Downgrading 3.01 fw PSP

[daylight]

Firstly, I know the title sounds like some I'm some noob who didn't read the guides and jumped straight to posting a question, but let me just say that I have downgraded and successfully installed 3.40OE firmware on my first PSP about half a year ago.

Anyway, since then I haven't really been in touch with the PSP firmware scene, though I roughly know some stuff like the latest custom firmwares are M33 and no longer OE. (I still can play everything I want on my 3.40OE, so I never bothered upgrading to a higher custom fw.)

In any case, I recently finally managed to get my hands on the MGS PO premium PSP (the Japan-only camo shell one), and it came with the 3.01 fw.
Since this thing cost me quite a bit, I'm trying to be extra careful with it (though I know it's quite possible to recover bricked PSPs, but I'm not taking any risks), so I looked through the guides on this site, and they're either too new to be relevant, or too old that I'm not sure they're still the best/ideal method to go about it.

I came across one old guide that said 3.01 should be downgraded with the GTA LCS game, but I've heard of newer stuff since like the Pandora battery or stuff like that, that makes it possible to downgrade any fw without the need for any UMD exploits.

So, long story short, I just wanna know what's the best method for downgrading my 3.01 PSP to install custom fw, and if I would need to purchase anything else to do so (cause I did my first 2.71 PSP without the need for extra stuff).
Or is downgrading even necessary still?

Thanks very much for reading through!

 

[TimTiger]

What you will need is a spare phat battery (should probably use the one that came with your PSP with 3.40OE and buy another battery) and MS. once you have both of those use This guide. This is the safest way to put any PSP on custom firmware.

 

[daylight]

Thanks for the reply.
I actually read that but assumed it wasn't suitable for my situation cause it mentioned I needed a custom fw PSP initially, and I assumed it meant my PSP should already be using custom.

I now get that I supposed to use that custom fw PSP to create a Pandora battery and magic MS that can be used to downgrade other PSPs.

Just a question though, I suppose I can always reformat the MS again after that to use it normally again, but I've read that the battery is rendered useless other than for downgrading?
In that case, would it be ok to use some cheap 3rd party battery as the Pandora batt instead of an official Sony one?

 

[Hanzo_f19]

no, you can put everything normal again.Just backup the eeprom of your battery, to put the MS normal again you just need to format it using the PSP.

 

[daylight]

Alright, thanks a lot. I'll give it a shot soon!

Anyway, just to be sure, stuff like TA-082 board doesn't matter anymore with that method right? Cause the camo PSP happens to have such a board.

 

[Acerthief]

Thanks for the reply.
I actually read that but assumed it wasn't suitable for my situation cause it mentioned I needed a custom fw PSP initially, and I assumed it meant my PSP should already be using custom.

I now get that I supposed to use that custom fw PSP to create a Pandora battery and magic MS that can be used to downgrade other PSPs.

Just a question though, I suppose I can always reformat the MS again after that to use it normally again, but I've read that the battery is rendered useless other than for downgrading?
In that case, would it be ok to use some cheap 3rd party battery as the Pandora batt instead of an official Sony one?

Like what fearevil said, you can convert both ways. Not Recommended though.
Cheap 3rd party batts are not recommended, as most times it fails to convert correct and can only brick your PSP

There's no need to format the MS, because other than the first sector of the MS is moved a bit, other sectors are normal, you can still put your GAMEs, movies, music,etc. Basically you can have a magic memory stick and a normal stick in one!


**Moved to PSP Help Center

 

[frosty5689]

most counterfeit crap batteries made to look like sony stores it's eeprom diffrently and thus causing failure in using homebrew to modify it.(can't verify serial) and you can always convert the sony battery back even if you just have 1 battery(adaptor in bat out turn on psp launch homebrew that converts pandora batteries, put in the bat change it to normal bat take it out unplug adaptor,turn it on via battery and voila)

 

[daylight]

Like what fearevil said, you can convert both ways. Not Recommended though.
Cheap 3rd party batts are not recommended, as most times it fails to convert correct and can only brick your PSP

I see, so my best bet is to use an original Sony battery, and leave it as a Pandora battery after that, and not convert it back?
That'd be quite a waste of a battery I guess, since I'm only gonna be downgrading this one PSP.

Just to confirm, so the only 2 ways to get custom fw on my 3.01 PSP is either through the old GTA LCS exploit, or the Pandora battery method right?

PS: Sorry about starting the thread in the wrong forum. Kinda missed the PSP help forum.

 

[Hanzo_f19]

or you can use the 3.11/3.50 downgrader.It requires an unpatched version of Lumines.

 

[Acerthief]

or you can use the 3.11/3.50 downgrader.It requires an unpatched version of Lumines.

Yup. No worry posting the wrong page.

If you're going to downgrade just one PSP, then I'd recommend to downgrade using unpatched versions of Lumines (For Firmware 3.11/3.50) or GTA: Liberty Stories (For 3.03).

Lumines have a better chance of finding unpatched ones. Just rent a copy or something.

 

[daylight]

Alrighty, thanks a lot everyone! I'll go check with my friends if any of them have the unpatched Lumines then.

 

[Hanzo_f19]

Oh, almost forgot, to check if it his unpatched you need to see if it comes with the 1.50 update (all games come in one update).If it comes with the 3.51 update, it means that it is patched.

 

[daylight]

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep that in mind.

Just to check though, should I be using Lumines or GTA LCS to downgrade?
Cause I kinda thought I should be using GTA, since my fw is 3.01. It's not very common I guess, but I figured 3.03 uses the GTA exploit, while Lumines are for those 3.11 and above, my 3.01 fw should be closer to the 3.03 one.

 

[TimTiger]

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep that in mind.

Just to check though, should I be using Lumines or GTA LCS to downgrade?
Cause I kinda thought I should be using GTA, since my fw is 3.01. It's not very common I guess, but I figured 3.03 uses the GTA exploit, while Lumines are for those 3.11 and above, my 3.01 fw should be closer to the 3.03 one.

It really doesnt matter since you can upgrade your firmware to where it would fall in the 3.30+ catagory, Just make sure that you use an update that is for 3.50 or below otherwise you are screwed.

 

[frosty5689]

The lumines disks that come w/ 3.50 psp update should work. Anyways why are you saying 1.50 update that doesn't even make sense stop giving out false information and misleading people please.

 

[Hanzo_f19]

The lumines disks that come w/ 3.50 psp update should work. Anyways why are you saying 1.50 update that doesn't even make sense stop giving out false information and misleading people please.

the unpatched version comes with the 1.50 update (you can use this one to downgrade), the patched version comes with the 3.51 update and you can't use it to downgrade.It is true.

 

[frosty5689]

It doesn't come with any update.

 

[Hanzo_f19]

It doesn't come with any update.

ahh...yes, it does.All UMDs come with a update.

Check your UMDs, they come with one update.

Even ISOs come with a update, BUT you can't see them.Open the ISO with UMDGEN and you will see a folder called UPDATE.

 

[TimTiger]

ahh...yes, it does.All UMDs come with a update.

Check your UMDs, they come with one update.

The USA release didnt come with a visible update since the PSP-1001 (AKA USA region Phat PSP) came with 1.5 firmware pre-installed. so if he doesnt see any update it's an unpatched version of lumines.

 

[Hanzo_f19]

The USA release didnt come with a visible update since the PSP-1001 (AKA USA region Phat PSP) came with 1.5 firmware pre-installed. so if he doesnt see any update it's an unpatched version of lumines.

really? I didn't knew that.Sorry
Is that the only game that doesn't come with the update?