Pandora (unbricker/downgrader) for the TA88v3 runs in the wild

July 9th, 2011, 23:45 Posted By: wraggster

News via http://wololo.net/wagic/2011/07/08/p...s-in-the-wild/

An unbricker battery compatible with the ta88v3 has been released recently, and scene dev Yoti uploaded a video demonstrating the tool. Read along…


Nowadays running a custom firmware on a PSP is not complex, no downgrading is required as both pro cfw and TN Hen run on the latest firmware, and people who want to install another CFW such as M33 just need to use the necessary tools.

But people who have joined the scene a bit earlier know that the biggest hack for the PSP was the pandora battery, where hackers discovered (with lots of work and a bit of luck) that the battery in the PSP was used not only to power the device, but also to enter service mode, so that Sony repair centers could quickly fix a broken flash or install a new firmware on a PSP. Coupled with a “magic” memory stick, this allowed hackers to create a very cheap downgrade/unbrick mechanism, and basically with a special battery and a special memory stick you could easily unbrick your psp, or install a custom firmware on it. I still have one of those, and it is the most convenient technique for installing a CFW on PSPs that support it. It is also extremely safe, because even if you mess up your flash, you have ways to rewrite it entirely, so there is no risk of brick, unlike recent CFW installation systems.

Sony quickly reacted and their new PSP models were not compatible with this Pandora battery anymore. The first model of motherboards to include a security against the Pandora battery was the Ta88v3, the doomed psp2000 model. This model was still compatible with the battery and could enter service mode, but the magic memory stick didn’t work anymore, so it was basically made useless. Further models (the psp3000) even added more security, rendering the battery itself useless.

Hackers Boryan and ErikPshat have found a technique to use a magic memory stick on a ta88v3, which is a big deal for those of us who are stuck with a bricked psp 2000…

The technique is described in this thread, and the result is shown in this video, made by dev Yoti (who has provided several updates for PSARDumper PSPIdent in the past) and showing the jigkick installing firmware 5.02 on a 6.38 ta88v3 (correction, the psp in the video is a ta85v2, but Yoti guarantees that the results are the same on a ta88v3)

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