forums.ps2dev.org

ooPo · Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:13 am Post subject:

That's more like a wishlist than an update list.

proberts9999 · Joined: 11 Jan 2005 Posts: 2

As far as a fake file, another possibility is that it's a placeholder created for testing. Just a bunch of misc. stuff put together by a programmer somewhere at Sony to test network or archive read/write code.

ooPo · Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 4:39 am Post subject:

I've been trying different button combinations for days, and its the first thing people try when the pick it up now. Also, I actually tried hexing in a newer version a couple days ago. It didn't work, unfortunately.

I'll give this usbview thing a try later tonight, though. Thanks.

JeffChen · Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Shanghai, China

This update is surely just a functional dummy, because it's showing some runnable content.
The update list was so beautiful that could bring up dreams.

But you should never install it! Here in China, many guys have already tried the file on their PSPs and then went dead. They cannot get a proper warranty, and were very anxiours.

Anyway, I managed to see the list, but decided not to install. Tricky ;)
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ooPo · Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:36 pm Post subject:

Next time, can you warn us? :)

ooPo · Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 4:03 pm Post subject:

Oh, and nothing shows up on the usb bus. So that's no fun.

Pikoro · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 56

Just wondering if you all would mind if I copy some of the content here to www.psphacks.net.

Thanks

pixel · Joined: 30 Jan 2004 Posts: 791

I mind: some parts I've said are utterly wrong, and we fixed our thoughts on IRC. So mh, maybe some things have to be fixed before copying wrong information ;)
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Pikoro · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 56

Actually, if you want, feel free to sign up and post to the site, or let me know what was wrong and I'll post it myself.

I've been sort of scouring the net for a bit, and doing the copy/paste thing. Good thing I can read japanese :D

Thanks

Guest · Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 2:03 pm Post subject:

Pikoro,

My personal feeling is that most people here do not want to hoard information and believe that the information posted is meant to be used by anyone who is interested.

I personally don't mind if you copy any of my posts. But please do me the honor of noting me as the author and ps2dev.org as the original site that contained the data. :) Concerns always pop up form time to time about other sites taking programs and information and intentionally removing any indication and credit to the original sites and authors.

I agree with Pixel about possibly incorrect data, but I went back and marked as incorrect in the recent PSAR thread about the uncertainty of our conclusions. If Pixel knows of any other threads he thinks are inaccurate it might be a good idea for him to annotate that information. :)

Pikoro · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 56

Don't get me wrong, I'm not about hoarding information or stealing credit for other people's works, I just think that the stuff should be made as easy as possible to get to.

That's why I'm asking first instead of just grabbing info and posting it as my own.

Thanks for the reply.

Oobles · Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 2:24 pm Post subject:

Getting back on topic. I'm curious to know if either of you with flashed PSPs have ventured into openning it and removing the battery which is sitting next to the memory chip?

I was looking at the lik-sang web site and saw it in this pic..

http://forum.lik-sang.com/other/psp-release/psp-release79.jpg

The full article, and other pics being at..

http://www.lik-sang.com/psp.html

I'm assuming the update is in the volatile memory and being kept there by the battery, and with some luck the chip also holds the original software in rom. As ooPo pointed out though, the battery could be holding the flashed software and removing the battery may make it more dead. Any thoughts?

Guest · Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 2:35 pm Post subject:

Oobles, indeed!

In fact, I researched the same pictures and was tempted to do so myself, when someone else on IRC mentioned that the battery was most likely (and more obviously) for the real-time clock.

This made more sense. After all, the flash is an actual NAND flash that wouldn't need battery backup.

But right now I would not open up the PSP because we are working on returning them. :)

emiisdev · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 13

Hi all,

I've been trying to find the update file for a couple of days. I don't know how much I'll be able to help, but I'm willing to donate some of my time.

Thanks much

Emi ^_^

DiGiTaLeX · Joined: 30 Oct 2004 Posts: 12

Oobles or Oopo or whoever has the dead thing, I would TRY the battery thing.. the worst thing that could happen is loosing the time like someone said because batteries go flat, and some are faulty....

Then again, the battery may only store "bios" like settings like on a computer..

Meh. I dont know. Sorry to hear that it broke.. I think I'll get a nintendo DS instead :P

Pikoro · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 56

Yah, i'm trying to find a copy of that update file too. If anyone's got it, please drop me a line. I'd like to poke around a bit inside...

Cheers

ooPo · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2005 12:06 am Post subject:

Opening the unit to play with the battery would remove any chance of sending the PSP in for 'repairs'. I'm not quite ready to do that yet...

emiisdev · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 13

ooPo, how about contacting Sony directly?

The Register ran an article today (Yahoo, Slashdot and others picked it up too) that mentions they can and will revert the firmware for a fee.

Sony admits PSP 'update' is genuine
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/18/sony_psp_update_confirmed/

emiisdev · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 13

Here are some of the addresses (haven't found numbers yet) from the PSP Developer Network site:

PSP Developer Network
http://www.psp-pro.com/

Guest · Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2005 9:59 am Post subject:

cj · Joined: 26 Jan 2005 Posts: 7

Ok, dont yell...just here to share an Idea

Its probable that theres a way to reflash the PSP with an older update (which we dont have) as it has some memstick access (a protected backup incase you screw the PSP update)

All saying that dont work (put an older update file as the eboot on the memstick via a memstick reader)

if that doesnt work,should be able to hold the write disable pin LOW (to kill it, so the chip can be written to, all saying that it needs to be) and try it via the way above (however the above way should work fine)..gotsa figure out how to grab an older update, that probably sony only has, (or even a GOOD new one MAY work, but thats a MAY, i doubt sony would replace the chip each time, they must have a mem stick w/ the right software on it)..posibility like said in the thread to dump a good psp's flash and use it (though it would need to be formatted right = hard to do, or have sony hand it to us, (also doubtful, however they may eventually release it, if more dead ones turn up)..just my $.02

emiisdev · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 13

I was thinking the same thing. We're missing the original firmware. That's probably how sony is "resetting" systems that are disabled.

Emi ^_^

J.F. · Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Posts: 2906

Sony probably uses in-circuit programming to "fix" PSPs with wiped firmware. Most programmable gate arrays and memories have this feature. How it works is you apply power to certain pins and some part of the chip will then monitor certain other pins for commands. This allows you to solder a chip into the circuit board and still be able to reprogram or reflash it later. Sometimes the circuit board will have a special header that leads to these pins - sometimes you use alligator clips. In-circuit programming is the way things work these days. You can't afford to be pulling chips, sticking them in a programming socket, then inserting them back into the circuit. Instead, a probe attaches to a header or touches some pads on the board or even the pins themselves, then the chip is reprogrammed without ever removing it.

Victor · Joined: 26 Jan 2005 Posts: 15

i don't think it need open psp to shot special/service command pin.
hehe....may be try looking why psp remote use alot chip .....
it cool make the service command on there when just plug the service cable like psp ps2 remote :-P

ooPo · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:54 pm Post subject:

Yeah, its probably just a memorystick or a UMD they drop in and it automatically reflashes back to normal. I doubt they'd have to open it up.

mc · Joined: 12 Jan 2005 Posts: 212 Location: Link�ping

It depends on what state the code currently flashed is in. In order to be able to run a rescue operation from MS or UMD, the code in the flash has to work well enough to drive them and load the code. Otherwise, opening it up and accessing the flash hardware-wise would be the only option. What you described earlier about the behaviour of your fried system seems to indicate that it is indeed capable of accessing the MS, but it's hard to be sure about the nature of this access, or if there even is one, just from observing the LED going on and off.

Often a part of the flash can be write-protected, so that the first stages of system software can never be overwritten, thus leaving a way to do software rescue that will always work no matter how crappy software you managed to flash. I'm unsure whether the SAMSUNG chip in question has such a feature though. Larger flashes often don't have it.
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ooPo · Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:37 am Post subject:

If they're planning on having users flash it themselves, they'd save a lot of hassle if they reserved the small piece as a failsafe loader. I have a hard time believing they'd just blank the whole thing and hope it all works out.

Considering it isn't fully dead and appears to be trying to do something, the fact that Sony is offering to fix it for cheap and that there's no indication of the flash chip being easy to tap into on the inside... it just makes sense that they're plugging in a piece of media and letting it fix itself. *shrug*

cory1492 · Joined: 10 Dec 2004 Posts: 216

I have an older camera with similar problems, if you tried to take a picture and the batteries died while writing to the memory then the flash became unrecognizable.

It was an easy fix if you had the correct software to reprogram the flash, but for whatever reason the buggers @ Canon decided that they would charge customers 25USD to have this fixed (every time).

I hope this isnt what $ony is doing, with such an expensive piece of equipment you'd think they would give the users the ability to recover the flash if damaged (OMG are you thinking what Im thinking, what if the batteries died during flashing - will we have to pay $ony more than for the origional hardware to fix it?)

just some $10 words from a $0.02 thought...

mc · Joined: 12 Jan 2005 Posts: 212 Location: Link�ping

Well, they might not want to give out the repair image if the repair process requires that the image is totally unencrypted, and they don't want a clear ROM dump floating around. This, rather than need for special hardware equipment, could very well be the reason why they would insist that the units are sent in for repair.
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