GUIDE TO GETTING CFW ON PS3 VERSION 3.55​

Guide objectives :

- Install Custom Firmware 3.55

- Connect to PSN (optional step)

- Install and launch Homebrews

- Transfer files between Computer/PS3

- Play games with managers
​

Guide Contents & Index:

GUIDE 1: INSTALLING CFW:

- Pre-requisites

- Procedures

- PC Stuff

- PS3 Stuff


GUIDE 2: CONNECTING TO PSN

- Pre-requisites

- Procedure
​

GUIDE 1: INSTALLING CFW AND BACKUP MANAGER​

- PRE-REQUISITES -​

0) A FAT32 formatted USB drive

Most low-capacity USB drives are already FAT32 formatted. If your's isn't, right click on the drive letter of your usb(eg: E:\) and click on Format. Choose FAT32 and Quick Format it.

1) OFW 3.55(if you don't already have it)

Download (Use the mediafire link.)

MD5 CHECKSUM: ca595ad9f3af8f1491d9c9b6921a8c61


INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:

Make a new folder on the root of a usb drive and call it PS3. Make another folder inside it called UPDATE. Put the 3.55 update in here and make sure that it's named, 'PS3UPDAT.PUP'. Now put the usb drive into the PS3 and go to Settings -> System Update and choose Update via Storage Media and press 'X'.

2) CFWM 1.5 Small Version [32MB]

Download

Used for obtaining Custom Firmwares.

3) MultiMAN:

BASE

This is currently the best backup manager.

- PROCEDURE -​

- PC STUFF -​

STEP 0: CREATING A CUSTOM FIRMWARE

Automatic Patching:​

1) Create a new folder on your desktop and call it 'CFWM'. If you downloaded OFW 3.55 earlier, skip step 3 and create a new folder inside this folder called 'Original_3.55_FW'. Copy the PS3UPDAT.PUP to this folder.

2) Extract the .exe from inside the CFWM archive to this folder.

3) Now, open the .exe and choose 'Download 3.55 OFW'.

4) After it has finished, choose any CFW from the 3.55 section and click on Create Custom Firmware 3.55.

NOTE: I recommend Kmeaw's 3.55 CFW.

Manual patching:(by Cyan)​

1) Download CFWM v1.5 Full version (+batch by Cyan) [152MB]. and create a new folder on your desktop and call it 'CFWM'. Now, extract everything from that archive to this folder.

2) Place the downloaded OFW 3.55 in 'Original_3.55_FW' folder (or OFW 3.41 in 'Original_3.41_FW' folder).

3) Double click on the Batch file corresponding to the cfw you want to create (ex. Kmeaw_3.55.bat) and follow the instructions. Verify that both MD5 hashes are matching at the end of the process.

4) The patched cfw is now available in newly created folder named after the cfw you chose.

STEP 1: TRANSFERRING EVERYTHING TO THE USB DRIVE

Okay, now lets start transferring the CFW and the Backup Manager to the USB drive.

1) On the root of your USB drive, create a new folder called 'PS3'. Now inside 'PS3' create another folder called 'UPDATE'.

2) Go to the 'CFWM' folder and now go to the folder of your chosen CFW.

3) Find the PS3UPDAT.PUP file and copy it to the 'UPDATE' folder which we created.

4) Open the multiMAN archive.

5) Extract multiMAN WT.pkg, USB.CFG and options_default.ini to root of your USB drive.

- PS3 STUFF -​

STEP 1: INSTALLING KMEAW CFW

1) In the XMB, go to Settings -> System Update.

2) Now select Update Via Storage Media.

3) A message will pop-up.

4) Press 'X'.

5) It should install successfully. If you get any errors, try installing it using Recovery Mode.

STEP 2: INSTALLING MULTIMAN BACKUP MANAGER

1) In the XMB go to Game -> Install Package Files.

2) Select MultiMAN and install it.

3) If you want to play games with Kmeaw cfw, you need to install this using the 'Install Package Files' option in the Game section of the XMB.

STEP 3: ENABLING NTFS ON MULTIMAN (OPTIONAL)

[title: ENABLING NTFS ON MULTIMAN]

1) Plug your external hdd into your PC and download this.

2) Install usbview and open it.

3) Grab the vendor id and the product id.

4) Now create a new notepad file and put this in 0xVNID:0xPRID:V where VNID is the vendor id and PRID is the product id and V is the number of volumes.

5) Now save it as USB.CFG and copy it over to the root of your USB Drive. If it asks you to replace it, do so.

6) Now download Awesome File Manager and install it on your PS3.

7) Run it and browse to /dev_hdd0/game/BLES80608/USRDIR

8) On the other side you should find a directory that has "USB" in it, the inside directory should have your "USB" file.

9) Highlight it and press O to copy it into MultiMAN USRDIR.

10) Now go back to multiMAN and press Start + /\.

11) The NTFS driver should be activated now.

NOTE: Currently you can only copy from an external NTFS hdd to your internal hdd. Nothing more, nothing less.

-END OF GUIDE 1-​

GUIDE 2: CONNECTING TO PSN​

Spoiler: GUIDE 2: CONNECTING TO PSN. THIS DOES NOT WORK CURRENTLY AS THIS METHOD HAS BEEN BLOCKED BY SONY

THIS DOES NOT WORK AS OF 3/18/2011. FOR MORE INFO, GO HERE.

- PRE-REQUISITES -​

0) A FAT32 formatted USB drive

Most low-capacity USB drives are already FAT32 formatted. If your's isn't, right click on the drive letter of your usb(eg: E:\) and click on Format. Choose FAT32 and Quick Format it.

1) TEAM REBUG'S 3.60 SPOOFER

Visit Team Rebug website to download a list of URLs

Select a link from the provided list in the text file to download the installer.

- PROCEDURE -​

INSTALLING TEAM REBUG'S 3.60 SPOOFER​

1) Extract 3.60_Version_Spoofer.pkg from the archive you downloaded to the root of your USB drive.

2) Plug it in to your PS3

3) In the XMB go to Game -> Install Package Files.

4) Select 3.60 Version Spoofer

5) Once loaded Press the 'X' button to install. It will take about 15-45 seconds.

6) When it prompts for a reboot, do so.

STEP 2: INSTALLING FUCK PSN (OPTIONAL. USE THIS FOR SPOOFING YOUR CONSOLE ID).

1) Download dev_blind.pkg, fuckPsn-v0.6.exe and CA27.cer from here. Copy dev_pkg and openps3ftp.pkg from the OpenPs3Ftp archive to the root of your USB Drive.

2) On your desktop, create a new folder. Let's call it Fuck PSN.

3) Copy CA27.cer and the fuckPsn-v0.6.exe file to this folder.

4) Now download an FTP server. I personally use FileZilla.

5) Install it.

6) Now plug-in your USB Drive into your PS3.

7) In the XMB, go to Install Package Files and install dev_blind and OpenPS3FTP.

8) Go to Game and launch dev_blind to mount the flash as writable

9) Now on your PS3 run OpenPS3Ftp and on your PC run Filezilla or whichever FTP server you use.

10) Go to FileZilla and enter root as the username and openbox as the password.

11) Now using FileZilla go to /dev_blind/data /cert

12) Rename CA27.cer to CA27.cer.bak

13) Now copy over the CA27.cer from the FuckPSN directory that we created earlier to /dev_blind/data/cert

14) Now change your PS3's primary and secondary dns servers to your PS3's IP. If you don't know how to change the DNS servers look here.

15) After you're done changing the DNS servers, reboot your PS3 and launch FuckPSN.exe from the folder we created earlier.

16) You can now connect to PSN.

-END OF GUIDES-​

F.A.Q.(by Cyan)​

Main questions

Q. Can I use burnt Bluray discs to play games?
A. No. Only Internal and External HDD is working with backup managers.

Q. I updated past 3.55, is there any way to get the 3.55 custom firmware from there?
A. No. There's no way to downgrade from 3.56+ firmware yet using a software method. Though, there is a way to downgrade some FAT PS3 involving Infectus modchip.

Q. I'm on 3.50 or bellow. Do I need to install the Official Firmware 3.55 first?
A. Even if installing a cfw3.55 over an old fw should work, it's recommended that you update your PS3 to the same Official Firmware as the cfw you want to install first to avoid bricking your console.

Q. I'm on 3.41 or bellow and don't want to update to 3.55, do I really need to install 3.55 to use a cfw?
A. No, you can install Hermes cfw 3.41 (please update to ofw 3.41v2 first) and follow the guide the same way. Just don't install the Version Spoofer from Team Rebug (It only works on 3.55).

Q. I'm already using a cfw but I want to change for Kmeaw 3.55
A. First re-install the ofw 3.55 over your current one, then follow the guide again.

Q. How big should be my USB drive just to install it, not to play back ups?
A. Around 200mb.

Q. Where can I find all previous Official Firmware and their MD5 hash ?
A. Sony removed previous firmwares from their servers when the first jailbreak method appeared. You can still find remaining links and all the informations here.

CFWM

Q. The program doesn't start.
A. You need .Net framework 4.0.

Q. Where can I find .net4.0 ?
A. Here

Q. I don't want to install .Net4.0. How can I still patch the firmware?
A. You can use bspatch program to patch the firmware manually. Follow the manual patching method in the Guide.

PSN

Q. Can Sony ban my PSN account?
A. Yes, as Sony can't ban your Console ID, they can ban your account. But you can always create a new account, while unbanning the PS3 itself will be harder.

Q. Can I play online with all games?
A. You can't play online anymore. You need the 3.62+ official firmware to connect to PSN.

Q. FuckPSN is not working, what can I do?
A. You need .net Framework 3.5, and if you are using a firewall you need to open these ports : 53 UDP, 80 TCP and 443 TCP. You may need to close Skype.

Multiman :

Q. When I press start+triangle to enable NTFS it freezes
A. Your NTFS partition needs to be primary and active.

 

[ankc]

only old model will have a firmware bellow 3.55 (like PhatPS3, or slim up to the PSMove Demo disc pack, released near September 2010)
If on of these console have a firmware past 3.55, there's a way to downgrade them using a hardware NOR/NAND flasher (but it requires soldering skills).

Newer consoles can't be downgraded at all.

You will have more chance to buy a used PS3 already hacked than finding a new one on an old firmware.



@ankc:
Backups used to depend on the firmware you used. New games had new encryption key which required patches to play on old console firmware.
But it's now possible to install a custom firmware at the same version than the latest official firmware (4.30/4.31) so the games don't need patches anymore.

If a game is not working, it's because it's incompatible with the gameManager and/or launch method.
You can see a list of backup compatibility here: http://www.pshomebrew.net/wiki/PS3_Backup_Compatibility_List

Some game haven't been tested yet.
Other games are marked as not working, but it might be an old report because there's no precision on which cfw/Manager it was tested on.

Hi Cyan

thanks for your answer

as you said it is possible to install CFW 4.30/4.31 but the current guide is based on CFW 3.55 and I heard here and there that 3.55 is the best as you might not be able to downgrade above it(unless you use an E3 flasher). so how do I play the newer games if I want to stick to 3.55?

Thanks

 

[Cyan]

There are different way to play new games requiring a higher firmware:

1. install a CFW equal or higher (there's no big sticky tutorial to update to 4.x on gbatemp, but it's still evolving. Someone might write one once it's easier/more straightforward to install).
It's not hard to do if you really want to update, and you can downgrade without hardware flasher if you followed the guides correctly (you need to start at 3.55 to add a debug menu to allow software downgrade later, then update and the debug menu will still be there)

2. Wait for someone (usually released groups) to release a patch/fix for the game to work on older firmware (usually 3.40+). The file are decrypted and re-signed for 3.40

3. Do the above patching yourself. You need the 4.x keys and a program to decrypt the files, then sign them with the known private 3.40/3.55keys
Then when you launch a game from a higher firmware, multiMAN ask you if you want to patch the file setting for that game (PARAM.SFO) which contains the required firmware version. it will replace the value "4.x" by "3.40" (you can even to it manually in your computer, but multiMAN does it for you).

Recent games have another firmware version check directly into the executable in addition to the PARAM.SFO file.
but new version of multiMAN can patch it too.

 

[ankc]

There are different way to play new games requiring a higher firmware:

1. install a CFW equal or higher (there's no big sticky tutorial to update to 4.x on gbatemp, but it's still evolving. Someone might write one once it's easier/more straightforward to install).
It's not hard to do if you really want to update, and you can downgrade without hardware flasher if you followed the guides correctly (you need to start at 3.55 to add a debug menu to allow software downgrade later, then update and the debug menu will still be there)

2. Wait for someone (usually released groups) to release a patch/fix for the game to work on older firmware (usually 3.40+). The file are decrypted and re-signed for 3.40

3. Do the above patching yourself. You need the 4.x keys and a program to decrypt the files, then sign them with the known private 3.40/3.55keys
Then when you launch a game from a higher firmware, multiMAN ask you if you want to patch the file setting for that game (PARAM.SFO) which contains the required firmware version. it will replace the value "4.x" by "3.40" (you can even to it manually in your computer, but multiMAN does it for you).

Recent games have another firmware version check directly into the executable in addition to the PARAM.SFO file.
but new version of multiMAN can patch it too.

Thanks clears things up

 

[LittleRedRidingH]

Most of the files are down

 

[LittleRedRidingH]

Where can I get OFW 3.55? The link is dead.

 

[LittleRedRidingH]

Where can I get OFW 3.55? The link is dead.

ALSO the link for MultiMan is dead

 

[urskog]

Have a virgin 4.31 slim PS3 here I'm looking to install CFW on.
Which version(s) out there are safe to use?
I find a couple when I google search but none are on sites I trust (like this one), any tips for me?

EDIT: The one from ps3jail.com seems to be the one most people say is working, even on OFW 4.31.
Can anyone confirm?

EDIT2: And now I find that the "CFW" from ps3jail.com is actually just the OFW so now CFW at all :/

 

[trumpet-205]

You cannot install CFW on virgin (OFW) 4.31, period.

What is your Slim model? Depending on the model you can buy and use E3 Flasher to downgrade to 3.55 and go on from there.

 

[Cyan]

You can check if the custom firmware you found is a known and legit one, (or if the cfw you created yourself from an ofw+patch is correctly patched) with PS3 PUP Check
Thanks to the extensive md5 hash from Aldo's tools website

 

[urskog]

Seems like my only 2 viable options are:
1: Wait until 4.31 possibly gets hacked
2: Use an E3 flasher
And option 2 is the more likely one, expensive stuff thou

 

[snakepliskin2334]

i found a video if people find watching it easy

 

[Cyan]

I wouldn't recommend a youtube tutorial (in general), and even less when it's only showing the TV screen all the time without future supports and better explanations. but, it's up to the user to decide if he wants to take the risk to follow a random video which is not even made for what he is looking for.
That video is initially for GeoHot Custom Firmware 3.55, some CFW can be installed like that, and other might require the recovery menu.

 

[blaisedinsd]

I have a phat ps3 so my understanding is that it is hack able. I am wondering though if there are downsides to hacking, would I be blocked from psn or online play? I have playstation plus so that is a deal breaker.

 

[jing90]

I have a phat ps3 so my understanding is that it is hack able. I am wondering though if there are downsides to hacking, would I be blocked from psn or online play? I have playstation plus so that is a deal breaker.

no you won't be blocked from playing online, you only need to stay on the most recent cfw or have a spoofer.

 

[blaisedinsd]

So it looks like the hardware to downgrade the PS3 to a hackable firmware is pretty expensive.

Couldn't I just use 3k3y?

 

[Deleted-188346]

Can someone please create a more updated guide? I'm entirely new to this and I'd rather not use files and methods from 4 years ago.

 

[Cyan]

this one is newer :
https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-install-the-latest-rebug-cfw.347855/

I think it's still working, but needs to be updated with latest released version of rebug.
read a lot before doing anything, don't hesitate to ask other users too to be sure what you are doing is the current method and not a 4 years old one.

 

[CheeseCake]

If you need a copy of OFW 3.55, I have a MEGA link on my thread in that section about OFW 3.55

 

[yakhem]

The description thing under your profile pic made me laugh. Thanks for the guide.

 

[abunchoftrash]

I am looking into hacking my ps3, does this guide work for the original CECH-CO3 (The first released 60GB model)