PSP Unbricker....right here!!!

[Kazekage Gaara]

A PSP unbricker for every Sony PlayStation Portable

http://www.noobz.eu/joomla/news/pandoras-battery.html/

We told you that we'd be releasing an unbricker for the M33 bricks. But then we got to thinking, maybe that just wouldn't be exciting enough.

Would you like a super special surprise bonus? How about an unbricker for ALL PSPs? Yep, you read that right. We call it "Pandora's Battery".

There's a larger story behind this unbricker, though, and it deserves to be told. It's the culmination of years of behind-the-scenes research and development by some of the top names in PSP hacking, under the name of the Prometheus project. This group of people, from various development teams, was dedicated to developing and releasing PSP hacks and exploits, with the aim of improving the status of PSP homebrew, and making sure that it was kept alive.

For some time this project was highly successful - many releases from Noobz, C+D and others were direct results of this work. The zenith of this success was the development of this unbricker - which required some amazing technical leaps, including:

1. Reverse engineering of the service (unbrick) mode
2. Development of a technique to change an ordinary battery into a service mode trigger battery (and back)
3. Development of custom IPL code along with a technique to sign that code as authentic.

Even more impressive is that all of the above was achieved without any access to the official hardware or software. With careful nurturing, this unbricker and custom IPL was to become the foundation of a whole new homebrew environment.

Unfortunately something happened to shatter the idyll. Somehow, the unbricker was leaked into the wider world before it was ready to be released. Whether this was deliberate, by one of the team members, or accidental via a security breach is still unclear. The fact is that this unbricker appeared on the black market, being sold for huge prices. As far as we know, it is probably very close to the same software that appears in at least some of the 'magic unbricker'/'jigkick' videos.

So, although the time was not right to release this (it would have been wise to wait at least until the PSP Slim release), our hand has been forced. In order to prevent small fortunes being made by leeches, we are giving this unbricker away for free. So - let it be known - if you have paid for an unbricker, then you have been ripped off. I suggest that you take up your grievances with the seller - it should never have been sold. And if you're unhappy about this being released before PSP Slim - then blame whoever it was that leaked or stole it.

It's unclear whether or not this is the end for the Prometheus project - hopefully not, but that is undecided so far. In case it is the end, it is worth a quick roll of honour. In alphabetical order:

Adrahil, Booster, Cswindle, Dark_AleX, Ditlew, Fanjita, Joek2100, Jim, Mathieulh, Nem, Psp250, Skylark, TyRaNiD.

And here are their respective C+D (Create and Destroy) nicknames.

Mathieulh = WiseFellow
Tyranid = bockscar
Fanjita = FullerMonty
Joek = CosmicOverSoul
Dark_Alex = Malyot
Chris = Caretaker
Adrahil = VoidPointer
nem = h1ckeyph0rce

Anyway - make sure to read the readme.txt in this release for how to use it, but in brief it works like this:

1. You run a program on a homebrew-enabled PSP that will convert a standard PSP battery into a jigkick battery. Note that you can't then use that battery normally - so you should use a spare one.
2. You run a program to generate the unbricker memory stick image, built from the v1.5 update EBOOT (note that this, and the custom IPL, means the release is completely free of Sony copyright materials).
3. You run some programs on a PC to install the image to your memory stick.

Now, you have a battery/memory stick pair that works just like the famous jigkick combination (but better) - just insert them into any PSP (even a brick) and the PSP will be reinstalled with the v1.5 firmware. As far as we know, this will continue to work for all future firmwares.

Enjoy! And remember - if you find this useful, please donate to the original developers - it's a lot cheaper than paying £1500 for it on the black market... Donations via paypal please using this button:



Download: Please use one of these mirrors:

Mirror 1

Mirror 2

Lol...I hope I got the donate link right

Credit for the find of course goes to arcsy2

Spread the joy

Edit: Just so you guys know, I haven't checked it out yet coz I don't have a bricked PSP but a couple of my friends do, and I'll post of the results here once I get em

MAJOR EDIT: Well, I just found out you don't need to buy a new PSP battery or use a spare battery. You can just convert your regular battery into a jigkick battery, recover your PSP, and reconvert that same battery into a normal one and use it as usual

Well I did some research and found that indeed the jigkick can be reverted back to normal following these simple steps: (taken from jas0nuk on noobz IRC)

1) Convert your battery into a jigkick one using "Pandora's Battery Creator", but before you press X, press TRIANGLE to backup your battery's EEPROM to ms0:/eeprom.bin
2) Unbrick your PSP as normal
3) When you are done unbricking, take out the battery and the magic memory stick. Start up the PSP using the AC adaptor (do not try to use a USB charger, it will not start up)
4) Insert the magic memory stick and the magic battery
5) Run "Pandora's Battery Creator" again
6) Press L+R to restore the ms0:/eeprom.bin to your battery

NOTE: You can also restore a battery without having made a backup, by pressing SQUARE at step 6. This will generate a fake serial for your battery (0x12345678) which allows it to work normally, but there could be side-effects.

Have fun, and thanks to everyone in the Prometheus/C+D team.

Credit of this find of course goes to neoxbox of QJ.NET forums

[Haldrie]

I saw this on 1emulation yesterday. There is already video on YouTube of this working.

[Strelok26]

I don't really get it about the Unbricker...

[arcsy2]

Thanks for the credit Kazekage. I was surprised to see my name here lol

Just a note that this can also be used as a universal downgrader. And you don't have to brick the PSP just to use it. You just have to use the jigkick battery and magic memory stick you generated on a custom firmware or 1.5 PSP on a working PSP (let's say PSP with official firmware 3.52) and it will flash your PSP to 1.5.

Also note that you can't do homebrew on the 1.5 yet so upgrade to 2.00, then downgrade back to 1.50. Not sure if installing custom firmwares directly from an unbricked PSP to 1.5 will work though.

[Kazekage Gaara]

Thanks for the credit Kazekage. I was surprised to see my name here lol

Well, you were the one who first mentioned this in the General PSP Homebrew thread, so credit goes where due

Just a note that this can also be used as a universal downgrader. And you don't have to brick the PSP just to use it. You just have to use the jigkick battery and magic memory stick you generated on a custom firmware or 1.5 PSP on a working PSP (let's say PSP with official firmware 3.52) and it will flash your PSP to 1.5.

Also note that you can't do homebrew on the 1.5 yet so upgrade to 2.00, then downgrade back to 1.50. Not sure if installing custom firmwares directly from an unbricked PSP to 1.5 will work though.

Yeah....I was gonna mention that but was too busy with work at that time Anyways, here's an awesome guide on how to downgrade ANY PSP using the above method....

Unbrick or Downgrade any PSP using Pandora's Battery

Enjoy!!! and if any of you still got any questions, then post away , although the above link has a really great FAQ included, which answers almost all questions

[arcsy2]

Nice guide

One more question...



Will this brick my PSP?

jk lol

But seriously, I hope this pandora's battery will still work on the upcoming PSP Slim because I'm planning to buy one.

[Anonymous]

Or just don't brick your PSP in the first place.

[Sprung]

Or just don't brick your PSP in the first place.

In a perfect world, it would never happen. But we don't live in a perfect world.

[Haldrie]

The only thing that can stop this from working is if Sony sees this and figures out a way to modify the battery so this no longer works or using a brand new battery design that won't work for the original version. It that case our only hope would be to find a way to exploit another game on a newer firmware.

[Ahkei]

I don't really get it about the Unbricker...

What you don't get could fill a warehouse.

[Josh]

Or just don't brick your PSP in the first place.

This can also be used to effectively downgrade any PSP, no matter the firmware or motherboard revision..

[fireblaster_lyz]

This can also be used to effectively downgrade any PSP, no matter the firmware or motherboard revision..

Correct. Including bricked PSPs.
It utilises a reversed engineered of the PSP IPL loaded into the Memory Stick and alongside with the 0xFFFFFFFF (serial number) battery.

However, the last hurdle, the PSP's IDStorage, is currently impossible to recover.

This utility might not be able to work on the Slims as we do not know whether they have identical IDStorage with the current PSPs.

[Haldrie]

That is one of the reasons that the developers wanted to wait until the slim was released but because of a leak they were force to release it early. We just have to hope that Sony doesn't catch on to this before the slim release.

[maca]

Sony should just give up, lol. Piracy always wins.

[Fer!]

Uh...I don't own a PSP, but I was planning to, but at the same time I was afraid of bricking it, now that worry is gone. But I got a question, what exactly is IDStorage? I have heard you cannot recover it.

Thanks in advance.