Hacking Help me with a softbricked psp, please

fatkinglet

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Problem resolved - I had to create a pandora memory stick


Hi, I just bought a PSP 1000 from a thrift store today, and it turned out to be soft-bricked. It got green light but no screen, so I googled it and found the only way I could get screen back is doing the "take out battery, charge with power cable then put the battery back in" However, if I either go to sleep mode or restart the psp, then it gets soft-bricked again and I need to do that "take out battery, charge with power cable then put the battery back in" method to get PSP screen again.

I took a couple pictures of the system info, hopefully someone here could guide me to next step to completely get rid of the soft-mode issue. I was thinking if I could do the factory reset would remove the M33 VSH, but I am scared to try anything that might do more harm than good..... :(
 

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ChiefReginod

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It sounds like it could be a battery issue. What happens if you plug it in and power it on without the battery in the system? If it powers on with just the power cable and no battery, then the battery is either dead or dying or has been modified in some way (ie, Pandora). Pandora batteries can prevent the system from booting normally in some scenarios.

Also, factory reset won't affect CFW but it's probably not going to help here anyway. In any case, you should not do anything to the firmware until you've sorted out the battery issue, because if it loses power midway through you're gonna have a bad time.
 
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fatkinglet

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It sounds like it could be a battery issue. What happens if you plug it in and power it on without the battery in the system? If it powers on with just the power cable and no battery, then the battery is either dead or dying or has been modified in some way (ie, Pandora). Pandora batteries can prevent the system from booting normally in some scenarios.

Also, factory reset won't affect CFW but it's probably not going to help here anyway. In any case, you should not do anything to the firmware until you've sorted out the battery issue, because if it loses power midway through you're gonna have a bad time.


Thanks for response, it cannot power on without the battery, it would just show a grey screen in a split second then it will power off.
 

ChiefReginod

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Does the battery last a while once you actually get it to boot up? Because if it does, you could proceed with updating the CFW.

1000 models are pretty much brick-proof as long as you have access to a Pandora battery. So, worst case scenario is you would have to order one. But that's only if you have a full brick. Assuming the battery won't cut out in the middle of updating, I would go ahead and update the CFW. The first thing would be to update to 6.60 OFW. Updating the system can be a little tricky if you're on M33, so let me know if you need help doing that.
 
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fate6

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Updating the system can be a little tricky if you're on M33

GEN is the one with the 9.90 update issue, M33 never did that and should update like normal.

Make sure to disable any plugins first tho.

EDIT: oh right the only time M33 can be a problem is on like 3.XX firmware's but OP is on 5.00 so they are in the clear.
 

fatkinglet

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I just updated to 6.60 firmware
Does the battery last a while once you actually get it to boot up? Because if it does, you could proceed with updating the CFW.

1000 models are pretty much brick-proof as long as you have access to a Pandora battery. So, worst case scenario is you would have to order one. But that's only if you have a full brick. Assuming the battery won't cut out in the middle of updating, I would go ahead and update the CFW. The first thing would be to update to 6.60 OFW. Updating the system can be a little tricky if you're on M33, so let me know if you need help doing that.


Thanks for the response, it really meant a lot to me. I actually got it updated to 6.60 just now and thought the "green light no screen" would be resolved by installing newer firmware, but the problem still persist and I still need to do the "battery out then in" trick to get screen on............well I am going to update to 6.61 while typing this and really hope the "green light no screen" would be gone.

fingers crossed :P

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Bad news....I am on 6.61 now and the problem "green light no power" still here, and the only way I can get screen is doing the "battery out and then in".


I am really lost now and have no idea what causes the issue and how to get it fix. Please tell me what I can try, Thanks you in advance !!!!
 

fatkinglet

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Let me sum it up of what I found and what I did so far, thx !!!

The PSP 1001 was from a thrift store, it came with Sandisk 4gb stick Pro (I formatted and no difference between with OR without booting ) + Sony branded 1800 mAh battery (but it has a tape around the battery, assuming it has been tampered).

The first time I turned it on normally, it got "green light and no screen". Then I tried both "Holding HOME + R + POWER" & "HOLDING HOME + SELECT + START + SQUARE + TRIANGLE" - still only green light.
Next, I took out the battery and just power on with the power cable - it would "green light" for a second then it turned off by it self.

And after that, I finally got screen by doing "Power on without battery then immediately inserts the battery back before the green light turns off"

After I got the screen back. I upgraded the firmware to 6.60 and then 6.61. During both firmwares, they didn't fix the "green light no screen", I still only get screen by doing "Power on without battery then immediately inserts the battery back before the green light turns off"

So assuming it is soft bricked, how can I fix it?

Thanks a million for your time and helps !!!
 

ChiefReginod

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You've probably already tried this, but have you tried booting without the memory stick inserted + no battery? It does sound like it could be a Pandora modded battery. For Pandora mods, the memory stick is modified as well (called a "magic memory stick" if you want to search for details) and is a part of the special boot process to reflash the FW. As I mentioned before, this can lead to the system not booting under some circumstances, particularly if you've modified it to be a magic memory stick but don't have all the files needed on it.

If you have a way of testing the power supply as well, you should probably do that to rule it out. Seems unlikely, but always a good idea anyway. And this one's super obvious but warrants mentioning, the 1000 model only charges from the power port, not via USB like the later models.
 

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