Hacking Worth making Pandora battery for brick protection on a PSP phat?

[pelago]

I am new to the PSP scene I've just picked up a PSP phat (1000) that the previous owner had installed 5.00 M33-6 CFW onto. This is working fine but I'm looking into upgrading the firmware.

I realise that we no longer use Pandora batteries to mod PSPs, but one can be useful to recover a bricked console, which is a nice safety blanket.

So I was wondering whether I could or should convert my current normal battery to a Pandora one? I would rather do a software mod (flash the ID) than a hardware one (cut a trace).

I only have the one battery and the one PSP, so to be useful when needed (i.e. at unpredictable times) I would want to keep it as a Pandora battery permanently.

If I did so would it still work as a normal battery, i.e. charge up and power the PSP normally?

Would I have any problems booting? I would want the console to boot normally if no buttons are held down, so as to be playable by non-technical folk.

I've searched quite a lot but have come across contradictory info in old guides.

 

[esmjanus]

If you convert your battery to pandora, you still will be able to use it like a normal battery, the only downside is that you are going to need to install a custom IPL in all your memory sticks in order to turn on your PSP normally. Without a custom IPL your PSP will stay on black screen and It will not boot.
To install a custom IPL on your memory stick you can use PSP Grader and select Inject IPL Only.

 

[Cha0tic]

Off topic I remember back in the day making a Pandora battery, messed up one battery trying.

 

[pelago]

you are going to need to install a custom IPL in all your memory sticks in order to turn on your PSP normally. Without a custom IPL your PSP will stay on black screen and It will not boot.

Ah thanks, I hadn't realised that.

I've read in a few places (including https://gbatemp.net/threads/pandora-mms-guide-for-installing-cfw.206173/) that the "Magic Memory Stick" with the injected IPL needs to be 4GB or under - do you know if that's still true? If so, that would stop me doing this, as I was planning to use a 32GB MicroSD in a Pro Duo adapter.

 

[Shady Guy Jose]

Yes, I think that would stop you. IIRC, the kernel used in most Pandora implementations is based on the old 1.0/1.5 kernel, which didn't support >4GB MSs...

 

[pelago]

Actually, I've just been googling for, e.g. "8gb magic memory stick" and "16gb magic memory stick" and even "32gb magic memory stick", with the quotes, and have been receiving results, mainly from people selling pre-made ones (much fewer results for the 32GB search), so it does seem to be possible after all. I'll try and search some more, but it's tricky with the info being so old.

 

[BvanBart]

I still have a battery that can switch modes by pressing the button on the button. I can send it to you if you want?

 

[pelago]

I still have a battery that can switch modes by pressing the button on the button. I can send it to you if you want?

Ooh, that would be great, and would resolve my dilemma! I'll PM you.

 

[pelago]

So it turns out that B4rtj4h can't find his Pandora battery, but he did point me to http://www.dx.com/p/hybrid-2-in-1-d...nbricker-service-normal-1200mah-battery-15153 where I can buy one for only £4.39 inc postage. I didn't realise they were so cheap! I thought that, after this time, they might be getting more expensive rather than cheaper as they get rarer (maybe that will be true in five years' time). So, I'll probably get one from there, just in case.

The next challenge will be making a "magic memory stick", again, just in case. I've read (might be wrong) that these can only be made with a genuine Pro Duo card, not using a MicroSD adapter. My only genuine Pro Duo card is only 32MB, which might not be enough.

Also I worry about the software to inject the IPL. Some of it seems to be Windows XP only. Even Windows 7 software might not be usable in five years or so.

Are there any open source magic memory stick injectors, or instructions on how to do it with, for example, dd in Linux?

 

[BvanBart]

The software only works on those old versions of Windows. However: there is an easy fix for that. There are these Live discs from Windows that you can download *links I can not provide for "reasons"* but Google and you shall find .

 

[pelago]

Thanks. I've also found Linux instructions at https://www.pspdevwiki.com/wiki/Magic_Memory_Stick and http://myweb.cebridge.net/kmc77/article-mms-linux.html so I'm now happy (as long as I can find a genuine Memory Stick 256MB to 4GB in size) that things will be recoverable in the foreseeable future.

 

[Reecey]

I still have my Pandora battery I wander how much there worth nowadays to sell? mine came with a magic stick as well.

 

[pelago]

I still have my Pandora battery I wander how much there worth nowadays to sell? mine came with a magic stick as well.

Judging from what I linked to on dx.com, they aren't worth very much I'm afraid!

 

[sandytf]

Third party batteries are almost always of very poor quality and are potentially rather dangerous. You might be better off buying two batteries, a high quality first party Sony battery and a third party, pre-made Pandora battery. Since the risk of bricks is very low, you will probably never even use the Pandora battery.

 

[pelago]

Third party batteries are almost always of very poor quality and are potentially rather dangerous. You might be better off buying two batteries, a high quality first party Sony battery and a third party, pre-made Pandora battery. Since the risk of bricks is very low, you will probably never even use the Pandora battery.

Thanks. The PSP I got actually came with an official Sony battery, and despite being old gives 4 hours life, which surprised me. The question was whether to pre-emptively (i.e. before I had a brick) make it a Pandora battery or not, as I thought Pandora batteries would be £20 or so. Now I've seen how cheap Pandora ones are (under £5), I would indeed get a separate Pandora battery, and indeed probably would only get one if needed rather than get one in advance.

 

[BvanBart]

Third party batteries are almost always of very poor quality and are potentially rather dangerous. You might be better off buying two batteries, a high quality first party Sony battery and a third party, pre-made Pandora battery. Since the risk of bricks is very low, you will probably never even use the Pandora battery.

That is some serious bullish*t. I am active in the drone world and thirdparty batteries are all you want. For the PSP: What can happen with a battery? There is a circuit inside the battery that can switch from normal to Pandora mode, nothing else.

 

[sandytf]

I meant third party PSP batteries.