or Install Custom Firmware onto your Original or Slim PSP.
Pandora Motherboard Compatibility List (thanks to assassinwarrior for this pic)
* If 'Creates Pandora' is NO, then your PSP cannot convert a normal battery into a 'Pandora Battery'
You can check your PSP Firmware version by turning on your PSP going to the settings section on the left,
then scrolling down to 'System Settings' and pressing the 'Confirm' button.
then scrolling down to 'System Information' and pressing the confirm button again.
(The confirm button is the 'X (Cross)' button on USA and Europe PSPs and the 'O (Circle)' button on a Japanese PSP),
You should see three lines of text on the screen, the firmware version is the number listed in 'System Software'.
If you see ANY letters after the System Software number (e.g 2.71 SE-B, 3.40 OE-A, 5.00 M33-1), then you have a hacked PSP already.
If you just have numbers and no letters after the system software, then you PSP has not been hacked.
You can exit the System Information by pressing the 'Cancel' button (see the bottom of your PSP screen)
If your PSP has firmware 3.95 or lower or came from the factory / out of the box with 3.95 or lower,
then there is a 99.9% chance that your PSP is hackable using the 'Pandora Battery + Magic Memory Stick'.
If your PSP came from the factory with version 4.00 or higher system software
installed there is a very high chance it is a new model that cannot be 'hacked' at the moment.
All the newer PSP-2000 models and ALL PSP-3000 models cannot be hacked yet, but there are people working on hacking it.
If 'Pandora' doesn't start on your PSP and you just get a green light then you have the newer model slim which cannot be hacked yet.
I will update this guide as soon as a working "Pandora" program comes out for the new Slim PSP and the Slim and Brite PSP
You will need:
- Windows Operating system on your PC and a user account with 'Admin' rights
- A 64mb or higher Memory Stick PRO DUO (The total size of the Magic Memory Stick files is about 50mbytes)
- A pre-made Pandora Battery (or a custom firmware PSP that can convert a battery and an original PSP battery)
How to Identify your PSP Motherboard Model
This program is here for the people who don't know if their slim PSP can convert a battery or not.
If you are not sure what motherboard your custom firmware PSP has you can use PSPIdent.
PSPIdent can show you the motherboard model number, then you can look on the table above
to find out if your PSP can convert a normal battery into a Pandora Battery (and back again)
NOTE: This program will only work on 'Custom Firmware' PSP, it will not start on official sony firmware.
PSPIdent 0.4 (36kb)
Download Link 1 (Mediafire): http://www.mediafire.com/?jwnggotznxt
Download Link 2 (iFile): http://ifile.it/zma6s2u
Download Link 3 (zShare): http://www.zshare.net/download/60715760ba98e64f/
Download Link 4 (SendSpace): http://www.sendspace.com/file/6yd5te
Download Link 5 (Megaupload): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A3EC6UEM
After downloading the ZIP file, extract it and copy the PSPIdent folder into PSP \ GAME folder and start the program from the 'Game > Memory Stick' Menu.
You should see your 'Motherboard' model displayed on the screen. (example screenshot)
In the example screenshot, the PSP has a TA-081 motherboard, according to the table above, this PSP is able to convert a battery into a Pandora.
(You can also check the Motherboard version by using the 'Pandora Battery + Memory Stick' and choosing the 'Hardware Info' option on the Pandora menu.)
Making the 'Magic Memory Stick'
Making a 'Magic Memory Stick' will ERASE all files on your memory stick
Make sure you have copied the files from your memory stick to your computer.
You can make the 'Magic Memory Stick' with ANY official or custom firmware versions.
Required Files:
Pandora files to install 5.00 M33-4 (46.63mb)
Download Link 1 (Mediafire): http://www.mediafire.com/?idnddcwzezz
Download Link 2 (iFile): Dead Link... can't access ifile.it site to reupload...
Download Link 3 (zShare): http://www.zshare.net/download/53433116815a1905/
Download Link 4 (SendSpace): http://www.sendspace.com/file/eq2of0
Download Link 5 (Megaupload): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S52IT520
Custom Firmware 5.00 M33 Update #6:
Extract and copy the 'UPDATE' folder to the 'PSP \ GAME' folder after the magic memory stick has been created.
You will find the update program on the Game > Memory Stick menu, It should have a black M33-6' icon.
Run it after you have installed custom firmware on the PSP using Pandora to update the custom firmware.
Download 1 (iFile.it): http://ifile.it/5szhmqu
Download 2 (zShare): http://www.zshare.net/download/5440315783948b3c/
Download 3 (SendSpace): http://www.sendspace.com/file/yn8nke
Download 4 (Megaupload): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W2WE1EQC
-- OR -- (The Older Versions of Pandora can be found here)
Pandora files to install 4.01 M33-2 (44.47mb)
Download Link 1 (iFile): http://ifile.it/r1j6izh
Download Link 2 (zShare): http://www.zshare.net/download/52857756211f6312/
Download Link 3 (SendSpace): http://www.sendspace.com/file/opi78h
Download Link 4 (Megaupload): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A6NEM2U4
Install Instructions:
1. Unzip the downloaded file to your computer.
2. Connect your PSP to your computer.
3. Make a USB connection using your PSP.
4. Run the "RainUltraLiteMMS" program
(Windows Vista users will need to right click the program and choose "Run As Administrator".
If you don't, you will be unable to inject the IPL and format the memory stick)
5. Choose the 'Drive Letter' of your memory stick.
6. Tick the "Format Memory Stick" box.
7. Click the "Make MMS" button.
8. Confirm you want to format the memory stick (all files on the memory stick will be erased)
If you get an the error message "IPL Write failed, do you want to continue?", click 'No' and go to the
"Re-partitioning your memory stick" section of this guide. (or re-try using a different memory stick)
9. Wait as your magic memory stick is created, this might take a few minutes.
(It might look like the program has frozen, but it hasn't, just let it run for a few minutes, If the memory
stick light on your PSP is flashing on and off, the program is writing the files to the memory stick)
10. Once the program has finished, you will see "Make MMS Finished".
You are done making the 'Magic Memory Stick' and can close the Program :)
Now you can go to the "Converting a 'Normal battery' <-> 'Pandora Battery' section or to the
'Installing Custom Firmware using the Pandora Battery & Magic Memory Stick" section if you have a Pandora Battery already.)
To turn your 'Magic Memory Stick' into a 'Normal Memory Stick':
(Do this if you don't need your 'Magic Memory Stick' anymore and want it back to normal)
1. Insert a 'Normal' Battery and the 'Magic Memory Stick' into your PSP
2. Turn on your PSP and select to the "Settings > System Settings > Format Memory Stick" option
3. Press 'X' and choose 'Yes' to format the memory stick.
4. Your 'Magic' memory stick will be fully erased and will work as a normal memory stick again.
Re-partitioning your memory stick
Sometimes your memory stick won't be able to write the IPL for pandora,
because there is not enough 'reserved' space on your memory stick boot sector.
In this case, you will need to reformat and repartition the memory stick.
Using the 'HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool', you can repartition and
re-format the memory stick and reserve enough space for the IPL.
(The program reserved 20kb of space on my 1gb memory stick, the IPL for pandora is 12kbytes)
Required Files:
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool (369kb)
Download Link 1 (iFile): http://ifile.it/gv1e6nw
Download Link 2 (zShare): http://www.zshare.net/download/5595319152078a92/
Download Link 3 (SendSpace): http://www.sendspace.com/file/vsx38m
Download Link 4 (Megaupload): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TN0SFBCE
How to Repartition your Memory stick:
1. Connect your PSP to your computer and make a USB connection
2. Download and extract the "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool"
3. Run the "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool" program (filename: HPUSBFW.EXE)
(Note: Vista users will need to 'right click' the program and select "Run as Administrator"
If you don't run as Administrator you will get an "Permission Denied" error message.)
4. In the "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool" Select your PSP in the Device (first) drop-down box.
5. In file system choose NTFS (The Program crashed for me when I tried FAT and FAT32)
(Note: It doesn't really matter which Filesystem you format with, it will get changed when you make the magic memory stick later)
6. Tick the 'Quick Format' box (or untick it if you want to format the entire memory stick this will take longer)
7. Make sure that "Enable Compression" option is OFF (Only enabled when formatting using the NTFS filesystem)
8. Make sure that "DOS Startup Disk" option is OFF (Only enabled when formatting using the FAT/FAT32 filesystems)
9. Click "Start" and you will get a message asking if you want to format, click "Yes"
(Note: Formatting will erase all data from the memory stick, make sure you backup the files on your memory stick)
10. Wait while your memory stick is repartitioned and formatted... this may take a few minutes...
11. When you see the results message, click 'OK' then close the "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool"
12. Try making the memory stick again, (but press the Inject IPL button first, before pressing the "Make MMS" button)
If it is still unsuccessful injecting the IPL then you will need to use another memory stick...
Converting a 'Normal battery' <-> 'Pandora Battery'
If you have a pre-made pandora battery you can skip to the next section
You can only convert a Normal Battery to Pandora Battery with
- Any Custom Firmware Original Fat PSP
- Any Custom Firmware 'TA-085v1' Motherboard Slim.
(If your PSP Slim came with 3.60 firmware then you most likely have a Ta-085v1 Slim PSP)
PSPs Slims that have the "TA085v2" and newer motherboards will fail when trying to convert a battery.
If your PSP has official firmware you CANNOT convert a battery with it.
(If you try and run the 'Battery Converter' program you will get a "Game Cannot Be Started" error message)
If you don't have a Custom Firmware PSP available, or cannot convert a battery then you will need to buy a pre-made Pandora Battery.
(Tip: Google search "Dealextreme Pandora", they have a $7usd Pandora Battery, but you need Paypal to buy from them)
Required Files:
'Hellcat's Pandora Installer v4b' (Re-uploaded as the files were deleted)
Download 1 (iFile.it): http://ifile.it/rj1ctnk
Download 2 (zShare): http://www.zshare.net/download/63405705e35f3555/
Download 3 (Sendspace): http://www.sendspace.com/file/zkpq8i
Download 4 (Megaupload): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KEY955GU
Installing 'Hellcats Pandora Installer v4b':
1. Unzip the downloaded file to your computer
2. Connect your PSP to your computer and make a USB connection,
3. Copy the "pan3xx" folder to your memory stick in the PSP > GAME folder.
4. Close the USB Connection and disconnect the USB Cable.
Converting a 'Normal battery' to a 'Pandora Battery':
1. Insert the Battery you want to convert into your PSP and turn your PSP on.
2. Go to the Game menu, then run the "Pandora Installer for 3.xx+ -R4b-"
3. Once the program starts, you may get a message saying that "This program has detected a PSP slim&lite TA085v2 or newer board"
If you get this message you will not be able to convert a normal battery to a pandora battery and should exit the program.
If you don't get this message you should be able to convert a battery, press "X" to go to the main menu.
Warning Message you get if you use a PSP with a TA085v2 or newer motherboard:
4. Scroll down to "Battery Options" and press "X"
5. Scroll down to "Dump Battery Serial to File" and press "X"
(this will backup the battery serial to the batser file on your memory stick)
6. Select "Make Battery Pandora" and press "X"
7. The Battery serial in the top left should change to "0xffffffff"
(If the battery serial doesn't change then your psp can't write to the battery or the battery is not compatible)
8. If the battery serial is "0xffffffff" then your Normal Battery is now a Pandora Battery.
9. Scroll down to "Back to mainmenu" and press "X"
10. Choose "Quit" and press "X" and the program will exit
11. Turn off your PSP and remove the battery (which is now a Pandora battery)
Converting a 'Pandora Battery' to a 'Normal Battery':
1. Insert the Pandora Battery into your PSP, your PSP will turn on automatically.
2. Go to the Game menu, then run the "Pandora Installer for 3.xx+ -R4b-"
3. Once the program starts, press "X" to go to the main menu.
4. Scroll down to "Battery Options" and press "X"
5. Scroll down to "Set Battery Serial from File" and press "X"
6. Scroll down to "Back to Mainmenu" and press "X"
7. Choose "Quit" and press "X" and the program will exit.
8. Turn off your PSP and remove the battery (which is now a Normal Battery)
Making a Backup of your PSP NAND Chip (optional)
The NAND chip is the place where the PSP stores all its firmware files and other settings
like region codes, Wifi MAC Address and other Security Keys.
I recommend to make a Backup of the NAND in case something happens to these settings.
1. Insert the 'Pandora Memory Stick' into your PSP
2. Insert the 'Pandora Battery' into PSP while holding the 'L' button
(You will need to keep the 'L' button pressed until you see the menu below)
3. Your PSP should automatically turn itself on.
4. In a few seconds you should see a few options on the PSP screen if you have a compatible PSP.
If your PSP just stays on a black screen then you probably have a PSP Brite (PSP-3000)
-OR- one of the newer model PSP Slims (PSP-2000) that Pandora is not compatible with,
this means your PSP can't have custom firmware installed on it at the moment.
5. Select the "NAND Operations" options and press 'X'
6. Select the "Dump NAND" option and press 'X'
7. Wait for the PSP NAND memory to be saved to your memory stick.
8. After the dump has finished, press "O" to go back to the NAND Operations Menu.
9. Press 'O' again to go back to the main menu.
(you can now choose to install the custom firmware, and once its installed come back to step 12 and copy the nand-dump file to your computer)
10. Choose "Shutdown" from the main menu and press 'X'
11. Insert your normal battery and turn on your PSP.
12. Go to the Settings menu and make a USB connection.
13. Open your memory stick (using My Computer > Memory Stick Drive Letter)
14. Right click the "nand-dump.bin" file and choose 'Cut'
15. Make a folder on your computer and paste the "nand-dump.bin" file into the folder.
(I recommend to name the folder using the serial number of the PSP which can be found in the battery compartment)
16. Close the USB Connection and shutdown the PSP.
Keep the "nand-dump.bin" somewhere safe, as you can use it to restore your PSP back to the way it was when you did the NAND-DUMP.
(Warning: only restore the NAND-Dump to the PSP the made it, using a different PSPs NAND-dump on
your PSP will make your PSP unable to read UMD Discs, unable to use WiFi, and all sorts of other problems)
Installing Custom Firmware using the Pandora Battery & Magic Memory Stick
1. Insert the 'Magic Memory Stick' into your PSP
2. Insert the 'Pandora Battery' into PSP while holding the 'L' button
(You will need to keep the 'L' button pressed until you see the main menu)
3. Your PSP should automatically turn itself on.
4. If you have a compatible PSP, you should see a few options on the PSP screen In a few seconds...
If your PSP just stays on a black screen then you probably have a PSP Brite (PSP-3000)
-OR- one of the newer model PSP Slims (PSP-2000) that Pandora is not compatible with,
this means your PSP can't have custom firmware installed on it at the moment.
5a. Choose "Install x.xx M33" to install the M33 Custom Firmware.
5b. OR choose "Install x.xx OFW" to install the Official Sony Firmware.
6. A installation progress bar should appear on the screen, When it gets to 100%, Press "O" to shutdown.
7. Your PSP now has custom firmware installed.
8. Remove the Pandora's Battery and insert your normal PSP battery and turn on your PSP.
9. Update to the latest custom firmware version if one is available.
NOTE: Installing ANY official firmware update will 'undo' this hack and overwrite the custom firmware with official firmware.
~~~
Your post really cool and interesting. Thanks very much.
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