Posted Jun 21, 2006 at 10:00PM by Jamie M. Listed in: Mods, News, Applications Tags: nand, psp modchip, Undiluted Platinum, modchip
Ó

Undiluted Platinum Modchip Flasher


We have received word from the Undiluted Platinum Team that they have released their PSP modchip flashing application. This tool will allow you to reflash the Undiluted Platinum onboard NAND. Once reflashed you can reboot your PSP and it will automatically boot your new firmware. Hold down the L Trigger, click your heels together twice and you will be whisked back to Kansas and your original PSP firmware. The application installation is very simple and from the GUI you can tell that reflashing your chip will be a snap.

The ability to have the features of more then one firmware was recently discovered by some PSP gamers with 1.5's with DevHook. However with the Undiluted Platinum and PSP modchip flashing application everyone can enjoy all the features Sony provides with their PSP handheld as well homebrew and switch between the two with ease. A very clean application that provides PSP gamers a simple way to enjoy both worlds.

They have delayed the release of their new diagrams until tomorrow in order to complete and release the flashing application.

Download: [ Undiluted Platinum PSP Modchip Flashing Application ]


Installing the USB Drivers

A setup program is provided which will install both the Undiluted Platinum Flasher and associated USB drivers. Please run the setup program and ensure the USB drivers have been installed BEFORE connecting the U.P. to your PC for the first time. The procedure for installing the USB drivers is as follows (for Windows XP, other Windows versions may differ):

   1. Install the Undiluted Platinum Flasher and USB drivers using the setup program. This will copy the USB drivers onto your system but they will not yet be properly associated with the U.P. USB device.
   2. Turn on your PSP while holding LEFT on the D-PAD to place it in programming mode.
   3. Using the provided USB cable, connect the U.P. to your PSP. IMPORTANT: do not connect the USB cable to the U.P. until AFTER the PSP is turned on.
   4. The "Found New Hardware" wizard should appear. If you are asked if you would like to connect to windows update to search for software, select "No, not this time".
   5. The wizard will give you the option of either installing software automatically or from a list or specific location. Select "Install the software automatically".
   6. Windows will install drivers for a "FTDI FT8U2XX Device" which is the USB chipset used by the U.P. Once the driver installation is complete you will be able to use the Undiluted Platinum Flasher.

Flashing the Undiluted Platinum

The Undiluted Platinum Flasher is used to write a NAND flash image to the U.P. Such flash images could be 1.0/1.50 firmware or even custom made firmware. The procedure for writing a NAND flash image to the U.P. is as follows:

   1. Connect the U.P. USB connector board to the FPC cable located in the PSP battery compartment. Make sure this is connected the right way around, with the side of the FPC containing the exposed metal contacts facing upwards.
   2. Load the Undiluted Platinum Flasher application.
   3. Place the PSP in programming mode by holding LEFT on the D-PAD as you power it on.
   4. Using the provided USB cable, connect the U.P. to your PSP. IMPORTANT: do not connect the USB cable to the U.P. until AFTER the PSP is turned on.
   5. Click "Connect".
   6. Click "Write Flash" and then select the desired NAND flash image.
   7. Wait for writing to complete. This will take some time so please be patient.
   8. Turn off the PSP (standby, not suspend).

The flasher application can also be used to read from either PSP onboard flash or U.P. flash, and help diagnose installation problems. Whilst interfacing with the U.P. hardware, the flash application conducts tests which will verify the integrity of the installation. Should the tests fail, the following error will be reported by the PC side software: "Diagnostic tests failed, please check your installation". We advise you to use the application to make a backup of your PSP onboard flash as soon as possible and keep this backup in a secure place, just in case anything ever happens to your PSP flash (like if a nasty "bricking" virus appears, etc).

Troubleshooting

What operating systems are supported?

Windows 2000 and upwards. Windows 95, 98, ME and NT4 are not currently supported. Linux is not supported.

I received the following error: "Failed to connect to U.P!"

This error occurs when the flasher application could not establish a communication link with the U.P. Possible causes include the following:

   1. The USB drivers are not correctly installed, please use the setup application to install them
   2. The USB cable was plugged into the U.P. USB connector board before the PSP was powered on. Disconnect the USB cable, power the PSP off then back on while holding LEFT on the D_PAD to enable programming mode and then finally re-connect the USB cable.

I received the following error: "Diagnostic tests failed, please check your installation"

This error occurs when the integrity checks performed by the flasher application fail. Such a failure usually results from an error in the installation such as missing or incorrect connections from the FPC cable to the PSP motherboard. Please verify your installation.

I received the following error: "A communication error has occurred!"

This error occurs when there is a communication error during a read or write operation. Possible causes include the following:

   1. The PSP has been turned off
   2. The connection with the PSP has been broken (ie: USB cable has been disconnected)
   3. The USB connector board is not properly attached to the FPC cable. Please ensure that it is attached securely.

I received the following error: "Unable to write idstore area!"

This error occurs when the flasher application is unable to write the "ID Storage" area of flash. The NAND flash used by the PSP and Undiluted Platinum may contain bad blocks and when one of these bad blocks is encountered the data must be "re-mapped" to take into account the inability to store data in this area. The data stored on flash is divided into three segments - IPL (2%), ID Storage (0.7%) and FAT filesystem (97%). In the current implementation the flasher application is able to re-map data when bad blocks are found in the IPL or FAT area but not the ID Storage area. Support for re-mapping data when bad block(s) are found in the ID Storage area is planned for a future release.


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56 Comments


Sort by:
   by foomX (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » Great

I suppose it's really coming. I'll wait and see if the soldering process is a pain or not. I'm cool with DevHook for now. XD

   by Uber0ne - 2006-06-21
 » >

yea i wish i could even get devhook on my 2.6 peace of shiznit so ive been waiting for this modchip for a while now...

   by k (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » k

can we flash our psp with 2.6 and put 1.5 on the mem card or do we need the modchip

   by !? (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » !?

!?

   by CarXCrashXHearts - 2006-06-21
 » Lol...

Is there a point of having this application right now or did the U.P. actually come out already behind my back? XD

   by LOLMAN (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » LOL

HAY GIES ITSSS LOL MAN HEAR AND I CUM TO TELL YUU GIES THAT YUE NEID TU GET THIZZED OWT AND GET HYPHY

   by Abraham (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » Hmmm

well, i like the this and the firmware is good and everything, but how difficult is it for the average joe to install the Modchip on the psp and using it?

   by asdf (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » asdf

Its not clear to me... Can you have a 2.xx+ psp and emulate 1.5

   by Advertising -
   by Larry (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » noobs

this is for the modchip..
you need to use the modchips own usb connection.

it flashes the nands directly..

you cant use this app without the modchip.. duh..

   by pavey - 2006-06-21
 » #8

#8 it yes but u have 2 flash memories. no need to emulate 1.5 it would be full 1.5

   by harleyg (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » ...

God damn it why do i have to keep doing this?

>>can we flash our psp with 2.6 and put 1.5 on the mem card or do we need the modchip
Its called having 2 firmwares that you can switch between, dear. Not having the other firmware on your ms. Are you really that stupid?

>>HAY GIES ITSSS LOL MAN HEAR AND I CUM TO TELL YUU GIES THAT YUE NEID TU GET THIZZED OWT AND GET HYPHY
Get the f*ck outa here.

>>Its not clear to me... Can you have a 2.xx+ psp and emulate 1.5
No. This is not about emulating, this is about having 2 flash chips in your psp internally and being able to switch between them.


For all of you that doesnt understand this, i hope you buy it and f*ck your psp's up, your a waste of space and do not contribute.

   by pcx (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » ???

I looked in this file a bit.. and found that its encypted using UPX encypter...why would they encypt the file for?? Could it be that they are trying to keep something from us? Programs that are made for the community are usually unencrypted....

   by bazald (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » Hrmm...

12, pcx - UPX is a file packer (see compressor). It isn't encryption as far as I know.

But I have to say, it seems suspicious to me that they would release this before releasing the product. What is the point, if not to make their product look real? If there product *is* real, why bother forcing it? Hrmm...

   by qxlooper (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » errrr

No way in hell am i going to solder 20 wires and cut a track, just to get a modchip working on my psp....long live dev hook! my ps2 didn't even have 20 wires to solder in!

   by harleyg (Unregistered) - 2006-06-21
 » ... 2

>>No way in hell am i going to solder 20 wires and cut a track, just to get a modchip working on my psp....long live dev hook! my ps2 didn't even have 20 wires to solder in!
Great, you enjoy 2.50 on 1.50, while we enjoy 1.50 and 2.71 at the same time. Also, if you hadnt noticed, this is the psp not the ps2, ps2 os easyer because its older.

Your a god damn brain surgen arnt you?

   by ur mother doing SG57 (Unregistered) - 2006-06-22
 » *****in idiots

u guyz are pathetic... 'wait so what again?'

God damn... This bypasses the security checks hardware-programmicaly, not softwarically, there fore you COULD have 2.71 on your reg firmware and STILL launch any 1.5 required game with full kernel access... The extra NAND flash is for 2 things...

-recovery of bricked PSPs
-Alternate firmware

So say you brick ur PSP.. use this program here to upload your old firmware back on it, then your saved.

Also, say you love 2.7's web browser and music player... but what if a firmware came out that could play every video format... youd upload that to any NAND flash you would now have, and use that to do all the extra needs...

ddaaammmn u guyz are jewish.

   by I'm Not A Jew (Unregistered) - 2006-06-22
 » To #16 Thank God for people like you

nocomment

   by Advertising -
   by ALTUNOZARA (Unregistered) - 2006-06-22
 » **** OFF

HEY 16!! IM JEWISH AND IF YOU GOTTA PROBLEM WITH THAT GO **** YOURSELF YOU **** NATZI!

   by Northernfusion - 2006-06-22
 » flaming etc

please stop flaming the "noobs", we have all been there....

and the "noobs", please read the article and check thru the comments before posting questions, they have most likely been answered before....... ok?

and just to clear up any mistakes about this line in the #16 post: >>So say you brick ur PSP.. use this program here to upload your old firmware back on it, then your saved.

what he means by this is that this program will restore your bricked psp IF the bricked NAND is the U.P modchip.
This program WILL NOT restore your already bricked PSP, sorry.

But, install a U.P. in your bricked PSP, and your "on your way to Kansas", but you'll only have the U.P NAND modchip to run firmware of, your original NAND will allways be DEAD..........

   by Jerico G. (QJ. NET Staff) - 2006-06-22
 » i jizm everywhere

This is fake! I tried it on my 2.6 and it didnt work!

Its a fake just like the MPH downgrader, i tried that on my 2.6 too.

This whole website is full of fake crap.

Edited by Jerico G. (Q.J. NET Staff) , because:
Just so everyone will know... tokeytoke's and jizm's posts came from a single person (the IP adress proves it). So it will be better if we don't give attention to people who's desperately seeking it. :)

   by pspfan - 2006-06-22
 » WHERES THE ARTICLE ABOUT IRSHELL???????

COME ON THIS IS BIG NEWS!!!!!

   by Nick (Unregistered) - 2006-06-22
 » Flame me all you want but

I STILL don`t understand why they couldn`t gave made this for use without the UP.. would make life so much easier..

   by chipxsd - 2006-06-22
 » #20 What did you do?

Do you even have the modchip installed? What did you try? ... connecting PSP via it's USB and flash it with the flashing utility?

You have to connect your PC to the modchip's USB not PSP's.

   by faefrfsef (Unregistered) - 2006-06-22
 » faef

popopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopopppppppppppppppppppppppppopopooppopopop

   by Muscrat (Unregistered) - 2006-06-22
 » Hmm

Say hello to the pre teen spammers

   by mutual agreement (Unregistered) - 2006-06-22
 » >11

#11 post = gold and so so true.

   by RaiderX - 2006-06-22
 » #22

because it is dangerous as hell to try this on the PSP's original flash and alos because the USB port on the PSP only accesses the memory stick, not the flash

   by Advertising -
   by FrikiBOY (Unregistered) - 2006-06-22
 » Good News

Looks like the modchip is real in the end....

It's just a shame you cannot program it in Linux though. I hope they reconsider that in the future.

Anybody knows the exact date when this modchip is coming out?

   by ultimax - 2006-06-22
 » ...

#16: shut the hell up

#19: so basically, if we mess up the original NAND, then we won't benefit from multiple firmwares?

#20: did you even bother to read the instructions?

   by r3SpaVVn (Unregistered) - 2006-06-22
 » ?!?!?!

do i need firmware 1.5 on my psp to get the U.P. to work???



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