Downgrade that 2.50 or 2.60 PSP to 1.5ohyeah

by Christopher Grant { Jul 3rd 2006 at 2:05PM }

Stream of consciousness video game blogging: Ron Gilbert leads to ScummVM leads to PSP firmware 'sploits. Kicking a 2.50 or 2.60 might get you lots of fancy things like RSS support, but you lose a lot of great homebrew. Two hackers, Hitchhikr and Dark_Alex, have managed to discover an exploit and create a downgrader, respectively. The downgrade process is a little tricky; you'll need a buddy with 1.50 and you'll need to make sure you aren't packing a TA-082 model PSP (lest you brick your PSP). Pspupdates.qj.net has a handy guide for getting you back down to 1.50 full of the usual warnings that, yes, this could brick your PSP. Caveats aside, how many of you are planning to drop down to 1.50?

[Via Engadget]

Tags: Downgrader, Firmware, PSP

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Adam @ Jul 3rd 2006 2:16PM

I went from a 2.60 PSP to a 1.50 PSP without any problems. I love homebrew

Mintz @ Jul 3rd 2006 2:28PM

No, I think I'd rather just upgrade to the latest firmware, because Sony knows exactly what I want as a consumer, and they always includes a feature I would LOVE to have in each firmware upgrade.

....

HAHAHAHAHAH. I'm trying this tonight.

sambo @ Jul 3rd 2006 2:29PM

"you'll need a buddy with 1.50"

what's this all about?

Rodents @ Jul 3rd 2006 2:37PM

so first engadget is a day late on posting the news, linking to QJ, then you losers are two days later linking to engadget.. very clever

Tim @ Jul 3rd 2006 2:47PM

I never upgraded from 1.5 but I also run DevHook, that runs the 2.5 fw XMB. So I have everything that 2.5 has, but still run homebrew. Tell me what can be better. and when 3.0 comes out, someone will get that working with 1.5 like they did with the 2.5. Best of both worlds.

Bob S. @ Jul 3rd 2006 2:54PM

Eh, I loved the homebrew during those long miserable days last summer and fall when it seemed like there'd never be another UMD game again. But there isn't much point to it now. It's a very neat hack, and I'm sure the warez kiddies will love it, but other than that, it's kinda moot.

phipscube @ Jul 3rd 2006 2:54PM

I'm on 2.71, don't have much choice right now. Couldn't resist Loco Roco, it was worth it too. I plan to get a chip when they are readily available though, for dual boot goodness.

C. Grant @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:01PM

Rodents: for starters, we don't post as frequently on the weekends (you might have noticed), and although apparently crave timeliness like crack, we didn't receive one tip on it (where was yours?). Engadget is high up on our list of sites to check when we start kicking it Monday AM and, as such, there it is.

Thanks for trolling around though. Always appreciated.

Rodents @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:16PM

everything i ever tipped like this it is normally posted, or it gets thrown away

Sidd @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:21PM

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

this is a neat trick
hope it works

caselog1c @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:21PM

i did this this morning and have been playing around with all the homebrew. you don't need a friend most of the updated releases come with all the files you need. trying psp-hacks.com

Hugh Jass @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:25PM

Homebrew on the PSP is neat, but a massive PITA. I upgraded when the Loco Roco demo became available, and while I was at it, bought a few new games:
Capcom Collection Remixed
Gradius Collection
Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast
Exit (neat puzzle game, now $8.96 at Circuit City)

The capability to play all that and more, plus some new online capabilities, was totally worth giving up the Super Nintendo emulators. Not biting the hand that feeds us new games was part of my motivation, too.

If you really want retro homebrew on a handheld, just buy a GP2X. If you want to pirate games.

Jay @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:25PM

I bet Dark_Alex isn't really "dark". I bet the darkest he gets is watching horror movies or listening to heavy metal/pop whatever it's called now. Infact I reckon he's just like anyone else.

Jay @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:27PM

as for the news tips thing. I sent a tip in about a new game/app making application, very powerful and good and that. you can download a demo too. why wasn't that posted? I thought that would be a top priority for a games blog.

bladestar @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:36PM

Heck yeah!, Now I have to figure out where the heck is that PSP? I wonder where I put it. I hope my dog didn't eat it. Now I can play homebrew again!
"Not biting the hand that feeds us new games were part of my motivation, too." I'm sorry I don’t share you enthusiasm as I believe no game on the PSP it is worth what the PSP's price. I bought mine just because I can run homebrew stuff. If you want a better handheld get a Nintendo DS lite. I did.

flyNN @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:47PM

I had one hell of a time finding another < 2.01 PSP in order to downgrade to 1.50 after my PSP joystick broke :(

But thought it cost me some good coin and I'm missing out on some of the 2.00+ functionality, I will NEVER upgrade the BIOS of my PSP.

I play my PSP for quick sessions and leave the hardcore hours+ sessions for my comfortable couch and big screen. When it takes over 3 minutes to load up a UMD game, I'm not interested anymore.

Besides, how can you beat a 512MB Memory Stick containing every single game ever made for:
NES
GAMEBOY
GAMEBOY COLOR
SEGA MASTER SYSTEM
GENESIS
GAME GEAR
TURBO-GRAFX 16
ATARI 2600 & 7800
INTELLIVISION
COLECOVISION
APPLE II

There are many more, of course, including SNES, N64 and GameBoy Advance, Vectrex... but those emulators don't run very well yet so I didn't include them.

And have you played the Homebrews??? Mini-Mario is king!!!

C. Grant @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:53PM

Jay: same reason. Late night Friday, didn't get a lot of eyeballs. I'm checking it out now.

terminal @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:51PM

You won't be able to play any games if you downgrade..

Jay @ Jul 3rd 2006 5:35PM

Terminal, get educated. You can run emulated versions of the newer firmwares. ta da. play any FW2+ game on a 1.5.

As for the emulator thing. for a WHOLE load less you can buy a GP2X with an SD slot (cheaper than Sony's cards, why didn't they use SD? idiots) which runs emulators. but that doesn't concern me as I don't play them :) never have never will. I'd rather buy a console on eBay and hunt down old games. more of an adventure that way.

Lee @ Jul 3rd 2006 5:53PM

Jay, sometimes you don't just want homebrew. It's about the whole package.

Hence the "whole load" cheaper, there's a whole load it doesn't do nearly as well.

ttr @ Jul 3rd 2006 9:43PM

So the only reason you need "a friend with 1.5" is because they don't want to upload the file generated by the flash dumper? What they are doing is shady enough, why not just make the files available?

Zero_ @ Jul 4th 2006 2:55AM

ttr: Yeah, they can't link to a dump of 1.5 because it's -illegal-. Downgrading from 2.6 to 1.5 is just as legal as homebrew (Note: None).

Mank @ Jul 5th 2006 4:22AM

How is downgrading or running free software from hobbyists illegal?

phl0w @ Jul 5th 2006 7:31AM

Remember that in our perverted times anything that can save you money is in some way illegal ;)

john @ Jul 8th 2006 7:03AM

umm sooo u need sum1 with version 1.5 to do this..but wat if u dont noe any1 withit? wat if they have 2.0? and wats homebrew and the oda stuff were can i get them.
could u please tell me how to do it by sending me an email or post it on this website.please