a few tips devin:
the e3 has a onboard NOR so you actually can dual boot
there is an adapter (where you plug the E3 NOR cable that goes to NOR), that instead serves as E3 NAND adapter, that comes with 40+ pins you need to solder to NAND ps3s
while using the E3 NOR cable:
1. you always need to ground to TRISTATE point on PS3 motherboard
to E3 NOR CABLE, specifically on SBC AND NOT ANY OTHER.
2. here's the ps3devwiki page where shows you how the E3 is handled through its switch panel:
http://www.ps3devwiki.com/wiki/E3#E3_-_Coverboard_-_switches
3. UPDATE your E3 using this bios:
http://www.mediafire.com/?h4m3iyvqwy448sw (i've uploaded just for you, it's tested on three different slim ps3's [not ultra!] that had both
spansion and
samsung NOR chips), it allows you to work with various PS3s as E3 is locked down to one PS3 once you have used it
http://www.ps3devwiki.com/wiki/E3#Update_E3_Flasher
usage: if you soldered tristate properly to SBCE point on E3 NOR cable, you leave the 1st switch (flashfun mode) on and all the others off, you tell the console to be stuck, and prevent accessing any routines to NOR (if NOR is intercepted by any read/write routines from the PS3,
you'll possibly won't be able to read/write any contents to NOR, so you need to prevent the PS3 from doing it, or you could mess it up bad)
once flash fun mode is enabled (you'll see a green light led[on the ps3's led] like it'd be running the OS, but it's not, instead it's showing a black screen without doing any activity -- helps with bricked PS3s), so you pretty much can do read / writes to NOR.
Also, a behaviour
not described in the wiki: You could always enter flash fun mode, once there, you press the reset button on the E3 (changing the switches on E3 panel before, so you effectively perform another operation on the same power cycle) and you can do whatever you want, without having to turn off the PS3 or reboot, like, reading to NOR/NAND,--*reset button*> writing a new NOR/NAND -->*reset button*-->, perform a E3 update [from both micro SD or USB]-->*reset button *-->etc
4. error codes: while reading NOR/writing NOR/updating E3/etc you'll find blue led lights [like a success % bar, on the E3 switch panel!] aren't increasing one by one like they should, but they will sometimes blink while others not, that's an -error-, keep in mind that most errors occur because of a poorly fit E3 NOR adapter on the NOR itself, so you'll need some electrical tape, clean both NOR points and E3 NOR adapter with a toothbrush and press a bit further so it's tightly fit.
http://www.ps3devwiki.com/wiki/E3#Error_Codes
http://www.ps3devwiki.com/wiki/E3#IFI0_Tag_missing_at_offset_200
