Metal Gear Solid [PSX] on the PSP

Heya =],
Ok i'll jump straight into it i guess - I'm having issues getting Metal Gear Solid to work on my PSP [the 'fat' one i guess...its not the slim version]

I won't state where i obtained it [i assume its not allowed?] but the format i received it in was a eboot.pbp [iirc] & also came with a folder called "SEPLUGINS". I've tried a couple of things so far -:
- First thing i tried was placing in PSP>GAME & running the game on the PSP
The PSP recognised its existence, but after the initial PSX warning screen [i.e. this game is a PSX game & thus there may be parts where compatibility is an issue bla bla] it goes to a black screen & freezes [though the memory card is apparently being accessed a lot - the orange light on the left hand side of the console flashes a lot]
- Second thing i tried was placing in PSP>GAME3.71
Again it was recognised, but an error message came up saying the game could not be loaded.
- I was thinking along the lines of maybe it had something to do with the plugins that came with the SEPLUGINS folder - so i turned off everything but the popsloader.vrx & tried both the above ways again, but to no avail...same result both times.
Supposedly when the game starts, if i hold down the right trigger a menu is supposed to come up - that didn't come up either...
I've searched different places [forums, torrent site comments, youtube, etc] & there have been several instances of the people complaining of getting the black screen/freezing, but i'm yet to find a solution to it =(

Oh yeah, almost forgot, I'm running CFW 3.71M33-2, with a 4gb memory card
I have little to no knowledge about upgrading/downgrading custom firmware, as i received this PSP from a friend who had already upgraded to this firmware prior to my receiving the unit.
I also know essentially nothing about the popsloader

Umm...i think i've given u all the information i know...
Apologies if something like this has been solved before - i really am quite sure i haven't seen anything - but i have a knack of missing vital things =\
Anywho, any help would be appreciated....

well I try my best to help, have you got the PBP in the metal gear solid folder or a folder of some sort on psp>game no idea about the [ircc] bit so maybe that might be the reson. It might be cus the firmware you got doesn't not support dual game
[2 disk] PBP (and the PBP you got is a 2 disk one) I tried looking up the readme for it and it didnt say anything about it (but it might be in a readme on 1 of the older firmware but still i think upgrading will help, hopefully) so to upgrade go to http://www.dark-alex.org/index_psp.php
you should be able to go to 4.01mm3 then 4.01mm3-2