Question regarding PSP slim firmware upgrade

I'm looking to pick up a PSP, mainly for homebrew and emulators (and a few games that catch my eye).
This may be a stupid question, but I've spent some time looking around, and I cannot seem to find some specific information on upgrading. My question is this:

Is there ANY way to go from an official firmware to a CFW *without* needing a Pandora's Battery? Or, for that matter, without needing anything aside from a memory stick?

If this is an obvious answer, then you have my apologies. However, from the time I spent searching, I could not find anything that specifically said anything one way or the other.

Thanks!
Alundar

Edit: I should mention that this is for a PSP Slim...

The Pandora battery has really eliminated development on most other forms of downgrading or converting to CFW because the Pandora battery is universal, and works below the firmware level so that no specific firmware or additional tools/software are required to perform the process.

You CAN go to CFW without a Pandora battery... sometimes. It's just very dependent on the model and firmware of your PSP, that's all. The PSP-2001 (Slim) models, as far as I know, DO require a Pandora battery. The PSP-1001 (Fat) models that have version 3.50 firmware or older installed, combined with a physical UMD copy of Lumines, can be downgraded using a non-Pandora based downgrader.

Chances are, though, that you want a Slim, and I'd sure as hell go with one, too! You can buy a Pandora-type battery that is premodified (and generally hard wired) into service mode. They are not expensive if you search online (I like DealExtreme.com). Your only real necessity, then, is the Pandora magic memory stick that needs to be present for the process, and a friend with a Fat PSP is really what you need for that ;)

Hope this helps

Thanks for the answer, NeonGenesis!

DealExtreme.com looks like a good place to pick it up. I guess the only other question is: is it possible to get the stuff I need for the MMS online, or does it have to be from someone else with a Fat PSP? If it is possible online, does it require two memory stick pros, or can it be done with a single one?

Thanks again!

First, you only need one Memory Stick. It HAS to be of the 'Pro' variety (pretty much every one available now is), it should be at least 128mb, and I've heard it both ways, but I think it has to be MagicGate supported, which basically means a legitimate Sony or SanDisk, etc. as opposed to a Chinese knockoff, though don't quote me on that last part.

As for the files that go on the stick... The Pandora tools require you to put firmware eboots on the Memory Stick. The tools then extract and decrypt files necessary from the eboots to run Pandora. The big problem here is that, while it is legal to distribute complete update eboots, it's not so legal to distribute decrypted files from those eboots, which is why so many new users go and buy a Pandora-type battery and realize they can do nothing with it because the people that sell the batteries can't sell the memory stick preloaded with the necessary files, at least not legally, anyway..

However, Google plus the terms 'pandora magic memory stick without cfw' may provide you with some assistance.

Short answer: Yeah, if you look. ;) Just look first so you know for sure what you've got to do.

BTW: If you know someone with a PSP with CFW already running, you'll save yourself a lot of grief. It's much easier just to make the stick on a CFW PSP

Thank you once again, NeonGenesis. You've been a huge help! I just placed my order from DealExtreme (hard to argue with free worldwide shipping), and am just now on my way to pick up the PSP.

I'll try to track down a friend with a CFW PSP, and if not, I'll make a foray into Google.

Thanks a ton!
Alundar

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeonGenesis

First, you only need one Memory Stick. It HAS to be of the 'Pro' variety (pretty much every one available now is), it should be at least 128mb, and I've heard it both ways, but I think it has to be MagicGate supported, which basically means a legitimate Sony or SanDisk, etc. as opposed to a Chinese knockoff, though don't quote me on that last part.

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Pandora works with fake Memory sticks also. But of course they are unreliable and can fail at any moment. I have two fake MS, one with Pandora Original and another with Despertar Cementerio... both works without problems.... yet.

Search for PandoraBox or for the Magic Memory Stick Creator in the chinese forums using Google ... there some programs that create the memory sticks without use an PSP ... but it is really hard to figure how use these programs.

I stand corrected. Still, I have to say I'm a little more comfortable knowing my Pandora tools are on a more reliable SanDisk stick if it ever comes down to a PSP emergency. :D

I don't know if posting this link is frowned upon but this is the website that I used to mod my psp slim. It explains in detail how to make the memstick that's necessary for modding it and explains exactly how to do it. worked for me without any issues (well one .. but I typed "games" instead of "game" as my dirrectory and couldn't figure out why stuff wasn't showing up after I modd'd it :)

http://www.blastprocessing.net/?page_id=20

Give it a look .. really does an A1 job of explaining everything .. and other than the fact that you can't use vista with one of the programs (I have 1 vista and 1 xp computer so it wasn't an issue for me), I had my psp mod'd in under an hour. I hope this helps someone since it helped me so much!