How to uninstall a CUSTOM FIRMWIRE from your psp and install a OFFICIAL 1.5 firmwire.

This is designed to remove custom firmware easily and restore a classic 1.5 firmware back to your psp. Most people know of the famous pandora battery technique which will unbrick and/or downgrade a psp's firmware. What I was not aware of is that the pandora technique in not necessary to downgrade from custom firmware psp's. So in case there are others like me,I thought I would share my knowledge.

THIS INSTRUCTABLE SHOULD REALLY BE TITLED HOW TO USE THE RECOVERY FEATURE ON CUSTOM FIRMWARE PSP'S PROPERLY (But I liked my title more)

As all disclaimers say. I am not responsible if something goes wrong.yada yada yada. watch out for the ninja monkees. yada yada yada. Do this at your own risk.

P.S. VISUAL AIDS WILL COME SOON.

Step 1: What is needed.

1. A PSP (with custom firmware on it)

2. A memory stick pro duo (512MB and 1GB have been tested and work fine. I cannot guarantee it will work with other size capacities)

3. A 1.5 Recovery File

4. WinRAR

Comments

[Sam0300]

it did not work so if it does not work for me then it wont work with anybody else good luck for next time you create something else.

[64thRegimentofFoot]

 I've been checking out a few "how-tos" before removing the custom firmware and the reason why there's complaints earlier than this posting because this article doesn't explain that this will only work with the original PSPs or  the "PHATS" and that some people would rather have a waaah and blame the poster than try to find out why it failed.
If those people are incapable of figuring that much out (how many actually mentioned which PSP model they had in the "WAAH" brigade?), maybe they shouldn't have been messing with something they knew little about in the first place but I digress...

Version 1.5 firmware does not work on the 'Slim" or later models and will 'brick' them.

All should not be lost if you have the means to reinstall the custom firmware. You'll rarely brick the PSP for all eternity, but you'll make it hard for yourself if you don't have a recovery plan.

As for reverting to original Sony firmware on a 'Slim' or later, well for now you'll have to keep looking, like I am ;)

[64thRegimentofFoot]

 OK, if you have a PSP Slim and either wireless network access to the internet or a copy of the current official firmware saved to some storage medium

When you check out the system information, if your custom firmware (CFW) is version 3.80 M33 or greater (in my case it was 4.01), then the following edited info from PSPMOD applies.

If your PSP is not a Slim model and the firmware is not as shown above then do not go any further. Go to the PSPMOD site linked above for further assistance. 

FInally, before you commit yourself to the following be sure that you do so willingly. I'm not holding a gun to your head.
You are ultimately responsible for whatever occurs, not me - I am simply relaying info from the other site as a courtesy because this happened to work for me.

If you are still feeling brave, read through a couple of times and do a 'dummy run' so you're comfortable with the menu thing but don't actually do the disable in step 3 until you're sure you know exactly what to expect.

Deep breath, here we go....

1. Turn on your PSP whilst holding the right shoulder-button as it boots until it brings up a DOS-like screen menu with red-lettering highlighting the current menu item (the remaining menu selections will be white)

2. Using the D-pad, push up or down until the menu item title Configuration turns red, then press the X button

3. Again using the D-pad, push up or down until the option titled M33 Network Update is highlighted. It may possibly read Enabled.
Press the X button and the menu item should read Disabled.
If the option already reads Disabled, then there's probably a good chance that the custom firmware has never been updated by download direct to the PSP and it's still cool to go to the next step.

4. Highlight Back and click X (back to top menu) then highlight Exit and click X.

Up to this point, all you've done is to set the PSP's Network Update function back to downloading official firmware instead of custom firmware.

5. At the end of step 4, your PSP Slim will have restarted. Now using the XMB locate the System Update option under Settings.

At this stage, the procedure for updating the PSP firmware is standard, either from the Internet via a wireless router or via the memory stick, either way it's a well-documented process which every PSP owner should know and I'm not going to repeat it here.

In my case, I downloaded direct to the PSP from the net.
Rev 6.05 needed 28 Mb free on the stick, which I had.
The firmware downloaded installed and Voila! the PSP is now "Official" again.

Ok, so to recap, all this procedure does is to make sure that if you have custom firmware which is set to update via the internet, then it is disabled.

Or put more simply, removing 3.80 M33 or later custom firmware from a Slim is as simple as installing the official firmware!

Hope this helps!

[y8ycgl]

i have the same problem... i turn it on and its just a black screen...... and it turns itself off after a minute..... what is this? it needs to be fixed.....

[hingino]

mine did the same thing....now my battery doesnt even work, but it happened right after i put costume fimware on it. it completely fried my battery. all you need to do is start your psp with the charger and no battery in it. once you see the whole menu, you put your battery in.

[psphacker]

brick just make a mms and pandora batt

[y8ycgl]

umm... huh?

[hackerlife]

What happened is... well... I don't know, But somewhere in your downgrade process you messed up. Go and buy a second battery (it might have to be a specific type of battery, I dont know) and install DarkAlex's programs and put them on another (small) memory stick. You wanna make whats called a Pandora battery and Magic Memory stick.

[AngusNotSoYoung]

is it worth my hastle to do because this psp that i have that has this problem isn't in that great of condition so if this is gonna cost me like $100 dollars to do i might as well just buy a used psp that's working. how much do you estimate this will cost?

[hackerlife]

OK well heres what it its you can do this with your current battery and current memory stick, but you'd need to backup your memory stick and its kinda a hassle turning your battery into and not into a memory stick. you only need like a 64mb stick, and a second battery would cost you tho. Do you really want to go back to official firmware? There are really no downsides to custom firmware...

[hingino]

you can get a pndoras battery already done for $10 on the internet, and it isnt like some kid is sitting around making pandoras batteries to sell on ebay. it is legit

[AngusNotSoYoung]

well it doesn't really matter to me which firmware i'm on i just want the psp to work. if custom firmware would be easier/cheaper/better then i'll do that. what exactly do you need a second battery for?

[hackerlife]

I say you just go to custom fiirmware, it has no downsides, and allows you to do much more. the seconde battery isn't really necessary, you would otherwise just turn your existing battery into a pandora's. but if your psp isnt working, you cant really make a pandoras (well you could, but it would involve taking apart the battery and de-soldering crap, so no.) so you would have to use a friends psp.

[razordx2]

Hey something isnt working here mind helping me out? i put the recovery file into PSP/GAME/ and then when i ran it it said the game could not be started. Then i went into configuration and changed it to no umd and took out any game i had in it it still said the game could not be started what should i do? Thx in advance ^^ (btw i have CFW 5.00 M33 and a psp phat idk if t helps tho >.<)

[tailboy]

im pretty sure it only works on psp phats

[Partisan]

I'd just like to say a massive thankyou to the author of this instructable. I bought a used PSP only to find it has Custom Firmware on it, disabling me from using brand new games because I couldn't update the Firmware with Sony. I searched the net long and hard, like literally a few hours until I came across this. It worked perfectly, and now I can play the new games. Thanks alot to the owner! R.Smith

[pancho del rancho]

foo u could have got a newer custom version and free games

[guyman543]

when i try and run the file my screen goes black when i restart the system it comes on like normal with the old custom firmware

[Jabracada]

Well my PSP was semi-bricked b4, at least i could use it. Now thanks to this guide it's completely bricked. Thank's a lot. How can i stick to the "be nice" policy on my first post when my psp is now ruined.

[Derin]

My friend's one does not do anything,it boots black for a min then turns off.Help is appreciated.

[littlechef37]

And why would you want to downgrade ? Custom firmware has ALL the features of official firmware.... The only logical reason I could come up with was to claim a warranty....ILLEGALLY .... But who would want to claim a warranty, you can get all the parts on deal extreme or vpgames for less than the cost of a sony repair $90. And the majority of instructables users would be able to open up a psp and swap a screen...

[entar925]

it says the game could not be started 8002013C when I run recovery :P btw its a fat psp with firmware 5.00-m33-4 etc

[crazydaizy1130]

i did everything again, im about ready to pull my hair out, not sure, maybe im doing something wrong. any suggestions

[crazydaizy1130]

well i went step by step i get an error game could not start(80010002)any suggestions what to do now thank u

[scorpio_1945]

power on psp, press select & a menu should appear,scroll down to umd iso mode press left or right arrows on psp d pad & change to m33 driver (assuming that it is the m33 your using scroll down to exit & press x should now work if you can't do this then put any umd disc in & your game will work

[scorpio_1945]

i have pandora & magic memory card & have customed several psp with these ,my problem is if anyone can help is the software? crashed on my own ltd edition psp & now won't power up & the pandora won't fix says it can't load nand files so at the moment its a full brick, was upgrading from 3.80 m33-4 to 5.00 m33 & would not go past 99% & just started looping from 81%,would be great if someone can help

[scorpio_1945]

fixed so don't need any help / thanks anyway

[Need4Chaos]

T__T UG!!! I've tried everything and cant get this to work... it always says the same thing : The game could not be started. (80010002). I've downloaded multiple versions of the file you have here, and still nothing works. I'm starting to get really mad at my stupid custom firmware and wished i had never done it. It gives me really slow browser spped and internet speed in general, which makes it really hard to play games on especially when its always shutting down and going to the main menu... I have a PSP slim and I'm willing to try anything to get it back to legit firmware. Pls help from anybody would be great! P.S. I've tried the things that people said, but to no avail lol

[scorpio_1945]

power on psp press select & scroll down to umd iso mode press left or right arrows on psp d pad & change to m33 driver (assuming that it is the m33 your using scroll down to exit & press x should now work

[ac1D]

your tittle is so much wrong. it should be: How to uninstall a CUSTOM FIRMWIRE from your psp and install a OFFICIAL firmwire. This would also work for SEMI-BRICKED psp. Becose your curent title , ppl would think "oh, cool, i can downgrade my brand new psp without pandora/cementario battery!' Nice and Informative instructable tough, photo would had be cool.

[mainlinx]

OK done. I'll get some more pics up later too.

[jrgcool35]

Does it work I don't want you to brick my PSP, also can I use this to downgrade PSP fimware 2.81 to 1.5? I think that is true fast reply would be nice.

[mainlinx]

It only works if you have custom firmware installed. It's not designed for official sony firmware. If you want to downgrade to 1.5 and already have any official firmware 2.81, then you have use either the Lumines or GTA exploit. A lot of that info is at http://www.pspupdates.com.
Hope that was some help (also, sorry I took so long to respond)

[jrgcool35]

I rather not do the GTA or Lumines exploit, but I am thinking of buying a pandoras battery and memory stick off the Internet, one question. After I install everything from the pandora kit, can I use my brand new 1GB memory stick instead of the one that came with the pandoras kit? Or will it not work?

[hackerlife]

That should be fine, but I would recommend you back up your stick, because they normally come with all the files to make/unmake pandoras batteries and whatnot, which really comes in handy if youve got a mem stick but no second battery.

[mainlinx]

I imagine so though I would back up all my data first.

[AngusNotSoYoung]

I got a free PSP because my cousin accidentally deleted all the software off it and he gave it to me to see if I could fix it. Well anyway, would this work to reinstall the original software (Or any, I just want to play games) back onto it? If not, do you know how?

[hackerlife]

No, to fix that you'd need a Pandora's Battery and Magic Mem stick. ...which would downgrade you to 1.5, accomplishing this instructable's point.

[Steamdnt]

Can you downgrade to any firmware you want, like to say 5.01, if i downloaded the 5.01 update from the sony site?

[hackerlife]

As far as I know you cannot downgrade form 5.01 ofw, but this may change soon.