows you to reload the original or custom firmware on your PSP. With it, you can upgrade
and/or downgrade your PSP safely (just don’t interrupt the process).
If you’re wondering where the term Pandora Battery came from, it’s a play on the mythological
Pandora’s Box.
1. Making a Magic Memory Stick
o Download PSP Grader: Mirror 1 | Mirror 2
o Extract the file to a folder to your computer
o Connect your PSP into the PC. Backup any data on the Memory Stick Pro Duo
on your hard drive. This is because you need to reformat the Memory Stick and
all data on it will be lost
o Run PSP Grader. Once it has opened, select ‘Download’. This will download the
5.00 update file needed for installing custom firmware. Do note that the download
speed is highly dependent on your connection.
o Once the download finishes, under ‘Target Memory Stick’, select the drive letter
of your PSP. Check the box that says ‘Format Memory Stick’.
o Select ‘Create Pandora Stick”
o Congratulations, you now have a Magic Memory Stick
2. Making a Pandora Battery
It’s recommended that you simply buy a Pandora Battery but with soaring prices, you can
opt to create your own, or better yet, you can simply borrow one.
If you opt to buy one, you can get one here
If you’ve decided to follow the DIY way, look for a friend with a PSP Phat or PSP Slim
with a TA-085v1 with Custom Firmware. In other words, you need another PSP that
already has custom firmware installed to create a Pandora Battery.
o Download the Pandora installer: Mirror 1 | Mirror 2
o Extract the file to a folder to your computer
o Connect your PSP into the PC. Backup any data on the Memory Stick Pro Duo
on your hard drive. This is because you need to reformat the Memory Stick and
all data on it will be lost
o Copy the “pan3xx” Folder to X:PSP\GAME where X is the drive letter assigned
to your memory stick
o Disconnect your PSP and turn it off
Now to turn a normal battery to a pandora battery:
o Insert the Battery you want to convert into your PSP and turn your it on.
o On your XMB run the Pandora Installer for 3.xx+ -R4b-
o Once Pandora Install is running, press “X” to go to the main menu.
o Scroll down to “Battery Options” and press “X”
o Scroll down to “Dump Battery Serial to File” and press “X” (this will backup the
battery serial to your memory stick)
o Select “Make Battery Pandora” and press “X”
o The Battery serial in the top left should change to “0xffffffff” (If the battery serial
doesn’t change then your PSP can’t write to the battery or the battery is not
compatible. If it’s either of the two, stop now.)
o Scroll down to “Back to main menu” and press “X”
o Choose “Quit” and press “X” and the program will exit
o Congratulations, you now have a Pandora Battery.
Note that you can’t use the Pandora battery for normal gameplay, hence you need
an extra battery
3. Installing Custom Firmware
o Charge your Battery to at least 78%. This is to prevent your PSP from turning off
during installation and bricking.
o Put the Magic Memory Stick and Pandora Battery in your PSP
o Turn your PSP on while holding down the left shoulder button. Once the IPL has
loaded on your PSP, press X. Your PSP will begin installing Custom Firmware.
o When this process is finished, press X to shut down your PSP.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you press X to shut down your PSP before
removing the Pandora Battery or Magic Memory Stick. If you don’t, you could
brick your PSP.
o One your PSP is off, you can replace the battery and the memory stick with the
ones you want to use.
o Congratulations, you now have Custom Firmware installed.
4. After installation notes
When booting up your PSP for the first time, hold the R Trigger to enter the Recovery
Menu. Here’s a few configurations that you’d want to set to get the best experience:
o Find the UMD Mode option and set this to M33 Driver or Sony NP9660
o Find the Use M33 network update, and enable it. Now you can use the network
update to update your custom firmware.
After installing custom firmware, here’s a few things that you might want to do.
IF you don’t have a spare, you may want to turn your Pandora battery back to a regular
one. Of course this beats the purpose of creating one earlier but just in case, here’s how
you do it
o Place the Pandora installer on your Memory Stick [you can get it above]
o Insert the Pandora Battery and magic memory stick into your PSP, your PSP will
turn on automatically.
o Select ‘Test M33′ and your PSP will load as normal
o On the XMB select Pandora Installer for 3.xx+ -R4b-
o Press X to enter the menu
o Go to Battery Options, and select Set Battery Serial From File
o Congratulations your battery is now normal again!
o Exit the program, and restart your PSP. You can now use the battery for normal
operations.
Your PSP Phat or PSP Slim is now running Custom Firmware. If you want to update to the latest
custom firmware version (which is currently at 5.00 M33-6), check out this 5.00 M33 installation
guide.
If you’re running a PSP Brite, check the next page as you have your own method of installing
Custom Firmware.
If you’re having problems, don’t understand the instructions or need some other help, post a
comment.
PSP Custom Firmware 5.00 M33 is Released
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Pages: 1 2
Custom Firmware 5.00 M33 has just been released. Dark Alex completely skipped 4.02 and
released 5.00 M33. Interested in the changes? Read the PSP 5.00 OFW changes. The most
welcome change to 5.00 is the full QUERTY keyboard. No more cellphone like input for us ^_^.
Note: If you’ve already install 5.00 M33, you can skip to it’s patches on the next page. The
latest patch is 5.00 M33-6.
Update: Games requiring 5.50 and 6.00 firmwares currently lock out 5.00 M33 users. You may
want to read up this guide on how to patch them or simply upgrade to 5.50 GEN-D3. Having
5.50 GEN-D3 installed will play these games without the need to patch up.
Requirements:
PSP Phat or PSP Slim with 3.52 M33 or higher. If you don’t have custom firmware yet,
READ: Convert your PSP to custom firmware.
PSP battery that’s at least 78% full
Download: 5.00 M33
Download: 500.PBP
Disable ALL plugins.
Back up your save files (so that if they get corrupted, you still have backups)
How to install 5.00 M33 CFW on your PSP:
Extract the 5.00 M33 installer files to your computer.
Copy the Update folder to X:/PSP/GAME/ on your PSP’s memory stick.
Download the official 500.PBP. Rename the EBOOT.PBP to 500.PBP before
proceeding.
Copy the 500.PBP to the directory; X:/PSP/GAME/UPDATE on your PSP’s memory
stick.
Disconnect your PSP
Run 5.00 UPDATE from under Game on your PSP’s XMB
Press X if asked to correct idstorage keys
Continue to install the official 5.00 SONY when prompted
After all process is complete, press X. Your PSP will reboot.
Congratulations, you’ve just installed 5.00 M33
Now for the patches……
STOP!!!
If you haven’t successfully installed the 5.00 M33 firmware then you can’t proceed here since
these are just subsequent patches. Read the guide on How to install 5.00 M33 on your PSP
above or if you have official firmware, post a comment and let’s see if I can help you out.
If you want to upgrade your 5.00 M33 to it’s patches turn to the next page.
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Written by sylv3rblade on October 18, 2008 at 4:59 pm. Follow responses to this entry via the
RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Tagged with: 5.00 Firmware, Custom Firmware, How to install 5.00 M33
Filed Under: Playstation Portable
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Install PSP Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-D
Install PSP Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-C
Upgrade GEN CFW with XGEN Updater
Play games that require OFW 5.55 and 6.00
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Install PSP Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-D3
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After the success of 5.50 GEN-D2, Then GEN team pushes another update that allows you to
play most of the latest PSP games without upgrading to the latest firmware (this means games
that require at least 5.55 upto 6.10 official firmware) nor having to to patch the eboot. Instead of
a simple patch however, 5.50 GEN-D3 can be installed by using the XGEN Updater (currently at
version 5). Wondering how to install 5.50 GEN-D3 on your PSP? Please continue reading below.
If you have a PSP-3000 / PSP-2000 TA088v3 however, you can install 5.03 GEN-C.
Important: DO NOT attempt to install this on PSP-3000 / PSP-2000 TA088v3. YOU WILL
BRICK YOUR PSP IF YOU DO.
Important: If you are updating from 5.50 GEN-B, you need to install 5.50 GEN-B2 before
proceeding. Otherwise, YOU WILL BRICK YOUR PSP.
Requirements:
A PSP with custom firmware installed AT LEAST 5.00 M33-6. Although the installer
worlds on 4.01 M33, it’s better if you upgrade to 5.00 M33-6 to lower the risk of the
installation failing. If you’re having problems installing 5.50 GEN-D, read the
troubleshooting part below.
PSP battery that’s at least 78% full
Download: XGen Updater
Disable ALL plugins.
Back up your save files (so that if they get corrupted, you still have backups)
Update: If you’ve already downloaded the file xgen_v5.zip earlier, please redownload the file
again. The GEN team has patched a few issues with 5.50 GEN-D3 and the current file is now
xgen_v5b.zip.
How to install 5.50 GEN-D3 using XGen Updater
Connect your PSP to your computer
Extract the XGen Updater to your PC
Copy the PSP folder and the 550.pbp file to the root of your memory stick
On your XMB, go to Game > Memory Stick to start XGen Updater
Select Enter on the screen above
Choose Flash install CFW 5.50 GEN-D3
After all process is complete, press X. Your PSP will reboot.
Congratulations, you’ve just installed 5.50 GEN-D3
After installing GEN-D3, How about some Free PSP Games?
Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-D3 Features:
All features of 5.50 GEN-D2 and 5.50 GEN-D are available.
Compatibility with games requiring firmware 6.10 and above (this includes the Demos
available from the PSN)
Play the following games, Tekken 6, Gundam vs Gundam, Phantasy Star Portable 2,
Naruto, J-League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou 6 Pride of J, Naruto Shippuden Narutimate
Accel 3, James Cameron Avatar The Game, Phantasy Star Portable 2, R-Type Tactics II
Operation Bitter Chocolate, Bleach Soul Carnival 2, Battle Spirits Kiseki no Hasha,
Yamada, etc.
o Download: Hellcat’s Recovery Flasher
o 500.PBP
Troubleshooting:
If you’re having problems getting the black screen when installing 5.50 GEN-D, you
need to reflash your PSP to 5.00 M33-6. If you’re already using 5.00 M33-6, upgrade to
5.50 GEN-B2, then run the 5.50 GEN-D installer:
Requirements for reflashing your PSP to 5.00 M33-6:
o Extract the Hellcat’s Recovery flasher and copy it to PSP\GAME folder
o Copy the 500.pbp to the Recovery folder (PSP\GAME\RECOVERY)
o Run Hellcat’s Recovery flasher from your XMB
o Reflash to 5.00 M33-6
o Restore your PSP to the original settings. No CXMBs, no fonts, etc
o Format flash1 and reset settings (recovery mode)
o Set theme to orginal Sony theme
o Turn off all plugins
o Reformat memory stick
Troubleshooting:
If you’re having problems getting the black screen when installing 5.50 GEN-D, you
need to reflash your PSP to 5.00 M33-6. If you’re already using 5.00 M33-6, upgrade to
5.50 GEN-B2, then run the 5.50 GEN-D installer:
Requirements for reflashin:
If you don’t want to reflash, do the following:
If it still doesn’t work, just update to 5.50 GEN-B2 before running the 5.50 GEN-D
installer.
Credits:
Dark_AleX – For his M33
Genyus – By GEN
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Written by sylv3rblade on December 16, 2009 at 10:00 pm. Follow responses to this entry via
the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Tagged with: 5.50, 5.50 GEN-D, 5.50 GEN-D3, Custom Firmware
Filed Under: Playstation Portable
Related Posts:
Install PSP Custom Firmware 5.03 GEN-C via ChickHEN R2
Install Popsloader on your PSP
Install PSP Custom Firmware 5.03 GEN-B via ChickHEN R2
Install PSP Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-D
Install PSP Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-C
Upgrade GEN CFW with XGEN Updater
Play games that require OFW 5.55 and 6.00
Install PSP Custom Firmware 5.50 MHU
Play games that require OFW 5.50 with version.txt hack
Convert your PSP to custom firmware without Pandora Battery
