Posted by 
July 18, 2009 •
The usual way of installing custom firmware is to do it via Pandora Battery and that’s where the problem begins. You have to HAVE a Pandora Battery in order to make one (which means you need 2 batteries. One that’s already a pandora battery and one that you want to convert to pandora). The easy way out of this is simply buy a Pandora battery online. If however, you have a hackable PSP (one that can install custom firmware natively), you can install custom firmware without a Pandora Battery.
Important: If you have a PSP-3000 or a PSP-2000s with TA-088v3 (and versions above it) DO NOT TRY THIS ON YOUR PSP. If you do, congratulations, you now have a PSP paperweight. This method WILL BRICK your PSP.
Also, if you’re already on 5.50 ofw, then this guide won’t work. You really need Pandora to flash your PSP.
If you want to check if your PSP can use this method for installation READ: Can my PSP have custom firmware installed?
Using Hellcat’s Recovery Flasher
Requirements:
- ChickHEN R2 enabled PSP
- Download: Hellcat’s Recovery Flasher
- Your Choice of firmware to flash
Before you proceed to installing custom firmware on your PSP, you need to install and successfully run the chickHen hack. Read the guide and come back here to finish the installation.
How to install custom firmware without a Pandora Battery?
- Connect your PSP to the computer in USB Mode when you have loaded ChickHEN R2.
- Unzip the file for the firmware you want installed (if you want 5.00 M33 you have do download and extract PSP_500_FW_UPDATE.zip on your computer
- Copy Hellcat’s Recovery Flasher (RECOVERY folder) to PSP\GAME folder
- Copy the firmware (it’s an EBOOT.PBP file) you want to update to PSP\GAME\RECOVERY folder and rename it as follows:
- If you’ve downloaded 3.71 firmware rename it to 371.pbp
- If you’ve downloaded 3.80 firmware rename it to 380.pbp
- If you’ve downloaded 3.90 firmware rename it to 390.pbp
- If you’ve downloaded 4.01 firmware rename it to 401.pbp
- If you’ve downloaded 5.00 firmware rename it to 500.pbp
- Run Hellcat’s Recovery Flasher in XMB
- Hellcat’s will now install custom firmware for your PSP
A few other things about Hellcat’s Recovery Flasher
What is the Recovery Flasher for?
- Recover semi-bricked PSP (PSPs that can ONLY enter the recovery menu and little else)
- flash *ANY* CFW directly to almost any other
- Upgrade or downgrade your CFW. Supported custom firmwares are as follows: 3.71 M33, 3.80 M33, 3.90 M33, 4.01 M33, 5.00 M33.
- Backup/restore firmware flash (not NAND dump)
- Make and restore NAND dumps
FAQ
Can I use it to install custom firmware on my 5.50 ofw psp? No.
If you have a hackable PSP (check this guide for that), you can use pandora to downgrade your PSP and install custom firmware. If it’s not hackable. NO. Sorry.
Simple right? If you’re still having problems, specifically when installing the ChickHen hack, just post a comment on the ChickHen R2 installation guide. If you have comments or questions on the whole process, post here.
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sylv3rblade, you are a absolute gentleman. Followed your instructions to the letter (without Pandora) and now have M33-6 installed. Thank you!!!!!
Is it worth my while installing GEN-A or GEN-B or will M33-6 let me do everything I need?
Thanks again!!!!!
Hey congrats. If you’re looking for stability I suggest you install the 5.00 M33-6 patch.
As for installing 5.50 GEN-A/B, do it if you want to access the PSN. As of the moment thought, 5.00 M33 is much stabler than 5.50 GEN-A/B.
can i install it on my 4.21 slim?
Hello there,
Recently got my hands on a psp 1001. I don’t have a pandora battery however I do have a memory stick but no cable to connect my psp to the computer. If I was to get that cable, could I install 5.00 M33-6 using your instructions? Also, you said when you have loaded chickhen, do you mean after you installed it on your comp?
Thanks
never mind about the chickhen thing, I understand what you meant.
Does it work on OFW 5.50 2001?
Check if your PSP can have custom firmware installed
can i use this guide to convert my 4.01 ofw
phat psp to cfw?
Yes you can.
hi,how i can run Hellcat’s Recovery Flasher plzz if u know send my a messeng to lazaro6644@hotmail.com
Why not read this post? It shows you just that.
Truly, truly, truly something amazingly beautiful. Thank you for your curiosities and your contributions.
hi..i have psp slim 5.03 ofw can i downgrade it to 4.01 cfw with this instructions which u gave me.. using the hellcats recovery flasher
Yes you can but I would suggest sticking to 5.00 M33-6 if your PSP supports it or 5.03 GEN-A.
my god, i cannot believe it took so long for this to be done. i wouldve thought the pandoras way was taking the long way around. I have nothing to do with programming tho, and i would not now anything . anyway thank you so much!
S
ChickHen had to be developed to make way for a non-pandora installation of custom firmware.
i made my psp 5.03 ofw to 5.00 m33 using chicken r2 and CFW ENABLER. as u told me it is better to be wit 5.00 m33, rather than downgrading it to 4.01 m33.. NOW MY QUESTION WHEN I WANT TO CONVERT 5.00 M33 TO 5.00 M33-6 . USING THE UPDATE FILE. IT GIVES ME A MESSAGE ON XMB.. ITS ALREADY AT HIGHER UPDATE…HOW CAN I CONVERT IT TO 5.00 M33-6?
check your firmware version. Hellcats installs 5.00 M33-6 off the bat
Hey once again.. thanks… for the help.. u are a life saver…u rock.
can u tell me wht is psp 2000- TA-o88v3? IN SIMPLE WORDS… IN THIS MOTHER BOARD CAN CHICKENR2 BE INSTALLED.. IF ITS INSTALLED AND WORKS THAT MEANS THE MOTHER BOARD IS NOT TA-088V3, this is what i think .. PLZ CLEAR MY QUERY…
I thought you got it working? Yes, chickHen will run on ANY PSP model regardless of what motherboard you have installed.
The only way for you not to be able to install chickHen is if you have 5.50 ofw as your firmware.
What does it mean by choose your firmware to flash? :3
It means pick which firmware you want to install.
Which would you recommend? i have 5.03 ofc atm :3
ofw*
I have another question, before my PSP said 5.03 Chickhen R2, and then when i went to hellcat recovery and pressed accept, my psp just went back to xmb and now says it’s just 5.03, im not sure what i did wrong, i copied the recovery fodler and put the eboot in, anything i did wrong? :3
What model is your PSP? You may have a PSP that doesn’t support this mode of installation.
my psp serial number starts with hu2 so i guess it works, and when i got my psp it came with 3.80
ouch, i thought it was easy… but it isnt working. i have bought a new memory stick that may be the issue. i am going to use my 256mb stick next and see if it works. it just freezes and then shuts down…. i will figure it out tho.
Hi, I’ve recently got a Phat PSP and … It worked perfectly… of course after almost 50 tries… just don’t give up… and try it on a different way, I didn’t wait for the Options to load I just freak out, pressed X like crazy and entered to the eggsploit.tiff image, the psp freezed and then it worked…
Congrats. The idea here is not to give up
can i use my 32mg memory stick to install chickhen and all the other files? iam using a fat psp using 3.52 firmware
I’m not sure if everything will fit in the 32 MB Memstick as the Eboot for 5.00 is already 25 MB.
Technicly u can, but keep ur psp hooked for better or try the Pandora Deluxe method, which is silvrbladenx8 comment in this article, Get pandora with no extra battery or memory stick. Its on atma Explorer, look it up. It’s good, but u need phat psp and ofw 4.05. U git 4.01 m33 from dat hack edition, but it might not work, its just trial and error.
Nice guide syl!
I’m a total newbie about installing FW, I was worried for days not to brick my psp before trying this. Then after I followed this guide, it worked! Although it confuses at some point. But overall, it’s great! I can play my psp with iso/cso again.
Question, can I delete the files used for installing in my memory when finished? Thanks!
Ownage!
Depends on what PSP version that you have. If it’s a phat or PSP Slim with non-TA-088v3 motherboard, yep, you can delete it. If not, just keep it so you can reinstall cfw if you accidentally turned off your PSP.
Go MO
So if this not TA-088v3 its okay to shut down. But I don’t know if this is TA-088v3 how to identify it? And serial number starts with HE0.
Hey, i followed yr guide the book but whenever i get to installing the custom fw with 500 pbp it always says critical error it could not be opened, i tired changing the installation and trying 400 pbp but still the same error. Could you know whats going on?
I would really appreciate your help as I dont feel like shelling out 20quid to my local gamestore to do it for me.
This is probably due to your PSP model.. What do you have? Slim?
hey hi mY psp is slim 3000 i think and i have done chickHENr2 and it went well
and i have hellcats recovery and went in it but i cant install the cfw 5.00m33
THE GAME COULD NOT BE STARTED (80010002) plz reply me
You’re trying to install a firmware version that isn’t supported by your PSP. I listed it on the important part
You seemed to have missed it.
Try 5.03 GEN-A or CFWEnabler instead.
HEY THNX BUT I DID CFW ENABLER BUT MY SYATEM SOFTWARE SAYS THAT 5.03 MHU PLZ TELL ME WHATS THAT
after doing this things is it ready for the iso/cso games…. and what versions of psp do this cfw applies for.. or you just download the cfw of the same type of your psp version? or you could any of the cfw provided to any pap hackable version?.. coz i hav read on another blog the you still have to downgrade ur psp to 1.5 and upgrade again to be able to run iso/cso game.. sorry for d many questions.. but thumbs up for ur post.. i wanna learn to do this psp upgrading stuff.. more power n tnx
After you install this, yes, you can readily play ISO games. As for the cfw version, as shown above, you can pick which firmware to install, although I’d recommend 5.00 since it’s the latest M33 release.
Now for the important stuff. This method only works on hackable PSPs. As for the need to downgrade, that only applies to the old method, using pandora, with the method I’ve posted, you just need to run chickhen and the hellcat’s recovery plugin.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to post.
ok thnx.. but one more thing.. im watching on youtube same thing as this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipVkKmW7x7s ) … do i have to upgrade my version first to 5.03? or no need? coz 5.00pbp update is the same as 5.03?
– as for the hellcat, i just have to copy the “recovery folder” to the psp/game right?.. together w/ the FW 5.00.pbp.. just in the same folder? so thats helcat eboot.pbp and 5.00pbp in the “psp/game/recovery folder” together…?
– the update for psp3k i have done perfectly– quite simple…^_^
– the update for CFW for hackable psp2k im still in questions, im afraid to brick one” T_T.. i might loose a 9k in just wrong move.. ^_^.. aniways big thankz…
for what i have watch in youtube… he updated he’s version to 5.03 first and do the chickHENr2 mod and updated the CFW lastly. which becomes 5.03 m33… what if i got version 3 or v 4 as the original firmware.. do i have to just update it w/ chickHENR2 and the hellcat directly?… or must update it first to higher version as 5.00 or 5.03 before proceeding to chickenR2? or if i have fw version 4.01 i just use the 401.pbp… or ANY HACKABLE PSP version will work on 500.pbp upgrade w/o the use of upgrading it first to 5.03?
im sori..hope u still have the patient to get my point.. im a little bit confuse w/ CFW update… the psp3k is much easier but it bugs me about the reseting when the games just corrupts when the psp turns off or hangs up or lowbatt… hehehe patience…
all in all nice guide… 2 thumbs up for you…
he y thnx i played games and again that problem starts chickHEN r2 went so what should i do if i do again that software it closes plz help me
but i cant do chickHEN mod again plz help just tell me how to do i did and i played also but i went again
Have you tried the one click installer? Also, you mentioned that you were on 5.03 MHU…. Is your PSP a slim?
the chickHENR2 doesnt work… it just hangs up and turn the psp off.. many times i tried but does work… T_T
I did it make it a 5.00 m33-6 but it still wont play iso/cso games, i got error: the game could not started(80020321). Tulong!:)
Ok, i figured it out. Just go to the recovery settings > configuration > umd mode > m33 driver -no umd-…… thanks…..weeeeeeee…..
Congrats
HEy plz help i cant put chickHEN mod AGAIN PLZ HELP ARGENTLY
i need hellllppppp, i have oficail firmware 6.00 can i use thissss????
What’s your PSP model?
i have a slim, TA-088 v1/v2 system.
is it safe to try to put CFW on it?
ok, I have 5.03mhu install in my psp slim and iso setting to M33 driver, make a ISO folder on the root of ms, but every time when I try to copy the game into the ISO folder it show “Cannot copy to specified file”. but when I open the ISO folder, it show the game with correct file size & I can see & hear the game audio on Xmb, but when I press “O” it show the game could not be started(80000108), help………
This is usually a problem with your USB cable.. I’ve experienced this with damaged ones. Replace the cable you are using and you won’t encounter the error again.
Thanks a lot, after I changed the usb cable, everything just fine.
TA-088 motherboard can be modified iwthout pandora battery?????
someone plzz help! i’m stumped! i just started using my newly moded psp slim 2001 cfw 5.00 m33-6 but i get the error message: game could not be started 80000108.
i’m running on 150 kernels, iso setting is m33 driver..(as a matter of fact i’ve tried them all) still the same error. someone help please. what more can i do?
can I do this with ofw 6.00 psp 1000?
Nope. You need a pandora battery for this since you’re on 6.00
if I hardmod my own battery can I still use it normally?
Yep.
you sure? o.o I looked up a couple vids and read that I have to use another battery.
You always revert the pandora battery to a normal one (considering you used THIS method to create one in the first place
)
okay. so how do I revert it back to normal? and do I need a magic memory stick for all this?
im the geek in this but i have a psp 3000 and the sony battery it came with is what i use. im on update 6.10 how do i get the right firmware without messing my psp up?
do i go back on updates or downgrade? how do i?
You can downgrade a PSP 3000
I have a hackable psp with no CFW yet. Can I use this method to install 5.00 M33 directly or do I need to install lower CFW versions first? Thanks
Yes you can
Hello silver umm i have a psp slim and it came with 5.03 (it was new) so that means its psp 3000 right? Umm I want to play bleach heat the soul 6 an ISO Game needing 5.00 M33-6 how do i customize my firmware to play it? I have Memory Stick Pro Duo 4gb i see Magic Gate on it after Memory Stick Pro Duo, my battery is normal also. Can u help me i only want to play Beach HTS 6( ISO-5.00 M33-6)
Thanks sylv3rblade. Will try it later.
sir. . .
can i play eboot.pbp (psx games) ?
what cfw?
thanks. . . .
i did the partial cfw. . .
it saves me hundreds of bucks. . .
sylv3rblade good day… for just 2 days i become one of your avid fan.. hahaha…
Btw, i do have a psp slim series 2000, and its a psp 2006 edition. it’s cfw is 5.03 mhu, chickhen R2 and a cfwenabler 3.60 by xenogears and becus25 and its partial cfw(everytime i accidentally put it off or drain its power, i have to execute it again the cfw) my questions are:
1. can i upgrade my psp to 5.5 up?
because i want to play the Assasins Creed Bloodlines.
can you help me?
Thanks
. Here’s a few info for your current predicament.
Since your PSP is unhackable, the only custom firmware you can install on it is those of the 5.03 variant, in this case, CFWEnabler, 5.03 MHU and 5.03 GEN-B. You can’t upgrade to a 5.50 custom firmware because it’s incompatible with your hardware so you’re stuck with 5.03 but don’t worry about it… I’ll explain in the end
.
As for being able to play Assassin’s Creed, it works on 5.50 GEN-D (the cfw that you can’t install) and 5.03 GEN-B (the cfw that you CAN install). So in short, just install 5.03 GEN-B.
sylv3rblade, thank u, and i’ll try this one and i’ll let u know…
btw are you girl? just curious bcoz ur using this avatar… hehehe
I have a chickhen enabled 2000 and it has 500 m33-6 do i need to run hellcat in chickhen or can i do it in the custom firmware enabled state?
i have a slim 2001 5.03 ofw im not shure if its hackable cause i threw the box away i did the chickhen but when i go to my photos with the eggs i scroll to the bottom and freezes
thanks for the help
Hello, I am using cfw 5.00 m33-6 for PSP 2000 is it possible to upgrade this version into CFW 5.50 GEN-D2 without using Pandora Battery and How is it? Thank You…
what is xmb and when itry to run the file it says error 80020148
this is for my psp 1002
Great tutorial, thanks
i have successfully install 5.00 m33-6 but when i run the iso. it says error 800****. what did i done wrong? please help.
filipino here.
Allain, open the VSH menu:
Change ‘UMD ISO Mode’ to “M33 Driver”.
i have cfw3.80M33-2 can i download cfw 5.00M33 without a pandora battery.
Yep, you can upgrade directly to 5.00 M33.
i have a friend asking me to upgrade his psp. his firmware is 4.01 m33-2.,i can upgrade it to 5.0 right?
so to run chickHen should this psp be updated to 5.03 OFW?then using chickHen and hell’s cat ,update to 5.00 m33?
Hellcat’s Doesn’t work!
There is no RECOVERY folder!!
Did you check /PSP/GAME/RECOVERY/ ?
Can this also work with chickhen R1?
It says Data is corrupted….
ashray i had the same problem, make sure you put the all the CONTENTS of the hellcats flasher into psp/game not just the recovery folder.
you mean the folder called “rflash160″???
I have a friend who has 5.03 OFW and he wants to play ISO/CSO games. Is there any other way to upgrade to CFW without using the ChickHen R2 hack or the Hellcat’s Recovery or Pandora Battery???
He has a PSP-2004.
jas0nk’s PSPident didn’t work for him so i don’t know what motherboard he has
Please Help!!!
dont copy the one rflash160 folder straight into your psp/game/
you need to open up “rflash160″ folder, copy all the folders and the content in it, and then paste all of it into psp/game.
I’ll do a repack.. seems like the instructions are too vague to some (ashray included) >_>
OMG.. I still cannot hack this psp..i have run the hellcats recovery, it loads perfectly, but when the black screen appears.. the 2nd & 3rd option cannot be selected..it appears in grey color.. and the 1st option also cannot be selected.. it hangs… I have run the pspident and the mobo is TA-079 V1..
do you have any advice what can I do? Please!!
i have a normal 5.50 version how do i convert it into a custom firmware easily
zack here
please help
Hello,
I just got a couple of questions. I have a psp 1002. IT has official firmware 6.20. The Date code is 5d. Can i install a custom firmware straight onto it or do i have to downgrade? another thing is that i’m getting a second memory how will this work with custom firmware?
Also i just read that any ofw one psp 1000 is compatible with custom firmware does this mean i can install CWF on my psp 1000 with 6.20 OFW?
i have a psp with ta-088v3 and ofw 6.00 how do i hack it? or can i?
You can’t
There’s currently no way to downgrade a PSP-2000 with TA-088v3 to install CFW.
oh no:( life’s not worth living anymore hehe. i’ll just get a ta-085 motherboard and put it into it. thanks anyways
hey sylv3rblade, when i tried to install the ChickHEN R2 my psp freeze with red color screen and it freezed in a long time. i wait like 20 minutes but still nothing happened. then i just take off the battery. why is that? im using psp phat with version 5.00
You need to upgrade to 5.03 before running ChickHEN. It will work ONLY on 5.03
thanks a lot
))))
HI sylv3rblade………I am using a PSP 3004 with ofw 6.00 is there any way to downgrade it or crack it please help me!!!!!!!!!!!!
There currently is no way to help you as you still can’t downgrade a PSP-3000
I tried these instructions on a Slim V1 ta-85 v1 and it didn’t work, I think my PSP is a brick now. The only thing that wasn’t to the letter was tha the ChickHEN was for the official site not the links given here. At first it said to was extracting a .prx file and tried something and the check sum wasn’t as it expected. I went back to the main menu and tried again and it had more errors. I didn’t reload my flash save as it warned me it could be even more harmful. When I exited the program the psp rebooted its self, it came back to 5.03 and I went to chicken again, it did not not work and when the it rebooted after that its just black with a screen. I did make the batter a pandora and backup the nand and flash but I didn’t make the stick magic. I guess I need to get a card reader so I can make the stick magic and unbrick it? When I insert the batter it does turn on.