Help with semi-Bricked 3.40 oe-A

[Veygah]

Allright so here’s my problem. I am using 3.40 oe-A. Everything was running smoothly until I decided to try out some of those cool looking custom xmb themes. So I follow the instructions, backup flash 0, replace font and vsh files in flash 0, but I cant quite get the themes to work. So I try to go back.

So now, I’m wondering if it’s such a good idea to delete vsh in order to replace it with the backup. But what the heck, I do it. All seems allright, but I notice something odd in the xmb, whenever the virtual keyboard comes up, the icons for the keys have disappeared. I don’t panic, I’ll just return back to 1.5, rewrite 3.40 oe-A, but when I go back to recovery, to try and run ms0:/psp/game/recovery/eboot.pbp or something, the screen goes black on me. It isn’t working. That’s odd, since all the files are there. To top it off, the xmb no longer loads when I boot. I need to go to the recovery menu, click exit, than it brings me the xmb. But something stranger, none of my 1.5 kernel homebrews work anymore (others work fine). Plus, if I try to activate any of the usb connections from recovery (usb, flash0, flash1) the psp just freezes. So I can’t write or access my flash, 1.5 eboots don’t work, recovery/eboot.pbp doesn’t work

But the usb from the xmb works fine.

Can anyone tell me of a why to write to flash from the 3.X kernel? Or does anyone know how I can fix this? I would be forever grateful.

Veygah

[jason215]

Hmmm, Never heard of that problem before try to downgrade With the recovery pack but then just load it from your xmb X.Y.Z Update or somthing like that and see if that works ?


Just obtain the 1.5eboot and rename to 150.pbp
and PUT IT IN THE GAME150 FOLDER

[Veygah]

Hmmm, doesn't seem to work. I get a corrupted icon from the xmb. But I think that's normal since I never used to be able to see the recovery eboot from the ms0:/psp/game/recovery (where it usually is) so I don't see why putting it in the 1.50 should make a difference. Besides, homebrew that runs in the 1.5 kernel (whether thats in Game150 or Game) crashes right after it boots. I'm guessing the 1.5 kernel is corrupted? So I probably need to find a way to write to the flash from the 3.x kernel. But that's just my take on things. Thanks for the reply

[jason215]

did you try to put your psp in another kernel via the Recovery menu

[Veygah]

"did you try to put your psp in another kernel via the Recovery menu"

Yup tried, and when I switch Game to 1.5 kernel, then any 1.5 homebrew placed within it no longer works. That's what leads me to believe the problem lies within the 1.5 kernel of my flash memory. All actions requiring the 3.40 kernel run fine. I tried to open about 5 different flashing programs from Game150 and game(trying both kernels) but nothing gives. If I try to open it from the 1.5 kernel, the screen goes black and the psp eventually turns off. If I try to open it through the 3.X kernel, I get the error message since all the flashers I tried are made to run with the 1.5 kernel.

I saw something on the net that said you could hardwire your psp so that the usb port redirects directly to the flash, bu I can't find any guides on how to do it. Know any?

[jason215]

so ur firmware is 3.40 Oe-a i presume,
your kernel is 3.40
did you try to put it in Game340 ?

And if that doesnt work im Clueless try to bring
it back to the shop ?

Edit* I was reading your first post again


I don’t panic, I’ll just return back to 1.5, rewrite 3.40 oe-A, but when I go back to recovery, to try and run ms0:/psp/game/recovery/eboot.pbp

Did you make That directory psp/game/recovery/... And put the recoverypack i gave ya in there
renamed the 1.50 Eboot to 150pbp and put it in there ?

because maby u did somthing wrong try that and then > Go to recovery menu and pres run ms0:

[parkermauney]

Gah, this is too weird!

One thing I've learned is, If there is any other way to solve a semi-brick, do not downgrade!

[jason215]

your right beacause u shoulda use your backup and put it back instead of downgrading to 1.5 and upgrading.

that Would't save you all this

[Veygah]

yup, did that. the exact path is psp/game/recovery/eboot.pbp The 5 required files are in the recovery folder but the screen goes black. Actually, I found this odd, because if Game is set to 3.40 kernel, I thought the recovery should be run in that same kernel, but it still doesn't work.

I even tried to use F1F_V2(Flasher).zip It's an app that can write to flash and it helped me in the past. To run it, it must be opened from the recovery folder and from the recovery menu, but even that won't run anymore.

I think I exhausted every single strategy and idea. Well, I guess it could be worst, I can still do anything a legal 3.40 psp can do + running psx games, but I will no longer be able to update legally or downgrade illegally. Guess I'm stuck, but at least it'll be better than having bricked it.

Well, thanks for your help and post back if anything comes up.

[jason215]

good luck

[Veygah]

"your right beacause u shoulda use your backup and put it back instead of downgrading to 1.5 and upgrading."

That's exactly what I did. I had copied and pasted my old files back in, telling it to replace those with the same name. Then I made sure there were the same number of files to make sure nothing extra was hanging around. Then everything seemed ok, until I tried to enter an internet address with the keyboard. Thats when I suspected an error.

Then, I tried to downgrade, but the downgrader never even started. That's what I'm trying to get operational.

[jason215]

im sorry i really out of idea's let me think this one overnight :P

[parkermauney]

So you can't run ANY homebrew?

[pt9087]

Possibly the mem card!

Plug in the PSP to USB.

Open Command prompt.

Type "chkdsk /f X:" X is the letter of the PSP drive!
If it found any errors it auto fixes them!

If that dont work, try going into PSP/GAME/RECOVERY and place the 3.40 DXAR file in there along with the EBOOT.PBP from the recovery pack and run it in RECOVERY on the PSP!

[Veygah]

tried chkdsk, but nothing showed up. Just in case, I tried the recovery folder in another memstick which I freshly formated, but again, same thing happens. Although, I did notice something else. If I boot the psp up without a memstick in it, it always manages to boot the xmb properly, but if there's a memstick in it, it freezes unless I hold R to go to the recovery menu and the click exit to go to the xmb. Tried to acces usb flash ) without a memstick, but the psp still freezes, and then turns off. Does nobody know of another way to modifiy flash 0?

Just to see what happens, I tried to acces recovery/eboot without a memstick in, and the psp crashes the same way as when I try to do it with a memstick in there.

I remembers that there used to be an exploit using the xmb picture viewer (overflow.tif) It probably doesn't work, but would there be an enabler or something that would let me run 1.5 homebrew in the 3.4 kernel? I need to get that recovery working.

[parkermauney]

So you can't run ANY homebrew?
???

[Veygah]

Like I said, I can't run anything that woud run in the 1.5 kernel. So Iso's work, Demo's work and the fps dungeons, which can run in the 3.x kernel, works to. Oh yeah, psx games work fine also.

So you can see how frustrating it is, because every single flasher I have tried is designed for the 1.5 kernel. If anyone knows of a way to access the flash from the 3.x kernel, plz let me know about it.

[pt9087]

Have you tried the little things like taking out the battery for a min and restore factory default settings? plug the charger in or take it out

[Veygah]

Yup done those, nothing seems to work.

[Veygah]

If I wait for sony to release a new firmware, higher than 3.4, will I be able to update? (In the hope of waiting for a downgrader)

[Cloudhunter]

No, I'm afraid you can't. However, I believe all hope isn't lost. Can you write to flash0 using USB?

Cloudy

[Veygah]

Not using the recovery menu. If I try to enable usb mode for the memstick, flash 0 or flash 1 the psp juste freezes and shuts off after a few seconds. My computer doesn't detect any connections. I can only acces my memstick through the xmb. So lets recap:

cant recover, it crashes
cant run 1.5 homebrew
cant run usb for mem, flash0, flash1 (from recovery menu)

I can run isos
I can run demos and any homebrew which operates from the 3.x kernel
Umd's work fine
I can acces memstick from the xmb

It's the oddest thing. I am truly trapped... snif...

[parkermauney]

OMG, you said iso!!!

JK.

OK, have you tried unpacking a psxgame and adding the data.psp from a 1.50 homebrew.

(Tell me if that's too noobish)

[Veygah]

interesting idea, i'll try taking programs that will run apart and patching them up with the files I need. I'll let you know what turns up.

[Veygah]

I tried to insert the .psp file, but I got corrupted file when I attempted to launch the game. Although, I am not exactly sure what does what in a pbp so I might be doing something wrong. I'll continue to test things out. I was also looking at the do it yourself pdf of undiluted platinum, but it looks pretty complicated. I think I'll wait a few weeks, and if nothing works, I have a friend who's got some soldering/console modding skills. It might be a fun summer project.

Thanks for everyones help, Andrew