How to hack a psp the easy way
Author-The_Computer_Wizard

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Into:

So I recently revisited the concept of hacking my psp and was successful so I thought I would share it all with you.

One of the first things you may ask is “why would I want to hack my psp?”

Well the answer is very simple, it opens your psp up to do things sony wouldn’t have even dreamed of. For example, I currently have several umd’s stored on my memory card, so no more carrying around those things, not to mention emulators! You can put classic emulators onto it such as nes, gba, and even n64 (although not all games work for it, its still in development) My biggest draw to this was being able to play ocarina of time anywhere I wanted.
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Things you will need:
Psp fat or slim (duh)
Working battery for it (or buy a Pandora battery)
Windows XP (sorry for anyone with vista, you’ll just have to borrow a friends comp like I had to)
Knife/razor blade
1GB or bigger memory stick
Usb wire to connect your psp to your computer
#2 pencil (I know this seems weird but bare with me)

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Getting started:
First thing I should mention is I have only done this on a psp slim, although according to my research it’s the same for a psp fat. However if you have the newest 3000 series of the slim DO NOT use this article, as the new 3000 series are supposed to be far more “hack proof” (although there are supposed to still be workarounds, so don’t let the fact that I don’t know discourage you)

The first thing you should probably do is create what’s known as a Pandora battery. This method involves cutting open the battery, and while it will still work after we’re done, it will have to be taped shut. So if that doesn’t interest you, you could always either buy another battery or buy a premade Pandora battery online. Anyway all a Pandora battery is, is a Service Mode Battery. This will allow the psp to be booted from the memory stick, rather than from the firmware loaded on the psp. To go about creating one, follow these instructions:
1. Remove your battery from the psp
2. Find the seam that runs along the outside of the battery
3. Taking your knife/razor blade cut along this seem very carefully
The best thing to do is to not cut too hard, as you do not want to have the blade suddenly cut through and damage the components inside, it’s better to almost “scratch” at it until you have a clean cut. Also the part where the battery makes contact with the psp is tricky, my advice is cut right up until the top flat part where the contacts are, once you’ve cut the rest you should be able to just split it, and it will separate at the seem.
4. Now that you have gotten this far you should see a little motherboard inside.
5. Flip over the motherboard and near the corner you should see the number 19, right above the 1 (that is if you’re looking at it so the 19 is right side up) there is a white line that you’re going to need to cut with your knife. I found a pretty good picture of where to cut here

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x149/miseryscompany07/cuthere.jpg

A little blurry I know, but you should get the idea of where you need to cut (be careful not to cut any other lines while doing this)
Also don’t be afraid to put a little pressure into it, it’s a little harder to cut that you might think.
But at the same time, don’t make the separation to wide or it will be harder to reconnect the line to make your battery normal again
6. Now we go ahead and test it. Flip the board back over and put the cover on the battery with a small piece of tape to hold it together. Place it in your psp and the green power LED should turn on instantly without you pressing anything, leave it like this for a min or two to make sure it stays “Pandoraed” (don’t be worried that your screen is black, this is normal at this part) If the green LED does not come on then you have not cut the connection well enough, go back and repeat step five until you get this far.
7. Ok now we’re going to turn it back into a normal battery


8. To turn it back into a normal battery go ahead and take your number two pencil, and draw the line you just cut back in. Be careful you do not draw the line touching any other white lines though, as this can cause your battery to light on fire. Re-pack up you’re battery, put it in and turn on your psp, with any luck your psp will work just like normal

Note: I am not crazy, I know we didn’t do anything with the battery we just made yet. Personally I just think it’s better to create and test your Pandora battery before going ahead and using it, to make sure the connection isn’t barely cut and if you slightly bump it, it re-establishes the connection. However if you really want to you can go ahead and make your Pandora battery after you create your memory stick

*************************************************************************************Creating the magic memory stick:
This is probably the most simple thing in the article. First back up all your files on your memory stick to your computer as you are about to format it. Put your restored battery in your psp, but don’t connect it to your computer just yet
Next download this program:
http://rapidshare.com/files/86321746/Pandora___Universal_Downgrader_Easy_Installer.rar
**WARNING**
It is not recommended that you use a card over 2GB, as some will not work. Pretty much anything between 1GB and 2GB will work, but sometimes larger ones won’t. Sometimes they will, like my 4gb did, but if at all possible you should avoid the bigger cards

Run it, connect the psp when the program tells you. Complete each step one by one following the instructions

*************************************************************************************Finally we get to hack the psp!
1. Put you’re battery back into Pandora mode by opening it up, and erasing the line you just drew with any normal eraser (the one on the back of the pencil is fine)
2. Put your Pandora battery back in the psp, with the memory card already installed and your psp should turn on automatically. If it doesn’t try erasing the pencil line again
3. Now you should actually see some text on the screen that says “Press X to install 3.71 m33-2”
4. Go ahead and hit x- This part will probably take about 2-5 minutes
5. It should now say “Install success, press X to shut down the psp” so go ahead and do that
6. At this point take the battery back out and restore it to a normal battery (step 8 in the last section for those of you who somehow forgot)
7. Now turn on your psp and it should boot into the “recovery console”
8. Go down to “Advanced” and hit X
9. Go down to the bottom now and select the option that says “Format Flash1 and reset settings”
10. Now the psp will restart.
11. DO NOT PANIC when it says system error or whatever it says, this is normal
12. Go ahead and hit O to repair (it will act like it freezes for a second)
13. It will ask you for your information again (language, time, ect..) enter that in
14. Go to System settings and then go to system information, it should say
Version 3.71 m33-2

CONGRATULATIONS!! YOU JUST HACKED YOUR PSP!!

*************************************************************************************Updating your psp:
Ok, so we just installed 3.71… custom firmware is up to 5.0 right now and goes pretty fast… this will teach you how to update to 3.80 (after that you can update using the same old network update feature as normal)
Note: This is just what I did, as I was not sure if I could just make the jump to 5.0, if someone knows you definitely can please add it in the comments.

Go ahead and download the official 3.80 firmware from this site
http://www.opendrivers.com/freedownload/240685/sony-psp-firmware-update-3.80-download.html
Note: im pretty sure you can’t get it from sony anymore because they’re at 5.0 and want you to have that
Next get Dark-Alex’s (the person who writes the custom firmware) 3.80 custom firmware from
http://dl.qj.net/CFW-PSP-3.80-M33-PSP/pg/12/fid/15675/catid/114

Now, rename the sony firmware to 380.PBP and place it in the update folder that you got from dark alex. Connect your psp to your computer and copy the entire update folder to <Drive Letter>:/PSP/GAMES/
Now on your psp go to games, memory stick, and click the 3.80m33 update
Follow the instructions and ignore the stuff by sony (what I mean by this is there is a part where it will look like its installing the genuine 3.80 but its not)
Once this is done go ahead to network update, connect to a wireless internet point, and upgrade like normal, (what 3.80m33 did was change the network update from sony to dark alex’s firmware, so to update you just update like a normal psp!)


Now you can enjoy all the benefits of a hacked psp!
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How to rip and use a ripped UMD
Well one of the most important functions of a hacked psp is ripping the UMD, so let me go ahead and write a quick piece on that as it is really simple
1. Insert the UMD you wish to copy
2. On the main screen for the psp press select
3. Go down to USB DEVICE and hit once to the left setting it on UMD
What this does is switch the USB from seeing your flash drive to seeing the files that are on the UMD!
4. Hit select again to close that window, now go to USB Connection and when you look at your psp you’ll see an ISO file, simply copy this file to your computer
5. Set the USB DEVICE back to Memory Stick and go back into USB Connection
6. Make a folder in the root of your Memory Stick named ISO
7. Place the iso file in that folder and you’re done! To play just go to game, memory stick and you should see an icon for your game!