Several Questions Concerning CFW, Pandora's Batt, etc.

[flashfreak]

Alright, I own a PSP 1000 series (phat) system and I am looking into installing CFW on my system. Bear with me as I am just now getting into the homebrew/CFW community. I am currently running Sony's official 3.80 FW. So, onto the questions:

1. I believe the only way for me to put CFW onto my system is to use a pandora battery (I plan on making one using the pin 5 hard-mod technique) and a magic memory stick (I plan on using the Newbie Installer) since I am past official FW 3.50. Is this correct and are my planned methods the proper way to do this?

2. If for some bizarre reason after I install CFW I want to revert back to Sony's official firmware is this possible and easily accomplished?

3. What exactly are IPLs? I assume it is talking about the initial program load, or boot method. How and why exactly does this tie into CFW?

4. What exactly is a popsloader and why is it needed if the PSP can now run psone games without them?

5. What exactly does TimeMachine allow? Is it worth anything for people, like myself, who own a PSP "phat."

6. Unless a PSP system is bricked does Despertar del Cementerio serve any valuable purpose?

7. Is it very likely to brick a system in the process of using a pandora battery and the Newbie Installer created MS to install CFW?

8. How well does the SNES emulator, SNESPSP_TYL Standard Version v0.4.2, work? Any slowdown?

9. CFW doesn't interfere with running PSP UMD games does it? Have there been any reported problems running official UMD PSP games with CFW?

10. Finally, I want to run through exactly what I plan on doing and make sure it is what needs to be done. Currently, running sony firmware 3.80 I plan on using a pandora battery (hard-mod style) and a magic MS (created through the Newbie Installer) to install CFW 3.71 M33-1. Then, I plan on updating directly from 3.71 M33-1 to 3.90 M33-2 (by putting the 3.90 M33-2 "UPDATE" folder into /PSP/GAME/ along with the official Sony FW 3.90 (named "390.PBP"). Is this process okay and should it work problem-free? I do not need to update to anything from CFW 3.71 M33-1 before installing 3.90 M33-2 do I?

Thanks in advance for everyone's help. It is greatly appreciated.

-flashfreak

[toby dawg]

4: popsloader is a built in psx emulator i think.

6: Despertar del Cementerio is what you should use. It doesent have to be bricked. It will put you psp straight to custom firmware so its faster and easier.

7: ive done 2 psps this way and neither have bricked. If for some weird reason it did you could just re pandora it.

8: This emulator works very well, put it on frameskip 1 and everything should be smooth.

9: It does not effect regular psp games. They run fine and you can even play backups off the memory card.

As for the rest i dont know...

[myersn024]

Alright, I own a PSP 1000 series (phat) system and I am looking into installing CFW on my system. Bear with me as I am just now getting into the homebrew/CFW community. I am currently running Sony's official 3.80 FW. So, onto the questions:

1. I believe the only way for me to put CFW onto my system is to use a pandora battery (I plan on making one using the pin 5 hard-mod technique) and a magic memory stick (I plan on using the Newbie Installer) since I am past official FW 3.50. Is this correct and are my planned methods the proper way to do this?

Yes, since you're past 3.50 the only way to get CFW on your PSP is through the use of a Pandora Batter/memorystick.

2. If for some bizarre reason after I install CFW I want to revert back to Sony's official firmware is this possible and easily accomplished?

Yes, it is simple.

3. What exactly are IPLs? I assume it is talking about the initial program load, or boot method. How and why exactly does this tie into CFW?

IPL stands for initial program loader. The reason they tie in with custom firmware so much has to do with how custom firmware works. Up until the time that CFW for the Slim came out, all CFW was based on the 1.50 IPL. When going from CFW back to OFW, you had to run a program that would put your IPL back to normal so that the OFW could load. Otherwise you'd end up with a brick. Now, all CFW is based off the newer IPL. Returning to OFW is as simple as running an official Sony Updater. The other reason that IPL's are so important is that they are also what allow the Pandora batter and memorystick to function.

4. What exactly is a popsloader and why is it needed if the PSP can now run psone games without them?

POPS is the builtin Playstation One emulator. POPSLoader is a neat little thing that DA has added to his firmwares that allows you to load previous versions of POPS to play Playstation One games. Some games run better with the previous versions than they do with the newer ones.

5. What exactly does TimeMachine allow? Is it worth anything for people, like myself, who own a PSP "phat."

TimeMachine was made more for Slim users. With the phat psp, you get all the 1.50 compatibility without the need for any other software.

6. Unless a PSP system is bricked does Despertar del Cementerio serve any valuable purpose?

A PSP doesn't have to be bricked in order to use it. In fact, that would be how I'd install CFW on your PSP if I were to do it for you.

7. Is it very likely to brick a system in the process of using a pandora battery and the Newbie Installer created MS to install CFW?

Not really...unless your battery dies or falls out. Even then, you've got the tools to fix it.

8. How well does the SNES emulator, SNESPSP_TYL Standard Version v0.4.2, work? Any slowdown?

It works quite well. Some games run better than other, and some don't run at all. There's a lot of settings that you can tweak to make a game run better.

9. CFW doesn't interfere with running PSP UMD games does it? Have there been any reported problems running official UMD PSP games with CFW?

No it doesn't. None that I've heard of.

10. Finally, I want to run through exactly what I plan on doing and make sure it is what needs to be done. Currently, running sony firmware 3.80 I plan on using a pandora battery (hard-mod style) and a magic MS (created through the Newbie Installer) to install CFW 3.71 M33-1. Then, I plan on updating directly from 3.71 M33-1 to 3.90 M33-2 (by putting the 3.90 M33-2 "UPDATE" folder into /PSP/GAME/ along with the official Sony FW 3.90 (named "390.PBP"). Is this process okay and should it work problem-free? I do not need to update to anything from CFW 3.71 M33-1 before installing 3.90 M33-2 do I?

Sounds good to me.

[Valium]

All the emulators work exceptionally well for the Psp, only exception being the N64 emulator, the Snes emulator just needs a little more work, not sure if they're still working on it though.

[flashfreak]

Thanks for your responses guys. They helped out tremendously. Now, one last question for myersn024. You said you would use Despertar del Cementerio to downgrade my psp and install CFW. How exactly would you go about doing this? Does Despertar del Cementerio work the same way as the Newbie Installer by creating the proper files you need on your MS? And then would I just continue on in the same manner as I would if I were using the Newbie Installer created MS? Again, thanks for your help.

[myersn024]

I'm not familiar with the noobie installer. However, since you don't have a homebrew compatible PSP, you're going to have to obtain the files for the memory stick through "alternate means." If the noobie installer is what gets you there, then use that. If you had access to a homebrew compatible PSP, I'd say go the Despertar Cementerio route.

[flashfreak]

Alright, well I will modify my battery this weekend and get CFW up and running. Hopefully I will not run into any problems. Thank you all for your help. myersn024, your detailed answers were especially helpful. Thanks again to everyone. I will let you guys know if I have any issues.

-flashfreak

[flashfreak]

Okay guys, I got my battery hardmodded and after a little experimenting it worked great with my created ms so I am now running CFW 3.71 M33-1 . I plan on updating it to CFW 3.90 M33-2 after playing around a little more. Now, I have one final question: can you still charge hardmodded pandora batteries? It won't hurt the battery or the system to do this will it?

Thanks again for everyone's help.

-flashfreak

[toby dawg]

solder a wire from your lifted pin to ground and rig it up so it wont break and your battery will be back to normal.