[Tutorial] Make a Pandora Battery Without a homebrew PSP

[richluk]

Ok, so you want to unbrick or downgrade your PSP but don't have a PSP capable of running homebrew apps. No problem! In this tutorial I will show you how to modify the battery's hardware to make it activate service mode.

This is our victim. Please note that while this concept may work on non-Sony batteries, only official batteries are guaranteed to have the same internals, so we recommend using one.

STEP 1:

The first thing you need to do is obviously crack open the battery. Surprisingly, the battery isn't very hard to get in to. In this picture you can see that I'm just using a guitar pick to slide in through an edge and slide around the perimeter of the battery to seperate the two halves.

STEP 2:

Next, we need to locate a certain chip. The chip has the model number S93C56 printed on it. We are going to need to desolder pin 5 and lift it off of the board. Here is a magnified view of the board, which shows where the chip is and which pin needs to be lifted.

Newer batteries have a much smaller board with a different layout. The same chip needs to have the pin lifted, but the chip is in a different position. Once you've located chip S93C56, the rest of the instructions are basically the same. This has been confirmed with the 2200 mAH Official Sony battery.

STEP 3:

If you are not confident in your soldering skills, have a less than steady hand or have a larger-than-optimal sized tip, please desolder the cell pack from the battery first. If you make contact between pins 5 and 6 then you will short ground to +3.6VDC! Not good! When desoldering the cell, only keep the iron on long enough to melt the solder. If you can, use a higher wattage iron so that the tip will be hotter, but you won't transfer as much heat to the cell pack. Remember that heat + Li-Ion battery = large explosion (t3h sux0r5, unless you get in on video. Twisted Evil Seriously though, this operation is not for the faint hearted, and should definitely not be your first soldering experience. I recommend trying your hand on lifting the pins on an N64 CPU chip. Surely if you spend enough time here you have a couple killed N64 mobos laying around. Razz)

Now is actually desoldering the pin. There are a few ways you could do this, but I think my method is the best because its less likely to damage components near by. Use an Xacto knife with a sharp tip and try to put it underneath the pin. Get somebody to hold a soldering iron (WITH A VERY FINE CONICAL TIP!) on the pin. When the solder melts you can pop the pin up with the knife. Be sure not to hold the iron on the board too long to avoid the lithium battery from getting too hot and exploding. When your done it will look something like this.

STEP 4:

Finally, close the battery's casing. Use some Krazy Glue to keep it closed, or just use electrical tape around the edges like I did. I don't actually recommend the electrical tape as it makes the battery very snug in the compartment and it takes a bit of force to get it out. You can use the battery just like a regular Pandora's battery. As for getting the Memory Stick files, I can tell you that they are out there and you can find them after a bit of Googling. However, I can't tell you exactly where to find them as they contain copyrighted Sony code, and sharing them is illegal.

How does this work?

The pin that we just lifted was actually the ground pin of the EEPROM. Removing this pin effectively shuts off the EEPROM. When the microcontroller inside the battery tries to read the EEPROM, it will think the EEPROM contains all 1s (in binary). This is because of the pull-up resistors on the data lines. So the microcontroller returns a serial number of 0xFFFFFFFF to the PSP, which then goes into service mode.

Thank you for reading this, and if you have any questions, make sure to post and I'll try to help you!

-iam

UPDATE -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another Method

One wire Pandora battery for slim or Phat

Phat Battery


Slim Battery

You can use an Easy installer to create mem stick NOTE: you must still format your MS logically.

1) Use mspformat.exe from the Pandora's Folder to format the Memory Stick.

*Open any folder, From the upper menu select Tools-->Folder Options...-->View-->unmark "Hide Extensions for known File Types"--> Apply an then OK.

*Then Copy the "mspformat.exe" from the mspformat folder inside the Padora's Folder to [My Computer/C:]

*Now Open up "Run" from your PC and type in "cmd" and a Black Window should pop up.



*In the Black Window, type in cd c:\ and then hit enter. This should appear, C:\>

*type mspformat.exe YourPSPDriveLetter (example: since mines is letter M, it will look like this, mspformat.exe m)



*Type in Y and hit ENTER. FORMAT COMPLETED... (if you see any files that still exist inside your MS, Delete them manually)

2) Remove the Memory Stick and disable the USB connection.
3) Re-Connect the Memory Stick again via the USB connection of the PSP.
4) Install files using the installer!
5) Remove the Memory Stick and disable the USB connection.
6) Reinsert the memory stick and run the app "battery creator" on the PSP.

Quick guide to converting your battery written by jas0nuk

If you only have one battery and want to unbrick your PSP, you can.

1) Convert your battery into a jigkick one using "Pandora's Battery Creator", but before you press X, press TRIANGLE to backup your battery's EEPROM to ms0:/eeprom.bin
2) Unbrick your PSP as normal
3) When you are done unbricking, take out the battery and the magic memory stick. Start up the PSP using the AC adaptor (do not try to use a USB charger, it will not start up)
4) Insert the magic memory stick and the magic battery
5) Run "Pandora's Battery Creator" again
6) Press L+R to restore the ms0:/eeprom.bin to your battery

NOTE: You can also restore a battery without having made a backup, by pressing SQUARE at step 6. This will generate a fake serial for your battery (0x12345678) which allows it to work normally, but there could be side-effects.

Have fun, and thanks to everyone in the Prometheus/C+D team.

7) Save Eeprom (the app will close)...Re-open the app and press x to convert battery.
8) You've got yourself magic memory stick + jigkick!

Usage:

- Insert Memory Stick into the PSP
- Remove power cord and insert the JigKick Battery into the PSP.
- A menu appears when the PSP boots. Follow the onscreen information
and instructions.
- Choose the option to downgrade to 1.5!
- That's it! have done!

if you cant get it to work go here for more easier method by: Joe Smith

http://www.psp-hacks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=107553


CREDIT

goes to all the contributors on this project: Adrahil, Booster, Cswindle, Dark_AleX, Ditlew, Fanjita, Joek2100, Jim, Mathieulh, Nem, Psp250, Skylark and TyRaNiD.

[pirata nervo]

cool, this is awesome.

[Spritza]

Yes, good work iam7805 :mrgreenthumbsup:

[Patch7331]

i came to psphacks.com and started to get all excited after looking around the forums and see all the cool stuff you guys were doing, so i read a few tutorials and went to check my psp's firmware and it was 3.51!!!! oh how cruel the gods are!! anyways its my fault for upgrading.

ok onto my question!! I have no soldering experience and the tut says its not good for 1st time solderers so should i learn soldering and try this or just wait for a new downgrader?

[mahfood1990]

Originally Posted by Patch7331

ok onto my question!! I have no soldering experience and the tut says its not good for 1st time solderers so should i learn soldering and try this or just wait for a new downgrader?

better learn some soldering, or get someone to make it for you
waiting for a downgrader is nit really a good idea, as it might take too much time to come

or use the regular way, make a pandora using a friend's PSP


@richluk, nice find :mrgreenthumbsup:

[hiredgoonz]

Originally Posted by Patch7331

ok onto my question!! I have no soldering experience and the tut says its not good for 1st time solderers so should i learn soldering and try this or just wait for a new downgrader?

If you decide to try your hand at soldering, make sure you get a low wattage iron with a fine tip...

There are some guides on soldering online, which isn't the same thing as experience, but as long as you are careful and have a steady hand, you might not hurt yourself...

;)

[Patch7331]

thanks for your responses guy my friend has 3.50 fw so i will downgrade his then pandora mine. i wasnt sure about using his cause its not my psp to brick but after reading that the only way to screw up is if u dont follow instructions properly.

I will also try my had at soldering with some old junk i can find lying around :mrgreenthumbsup:

[impakt55]

wow

nice work

[wendy123]

has anyone successfully downgraded? with this method

[Guest]

Put this on a switch flip pandora flip psp starts hell ya. :mrgreenthumbsup: