If you were ever curious as to exactly what was entailed in a PSP-bricking (for the uninitiated, that's when running
some code that kills your PSP entirely), famed antivirus company F-Secure
(who we
hope you
should well
know by now) plunked down the $250 to do an on-camera
bricking, for, um, educational purposes. It's not pretty. In fact, you may want to shield their eyes if you've got
children (or gamers) in the room. The lesson to learn here? Always use protection, kids—never run unverified arbitrary
code.
Watch [14MB WMV]
F-Secure bricks a PSP on camera
39
Reader Comments (39)
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Half that video was starting/ending credits, but it was neat to watch a brick sesh.
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Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Emm...It says that the file cannot be found a may have expired when I click the link. Any help?
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Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Isn't there a way to reflash the PSP's bios? Why can't the system files be reinstalled?
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Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
jc,
It can...by Sony, for a price since you've now voided the warranty.
I like the closing caption: "One PSP was harmed during the production of this film" ...too funny
WickedP
Reply
It can...by Sony, for a price since you've now voided the warranty.
I like the closing caption: "One PSP was harmed during the production of this film" ...too funny
WickedP
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
I think they are obligated to perform proper burial rites. The PSP's perennial fate should be sealed along side it's brethren with mortar into a wall.
Reply
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Those bastards, with all those poor kids out there who can't afford a PSP. There's gonna be a special place in hell for PSP murderers.
Reply
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Two thumbs up! Great family fun~ I almost felt my heart drop thinking about $249 (plus any taxes, shipping, etc) gone down the drain in less than a second. I feel sorry for the real PSP users that were punk'd into bricking their systems XD
Reply
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Anybody else curious as to what that flash of text actually said?
I'm not so curious as to try mind you, but curious nonetheless
Reply
I'm not so curious as to try mind you, but curious nonetheless
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
That was great. Although I would have gladly taken that PSP and sent it to Sony to have it fixed. :P
Reply
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Dear God!
I hope someone will come along and sell me a product to protect my PSP from arbitrary code from third parties. I wonder if F-Secure knows of anyone planning on doing that?
Reply
I hope someone will come along and sell me a product to protect my PSP from arbitrary code from third parties. I wonder if F-Secure knows of anyone planning on doing that?
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Does anyone know the source of the verb brick? Did it come about with the PSPs or before that? Wikipedia yielded nothing.
Reply
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
the text says something like "team xploit has F*cked your psp." it was on pspupdates.com a while ago, search there. My friend bricked his psp this way - I laughed so hard i cried, i told him not to run it but he did it anyway.
Reply
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
We use the word "bricked" because saying that something was "paper-weighted" doesn't roll off the tongue as well. It is a "brick" because now does nothing but sit there.
Reply
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
#13
from what i can see, it seems to read:
PSP XX 2.0 Exploits back the 2.0 firmware
Thank's to XX for the 2.0 exploit :)
(XX = unreadable)
the amount of psp's i had to brick to get that...
Reply
from what i can see, it seems to read:
PSP XX 2.0 Exploits back the 2.0 firmware
Thank's to XX for the 2.0 exploit :)
(XX = unreadable)
the amount of psp's i had to brick to get that...
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
If there were tons of games to play on the PSP then we wouldnt have this problem because people wouldnt be bothered to fucking around with homebrew and old ROMS.
I hear about tons of DS games everday but all I ever hear about for the PSP is Wipeout and GTA (which isnt even out yet).
Reply
I hear about tons of DS games everday but all I ever hear about for the PSP is Wipeout and GTA (which isnt even out yet).
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Is there no way to access the drive directly and put the system files back? I mean, if it's a brick you might as well take it apart and play with it...
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Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
What a lame attempt at a publicity stunt. Yeah it was interesting, but they obviously did it to draw attention to their little "research" firm.
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Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Notice that clear sheild in front of the PSP? I think this is an amazing precaution.. God forbid if the PSP exploded as it was bricked. LOL In a way I kind of wished that happened, that would have been cool!
Reply
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Oh man, #17 that was hilarious. but yeah I couldn't figure out what the XX's were either.
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Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Here's a screencap for all those trying to figure out what it says. Good luck.
http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/2885/pspbrick7to.jpg
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http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/2885/pspbrick7to.jpg
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
I'll see you PSP bricking video, and raise you one PSP smashing video:
http://mga.sorobangeeks.com//news_pics/133/psp_cassee.mpg
today is crying fanboy day. :)X
Reply
http://mga.sorobangeeks.com//news_pics/133/psp_cassee.mpg
today is crying fanboy day. :)X
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
How anticlimatic. I was expecting something like.
"PWN3D J00 STUP1D N00BZ LOL!!!111ELEVEN - Love, PSPhaxx0r" or something.
Not.... "Thanks to some guy for the exploit", makes it look more like someone POOCHED A DOWNGRADER and released it anyway.
Hmmmm.
Reply
"PWN3D J00 STUP1D N00BZ LOL!!!111ELEVEN - Love, PSPhaxx0r" or something.
Not.... "Thanks to some guy for the exploit", makes it look more like someone POOCHED A DOWNGRADER and released it anyway.
Hmmmm.
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
is it posible that sony might have realeased that program? it would make me less inclined to downgrade.
Reply
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
The next time [engadget] wants to do test and films then send me the PSP and i'll do it for you. :D
Please Im desperate for one, and have no money.
Reply
Please Im desperate for one, and have no money.
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
The text:
PSP IDEA 2.0 Exploit Hack the 2.0 firmware
Thanks to [illegible, maybe toa2r4o] for the 2.0 exploit :)
Reply
PSP IDEA 2.0 Exploit Hack the 2.0 firmware
Thanks to [illegible, maybe toa2r4o] for the 2.0 exploit :)
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
That certainly was thrilling. I want 3 minutes and 20 seconds of my life back.
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Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Now...thats Amazing...bricking a PSP, whats next? Ipod?
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Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Anyone else getting Sharper Image flash adds in the top left of their browser on Engadget? Using Firefox so I don't think I've been spywareowned.
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Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Goddammit! STOP USING WINDOWS MEDIA TO MAKE VIDEOS!
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Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
Man, this is seriously low...espcially who work their asses off to get hold of a PSP, well good thing I stay away from Homebrew, i recently got a White PSP and I dont wana White Brick thanks!
Reply
Posted: Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM (Unverified) said
got psp model p-1000 with fw 1.5 original from sony, japan. no restriction was set to emulators, no need to downgrade, but want to get updated and then this happens (had not heard about cause owned it just for five days) now i send email to sony to get this fixed cause i did not do something illegal, i was using a "computer" which damages after upgrading fw. no, i read some threads and i guess it will be not hard to fix it cause afaik sony repairs it for money to european users ... so it seems to be a additional income for them ... but this is only cool for them not needing too much time for one... so my idea is that it boot ups and shortly accesses the memory stick. perhaps theres a way to get known what it looks for and places a boot bin/rom there which loads up a dump back to bios and, additional installs current fw. what do you think about? let me here, how far is the way done to this? every day more and more get bricked and more and more are working on that, so tell me ur experiences. i got a jap psp, have a 1.5 and 1.0 japanese dump, elf files and some ideas to script but until now coding is not my favourite so i just start up and guess out in the world are so many real crazy programming guys that this should be fixed within days??? what we are living on ONE planet if we do not help us? ;)
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