PSP mod chip ready for distribution?
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Nov 1st 2005 at 11:00AM }
Could this blurry image be the first evidence
of a near-finished PSP mod chip? That's the word. Apparently, Team DST is on the verge of a 100-chip rollout—to be sold
exclusively on eBay (starting at $22.99). The mod chip will not require
soldering, but some of the wires on the motherboard will need to be replaced. Theoretically, the chip will allow users
to bypass region encoded UMD decryption, and more importantly, allow homebrew access regardless of which firmware
version is currently installed.
[Thanks, brakken]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
J (The other one) @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Oh its on like Voltron Beotch!!!!!!!!!!! Its on like Donkey Kong Beotch!!!!! Lets see how well this works!!
james @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Sony's going to come out with a firmware to brick all psp's that use this mod chip, watch and see. Soom they're going to start doing like xbox live and everytime you connect online check your system for mods. I think sony's responsible for the "firmware downgrade" that bricked psp's, LOL! if i was sony i'd do that.
Scott @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Are you sure that's a mod chip? The picture is so blurry it almost looks like the Lochness Monster or Bigfoot. ;)
Michael @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Ah very cool if this is legit.
Nin10dude @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Looks like a green Game Boy Pocket, with one of those clear Game Boy Color games, with a packet of moist towelettes, and a strap to keep those moist towelettes on there. :P
32_Footsteps @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I'd just like to say that region-locking makes babies cry, and that developers would see alot less modding if region locks didn't exist. I think that is one of the biggest lessons anyone could learn from the Game Boy and its descendants.
Osiris @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
James, XBOX live has not been able to stop modchips. It is still entirely possible to use chipped xbox console on live. I do it all the time.
Modders can always update the chip/chip's-software, and the chip could also be made to deactivate when connecting to online services.
OtakuCODE @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Sold exclusively on eBay huh? Then it's a hoax. eBay kills sale of modchips or chipped devices within nanoseconds of their listing. Not a single sale would go through.
Besides, who needs a PSP modchip? What is needed is a large storage solution for storing the games which can be up to 1.8GB in size. Datel is helping with that microdrive addon though...
tack @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Exclusive sale on ebay?
Last I had heard console mod chips were prohibited to sell on Ebay.
I think it's bogus.
Jules @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
8: This is to use homebrew.
homebrew does not necessary mean pirate games, although loads of games are ripped to about 400mb.
melime @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I think this is pure FAKE!!!
the picture looks like an old intel cpu adapter with a cpu on it.....
and that is going to fit where???? not in my PSP!
Vannoy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I love how they can figure out how to make a PSP modchip but can't figure out how to use focus on their camera...
It screams hoax, anyone could see that a mile away..
ZeroCorpse @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Yes. Let's buy a $250 portable console, and add a $22 (or higher) mod chip so we can play games that would work on a $50 GBA.
Better yet, if you need to play MAME and pirated ROMs, just buy a GP32X, since it's MADE FOR THIS FUNCTION.
Some people just hack hardware because they're bored.
vrf @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
great comment, #12. I was thinking the same thing.
Paul @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Hmm, Someone's selling $2,300 worth of nothing on ebay prob through paypal which doesn't offer refunds on items such as these 3 days before the 360 comes out.... Sounds like some kid is going to be rounding up some cash for a new system
Zed @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
South East Asia will welcome this with open arms
Meditator @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Okay guys. Lets report my experiences with Sony and MY hardware I ve bought from it.
I live in Europe but got a japanese PSP with FW 1.5 which allows me without any modifications to run different code. There was no permission set which denies tha. One Fact!
I contacted Sony europe and this was the unfriendliest customer service ever. They told me that they do not caree about this and that they DO NOT KNOW any contact address for Sony in Japan. They only gave me european support hotline which costs a lot of money and when I reeached the level to get in direct contact to a support member the procedure starts again from the beginning. Do not care about customer probs but always wannt earn money! What a shame for Sony!!! After calling the Sony US I got within 2 minutes the right contact address in Japan. Sony US was very polite and this was the right way I feel for a customer support. Okay, then I ve called Sony Tokyo, which offers me to send in the PSP for repair, but would void the warranty so I should pay for. Problem here: They do not accept international shipments, so I should find someone in Japan to send it to who forward it to Sony and Sony can send back to him and he could send it back to me. But all on my costs. When loosing warranty I ve asked whether they ship a mainboard set I could replace it myself, they do not offer, too. Afaik the hardware is worldwide the same, so it confuses me why Sony Europe can not repair it.
Next I ve called China where a shop offered PSP mainboards. But they told me they are out of stock and Sony prohibited any sales of THIS part, all others like UMD drive etc. are still available. So it is a fact that Sony wants their customers to buy a new one to increase their profit and/or help to get no bankruptcy soon (they have big troubles with CCD chips too which are builtin in a lot of products from a lot of different brands and can cause a total damage of it. For my Sony Cybershot I am just waiting when thiis will happens.) Now I ve opened my PSP to find out what kind of BIOS chip it is, cause I own a real dump (not only the updates) for the Japanese one. :-) Knowing that would allow me to use a chip adapter. But for this a have to know the right kind to know the right voltage etc. for burning the BIOS back again. No supports too yet.
So fact is a own a bricked PSP which was allowed by Sony to get bricked (original FW1.5) but do not real support to get it fixed or the ways that would ablee me to fix it are strictly denied by Sony. So for all guys a quick information. Sony is not anymore the brand we all know, it is just a brand who wants to get money and no customers... Never again I ll buy a Sony product and for my existing one Sony may hope they will not broke too! And if we are honest, only the adds brought by homebrew to the PSP makes it interresting, just movie, pictures,music, games and browsing is a kind some better handheld and PDA can do too... Look at the xbox why it was a success. Cause it was able to mod it and extend its functions by a lot of feature the original does not offer! And for the PSP it is similar like you would buy a preinstalled WindowsPC which would crash totally forever after installing freeware! Hope Microsoft will offer a handheld soon, too cause they understood that they sold just a hardware which the user owns and not a hardware thee user pays for but cannot use it like he want!
So far, hope that Sony will learn from this and otherwise they can watch how they will loose more and more customers. Me they lost, and looking at the money I ve spend to Sony products until now, I m sure they cannot afford this for a long time!!!
Meditator @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Okay guys. Lets report my experiences with Sony and MY hardware I ve bought from it.
I live in Europe but got a japanese PSP with FW 1.5 which allows me without any modifications to run different code. There was no permission set which denies tha. One Fact!
I contacted Sony europe and this was the unfriendliest customer service ever. They told me that they do not caree about this and that they DO NOT KNOW any contact address for Sony in Japan. They only gave me european support hotline which costs a lot of money and when I reeached the level to get in direct contact to a support member the procedure starts again from the beginning. Do not care about customer probs but always wannt earn money! What a shame for Sony!!! After calling the Sony US I got within 2 minutes the right contact address in Japan. Sony US was very polite and this was the right way I feel for a customer support. Okay, then I ve called Sony Tokyo, which offers me to send in the PSP for repair, but would void the warranty so I should pay for. Problem here: They do not accept international shipments, so I should find someone in Japan to send it to who forward it to Sony and Sony can send back to him and he could send it back to me. But all on my costs. When loosing warranty I ve asked whether they ship a mainboard set I could replace it myself, they do not offer, too. Afaik the hardware is worldwide the same, so it confuses me why Sony Europe can not repair it.
Next I ve called China where a shop offered PSP mainboards. But they told me they are out of stock and Sony prohibited any sales of THIS part, all others like UMD drive etc. are still available. So it is a fact that Sony wants their customers to buy a new one to increase their profit and/or help to get no bankruptcy soon (they have big troubles with CCD chips too which are builtin in a lot of products from a lot of different brands and can cause a total damage of it. For my Sony Cybershot I am just waiting when thiis will happens.) Now I ve opened my PSP to find out what kind of BIOS chip it is, cause I own a real dump (not only the updates) for the Japanese one. :-) Knowing that would allow me to use a chip adapter. But for this a have to know the right kind to know the right voltage etc. for burning the BIOS back again. No supports too yet.
So fact is a own a bricked PSP which was allowed by Sony to get bricked (original FW1.5) but do not real support to get it fixed or the ways that would ablee me to fix it are strictly denied by Sony. So for all guys a quick information. Sony is not anymore the brand we all know, it is just a brand who wants to get money and no customers... Never again I ll buy a Sony product and for my existing one Sony may hope they will not broke too! And if we are honest, only the adds brought by homebrew to the PSP makes it interresting, just movie, pictures,music, games and browsing is a kind some better handheld and PDA can do too... Look at the xbox why it was a success. Cause it was able to mod it and extend its functions by a lot of feature the original does not offer! And for the PSP it is similar like you would buy a preinstalled WindowsPC which would crash totally forever after installing freeware! Hope Microsoft will offer a handheld soon, too cause they understood that they sold just a hardware which the user owns and not a hardware thee user pays for but cannot use it like he want!
So far, hope that Sony will learn from this and otherwise they can watch how they will loose more and more customers. Me they lost, and looking at the money I ve spend to Sony products until now, I m sure they cannot afford this for a long time!!!