Thread: PSP 2000 Softmod (No Pandora Battery)

PSP 2000 SOFTMOD GUIDE

DISCLAIMER: I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU BRICK YOUR OWN PSP. IF YOU CANT READ DONT FOLLOW THE GUIDE.

This is a tutorial to show you how to hack your psp 2000 (psp slim) without the need for a pandora battery.




Do I have a hackable psp 2000?

The answer is yes you do. All psp soft modded, However not all psps are soft modded in the same way. So to understand which psp you have you need to understand the difference between the psp 2000 ranges.



The fundamental difference between psp slims is the motherboard that is installed in them. Now even though there are a fair few different types of motherboards available for psps, in terms of softmodding them, most motherboards can be treated as the same. This doesn't mean that all psps slims can't be softmodded, because they definitely can. However, while most can be permanently softmodded, there is a select range that can only temporarily be installed with custom firmware (they reset when they are powered off).

The different motherboard are listed below:

Hackable
TA-085v1
TA-085v2
TA-088v1
TA-088v2
TA-090v1

Not Hackable
TA-088v3

Above I have written 'Not hackable', this isn't strictly true, it is only not hackable by the method used in this guide. As you can see there are far more hackable motherboards than not, so if you do have a unhackable motherboard, my sympathies.

How do I tell what motherboard I have?

The first and foremost method that I use is to check the date code of the psp 2000. To do this you take the battery out of the psp and look at the information that is listed where the battery sits in your psp. The date code is listed there. The date code will be one number and one letter.

Date codes run as follows: 1A, 1B, 1C.........1Y,1Z,2A,2B,2C...........

The general rule is that if your date code is 8B or LOWER then you have a psp that is HACKABLE. If it is 8C or HIGHER then you have a psp that is NOT HACKABLE.

There is a second method to check that we will use later on.

Things you will need to hack the psp 2000.

I) A hackable psp.
II) A memory stick pro duo.
III) Firmware 5.03
IV) The ChickHEN installer

Instructions

1) Set up the memory stick pro duo.
---a) Connect your psp to your computer using a usb cable and set it to use a usb connection.
---b) In your PSP/GAME folder, create a folder called UPDATE.
---c) Place the psp firmware 5.03 eboot in the UPDATE folder.
---d) Run the easy ChickHEN installer, set it to install to the route of the memory stick pro duo.

2) Update the psp to 5.03 firmwre.
---a) Disconnect the psp/pc connection and navigate to the 'game' menu of the psp.
---b) Navigate down the game menu to memory stick.
---c) Navigate to 'PSP Update ver 5.03' and install the firmware. This may take some time.

3) Running ChickHEN
---a) After the firmware install, navigate to the 'settings' menu of the psp.
---b) Navigate to system settings.
---c) In this menu, navigate to 'UMD Auto-Start' and 'UMD Cache' and turn them both off.
---d) Navigate to the 'photo' menu.
---e) Navigate down the photo menu to memory stick.
---f) Select ChickHEN

This requires a great deal of patience. It is very likely that you PSP will just freeze and then reset. If this happens keep trying. You will eventually see a flash of colours and then your psp reboots. This means you have successfully loaded the chickHEN firmware. As a check to make sure it is loaded, navigate to settings, then system information. The system software will be 5.03 ChickHEN R2. If it isn't keep trying.

4) Double checking your motherboard.
---a) Navigate to the 'game' menu.
---b) Navigate to the memory stick.
---c) Open PSPident.
---d) CHECK THE INFORMATION GIVEN IN PSPIDENT TO SEE WHAT MOTHERBOARD YOU HAVE, IF IT IS INCOMPATIBLE STOP READING NOW.

5) Installing custom firmware 5.00 M33
---a) Navigate to 'game' menu.
---b) Navigate to the memory stick.
---c) Run Hellcats's Recovery Flasher.
---d) Select 'I agree' (Doesn't matter which one)
---e) Select 'Install M33 CFW (2nd option down from the top).
---f) You can select either of the next options (I usually select 'reset (format) settings as well').
---g) Wait for it to install, it can take some time.

Congrats you now have a psp running custom firmware.

What can I do with a psp running custom firmware?

Well there are several things you can do:
---a) Show the ladies.
---b) Run downloaded psp games.
---c) Run PSX games on your psp. I.E A PORTABLE FINAL FANTASY VII
---d) Run homebrew.


Thanks:
pspslimhacks.com for ALL of their help.
The makers of ChickHEN and custom firmware.


If there are any mistakes in this guide let me know.

Alternative manual way;

Instead of using the chickhen installer to install chicken on your psp (which you cant do on windows seven ? maybe just me) you could just copy the files to the psp yourself;

Assuming you have 5.03 official firmware already installed you must now load ChickHEN. Go into the ChickHEN folder of the file you just downloaded. Copy h.bin to the root (ms0:/) of your PSP.

If you have a fat (PSP-100x) then copy the image inside the FAT folder to the memory stick under /PSP/PHOTO/. If you have a slim (PSP-200x) then copy the folder inside the SLIM folder to the memory stick under /PSP/PHOTO/

Go into the Hellcat's Recovery Flasher folder and copy the RECOVERY folder to /PSP/GAME/

ChickHEN & Hellcats download - ChickHEN + Recovery