Create Pandora Battery to Unbrick and Install 3.71 M33 on your PSP.
See the bottom of the guide on how to 'Repartition the Flash memory'
If your PSP freezes while installing files or formatting flash you will need
to repair the partition table to enable Pandora to work again.
This guide will show you how to create a 'Pandora battery' that can be used to unbrick a PSP
or Install Custom Firmware 3.71 M33-2 onto your Original or Slim PSP. You do not need to
modify any files on the memory stick as the multi-ipl loader can autodetect which IPL to use.
To make a Pandora Battery and Memory stick you will need:- Windows Operating system on your PC and a user account with 'Admin' rights
- A 64mb or higher Memory Stick PRO DUO (256mb or higher is recommended)
The size of all the Pandora files is about 24mbytes, the '1.50 Addon' files are about 20mbytes. - Access to a PSP that has custom firmware installed and an original PSP (Thick) battery
(A PSP Slim Battery will not work, modifying a Slim battery will make your slim battery not work anymore)
If you don't have a PSP with custom firmware installed, then you will need to either:
- If you have an 'original PSP', you may be able to downgrade it to 1.50 using one of the downgraders.
*If you have a slim PSP you cannot downgrade to firmware 1.50 as the files using are not compatible with the PSP Slim - Find someone who has 'Custom firmware' installed on their PSP and get them to make the battery for you.
Only batteries for the Original PSP systems can be converted to a 'pandora battery' - Find someone with a pre-made 'Pandora Battery and Memory stick' and use it to install custom firmware on your PSP
- Buy a Pre-made pandora battery (e.g like the Datel 'Max Power Tool' Battery)
I have modified some files specially so you can use the 'Pandora Battery' as a 'Normal Battery'.
The downside is that sleep mode doesn't work at all when using the Pandora battery.
You will need to use a Pandora / xmbloader memory stick to turn on the PSP when using the pandora battery.
Holding the 'L' button when inserting the Pandora Battery will launch the 'Pandora Recovery Menu and holding the 'R' button will access 'Custom Firmware Recovery mode', If you don't hold any button your PSP will start normally in the XMB.
/!\ Warnings: /!\ By formatting your 'Memory Stick'
you will lose all data currently on your memory stick, including game saves, ISOs etc.
Please copy everything from the memory stick you want to convert to a folder on your computer before formatting.
Do not use the 'Battery Creator' on a Slim PSP, The Slim PSP doesn't modify the battery EEPROM correctly.
If you 'write' to the battery EEPROM, you will end up corrupting the EEPROM and the Battery will not work anymore.
Checking if your Memory Stick is Compatible:Any memory stick Pro Duo will work as long as its 64mb or higher.
The 32mb Duo that some PSP systems come with will not work.
You should be able to buy a 128mb or 256mb memory stick for cheap
as not many people want to buy low capacity memory sticks anymore.
Checking if your Battery is Compatible:The Official batteries (Battery Models 'PSP-110' and 'PSP-280') are known to work properly with the 'Pandora' Files.
Your 'Original' PSP System should come with either a PSP-110 or PSP-280 battery.
The Datel 'Max Power TOOL Battery' can also be used as a Pandora battery if you can't / don't want to make your own battery.
Do a Google search for "Datel Max Power TOOL Battery" and you will find a few online shops that sell them.
Pictures of batteries that can be modified / used as a 'Pandora Battery'
Official Sony Batteries:
PSP-110 (1800mah) :
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/1282/psp110co6.jpgPSP-280 (2200mah) :
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/9242/psp280mx7.jpgDatel MAX Power Tool Batteries:1800mah (For Original and Slim):
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/4889/datelwi9.jpg1200mah (
Only for Slim PSP!):
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/687/datelslimdz1.jpgRequired Files you need to download to make a 'Pandora Battery'Pandora Battery Files to install '3.71 M33-2' (Version 4) (~23.7 mb)
The main set of files needed to make a Pandora battery and memory stick.
Includes these addon programs pre-installed:
* 3.71 M33 Update #4 (Start from the Game -> Memory Stick menu)
* Nandtool version 0.3b1'
* Pandora Battery Creator for 3.xx and 1.50Download: http://www.sendspace.com/file/91aeat Mirror : http://www.zshare.net/download/5681331c453cf6/1.50 Addon files (Version 2) (~13.3 mb)
1.50 addon files for 'Original' PSP systems only, allows 1.50 format homebrew to run. (Optional)
(Note: the 1.50 Addon files and the '3.71 M33 Update #4' cannot be placed
on the same memory stick as they both use the 'UPDATE' folder.)Download: http://www.sendspace.com/file/f9e4yj Mirror : http://www.zshare.net/download/4122331527a909/XMBLoader (Version 1) (~7.75kbytes)
An IPL to write to a non-pandora memory stick so it can load the XMB when using Pandora Battery (Optional) Download: http://www.sendspace.com/file/cxgai0 Mirror : http://www.zshare.net/download/41239513fd3dd0/Converting your 'Memory Stick' into a 'Pandora Memory Stick'1. Download and extract the files, copy the '
Pandora371' folder to your C:
e.g Open My Computer -> Local Disk (C:) -> and Paste the Pandora371 folder.
(On windows vista, you might need 'Administrator permission' to copy the folder, press the continue button twice)
2. Turn on your PSP and insert the memory stick you want change to a 'Pandora' memory stick.
3. (optional step, might not be required)
Go to the Settings -> System Settings menu on your PSP, select the 'Format Memory Stick' option and press 'X'.
Choose the 'Yes' option and when asked if you want to format the memory stick and press 'X'.
Note: If you do this using the windows 'format' tool make sure the memory stick is formatted in FAT/FAT16 and not FAT32.
4.
For Windows XP Users -> Click 'Start' then 'Run' (or hold the Windows Key and press 'R' on your keyboard)
In the 'Open' Box type in
CMD and press Enter or click OK and a black MS-DOS window will open.
For Windows Vista Users -> Right click your desktop and create a new shortcut, type in
CMD and click next twice.
Right click on the new shortcut and choose 'Run as Administrator' and choose 'Continue' and a black MS-DOS window will open.
(The title of the window should read '
Administrator: cmd.exe')
5. Type in:
CD \ and press Enter, this will take you to your
C:\> Drive.
6. Now type in
CD Pandora371 and press Enter, this will change the folder to
C:\Pandora371>7. Type in
installipl and press enter and you should see this on the screen:
PSP MS IPL Installer
Load IPL code .\ipl_loader.bin
15620 bytes(4 block) readed
Scan Media
Drive 0:Non RemovableMedia
Connect target MsProDuo
8. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable and activate the USB connection while the MSDOS window is open.
9. The Program will auto-detect the memory stick and will ask '
Are you sure? [Y]', press
Y.
10. If you see "
Write MS BOOT CODE" then the 'Pandora Bootcode' has been written to the memory stick.
You can now close the black MSDOS window since you have the 'bootcode' installed to the memory stick.
Do not format your memory stick after this, doing so will erase the
'Pandora Bootcode' and you will need to make the memory stick again.
If you don't see '
Write MS BOOT CODE' or you get
an error '
too small reserved sectors' then do this:
(the mspformat program will only work on Windows XP)
* Type
mspformat X (replace X with the drive letter of your PSP e.g '
mspformat E')
* Press 'Y' when you see '
Do you want to continue?'
* After its done you should see
Drive Sucessfully Formatted and Partition Moved* Now close the USB Connection and go back and do step 7 to 10 again.
11. Open 'My Computer -> Local Disk (C:) -> Pandora371 -> PSP_Memorystick' folder and copy everything inside it to your memory stick.
(There are
6 folders and
1 pbp file you need to copy ->
ipl / kd / PSP / registry / elf / nandTool_dumps / 371.pbp)
After the files have been copied to the memory stick, you can delete the 'Pandora371' folder from your 'Local Disk (C:)'
Installing the '1.50 Kernel addon' files to a memory stickYou can't use the pandora memory stick as the 3.71 M33 Update and the 1.50 addon files both need to use the '
PSP \ GAME \ UPDATE' folder.
12. Download and extract the 1.50 addon files.
13. Copy the
150.pbp file and the
PSP folder to your memory stick. (e.g Removable Disk (E:) )
14. Choose 'Yes' when asked to overwrite / replace / merge the files.
15. The '1.50 addon program' will show up as '
PSP Firmware Update 1.50' on the game menu.
Installing the 'XMBLoader' program to non-pandora memory sticksDo not install the XMBLoader bootcode to the 'Pandora memory stick, it is not needed!Installing it will overwrite the 'Pandora Bootcode' and you need to make your 'Pandora' memory stick again.
The reason xmbloader is needed is when you turn on the PSP with a Pandora battery it will start from the memory stick.
If there is no program on the memory stick or there is no memory stick inserted the PSP will show a black screen.
To start the PSP in the XMB using the Pandora battery battery you will need to use either the
'Pandora Memory stick' or a Memory stick that has the XMB loader program installed to it.
This program is installed to non-pandora memory sticks to allow them to be used to 'start' the PSP in the XMB when using a Pandora Battery.
1. Download the XMBLoader program and extract it.
2. Copy the 'xmbloader' folder to your computers hard drive -> Local Disk (C:\)
3.
For Windows XP -> Click 'Start' then 'Run' (or hold the Windows Key and press 'R' on your keyboard)
In the 'Open' Box type in
CMD and press Enter or click OK and a black MS-DOS window will open.
For Windows Vista -> Right click your desktop and create a new shortcut, type in
CMD and click next twice.
Right click on the new shortcut and choose 'Run as Administrator' and choose 'Continue' and a black MS-DOS window will open.
(The title of the window should read '
Administrator: cmd.exe')
4. Type in:
CD \ and press Enter, this will take you to your
C:\> Drive.
5. Now type in
CD xmbloader and press Enter, this will change the folder to
C:\xmbloader>6. Type in
install and press enter and you should see this on the screen:
PSP MS IPL Installer
Load IPL code .\ipl_ms.bin
2288 bytes(1 block) readed
Scan Media
Drive 0:Non RemovableMedia
7. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable and activate the USB connection.
8. The program will auto-detect the memory stick and will ask '
Are you sure? [Y]', press
Y.
If you have multiple memory sticks and want to write the boot code to another memory stick:
Close the USB connection on the PSP, insert the new memory stick and repeat step 6 to 8.
9. Close the black MSDOS window as you are finished installing the xmbloader bootcode.
After the bootcode has been installed to the memory stick, you can delete the 'xmbloader' folder from your 'Local Disk (C:)'
Converting your 'Battery' into a 'Pandora Battery'/!\ Warning /!\Do not convert a Slim PSP Battery into a Pandora Battery, You will 'brick' the battery and the battery will not work anymore.
1. Insert the Pandora Memory Stick and the Battery you want to convert into a Pandora battery into your PSP and turn your PSP on.
2. Go to the 'Game -> Memory Stick' menu and:
-=>
If you have a PSP with a Custom Firmware: (e.g 3.71 M33):a. Start the 'OS Pandora Battery Tool 0.4'
b. When the program starts, Press the 'X' button to continue.
c. Choose the "backup battery eeprom to ms0:/eeprom.bin and press 'X'
d. Press 'x' again after the program has finished reading the battery data.
e. Choose the "convert to service mode (aka: pandora battery)
f. Press 'x' again after the program has verified the battery serial is correct.
g. Choose 'quit now' and the program will exit.
-=>
If you have a PSP with Official Firmware 1.50:a. Start the 'Pandora's Battery Creator' program.
b. When the program starts, Press the 'Triangle' button to save your battery information to the memory stick.
c. The program will now exit to the XMB Menu.
d. Go back to the Game -> Memory Stick menu and start the 'Pandora's Battery Creator' Program again.
e. This time when the program starts, press 'X' to '
Convert your Battery into a Service Mode One'
f. The Program will now exit back to the XMB menu.
3. Your Battery has now been converted to a 'Pandora Battery'
4. Optional -- Make a copy of the 'eeprom.bin' file to a folder on your computer as a backup.
(This file contains the 'Original' battery information, you will need this file to restore the battery back to an original one)
Testing your Pandora Battery1. Turn off your PSP by holding the power button for 4 seconds.
2. Insert the 'Pandora Memory Stick' into your PSP.
3. Insert the 'Pandora Battery' into your PSP and your PSP will turn itself on automatically.
If you hold the 'L' button while you put in the battery, you should see the Pandora recovery menu.
If you hold the 'R' button while you put in the battery and have custom firmware, the PSP will load the recovery mode.
If you don't hold any button while you put in the battery, the PSP will load the XMB main menu.
(Note: Sleep mode does not work when the Pandora battery is inserted. Coming out of sleep mode will reset your PSP)
Making a 'backup' of your PSP NAND memoryWhat is a NAND?The NAND is the 'chip' your PSP stores all its data on (Partition Tables, IPL, Idstorage, Flash0 through to Flash3)
There is currently no way to 're-generate' the Idstorage area on a PSP system.
Making a Nand-dump of this entire chip will help if you need to fix a corrupted IdStorage, Flash0 etc.
Warning: Only use a NAND Dump on the PSP it was created on.Inside the 'Battery Compartment' of the PSP is a serial number, the Nand-Dump from a PSP should only be used on a PSP it came from.
I recommend to make a folder on your computer with this 'Serial Number' and Date made' and putting the 'Nand-Dump' inside it.
e.g
FA0321234 - 1st October 20071. Turn off your PSP by holding the power button for 4 seconds.
2. Insert the 'Pandora Memory Stick' into your PSP, this must be done before you insert the battery.
3. Hold the 'L' button and insert the 'Pandora Battery' and your PSP will turn itself on automatically.
4. After a few seconds, you will see the '
Pandora`s Battery Recovery Menu' and will have 4 options.
5. Press the 'Square' button twice to start the 'NAND Dumper'
6. On the first screen you will see the size of the 'Nand' inside your PSP.
You will see 32MiB on the Original PSP, and 64MiB on the Slim PSP.
Your memory stick will require either 33mb (Original) or 66mb (Slim) of free space to make a NAND Dump.
If you have a 64mb memory stick, then you will not be able to do a Nand-Dump.
7. Press 'O' to move onto the next screen.
8. Choose 'Dump from NAND' option and press 'X'
9. Choose the filename you want to 'dump' to and press 'X'
10. Wait while the PSP reads the NAND from your PSP and copies it to your Memory stick.
11. After the dump has completed, press 'X'
12. Press 'O' twice to return to the main menu.
13. Select Quit and press 'X' and you will return to the 'Pandora Recovery Menu'
14. I recommend to make a back copy of the NAND to your computer for safe keeping.
Downgrade / Unbrick a PSP using the Pandora Battery and Memory StickBefore Installing Custom firmware onto a PSP, i recommend to make a 'Nand-Dump' just in case something goes wrong.
You can use it to 'revert' your PSP back to how it was before you attempted to install custom firmware on it.
1. Turn off your PSP by holding the power button for 4 seconds.
2. Insert the 'Pandora Memory Stick' into your PSP, this must be done before you insert the battery.
3. Hold the 'L' button and insert the 'Pandora Battery' and your PSP will turn itself on automatically.
4. Afer a few seconds, you will see the '
Pandora`s Battery Recovery Menu' and will have 4 options.
X = Will Install custom firmware 3.71 M33-2 onto your PSP.
O = Will Install official 3.71 firmware onto your PSP (this is useful if you need to send PSP back for repair)
[] = Will start 'Nand-tool' so you can make a backup of your PSP flash memory.
L+R+Start+Home = Restore a nand-dump (I highly recommend to use Nand-Tool to restore a Nand-Dump)
5. Press 'X' to start the install of the custom firmware. While the firmware is installing, the memory stick and WiFi lights will flash, this is normal.
6. Once the 'Custom Firmware' install has completed, the Memory Stick and WiFi lights will stop flashing and you will be asked to restart the PSP.
7. Turn off your PSP and turn it back on:
- If you get a 'Corrupted Settings' blue screen error message:
Press 'O' a few times and your PSP should restart with fixed settings.
The PSP will then go through the 'Initial Setup' process, (setting time / date / name etc.) - If your PSP freezes before it loads the XMB menu:
Turn off your PSP (hold the power button for 4 seconds), Turn on the PSP holding the 'R' button to access 'Recovery mode'
Select the 'Advanced' Menu and press 'X', select the 'Format Flash1 and Reset Settings' option and press 'X'
The PSP will then go through the 'Initial Setup' process. (setting time / date / name etc.) - If your PSP loads the XMB menu:
Go to the 'Settings Menu' and redo the settings (Nickname / Video Settings, Theme Settings etc)
(Or you can use the 'Reset to default settings' option on the Settings -> System Settings menu)
9. Turn off the PSP by holding the power switch for 4 seconds.
10. Hold the 'R' Button and turn the PSP back on to enter recovery mode and configure the recovery mode options.
Heres a guide on
Configuring the 'Custom Firmware' Recovery Mode Options11. After you have set the Recovery Mode options, choose "Exit" to go back to the XMB menu.
Restore a Pandora Battery back to a Normal Battery1. Insert the Pandora Battery and Pandora Memory stick into your PSP. (Your PSP will turn itself on automatically)
2. Go to the 'Game -> Memory Stick' menu and:
-=>
If you have a PSP running custom firmware / 3.71 M33:a. Start the 'OS Pandora Battery Tool 0.4'
b. When the program starts, Press the 'X' button to continue.
c. Choose the 'Flash battery eeprom from ms0:\eeprom.bin' option.
(you may get a write error on address 0x14, this is normal)
(note: If you don't have a eeprom backup, choose the convert battery to normal mode)
d. Press 'X' again after the program has finished writing the battery data.
e. Choose 'quit now' and the program will exit.
-=>
If you have a PSP running official firmware 1.50:a. Start the 'Pandora's Battery Creator' program.
b. When the program starts, Press the L and R buttons at the same time.
This will flash the battery eeprom from ms0:\eeprom.bin. (note: you may get an error writing to address 0x14, this is normal)
(note: If you don't have a eeprom backup, choose the 'convert battery in normal one' option)
c. The program will now exit to the XMB Menu.
3. Your Pandora Battery has now been converted back to a 'Normal Battery'
Restore a Pandora Memory Stick back to a Normal Memory Stick/!\ Warning: /!\Make sure you have restored your battery back to normal. If you do this first you may not be able to change
the 'Pandora Battery' back to a 'Normal Battery' since the 'Battery eeprom' information is stored in a file on the memory stick.
Formatting your memory stick will delete everything from it, Check that you have no important files on your memory stick before doing this.
If you have some important files on the memory stick, make a copy of them to your computer before formatting your memory stick.
1. Insert a battery into your PSP and turn it on.
2. Insert the Pandora memory stick that you want to change back to a normal memory stick.
3. Go to the 'Settings Menu' and choose 'System Settings'
4. Choose the 'Format Memory Stick' option and choose 'Yes' and 'Yes' again
5. Once the memory stick has been formatted is it back to normal.
How To Recharge the Pandora Battery1. Insert the Pandora battery into your PSP (do not hold the 'L' button), your PSP will turn itself on automatically.
2. Wait until the PSP loads the XMB menu.
3. Plug in your battery charger / AC Adaptor.
4. The battery light should turn Orange to indicate that the battery is charging.
5. Turn off your PSP by holding the power button for 4 seconds.
6. The power light should still be orange after the PSP power is off.
7. Once the battery is fully recharged, The orange power light will turn off.
Fixing your PSP Flash Memory Partition TablesThere is a bug in 3.71 M33-2, when using the 'Toggle Flash' options in recovery mode.
using it to write to flash may cause your PSP Flash Partition tables to become corrupted.
You will need to use NandTool to re-partition your PSP Flash memory.
NandTool 0.3b1:
Download:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/lopm79 Mirror :
http://www.zshare.net/download/56809643bd8998/Installing Nand-tool(most users can skip this step as I've included Nand-tool as a part of the Pandora Install Files)
1. Download 'NandTool 0.3b1' and extract it to a folder on your computer, you will get a file called 'backup.elf'
2. Insert your 'Pandora Memory Stick' into your PSP and connect it to your computer (or use a memory stick card reader)
3. Copy the 'backup.elf' file and paste it inside the "KD" folder and overwrite the existing file.
4. Close the USB connection and disconnect the USB Cable. (or take memory stick out of the card reader)
Instructions on Using NAND-Tool:5. Make sure you have at least 33mb of 'free space' on your memory stick' for a original PSP, or 66mb for a slim PSP.
6. Insert 'Pandora Memory Stick' into your PSP
7. Insert 'Pandora Battery' into your PSP while holding the 'L' button to access 'Pandora Recovery Menu'.
8. Hold the 'Square' button for 2 seconds to start the 'NAND Dumper' program.
9. On the next screen, press 'O' to go to the next part of the dumper.
10. Choose 'Dump from NAND' option and press 'X', choose "Nand-dump.bin' and press 'X'
* Please wait while your PSP NAND is being copied to your memory stick *
11. Once the dump is completed press 'X', now press 'O' to go back to the main menu.
12. Select the 'Other' menu option and press 'X'
13. Select the 'Repartition lflash' option and press 'X'
14. Press 'Triangle' to confirm you want to 'logically format the flash'
* Wait while the lflash area is logically formatted *
15. After the lflash format has been completed, press 'X'
16. Press 'O' to go back to the main menu.
17. Scroll down to 'Quit' and press 'X'
18. You will now be back at the 'Pandora Recovery Menu'
19. Press 'X' to install 'Custom firmware 3.71 M33' and it should install custom firmware.
After the custom firmware install has finished, your PSP should hopefully be working properly.
I recommend you to make another backup of your NAND using 'NandTool' and making a copy of it to your computer.
Overwrite the 'old non-working dump' with a new dump of your working PSP.
If the 'flash' gets corrupted again, you can restore the dump instead of repartitioning and installing the custom firmware again.
*END OF TUTORIAL*
