Upgrade – or downgrade – your PSP

Evan Gower October 7, 2009

Did you buy a Sony PSP when they first came out, play Wipeout for a few hours then shove it in a drawer and forget about it? At least one PC Pro team member did. But since the initial release of Sony’s rather lovely portable gaming console in 2005, there have been a raft of free software updates for the device.

The PSP’s firmware has been regularly updated by Sony and now includes a whole heap of features. Top of the list is the fact that from version 2, the PSP introduced a web browser for surfing over the integrated Wi-Fi adapter. Later versions also introduced support for both Adobe Flash and Microsoft WMA music files.

The PSP probably has the easiest method of firmware updating of any device on the market. All you need to do is set up a wireless internet connection, then head to the Settings menu and select Network Update.

However, if you do have an older PSP, don’t be in a hurry to upgrade. As the hacking community discovered ways of using the PSP that could potentially leave hapless users with a dead device, Sony started adding methods of blocking updates, in particular the ability to run apps from a Memory Stick.

Older firmware versions – specifically 1 and 1.5 – have the ability to let the PSP run any code you like. And when we mean any code, we mean any code – with firmware versions 1 or 1.5, you can write and compile your own programs in C and they’ll run fine on a PSP.

To work out what version of the firmware your PSP is running, start it up without a UMD disc in the drive. Move to the Settings menu at the far left, then down and select System Settings and finally System Information. The System Software version number is the version of the firmware your PSP is running.

If you have firmware version 1.5, all that’s needed to run arbitrary code on the PSP is to name the executable files eboot.pbp, put them in the PSP/GAME folder on a Memory Stick, pop the stick in the PSP and the programs will appear in the standard Memory Stick menu on the PSP itself. You don’t need to write complex GUI-based applications for your code to work on the PSP – you can write text-mode programs as simple as the classic “Hello World” using a combination of open-source tools such as Cygwin. The biggest stumbling block is the lack of a central repository of PSP programming information: the nuggets of knowledge you need tend to be scattered around numerous forums. But for a good overview of getting a Hello World app up and running, head to www.psp-programming.com/tutorials/c/lesson02.htm. And for a creative example of what’s possible, how about using your PSP as a secondary display under Windows? Check it out at http://jjs.at/software/pspdisp.html.

If you’ve already upgraded your PSP firmware to a new version but want to play with the “homebrew” software and programming, you can downgrade the firmware in the PSP. It’s easier said than done, though, and certain versions can’t be downgraded purely with software. You can, however, downgrade to any version firmware if you use a “pandora” battery. Somewhat strangely, a modified PSP battery can be used to kick the console into a special service mode. In this mode, it boots from the Memory Stick rather than the internal firmware, and from there the world is your PSP oyster. Head to http://alek.dark-alex.org/pspwiki/index.php to learn more about the fascinating world of PSP mods and firmware.
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Free upgrades