Gaming New to the PSP Scene

[Foxfire Inferno]

Hey guys.
So I just received a PSP-Phat off Ebay that is already setup for Custom Homebrew.
I'm been following emulation and homebrew stuff for many systems but the PSP handheld is, in every sense, new territory for me so I have a few questions:

1) The current firmware installed on this PSP is V3.03 OE-C. Upon further looking, I see there's a Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-D made by a different person available. Is it safe to assume that I should be using that firmware or has anyone had any issues with it that I should be aware of just in case I shouldn't go that high?

2) What websites do you guys go to for getting files & other things for the PSP Homebrew scene? I checked the links in the stickied topics on where to get programs for the firmware install and other stuff but all the links seem to not work and 2 other sites I've found seem to not be run all that well.

3) In light of #2 & the Installer Tutorial, to go from Firmware V3.03OE-C to 5.50GEN-D or whatever the 'best', most updated firmware is available, will I still need to use one of those Firmware Upgraders yo upgrade from custom firmware to custom firmware or is that only going from retail to custom?

4) Lastly, any issues that you guys have had, trials & tribulations and what not, with this sort of thing that's not pointed out in the stickies?

Thanks in advance & bear with this newbie to the PSP scene. ^^

 

[daxtsu]

Hey guys.
So I just received a PSP-Phat off Ebay that is already setup for Custom Homebrew.
I'm been following emulation and homebrew stuff for many systems but the PSP handheld is, in every sense, new territory for me so I have a few questions:

1) The current firmware installed on this PSP is V3.03 OE-C. Upon further looking, I see there's a Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-D made by a different person available. Is it safe to assume that I should be using that firmware or has anyone had any issues with it that I should be aware of just in case I shouldn't go that high?

2) What websites do you guys go to for getting files & other things for the PSP Homebrew scene? I checked the links in the stickied topics on where to get programs for the firmware install and other stuff but all the links seem to not work and 2 other sites I've found seem to not be run all that well.

3) In light of #2 & the Installer Tutorial, to go from Firmware V3.03OE-C to 5.50GEN-D or whatever the 'best', most updated firmware is available, will I still need to use one of those Firmware Upgraders yo upgrade from custom firmware to custom firmware or is that only going from retail to custom?

4) Lastly, any issues that you guys have had, trials & tribulations and what not, with this sort of thing that's not pointed out in the stickies?

Thanks in advance & bear with this newbie to the PSP scene. ^^

1. I'd probably update to 5.00 m33 and then jump to 5.50 from there. I'm decently experienced with PSP stuff, but not an expert, but I don't think it would be wise going from 3.xx to 5.50 right away. Someone feel free to correct me, though.
2. dl.qj.net is a good site to get PSP homebrew.
3. Use Hellcat's Recovery Flasher to take you to 5.00, and then XGEN's updater to take you to 5.50.
4. Saves from games newer than the firmware you're on will be corrupted if you upgrade. Example, if you play a 5.50 game on 5.00 and then go to 5.50, the save will most likely be corrupted unless you downgrade back to 5.00. I don't think there's a way to fix this, except to start over.

Hope that helps.

 

[prowler]

Hey guys.
So I just received a PSP-Phat off Ebay that is already setup for Custom Homebrew.
I'm been following emulation and homebrew stuff for many systems but the PSP handheld is, in every sense, new territory for me so I have a few questions:

1) The current firmware installed on this PSP is V3.03 OE-C. Upon further looking, I see there's a Custom Firmware 5.50 GEN-D made by a different person available. Is it safe to assume that I should be using that firmware or has anyone had any issues with it that I should be aware of just in case I shouldn't go that high? You cant go straight to GEN D from a low firmware like that, you would have to go to 5.00M33 before you go to GEN D. I would go to GEN D then tomorrow when GEN D2 is out, go to that. 3.03 is old now, its like your running Windows 98.

2) What websites do you guys go to for getting files & other things for the PSP Homebrew scene? I checked the links in the stickied topics on where to get programs for the firmware install and other stuff but all the links seem to not work and 2 other sites I've found seem to not be run all that well. For homebrew? There is the new GBAtemp file site on the front page, or theres pspslimhacks.com or psp-hacks.com

3) In light of #2 & the Installer Tutorial, to go from Firmware V3.03OE-C to 5.50GEN-D or whatever the 'best', most updated firmware is available, will I still need to use one of those Firmware Upgraders yo upgrade from custom firmware to custom firmware or is that only going from retail to custom? What? The XGEN updaters takes you straight to GEN D, so none of that GEN-A>GEN-B>GEN-B2>GEN-C>GEN-D crap.

4) Lastly, any issues that you guys have had, trials & tribulations and what not, with this sort of thing that's not pointed out in the stickies? I have no idea what you are on about

Thanks in advance & bear with this newbie to the PSP scene. ^^

Also, if your using XGEN, don't press on Install Official Firmware 5.50. Most noobs have. But you seem like a smart guy lol.

 

[Foxfire Inferno]

Thanks guys.
So I've been doing even more research and I apologize for now thanking you 2 last night but I spent some more time trying to gather as much info as possible so that I get everything right the first time and don't succumb to any rookie mistakes.

I have the 5.00 M33-6 & the 5.50 Gen D firmwares as well as the Hellcat & XGen Programs (and man am I glad you told me that I didn't have to go from Gen > GenA > etc etc cause I had read that somewhere on another psp site that I probably can't name cause they host games and after a friend of mine told me over IM that I'd be updating for a while, I figured that's what he meant. Good to know that's one hassle I don't have to deal with.

Now this question may seem self-explanitory but bear with me because again, I'm just making sure I don't misunderstand anything.
I have the Hellcat REcovery extracted in it's proper folder as well as the official Sony Firmware Update (renamed as 500.pbp) on the root directory. I ran Hellcat and the Firmware is now at 5.00 M33-6.

Now I'm trying to use the Xgen Installer to go up to V5.50 Gen-D but it doesn't seem to wanna load. The ebot file is properly placed in the update folder, the 550.pbp file is in the root folder, but whenever I go to Games and select to run the XGen installer, it shows the PSP icon that comes up normally when you load something, the screen goes blank but unlike when it was loading the Hellcat Recovery, there was no flashing line at the top-left of the screen, ........and then the PSP turns itself off. I'm assuming that the warning to not press "Install Official Firmware 5.50" would be an option within the installer itself that I'd have to avoid so I dunno what I've done wrong. (I tried to go to Version 5.50 Gen-B2 first since I had that downloaded first but it gave the same result that Gen-D is giving me.)

I must be missing something. Any suggestions?


-=Update=-
Whelp, I became a tad curious and decided to try it the other way (progressive update, starting with 5.50 Gen-A Release 4) and sure enough.... it updated. Once that was installed, Gen-B2 was able to load. I'm loading Gen-D now but I think I can assume that it'll work this time for sure."

-=Update 2=-
Well I assumed incorrectly. Maybe I should have knocked on wood first? Going from Gen-B2 to Gen-D only resulted in the screen going black...except unlike the last times, it didn't turn off... it just stayed black. Trying to search for a solution.

 

[daxtsu]

...snip...

-=Update 2=-
Well I assumed incorrectly. Maybe I should have knocked on wood first? Going from Gen-B2 to Gen-D only resulted in the screen going black...except unlike the last times, it didn't turn off... it just stayed black. Trying to search for a solution.

I think you might have to jump from B2 -> C -> D. I could be wrong, though.

 

[Foxfire Inferno]

...snip...

-=Update 2=-
Well I assumed incorrectly. Maybe I should have knocked on wood first? Going from Gen-B2 to Gen-D only resulted in the screen going black...except unlike the last times, it didn't turn off... it just stayed black. Trying to search for a solution.

I think you might have to jump from B2 -> C -> D. I could be wrong, though.

I've tried that today but so far I've had no luck. Trying to upgrade it to C, it goes black and then shuts off (like it did when I tried to go from 5.50m33-6 to D)
I still haven't found any info out there on the other sites as to why except for one mention that it could be a problem with 5.50GEN-B1....which doesn't make too much sense to me since I'm using Gen-B2 and says to actually use GenB2 to solve the issue. lol.

I really should have knocked on wood earlier.

I am curious though, GenA put a few other files in the update folder: u235.prx, sce.pbp, iop.prx& cxmb.pbp
Could these files be creating conflicts and would it be safe to remove them and try again or would that do more harm than good?

 

[prowler]

...snip...

-=Update 2=-
Well I assumed incorrectly. Maybe I should have knocked on wood first? Going from Gen-B2 to Gen-D only resulted in the screen going black...except unlike the last times, it didn't turn off... it just stayed black. Trying to search for a solution.

I think you might have to jump from B2 -> C -> D. I could be wrong, though.

Some people say you HAVE to be on B2 to go onto D.
Going onto GEN C is a bad idea, because it can brick some PSP's

Remember when updating. Turn off all plugin's & don't have a background img.

 

[Foxfire Inferno]

Good Morning everyone.

Unfortunately, I've had no progress since I started trying again this morning. This card is a fresh memory stick so there's absolutely nothing on it except for the firmware files. There was never any background or plugin files and as per other forums, I made sure everything in the Theme menu was kept on Original setting & the Recovery menu showed nothing listed under plugins.

I redownloaded Gen-D from 2 other sources and retried it but to no avail. I double checked my current firmware but it's indeed B2 as per it's readme. I never downloaded B-1.

This morning, I removed those other files that I mentioned earlier that came from GenA (they're backed up on the computer) and tried to upgrade to Gen-D again but all I got was the drive light flickering for about 2 seconds and then nothing but a black screen and the PSP not turning itself off again.
I wonder if it's at all possible to go from Gen-B2 to the new Gen-D2, bypassing Gen-D, but I doubt it.
I've been cautiously considering attempting to downgrade the firmware to 4.01 M33-2 and then going up to 5.50Gen-D as one forum mentioned but being a rookie in this, I'm a bit apprehensive since I've seen quite a few stories about people downgrading onto to wind up bricking their PSP's and I don't own a 2nd battery or anything else that would be used to unbrick the PSP.

What do you guys think?

 

[prowler]

It should work.
You don't really need to go onto GEN D2 anyway,
Nearly all games work on GEN B2.
Try downgrading to 5.00M33, go to GEN B2, and then try again.

I don't know what to do lol.

 

[Foxfire Inferno]

It should work.
You don't really need to go onto GEN D2 anyway,
Nearly all games work on GEN B2.
Try downgrading to 5.00M33, go to GEN B2, and then try again.

I don't know what to do lol.

Ok, well I've downgraded back to 5.00M33 and attempted to go right back up to Gen B2. It said something about "Let it work..." and then came right back to the main screen. I checked the firmware and it's still 5.00M33. Upon further looking at the files now, there's a new document on the root of the Memory stick called Flasher Error that says "Invalid Firmware version! Need 5.50!" so I've went the normal route again from 5.00 to A to B2 and once again I can't get D BUT...........I think I may have figured out why and despite it's something that's been said and something I've read over and over, I didn't know enough about the recovery menu to think of looking there.

I became a bit curious today and explored the recovery menu and went into the advanced menu and saw the 3 plugin options and saw that all 3 options were enabled. Before, I thought the plugin screen at the beginning of the recovery page was supposed to be where you would enable/disable plugins but since it was blank for me, I figured I had nothing to disable. I guess that's another rookie mistake for me, but hey, live-n-learn right?

Gonna try this one more time, going back down to 5.00 and up again. *crosses fingers*

-=Update=-
Whelp, that didn't make a difference. Hmm, there must be something that I'm missing. Deanxxczx, can you clarify for me exactly what you meant when you said "if your using XGEN, don't press on Install Official Firmware 5.50." I'm curious about that statement now because maybe I misinterpreted what you meant by that.

Meanwhile I have new problem now, probably caused by all this upgrading & downgrading but now the Update folder has been corrupted. Joy.

 

[prowler]

I wouldn't mess around with the settings, plugins are meant to be in the plugins not advanced settings.
Just stick to GEN B2 lol.

And i meant because i known loads of people to press install official firmware by mistake.

Maybe its easyer for you to use Pandora & MMS?

 

[Foxfire Inferno]

I wouldn't mess around with the settings, plugins are meant to be in the plugins not advanced settings.
Just stick to GEN B2 lol.

And i meant because i known loads of people to press install official firmware by mistake.

Maybe its easier for you to use Pandora & MMS?

Well I just formatted the Memory Stick via the system menu and moved my backups that were saved on my PC back onto the Memory Card so that took care of the corrupt folder issue.
I think I will just have to succumb to defeat and be stuck at Gen-B2. Ah well.
Time for me to move on and learn about what I can do with this PSP. Thanks for your help everyone!

(However if someone does have any unmentioned info on this problem, don't hesitate to drop me a line in this topic.

)

 

[Foxfire Inferno]

Update Post:
Sorry for the double post. Though it's against the rules, I did so intentionally to post this update on the situation. Don't worry, I'm not someone that makes a habit out of double-posting.
I found out the reason why I was having so much difficulty getting Gen-D to install!
It was the Memory Stick.
After learning a lot more about the PSP scene, I came across the information pretaining to counterfeit Memory Stick Pro Duo's and how to tell if your stick is real or not (by checking the memory card information with the PSP) and sure enough, my card's Magic Gate was UNKNOWN. Counterfeit. *sigh* Soon enough, I started seeing things that were just wierd on my PSP (while using Gen-B *not-related*) including corrupter data, files not showing up, save games corrupting.

I went out today and purchased a brand new Sandisk 8GB MSPro Duo from a local Microcenter (after the guy tried to get me to buy a Lexmark because it was on sale,) formatted it in FAT32 and moved my files over.
Just when I had everything back on there that I had on before and noticed that I could see everything that was placed on the card, I became curious and decided to try the Gen-D update...and it worked!! First Try!

I cannot believe that the reason I had those issues for such a long period of time putting in so much effort to try and find a way around the problem was because of a counterfeit memory stick. *sigh*

Well, at least it works now!

 

[daxtsu]

Congrats, man.

Enjoy the PSP.