Hacking PS3 Hacking (Yeah i know, so original)

[youed]

A friend of mine is about to give me his old ps3. I know it is a phat model, but i do not know if it is hackable. How could i find out and what are my options?

 

[Clarky]

find what what firmware the ps3 is on. if it is 3.55 or below you are in luck, if not your only choice to buy a flasher to downgrade the firmware

 

[youed]

It doesnt have to be a certain model? Is there a point where the frimware is so high that it cant be flashed?

 

[Jayro]

3.56+ is unflashable without the E3 (hardware) flasher, or similar device.

It's 3.55 or bust.

 

[youed]

If i were to get a flasher, what would i get? Does it require any soldering or the likes?

 

[trumpet-205]

If i were to get a flasher, what would i get? Does it require any soldering or the likes?

It depends. Early Phat PS3 are NAND based, which requires some degree of soldering and are harder to downgrade.

 

[youed]

What dictates "Early"? What model numbers would need soldering?

Edit: Also turns out that its a model CECHG01. So how does flashing go down and what do i need?

 

[trumpet-205]

CECHG01 uses NAND memory. Now I don't know a lot about NAND-based PS3, but they are not as simple as NOR-based PS3 where you can use E3 Flasher.

http://www.ps3devwiki.com/wiki/SKU_Models

My advise is to go online and search for someone who will do NAND-based PS3 downgrade (most do NOR, but there are people that does NAND) for a fee.