Hardware Reviving old PSP-2001, Brick, Pandora, Next Steps Help

[67L48]

I have an old PSP 2000 (PSP-2001). It's the white one that has the Darth Vader on the battery cover. SN HU7... Bar code on the bottom of the unit (not the box) of AW07...-PSP2001. I think this is from ~2007, but I can't remember exactly when I bought it. Anyway, I played this thing a ton as an adult, particularly on flights ... this was before every seat on every plane had its own headrest monitor and before the advent of tablets. Transatlantic flights were a lot different back then!

Anyway, I was smart enough to run CFW back in the day and always carried three memory sticks with me: 8 GB for games, 4 GB for games, and 512 MB magic memory stick ... just in case. Remember when 8 GB would cost upwards of $50?! Anyway, I had two batteries plus my Pandora Tool battery. It all went into a drawer about 5 years ago. It was too long ago to remember what version of CFW I was running, but it was a permanent install (not LITE).

I am now into emulating. I run a raspberry pi (retropie) and also have a new RG351p handheld emulating device. I love running through those old SNES games and such. However, these platforms are not powerful enough to run PSP reliably. Some games will run via PPSSPP, but it's spotty on non-PC platforms. GOW, e.g., just won't run. So, I got my old PSP out, dusted it off, and ... big problems:

1. Both batteries are trash. Swelled up bad. The factory Sony battery is practically split in half. The cheaper aftermarket battery swelled much less and will try to take a charge (power button goes amber when plugged in).
2. Pandora battery didn't swell, but it's totally dead. It won't take a charge. PSP won't recognize it at all. Ugh.
3. PSP appears bricked. I didn't store it that way, but something went haywire at some point. Power light goes to green, I can hear the electronics start to power, but then click ... off. Classic signs of a bricked PSP.
4. No recovery modes work. L button, R button, Home button, etc. Holding down these things during power cycle does nothing. Seems really bricked.
5. Apparently, Pandora batteries don't exist anymore. When I left the hobby, you could buy these anywhere for about $15. Now, I see about 3 auctions on eBay for $100. Yikes! I understand that, at some point, CFW became accessible without Pandora batteries, so those batteries sort of became obsolete ... except when a person has a bricked PSP.

I'd love to be able to crank up my PSP and drag out some of the old classics ... I even found UMDs for Star Wars Renegade Squadron and GTA Vice City Stories. So, if I only were able to run Sony factory firmware, I'd be mildly happy.

But, at this point, without a Pandora battery and no source to get one, I'm not sure if I can move forward. New batteries are about $10, so no big deal there. But, I don't know what to do next. Even back when I was navigating CFW, I never made any Pandora batteries and the instructions I've read are all predicated on having a functional PSP running homebrew that can write instructions.

At least, I'd like to run PSP games on my PSP. However, I'd really like to explore setting up additional emulation on my PSP ... not sure if emulationstation, retroarch, and other platforms can be set up on PSP ... but I really want to try.

Is there any logical set of next steps for me to breathe life into my old PSP ... or is it just a boat anchor?

Thanks.

 

[67L48]

I'll answer my own post. After screwing around with the batteries for a bit, I was able to get one to take a charge. Once I did that, my PSP did actually boot up. I was running CFW 5.00-4.

Nothing I could do would get my PSP to run without battery. The battery is shot and will only hold a charge for a bit and is too swollen to fit properly. But, I could use my PSP with it "charged" and in the circuit. So, I was wrong. It's not bricked. I thought it was strange, because it's been stored in good conditions and it wasn't bricked when I put it away.

So, I have two batteries on order and I know it's a bit of a crap shoot these days.

But, I was able to quickly upgrade my PSP 2001 to CFW 6.60-C2. The weird thing is that now I can run my PSP without the batter and just the line power connected. Weird. [edit] I spoke too soon. It worked fine on the main screen. As soon as I tried to start a game, it died. Once dead, it won't boot up again without a battery. So, battery required to start, it can "idle" without a battery, but anything requiring horsepower (games) require battery again.

Seems to run ISO and CSO perfectly from memory stick.

I have N64 running but, it's the same as most other systems -- crappy. Runs MarioKart 64 OK. Ocarina of Time is barely playable. Forget about StarFox 64 and Excitebike 64. I haven't even tried to book Goldeneye or Conker's BFD.

My PSP won't connect to my internet. Doesn't like my protocol or anyone else's in my neighborhood. So, that kind of sucks.

I also cannot get my USB connection to remain constant. If I try to transfer files, I get about 20 MB in and it drops off. I've tried toggling auto-connect on and off. I've toggled USB charging on and off. Nothing works. Major bummer because my older-than-sin Sony MBW62E card reader seems not to like my 8 GB memory stick duo. Looks like I'll have to drop another $10 just to get something to reliably read large capacity memory sticks.

For now, I'm operational. Barely. But, really happy to get this going.