How To Downgrade your PSP & Upgrade to a Custom Firmware

For those of you who are new to the concept of hacked PSPs, custom firmware might not sound so familiar. Custom firmware allow you to run homebrew. Homebrew is software developed by the user community.

Enabling this homebrew makes the PSP an open platform. It allows you to add the functions and/or applications that Sony did not take care of.

Update: Part two, for firmware 3.51 and higher is now available here. Or better download the complete up-to-date PSP Downgrading/Upgrading Guide now in PDF. Download here. It's free!

Of course there are two sides to this coin. When you're dealing with an open platform, piracy arises. Due to this (and probably some other reasons as well), Sony has been trying to repress homebrew as much as possible. Where these apprlications could initially be run on the 1.50 firmware PSPs, users who updated wouldn't be so fortunate.

But the community (read: hackers) did not accept defeat. Leaks were exploited and one after the other, the firmwares fell. Up to today, neither of the groups have given up, but it is obvious who is winning.

Instead of enabling people to run homebrew, the PSP hacking groups have started building their own PSP custom firmwares. Their firmwares are nearly identical to the official ones, only better. They have all the same functions, but have added functionality and the ability to run homebrew. At some point, people stopped trying to run homebrew on these official firmwares and just developed software to downgrade and/or switch PSP to custom firmware.

There are a lot of different ways to downgrade your PSP, which one you'll have to use depends on your current firmware. Some are harder to break than other, but it's always possible.

We will be posting a simple step-by-step guide, so that nearly everyone will be able to find his or her way through the bulk of information available on the web.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

Using these methods is 100% legal (although Sony obviously doesn't like it), but it CAN brick your PSP (there is a way to unbrick them, we'll be discussing that next time). It may also void the warranty of your PSP system as you would be working with delicate parts like the PSP's flash memory. So if you screw up, Make Use Of won't be held legally liable. If this sounds like too much risk to you, please don't go any further.

Part One - Upgrade PSP Firmware 1.00-3.50

Yep, we'll be starting with firmware versions 1.00 through 3.50. If you have a higher firmware, don't despair, as we'll be discussing them in part two (a little more complicated though).

As there's a lot of different variables and different ways to work with them, we'll be sending you up and down through this guide to the steps that matter for you. Therefore, for all the speedreaders out there: always read the text in bold red, as it will 'guide you through this guide'.

So we want to install a custom firmware (m33 to be exact). Sadly, we'll need to have firmware 1.50 to install. If (though this is very unlikely) your PSP is still equiped with FW version 1.00, you'll have to upgrade to 1.50. To do that, download the update file here and follow the instructions in the file description.

If you have FW 1.50 or some custom firmware: Go straight to the upgrading guide
If you have FW 2.00 or below: Go to method a
If you have FW 2.80 or below: Go to method b and c
If you have FW 3.03 or below: Go to method d
If you have FW 3.50 or below: Go to method e
If you have FW 3.51 or higher, check back with us next week

To check which firmware you have, go to Settings -> System Settings -> System Information. Your firmware version will be stated right between your MAC Address and your Nickname.

a) Downgrading PSP from Firmware 2.00 to 1.50

This method uses the tiff exploit. People found out that it was possible to run tiny bits of code through tiff files. In this case, a tiff file is used to change the version number to 1.00, after which you'll be able to update to 1.50.

Files you need

Please use google if the links are no longer work.

MPH Downgrader (alternative link here)
Firmware 1.50 (alternative link here)

Step One: Format your memory stick

This is not always necessary, but it makes the upgrading easier, so be sure to make a back up of all your important files. To do that, Go to Settings -> System Settings -> Format Memory Stickâ„¢ and confirm twice.

Step Two: File Placement

Go to Settings -> USB Connection

Put the EBOOT.PBP file in X:PSPGAMEUPDATE (where X: is your PSP) and extract the MPH Downgrader zip in your PSP root (main folder). If you are prompted about replacing any files, click 'Yes to All'.

Step Three: Downgrading

Go to Photo -> Memory Stickâ„¢. You'll see a black screen with some numbers. Don't be afraid, this is just the program doing its work.

Wait about 30 seconds and restart your PSP (hold your power switch up until it switches off and turn it back on).

Now, go to Game -> Memory Stickâ„¢ and open 'PSPâ„¢ Update ver 1.50'

You'll see an error at the end of the update. Don't be nervous, this is perfectly normal. Restart the PSP manually. You'll then encounter another error, press O to restart.

Congratulations, you've now got Firmware 1.50, move on to the upgrading guide.

b) Downgrading PSP from firmware 2.80 to 1.50

First of all, if you have a lower firmware version, you'll have to upgrade to 2.80.

Download this file and put it in X:PSPGAMEUPDATE (with X: being your PSP). Then go to Game -> Memory Stickâ„¢ and open 'PSPâ„¢ Update ver 2.80'.

This method also uses the tiff exploit, which enables small pieces of code to be run through tiff files.

If this method does not work for you, check below for an alternative updating way.