hacking Vita offline

https://vita.hacks.guide/updating-to-3.65
I have been looking at this guide (and others). Cannot connect online.

My original 1000series Vita simply won't connect to the internet for some reason. Spent the last few hours trying 2 routers with good signal. Browser comes up with random error codes when trying to pull up a web page. No success at all. Internet connection tests in Settings always fail even though other devices work fine.

I'm done troubleshooting.

1) can I update manually offline? Online is not an option at this point
2) if I can, what is the most recommended guide to read?
3) I need the correct firmware for my region. Is that correct? My unit is from Australia.
4) I have read a few different guides recommending different firmware. What is the most up-to-date consensus on firmware?

My Vita firmware is currently 2.12. It has been basically unused. Appreciate any help.

 

I need the Australian firmware, rght? Where do I find it?
Is there a recommended guide to update offline?

 

Thanks for your help, but I am not having the best time, despite trying all day.

Basically, I spent my whole day trying to get my Vita to talk with wifi (again) without success. Along with talking to the content manager from Sony (no success) and QCMA (no success). QCMA tells me: no psvita system has been registered.

I checked out the link you suggested yesterday but unfortunately am having no luck with the very basic starting steps, let alone the fact that I am hesitant to follow a guide from 2015 due to possibly very otudated methods. Though that page did give me some good ideas about how things work with these apps.

The story so far:
* Connecting to content manager fails via usb on windows 8.1 (2 computers / original vita USB cable).
* Connecting to QCMA fails too
Tried each app in isolation and together.
* connecting to wifi is hopeless. I spent hours typing in error codes given to me by my lovely Vita, looking for solutions with no luck.

I haven't been this tech-frustrated for at least the past few years.

Some great comedy:
NW-3156-5
The Vita suggests my signal might be poor despite being 30 cm away from the wifi anrenna.

C2-14900-4
The Vita tells me it can't connect to the network.

C2-14921-7
Vita tells me it can't display the page. Up to this point I haven't been able to load a single page on its web browser due to lack of online connecrivity. I think I have tried every wifi suggestion on the net

Countless other errors that don't seem to be archived in its error history are still somewhere in my brain (and Google search history) even if they are missing from the Vita.

I am still unclear on the best firmware to install, even if I were able to upgrade the unit. Which I can't ao far.

I am having no luck both offline and online.

 

Hotspot idea is a good one.

Using a public hotspot now for Vita while constant Christmas songs elevate my blood pressure. Vita actually connected (though there were some strange disconnections). I tried other public hotspots before but no luck. Now I'm getting somewhere with this one

Changed the DNS as described here and followed all instructions
https://vita.hacks.guide/updating-to-3.65

The option that they mention to untick
"Download Update File for System Software” doesn't exist in my 2.12 firmware. They can probably update the guide to let users know it may not exist in ancient firmware.

The result:
I go to System Update to update over wifi and it prompts me that 3.69 is available. I reset Settings twice and did the wifi/dns procedure again but always the same message: 3.69 available. Can't understand why.

I am hoping I can get past this roadblock. The Guide asks the user to figure out what went wrong if they don't see the right message. Not very helpful.

I tried signing up to the Discord discussion which they suggested in the guide, but the Discord website gave me nowhere to proceed after verifying I was not a robot with Captcha. I even tried that twice before giving up on the extremely slow Discord website. I guess it's done on purpose to push you on to a spyware app.

For now, I need to get out of the shopping centre to restore sanity.
Very grateful for the help so far. Small steps have been made...

 

Settings > System > Auto-Start Settings
I see only 2 options here:

Refresh LiveArea Screen
Update Online Status for PlayStation Network

Nothing else.
I tried your suggested DNS. Same result: Vita tells me that 3.69 is available. I have no idea why this isn't working as described in the guide(s)

Settings > System > System Information
This reports System Software 2.12

I don't know if it matters, but I am using the 3G Vita that can take a SIM card. It has never had a SIM card inserted. It probably isn't related to not seeing the "Download Update File for System Software" option, but I just thought I'd mention it just in case.

 

So I guess I am out of luck?

 

Ryccardo & Tri-Z, thanks for your messages.
I nailed the problem a few days ago on public wi-fi.
Yeah, I rebooted more times than I care to remember. It would show the latest update always, despite DNS put in correctly & all instructions followed exactly.

I am not even sure what did it. I reset the unit completely to factory defaults twice. My Vita had a heck of a time connecting to some access points successfully which totally put me off-course. On top of this I found out that the DNS settings would only be effective on one particular public wi-fi hotspot I was using. The other one: never. All this took lots of time.

I was determined to not see my Vita unused over another holiday break so it took me several days to get it successfully updated. It eventually worked with the (3.60) DNS settings described above (thanks Vinceherman). On another site I was reading that the "hacks.guide" author saying the Vita DNS was down over the period I was 'experimenting' which is just my luck. Hah! So all these things combined was not good.

The unit has never been online before this and has basically been unused for a looong time. My 2.12 firmware definitely didn't come with the "Download Update File for System Software" as described in the hacks guide, for what that's worth now. He should add a little note that it doesn't exist in earlier firmware. Of course now on 3.60 I see that option, and I followed a 3.60 guide.

Henkaku offline installer was downloaded. I eventually worked out to activate Henkaku using the mail app. For some reason many guides think you know how to do it. I didn't. Some pics would have been nice. I haven't done any of the permanent activation yet. At this point I am OK with that.

Probably most exciting to me is VitaShell with the option for USB mass storage jist like the PSP. Hallelujah. I swear I hate all devices without this option. Before this I did all the local ftp file transfers successfully with my router ( open network this time & not connected to internet). FTP was far from ideal to me though.

Adrenaline is one of the coolest things ever. I am a little disappointed that I had to download PSP firmware to get it running while offline at the time, but that thing is magical.

I am amazed at all the work people have put into this little machine to break it open. Sony's hardware engineers are simply the best (despite my thoughts on the sub-par error-prone browser and wifi issues).

At this point the problems I had seemed to be a combination of iffy Vita wifi implementation, DNS server that was down over this period, error-prone Vita, and/or some routers disregarding the DNS setting changes in the Vita. I still don't know exactly how much of which, but I'm glad it's over. It probably didn't help that I never signed in to the PlayStation network ever (thanks Tri-Z).

Lots of events culminated to make breaking mine open a big hassle, but now all is good. I am amazed at the work that has gone into this. Thanks very much for your help, guys.