Challenge for the PSP modders here

slowman · Post by **slowman** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 10:49 am

I have a PSP Phat that appears to be full-bricked. I still have my good one, the brick is a spare.

I have a battery tool, a pc, a good PSP Phat with 5.00M33-4, and an extra 2GB memory stick pro duo.

Here are the symptoms of the brick:
-No recovery menu, nothing on the screen whatsoever. No backlight.
-No sound.
-When switched on, the green power light comes on and then turns offafter about 15 seconds.
-I *think* I can hear the system trying to read a UMD when I insert one.

I can confirm that the screen works, as I temporarily switched it out with my good one and it works just fine.

Charging the battery through the brick works.

It appears to be a full brick, and if I had to venture a guess... I would say that the idstorage is corrupted.

The person I got this from claimed that it was bricked from custom firmware. I'm guessing that he was trying to install a custom gameboot or theme, and didn't back up the flash0 (doh!) before he did it.

What do you guys think?

jleemero · Post by **jleemero** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:09 am

Just whip up a Magic Memory Stick with your other PSP and use the Pandora battery on your bricked.
It should still work fine.
Even a Full Brick (which is what it sounds like you have) can be recovered this way.

slowman · Post by **slowman** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:16 am

What happens if the clown I got it from somehow corrupted the idstorage? I'm under the impression that an MMS cannot recover a corrupted idstorage.

Remember also that nothing shows on the screen at all, even while holding R and inserting my battery tool. The screen does work for sure as confirmed on my other PSP. I do know when recovering with an MMS, to hit X to flash over the chosen CFW. Even when nothing shows on the screen, I would know to hit X, let it sit a few minutes, and hit X again to restart the PSP.

jleemero · Post by **jleemero** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:43 am

M'kay, I see a bit more of what you're saying here, and I'm sorry to say I probably won't be able to help you.

Others here may be able to, worst case though, I recommend QJ.net's forums for this kind of thing. (PSP specifically, I wouldn't really recommend them for anything else.)

slowman · Post by **slowman** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 3:18 pm

I looked around on QJ's and didn't find a whole lot of pertinent information. Some PSP's shared symptoms, but not cause. A lot of the PSP's that did share symptoms involved someone removing power before an update was finished, or something equally stupid.

I got in contact with the guy I got it from, and he said that "CFW worked for about 6 months, and then it just bricked". He said he had a friend install it for him. He said he wasn't too knowledgeable about it, so I doubt he even messed with the recovery menu or anything. The worst thing an unknowing person could have done was somehow formatted flash0. Even the recovery menu makes it clear that it isn't something that you want to do, so I doubt he would've done it assuming he even knew how to get into the recovery menu.

He said that he doesn't know which CFW version, but mentioned that this was "about two years ago". I'm guessing 3.40OE or 3.02OE... something like that.

I'm still not sure if it is in Recovery mode and I just can't see it, or if it isn't booting anything at all. I'm going to try everything normally to enter recovery mode, and do some blind tests. Assuming the menu is up, push down 3 times to get to "Advanced", then X. Down twice to highlight USB mode for flash0, then X to enable. X for back. Hopefully it will find Drive K:/ in My Computer. If it does, then I can at least take a look around the flash0.

I also see that there is a recovery menu option available that says "Run program at /PSP/RECOVERY/EBOOT.PBP. Could I drop an M33 update in that folder via USB on my good PSP, rename it EBOOT.PBP, take that mem stick, put it in the brick, and then "blindly" run it? Down twice, then X from main menu...

Tonight I'm going to use Rain's MMS Maker 5.00M33-4 and the battery tool for starters. We'll see what happens... Wish me luck!

slowman · Post by **slowman** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:05 pm

Ok, so I made an MMS with Rain's with the 5.00 update. I tested it in my good PSP and the menu comes up and everything.

So I put the MMS in the brick, hold down L, and insert the battery tool. The light comes on immediately, but turns off after maybe 3 seconds. The light turns off much quicker than before. Nothing comes up, and the screen never lights up. Holding R upon startup causes the light to stay on for the fully 15 seconds.

I'll continue trying other things.

palmertech · Post by **palmertech** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:06 pm

There is a service on dealextreme to have your PSP reflashed at a hardware level, costs $60+shipping, though. I can find the link if you would be interested in that.

slowman · Post by **slowman** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:59 pm

Hmm... Well if they can do it, then I can do it too. I'm guessing they use the Sony serial->remote plug adapter. I wish I could get my hands on one of those...

I'd be interested in that link though. I'll dig around DX to see if I can find it. Thanks for the tip.

slowman · Post by **slowman** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:01 pm

I can't seem to find that link on DX...

Would I be risking much if I started swapping in parts from my good PSP into the bad one? Just swapping in all the different daughterboards and the motherboard one by one... just to see if it works? I'm guessing the motherboard with this one, but I'd like to see.

Understandably, I don't want to risk bricking my good motherboard.

BoomBox-Creations · Post by **BoomBox-Creations** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:50 pm

it is actually pretty easy to fix the ID storage.

For this, im using my MMS that puts the PSP into 4.01 M33-2 or its OFW counterpart. ( you can use my guide here for it: http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php ... 36d895e99d )

like you would do to boot up the service mode, put your MSM in, hold the L trigger and put the battery in.

The 3rd one down, NAND operations, go into it. go down to IDStorage tools. select your region, press left on get real MAc and press x on create. When that is done, press circle on the PSP until you are at the main menu and go to Install 4.01 M33, let that finsih. Now your PSP should now work fine.

If it doesnt, re enter service mode, go to NAND operations again, go to format Lflash then format both Flash 0 and flash 1.

Then go back to the main menu and install 4.01 M33, that should fix it =)

I had corrupt my NAND trying to install a dump of 3.60 from a friends PSP.... Thats how i fixed it... above that it is....

you can still do that even if the ID storage isnt fu**ed....

Hope that helped....

slowman · Post by **slowman** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:37 pm

The thing is, I get no recovery menu whatsoever. I hold L for the menu, insert the battery tool, and nothing comes up on the screen (The screen does work, verified on my good PSP). If I hold L, the green light comes on and shuts off after about 3 seconds. If I hold R with a normal battery (should at least boot into recovery, supposedly it has CFW), then the green light comes on for about 15 seconds and goes away.

I'm thinking at this point that I might need to either buy a new ta-079 mobo to replace the whole thing or the UP modchip to flash a new FW to the NAND.

I'm not sure about all this though... are there daughterboards that can cause silly problems like this? I was thinking about swapping out all the different boards and guts one by one (from my good PSP) until it boots. If it turns out to be anything BUT the motherboard itself, then I can at least flash a good CFW so it is ready to go when a replacement board/piece/whatever comes in the mail.

Will swapping in the motherboard from my good PSP cause it to brick the good motherboard in any way? Could I potentially harm anything by doing this?

Is there any possible way I can dump the NAND from my good PSP and flash it to the bad one, even though I have NO recovery menu? I do know there are some PSP specific settings, but I can fix the MAC address and such later... I just want the thing running.

Thanks again for all your help folks!

GoldenfrankO · Post by **GoldenfrankO** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:06 am

for 1 thing I wouldn't go with DX's flash service. You could probably buy anotherr psp phat for $20 more. Are you 100% positive you have the magic memory stick set up right?

slowman · Post by **slowman** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:22 am

Positive, I've done it before, and I did it three times tonight with the same results.

I can probably eliminate the problem down to a specific board myself. Is it ok to start swapping in boards one by one from my good PSP until it boots, or am I going to brick my good mobo doing that?

17daysolderthannes · Post by **17daysolderthannes** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:44 am

on this note, could someone please give me a good site that tells you how to make a full unbrick magic memory stick (which can also install custom firmware to a stock PSP) WITHOUT ALREADY HAVING A PSP WITH CUSTOM FIRMWARE. In other words, taking a standard memory stick and a computer and making the magic memory stick from scratch that can install custom firmware and unbrick a bricked psp.

slowman · Post by **slowman** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:45 pm

Thanks for hijacking my thread... but you can go get a Sony Memory Stick reader. This will plug into your computer via USB, and you can put the card into the reader. Start up Rain's MMS Maker, identify your drive letter, and make the MMS.

I don't know if you live in the US, but if you do then there should be a Wal-Mart within 20 miles of you. The card reader would probably be about $10.

Does your PSP start up at all? Does your brick have CFW?

Did you read any of this thread? A link was already given for a 4.01M33-2 and DCv7 MMS... http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php ... 36d895e99d