Hacking Guide for PSP 1000 and Hackable PSP 2000 (Phat)

This page will guide you on hacking your PSP 1000 or PSP 2000, After you did this procedure, you can successfully run homebrews and backups, install any Custom Firmware available, play the latest PSP games, and you can change between official firmware and custom firmware (CFW) anytime.

The two methods on installing CFW (Custom FirmWare) on your PSP are:

Using a Pandora Battery (which is a special battery that can be bought on stores) and a hacked PSP that can be used for Software Downgrade.

The techniques that was stated above have pros and cons, it will be stated below.

It will also be explained later on how to install Custom Firmware 5.00 M33 or Gen 5.50. Just follow each step that I will provide.

Recommended: Install a CFW using a Pandora Battery

We will be using a Pandora Battery (Jigkick battery), which is a special battery that gives you access to enter the Service Mode. It is a special mode which gives your PSP to install any firmware, including Custom firmwares. In Service mode, it will also allows you to repair your PSP even it is “bricked” (Which will happen if you unplug your PSP while installing a new firmware by accident). The Pandora battery is much more way to install a custom firmware, it’s can also be used as a repair tool. You can buy the Pandora battery on $20 or lower on any online stores.

Advantages:

• Fix unbricked PSP/can also be used as a downgrade tool

• Easier than a software hack
• After creating a Pandora battery and magic memory stick, installing a new custom Firmware will only take 2 minutes.
• Always works on any Firmwares

Disadvantages:

• You must purchase an additional Battery
• Magic Memory stick craetion will be quite difficult

Intrsuctions on installing a Custom firmware with a Pandora Battery:

You must purchase a Pandora Battery or you can make one from a Hacked PSP using a original Sony Battery.

1. Download and extract Rain’s Ultra Lite Magic Memory Stick Maker here which includes the 5.00 Firmware

2. Execute RainsUltraLiteMMS.exe on you computer.
3. Connect the psp to the computer via USB immediately and will be detected automatically. You can also use a card reader for your memory card.
4. Just choose “Format the memory stick” option, make sure that you backup your data
5. Just click ‘Make MMS”
6. After the installation, you can now install the Custom Firmware on your PSP
7. Poweroff the PSP, remove the standard battery and while holding the Left Trigger (L1), insert the pandora battery
8. This should be seen on the display “Despertar Del Cementerio”, the Custom Firmware Installer
9. Then choose “Install 5.00 M33?
10. Wait until it is finished then you’re done.
11. After that, you can install any different custom firmware like Gen 5.50 (M33 or Gen) or install additional utilities and homebrews.

Also recommended for a second choice: Installing CFW using software techniques


Advantages:

• No hardware needed (like Pandora Battery), and it doesn’t cost a penny

Disadvantages:

• Have a high risk of bricking your psp (it will always unbrick your PSP by using Pandora battery and using the guide above)
• Some of the steps depend on the firmware installed on your machine, so there’s a higher risk of confusion

In order to install a Custom firmware without a Pandora battery on a PSP1000 or a hackable PSP 2000, you need to follow the following steps.

1. If your psp has a firmware under firmware 6.20, Upgrade your PSP to the official firmware 6.20. You can do this by downloading the firmware here , placing it in your PSP/UPDATE folder, and running it from your PSP menu.

2. Else if your psp is on firmware 6.30, 6.31, 6.35, 6.36, 6.37, 6.38, or 6.39 the above will not work directly, instead you will need to Downgrade your PSP using some1′s downgrader: Download some1′s downgrader here , extract the archive on your memory stick, run the Downgrader from your memory stick, and follow the instructions. Note, you might need to upgrade your PSP to firmware 6.39 before running the downgrader. You can get firmware 6.39 here .
3. At this point your PSP should be running firmware 6.20. If this is not the case, follow steps 1 or 2 above
4. Download, extract, and run TN Hen for 6.20 here . This will run as a game, show a black screen, and take you back to the XMB. You can check if it worked by pressing select and see if a weird menu shows up (it’s called the “vsh menu”)
5. Download and extract Hellcat’s recovery Flasher from here .
6. Run Hellcat’s recovery flasher from the XMB, agree to the warning message, then make sure that the “Target FW” says 5.00, and click “Install CFW (of version selected above).
7. Follow the instructions, The tool will install the CFW for you
8. That’s all. Very fast and easy.
9. From there, you might want to install a different custom firmware such as Gen 5.50 (M33 or Gen, which one is better for you?) or install additional utilities such as the Prometheus Modules to play backups of recent games.