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This past weekend I decided it was time to join the “homebrew” PSP community. It was time to install custom firmware (CFW) onto my PSP, opening it up to a world of possibilities. It was easier than I thought, but it was still a very scary thing to do the first time around. I thought I had killed my PSP at one point but thankfully I got it running eventually.

This post may be way off base with the topics covered in my blog, but WTF, it’s my blog and I may need to look back at what I did should I mod another PSP. This is a great way to archive my steps.

What you need:

• 1 Slim PSP: I have the silver one, model 2001.
• 1 Sony Memory Stick: Mine was a 1 GB stick, way more than enough space for this.
• WINDOWS XP: To my knowledge Vista complicates things.
• A mini USB cord: I used the USB cord that allows me to charge my PS3 controller.
• Knife: I simply used a pearing knife, though an exacto knife would do a better job.

Downloads:

• The Partition Mover - There should be minimum three (3) files in this: the msipl.bib, msinst.exe, and a readme
• The Pandora Files (Universal Unbricker)- This has the eboots, folders, bin file, etc. that will be mentioned later on…
• WinRAR - This is a free archiving program (like Winzip).

Phase One: Creating the PROPER Memory Stick

This is where your PSP will be getting the info it needs to be modded so be sure to follow these steps VERY carefully.

1)Turn on the psp and go into USB mode
2)Download Winrar (see downloads section) if you havent already
3)When your computer detects the PSP, go to “My Computer”

4)Right-click on your PSP’s drive and select “Format”
5)Format the memory stick
6)Next download the “Universal Unbricker” (we talked about this in the downloads section)
7)Place all the files inside of it onto your psp’s drive. These files should include:

-Three folders called “PSP”, “kd”, and “registry”
-Three eboots called “150.pbp”, “340.pbp”, and “371.pbp”
-One bin file called “msipl.bin”

Phase Two: Moving the Partitions

(NOTE: Keep your memory stick in through USB)

1)Download the Partition Mover (We talked about this earlier)
2)Extract the folder “msinst” to your hard drive (C:\)
3)Go to “My Computer” and find your PSP drive letter (Removable Disk “?”)
4)Go to “Start”
5)Go to “Run”

6)Type in “cmd” and press OK

7)Type this in: “cd C:\msinst”
8)Next, type in “msinst ? msipl.bin” (remember No quotes) (also, replace ? with your removable disk letter)(also, use a CAPITAL LETTER to represent your drive. example: C:\msinst>msinst J msipl.bin)
9)It will show some stuff and give you 2 options:

1)Y=Yes 2)N=No

Choose Yes.

10)You should receive a confirmation that the partitions were successfully moved.

Thats it! You’re done with your magic memory stick and partition moving!!!!!

That wasnt so hard now was it? Now, lets continue! Because here comes the dangerous/hard part. MAKE SURE YOU FULLY CHARGED YOUR BATTERY BEFORE YOU BEGIN!

*NOTE: I did not get a confirmation when I went through this process, I got an error message. After some research I found a program call MSPformat.exe. If you also experience problems with the above process, dowload MSPformat.exe and run from your command prompt the following C:\mspformat\mspformat.exe X (x being the letter drive your psp is in and then press enter. Then go trhough the other steps again as mentioned starting at Phase One step 3.

Phase Three: Hard Modding Your PSP Battery

1)Take your battery (THE ONE THAT CAME WITH THE PSP) and open it using the knife or exacto knife. Be careful because it’s a Lithium Ion battery and if you poke or cut the inner pack… Kaboom!

2)Look on the main board for the display “ICO4″ or “CO4″ (depending on your battery)

3)Now, take a needle or something like that and remove pin #5
here is a diagram: (NOTE: you can find pin #5 easily when the ICO4 or CO4 display is facing you!!!!)
__ (pin 4) __ (pin 8)
__ (pin 3) __ (pin 7)
__ (pin 2) __ (pin 6)
__ (pin 1) __ (pin 5)

THIS IS WHAT THE BATTERY SHOULD LOOK LIKE

As you can see there are the 8 pins BUT to make life easier, the way I did it was the way it’s done in the picture. I just scraped the chip with a pin until the circuit that LEADS to the pin you’re supposed to cut, is broken. Notice how and where the cut was made into the board. YOU’RE DONE HARD MODDING THE BATTERY

Seal the the battery up with Crazy Glue or scotch tape but if you use scotch tape, make note that putting the battery back into the back of PSP will now be a snug fit.

Note: Do the cutting nice and slow…back and forth. Careful not to rip any of the cords out of the battery pack (there are two leads at the top pf the battery pack), damage any other part of the chip, or damage the inner battery or you’re gonna have a ruined battery….possibly a ruined face…

Phase Four: Installing CFW

Once your battery and your memory stick are being used at the same time, you will now have what the PSP Modding Community calls, a “Pandora’s Battery”.

1)Make sure you put in your Magic Memory Stick
2)Put in your Pandora Battery

(If you see your WiFi LED and memory stick LED blink, you have it working! As though in most occasions your screen won’t light up but if it does, that’s always good too)

3)When your LED’s are done flashing, press “[]” (square) to dump your nand flash (just in case you brick. be warned, the file is anywhere from 32MB-64MB depending on your psp….don’t do ANYTHING, just let it load what it needs)

4)After that is done, you will be required reboot, so press X (cross) when your LED’s are done flashing (or when instructed to)

5)Re-put in your battery and the Pandora menu will load

6)Press X (cross) to install 3.71M33

7)After thats done, you will need to reboot again so press X (cross) (when instructed to or when the LED’s are done flashing)

8)Now, remove your battery

9)Plug in your charger

10)Turn on the psp

11)Put in your battery

12)Remove the charger

13)And you should now be running 3.71M33!!!!!