Article Detail - PlayStation Portable News

Unbrick PSP with "Magic" Memory Stick files and special battery

Posted Jun 16, 2007 at 06:20AM by Rio S. Listed in: Rumors Tags: memory stick, nand, Sony, nicodemus82

506

Nicodemus82 dropped by our forums and shared news of the "PSP Magic Memory Stick Files - SONY Unbricker". Apparently, a person sent a bricked PSP to Sony. The PSP was returned with a memory stick inside with the following files:

Binary encrypted full NAND image.
Required modules for system control for use by IPL of debug hardware.
Logging module for debug log review (log is saved after full write).
A file used for testing that the system plays well (usually a demo of a PSP game).

According to nicodemus82, the said memory stick is useless without a special battery that internet hamsters dubbed the "Sony JigKick" (After researching a bit, we found that the jigkick is actually a "special" move that targets a certain place). Reportedly, the battery accesses the third battery pin that "enables writing to the IPL from the memory stick". Here are the JigKick's specs:

1.1v-3.5v debug unit for connecting through the serial port in 3rd. battery pin.
Transmission of data is UNENCRYPTED but uses a XOR algorithm for transmission (easily parsed and analyzed).
Contains any number of IPLs (different ones for each motherboard revision (TA-XXX))
IPL is loaded into the Kernel Memory. ME area seems most likely (IPL of the PSP is the same but missing 2 essential modules that the debug unit has).
Contains ipl_mg_modules.bin and ipl_mg_nanddriver.bin
IPL is encrypted in 3 stages. Easily decrypted to show stages, but not for decrypt each individual stage.
Contains a 40x120 column TFT screen for display.
Has a SERIAL port for PC connectivity.
Seems to have a 32MB ROM IMAGE on Flash.
8MB of RAM.
Nickel-Cadmium Battery Cell (possibly 76 hour battery life).
AC/DC adapter port 15V.
Contains 4 buttons (on/off, reset, connect/disconnect, menu).
Arrow keys UP and DOWN for menu.

Anyway, we've been hearing about PSP unbrickers since the word "brick" was coined to indicate a damaged PSP so we're taking this bit of news with more than a pinch of salt.

Visit: QJ's PSP Mods & Media Forum

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96 Comments

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by Bryan (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» First

First!!!!!!!

Re: asdf (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» asdf

haha

Re: vincent (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» umm

time to buy my friend's bricked psps!!!

Re: ***** (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» you

hey you noob. just do your blow job and get my 50cm ***** in your mouth and get my white warm ***** in your mouth (an half l)

Re: yoti93 (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» you can download it here:

http://www.mininova.org/tor/752345

Re: zxf (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» dasf

psp movie database
pspmovieworld.co.nr

Re: XD (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

yessss now i wont sell my psp for parts over ebay...PLZ HAVE THIS WORK!!! IM BEGGING :)

Re: yoti93 (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» Re: XD's post

you can sell it. you need this MSTK and this battery (JigKick). so - sorry - no can do.

Re: Advertising -

Re: Scott (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» Old

http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.php?t+46044+page+3

"Let me clear this up for everyone.

Yes, a memory stick with a special firmware dump is used to repair the PSP

However, it doesn't end there. A special battery, which is loaded with a non-retail IPL, is connected to the PSP. The PSP boots from the battery's IPL, then it launches the encrypted firmware on the memory stick. The firmware has no VSH/XMB, all it does is open an encrypted ARC file (similar to a PSAR), and it extracts this to the flash0. The special firmware dump on the memory stick also contains a few IdStorage keys, and what appears to be an IPL matching with the ARC, just in case either of these were messed up.

Summary: Yes it's possible, but not without Sony's special "jigkick" battery."

From jas0nak of max console forums.

Re: http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1058241/ (Unregistered) - 2007-06-17

» beatmania for windows :D - http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1058241

http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1058241/

Re: CheWu (Unregistered) - 2007-06-17

» OOH!

YOUVE DONE IT NOW SONY! WOO! WE DONT NEED YOU ANYMORE.... could we have that battery please?

Re: ff (Unregistered) - 2007-06-17

» h

freewebs.com/tsk8team

by 2nd (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» hoiya

2nd!!! omg

Re: Squake (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» ;)

Mistake number one for Sony.

Re: mr toasty (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» uh

number 1??

Re: OMG (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» WTF

More like mistake number 7134782639163589738947912...
...89174891274912792073192...
...91074092148712083012989...
8124712041248129400000001

for Sony.

Re: dghdhgf (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» ddg

Not funny

Re: Advertising -

Re: Testicales (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» lol

not funny noob

Re: PaNNaP (Unregistered) - 2007-06-17

» yes it is.

Is funny. because sony since they're start have been being problems with ppl. making i hard for them to enjoy they're products fully.

by aNILEator - 2007-06-16

» Not NEWs

this is not NEW at all, this happened during 2006 if i remember correctly, also some one managed to find the special Sony Battery in a games shop in Singapore however they wanted more than £500 for it I think

Re: . (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» .

'£' as in 'pounds'? I'm sorry, I live in Singapore and we use SGD$ as our standard currency.

Re: cheinchein (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» WAIT

Yeah I remember but it wasn't a gameshop, it was a kiosk at Singapore (the capital city of the country Singapore, weird huh?) in a mall my family went (we were on vacation and did a trip there) and I saw something like a Sony Battery but it was at 500 SGDs (not euros or pound whatever you meant). I asked him what it did and he said he didn't know cause he was uncertain but apparently someone got it after giving their psp to sony for repairs and sol it to them for 95 SGDs.

Re: cheinchein (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» PS

Now I remember he said the battery didn't actually work for playing the psp saying it wouldn't be chargeable and also wouldn't power the psp but was more of a hardware for something. I guess it must be for reco0vering files to the psp after bricked.

Re: fvgdf (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» afdg

they shud release pictures of this so called magic battery

by bncplix (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» mmm

Looking through the files and decrypting them and stuff, couldnt some1 like dark alex figure out how to get it all to work?

by ulol (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» lol

3rd!!!

by $0.02 (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» .

Shouldn't this just be as easy as soldering/sticking some copper wire in to connect the 2 points?

That's how I was able to unbrick my router, so I know it can be fairly simple if we just get to know the process a bit more.

by Advertising -

by HU ? (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» HU ?

This is facking old, it has just been on dcemu again now also on QJ. But it already happend

It is impossible to unbrick you psp without the battery. So if you don't have the battery the files are just *****.

Please Qj, do it frow you FP. To own that little bit respect!

by Clint (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» Fake

This is fake, the dump isn't even complete, just as all the other ones never were. Also, the battery specs are not really possible, with a screen and a 76 hour battery life just shouting BS.

Re: Cheater912 (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» Never Mind

I just noticed that he gave me credit in the forums :P

Re: Grav3Mind (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» 76 hour battery life def possible

think about it...it says this battery is for basic functions and will not use the psp's screen but the tiy screen on the back if needed Right?? so thats totally possible if you think about it. playing games ...no...performing low lvl functions...def...

by Cheater912 (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» Wait a Sec

I wrote this, not nicodemus82.
You can look at blackcats-game.net or here:
http://forums.psp-temple.com/index.php?topic=495.msg4007#msg4007

Re: Cheater912 (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» Never Mind

Just noticed he gave me credit in the forums :P

Re: sfrean (Unregistered) - 2007-06-17

» --

like getting credit for this will make your pathetic life a little bit more worthwhile

Re: PaNNaP (Unregistered) - 2007-06-17

» sfrean

Like saying THAT will "make your pathetic life a little bit more worthwhile". That was a waste of your own time to hate on someone.......

by harry (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» I live in singapore

i live in singapore and i went to ebay singapore and there some people claiming they can unbrick any psp version..

psp in singapore cost 200-300
how come the special batt cost 500 then rofl
i could get a wii or xbox 360 =P

by Ash_mist (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» eh?

Tsk, this is not exactly new, nor is it fully informing, the tech aspects due tell us something, but wtf would you do with out the ***** battery?
*******, ******* sony and there ****** money ***** problems, cant they just sell us the dam thing for like 50-100 us $ wtf with all the secrets, the psp is pwned by the hombrew scene, most games are already pirated, and further more, they act like we wont eventually find another way passed the "jigkick" battery *lol*, its hilarious when i think about it.

by Ash_mist (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» correction

*do.
not due.

Re: do the dew (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» no no

it's dew.

Re: me (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» congradulations

that made me laugh so you get a gold star for the day

Re: PaNNaP (Unregistered) - 2007-06-17

» You have green stars?

Can i have a gold star? maybe a torn or scratched one?

Re: neb (Unregistered) - 2007-06-18

» spelling corrections

spelling corrections should not contain spelling errors

by Chw42 (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» Bull*****

This crap is old and it ain't gonna work. According to Dark_AleX's coding buddy Malthieuth (the one that helped create the 2.71 TA 82 Downgrader) this is useless without the magic battery. He states on QJ forums

Originally Posted by Malthieuth
"The dump is useless it's been leaked for AGES on QJ, even the minna no golf savedata on the MS has the same crc !, now ps3news are trying to make it look like it's a new leak to gain visitors. The battery (if it's really a battery as it could be a special hardware that uses some other ports) has never been leaked and I doubt anyone could walk out from SCE repair centers with one of those.

End of story.

This thread should be locked."

by teh psp (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» site..

this site has a dl link but u need to register or somethin
http://forums.psp-temple.com/index.php?topic=495.0

Re: chw42 (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» yea

You gotta register on the forums......

Re: ... (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» ....

or you can just *phish* out the link. Phishing can do anything!

by your dad (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» sony pwned themselves

sony's a kamakaze

by manaox2 (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» really is old.

I knew about this over a year ago for sure. I'm not sure the word "magic" is really a good way to describe a working process to people here to learn either. We know little about that battery. AFAIK their isn't even definative proof that a battery is how the do it and not a special connector shaped like one. All we can rule out is that its not done through the serial port or USB so logically it must be that extra pin.

by ... (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» hmmmmm firmware downgrade possibilties?

Think about it, someone could brick their psp use these 'magic' files and bring it back as FW 1.50.
Im kinda a noob at this, so if im wrong here my bad, but one can always hope when they've got a 3.30 psp......

by stewie (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» stewie

Blast!
What the deuce?
Victory is mine!

by .................... (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» ok

Ok, so i did some research and ahahahahaha, this thing is not so fake, or the info seemed real, i think its some intresting stuff though old or not, hey it will help everyone out, im sure some highly skilled "coder"/owner will just find a way to do with out the F*** 500$ battery, if its that much then it F*** better be a week long battery, otherwise sony can kiss my A***.

by zeppy (Unregistered) - 2007-06-16

» ehh

Well seems useless at the moment, way to get me excited for nothing. Anyways back to R6V, :) ohh yeah get it if you dont have it.