All you need to know about Pandora: downgrade any PSP

**SpooForBrains** · October 2nd, 2007, 16:35

(Why this guide? There are a few tutorials walking you through how to create a Pandora's battery and magic memory stick, but none of them actually tell you much about it. I've just had to type this out in the news thread, so I'm going to copy it here and expand it so that newbies can be linked to it where necessary)

Everything you need to know about Pandora

This guide will give you the knowledge necessary to downgrade or unbrick any PSP.

What is Pandora?

Pandora is the universal way to downgrade or unbrick a PSP with any firmware version. It's based on Sony's own unbricking procedures. Some very talented people worked very hard to reverse engineer Sony's procedures to provide YOU a free and easy method to downgrade and unbrick your PSP.

It consists of a modified battery and a memory stick.

To read all about it in the words of some of the people who created it, and download the tools necessary, read the following link:

http://www.noobz.eu/joomla/news/unbr...firmwares.html

How do I do it?

The readme included with the download includes easy to follow instructions for using the tools. It requires no soldering. All it requires:

1. a homebrew capable PSP*,
2. a machine running Windows 2000, XP or Vista,
3. an official sony "fat" battery (ie. not the one shipped with the slim),
4. A memory stick pro duo that's larger than 32MB and smaller than 8GB. A 512MB is ideal,
5. a copy of the Sony v1.5 firmware updater

* Why do you need a homebrew capable PSP? Because you need to create the files necessary to make the memory stick, which will end up containing Sony copyright code, so distributing an already created one is illegal.

If you don't have or have access to a homebrew capable PSP, this page:

http://www.noobz.eu/joomla/news/info...ay-buyers.html

has links to pages where you can find a volunteer who will help you.

Why can't I just buy one?

The battery is only half the equation. You also need the memory stick, and for the reasons I stated above, it's illegal to sell or distribute it. Plus, it's MUCH cheaper to create one yourself.

Where can I buy the things I need?

A battery that's compatible can be bought:

Here in the UK

Here in the US

(I believe those are affiliate links - so if you buy the battery through them you will be putting a small amount of wonga in the pockets of those responsible for this breakthrough)

In the UK you can purchase decent compatible memory sticks via www.picstop.co.uk. Other retaillers also sell them, but these are the cheapest I know of, I have personally bought from this site, and it was reliable for me.

The Sony firmware file can be downloaded from various locations on the web. One of the places where it can be reliably found is on dl.qj.net

http://dl.qj.net/PSP-Firmware-1.50-F.../163/catid/163

(don't worry about the North America bit, this update will work for all PSPs)

And?

If you have an original (fat) PSP, then that's it. Download the files, follow the readme, and you will have a pandora's battery and magic memory stick.

To use it, first power off your PSP. Make sure the magic memory stick is inserted in the PSP. Insert the battery and power on. If all is well the PSP will boot to the Pandora menu. Just follow the instructions.

If you have a PSP Slim (or if you want to go straight to 3.71M33 custom firmware), you'll need to read on a little further. Since the PSP Slim doesn't support Sony's v1.5 firmware, you need to use a different version of the memory stick tool.

Download it from here. The link is in Spanish, but the readme included in the archive is in English.

You'll also need two extra firmware files - 3.40 and 3.71
Download 3.40 from here
You'll need to download 3.71 from Sony's website http://www.yourpsp.com

You follow the instructions as for the original PSP, until you have formatted the stick using the msipl tool. Then follow the instructions in the despertar_cementerio archive to create the memory stick.

Once the memory stick is created, use it the same way as the instructions for the original PSP. The only difference is that the screen will not light up. The keys you need to press are all laid out in the readme file, and the memory stick and wireless LAN lights will flash to let you know the process is happening. You have the choice of installing 3.71M33 (homebrew capable custom firmware) or Sony's official 3.71 (non-homebrew capable firmware).

And, that's it! You're done!

ETA: I need to expand this guide to include instructions for the Slim[DONE], and also to take into account the fact that the Sony batteries may not be suitable. Please make any other suggestions for information that should be included.

**JPJunkie** · October 6th, 2007, 10:10

Very nice!

Good Work

**Prospero** · October 11th, 2007, 16:53

Superb guide, helped me out a lot when I was flashing my PSP Slim! Thanks!

**dette** · October 17th, 2007, 01:36

Hmm ok i already know how to do all that
but how do i use pandora to get too 1.50 or like 3.52 M33
because i have 3.71 m33 -2 on my Phat and on my Slim but i want my phat to be 3.52 m33 -4

**SpooForBrains** · October 20th, 2007, 12:39

Originally Posted by dette

Hmm ok i already know how to do all that
but how do i use pandora to get too 1.50 or like 3.52 M33
because i have 3.71 m33 -2 on my Phat and on my Slim but i want my phat to be 3.52 m33 -4

Well, use the original Pandora tools to take your PSP to 1.5. Then use the M33 updater.

Either that, or use this method to take your PSP to version 1.5.

**vblanche** · October 22nd, 2007, 07:32

Did I understand well?

With an original PSP (NOT a slim), I can do the pandora's trick without having access to a homwbrew-enabled PSP?
am I correct here?

thanks

**Bobtentpeg** · October 22nd, 2007, 13:18

Originally Posted by vblanche

Did I understand well?

With an original PSP (NOT a slim), I can do the pandora's trick without having access to a homwbrew-enabled PSP?
am I correct here?

thanks

you can do it without a homebrew enabled psp, but you need to be wuite good at soldering