Welcome, Guest!

Here are some links you may find helpful

PSP How to update (and accidentally downgrade / factory reset) the firmware on DTP-T1000 (Plus download links.)

MobCat

Member
Original poster
May 30, 2019
8
25
3
So I'm new to the psp dev tool but not dev kits as a hole and I wanted to update the FW on my kit. Turns out that I accidentally factory reset it allll the way back to fw 1.00 and there doesn't seem to be that much public documentation out there on the psp dev tool so lets make some.
Also as is customary for any wright up I do, This wright up is going to have way to much info and pics then is really necessary. But I like to put to much info into a post rather then not enough and cause confusion. And causing confusion and bricking a dev tool is not my intention here. I just want to help people update or fix there dev tool and i'm just laying out all the options I know of here in one place.
As I have over explained everything you may want to read the hole thing first and then try an update so you know what you are about to do before you do it.

First off I want to mention and get it out of the way first that no, the already public update pups that are available do not work on the dev tool DTP-T1000 and only work on the psp testing tool DTP-H1500. If you try and run a older FW update pup for a testing tool on a dev tool you will get a simple can not run error. If you run a newer FW like 6.60 it will boot but then will take you to a error screen telling you that this update pup is not intended for this device and wont let you continue.
1605592762669.png

With that out of the way there are 3 update / downgrade methods for the dev tool that I know of.
1. Factory reset to FW 1.00
2. Downgrade tool for downgrading from any fw to 1.50 or updating from any 1.00 or 1.0x beta fw to 1.50
3. Normal update tool used to update from 1.50 to any other FW but you should be able to use it to update to any FW as long as its higher then your current FW.
(TODO If I can, make these hyper link to there section in the post so if people just want to update from a working fw they can skip all my rambling about factory resets.)

Factory reset
Lets get the easy one out of the way, the factory reset.
I would only do this full factory reset if the dev tool is not booting correctly or the fw is corrupted from being in recycling.
The psp dev tool only booting to a text screen shown in later pics is normal and means it is in debug mode, I'll explain how to get it out of that mode at the end when we are on a fw where it's worth it to do so.

So on the front of the dev tool there are 2 buttons with lines attaching to the power button indicating that they have to do with the power button.
1605593341441.png
The bottom one is labeled network init and is intended to reset all the IP and network settings back to default. However because of the nature of the next button I haven't messed with that one yet.
The next button closest to the power button is labeled system init and will reset the dev tool back to the same way as it left the factory.
This means ALL setting and fw files will be formatted back to 1.00. The dev tool wont be that useable after this first factory reset but it will at least get it going again.
This button should only be used if you some how managed to brick the fw on the dev tool. Or the dev tool isn't booting wright because someone messed with it before putting it in a dump to recycle it.
To use the system init button simply make sure the dev tool is in stand by mode. plugged in but not booted. orange power light.
Then press and hold the system init button while pressing the power button.
The power light will go from orange to flashing red and will stay flashing red for almost a minute. This is fine. DO NOT UNPLUG THE POWER OR MESS WITH IT You will brick it... again.
1605594201754.png
(Sorry for the bad phone pics. TBH they only really need to be good enough to explain whats going on.)

Once the factory reset has completed the red flashing power light will turn to a green flashing light. This means the backup 1.00 fw was installed and flashed correctly and the dev tool is now booting. Please note that the dev tool as a hole is quite slow to boot up and shutdown so this flashing green light init boot up can take almost a minute some times.
(Side note: In the flashing green boot phase, this is where you can change the drive select from DVD to UMD so you can play retail games or back again to play dev games off a DVD. As you can't change the drive mode while the system is fully booted.)
Once the dev tool is fully booted the flashing green light should change to a solid green light and the psp screen should now display a text screen like this.
If your default gateway is 0.0.0.0 then you need to plug in a network cable that is on the same network as your pc and reboot the dev tool by holding down the power button until the power light starts flashing again and then pressing the power button again when the light turns to orange. We will need network access for the other update tools.
1605596369473.png
(Yes, my dev tool is on its side. It's fine. I took the feet off, It's the "correct" way up so the vents are not blocked and it's still getting plenty of ventilation. It just fits way better like this under my tv on my desk next to my xbox dev kit.)

1.50 Downgrader tool
Well now we have recovered the dev tool from a brick or you just wanted to wipe your dev tool and start with a clean slate If it wasn't booting correctly because the fw was corrupted or something random like that now we can move on to the 1.50 downgrade tool.
Sony describes this tool as a tool that lets you role back your fw and then you can update to and fw you want. Or you can update from 1.00 or any of the beta 1.0x fws to 1.50 or downgrade anything to 1.50 so you have a baseline to work off.
This would be useful if you where working on a game and you where building it on fw 5.00 and then Sony roles out the 6.00 fw so you have to update. But when you update now none of the network functions work and your game crashes constantly.
So you would role back to fw 5.00 so your art team could still make things and your engine programming team could spend the time they need fixing whatever broke in the update and the rest of the dev team can get back to work and not have to wait for the engine team to fix things.
What we would be using it for though is if more update bin files get found and uploaded we can downgrade to 1.50 and then upgrade to the new update bin using the next tool we will be looking at. Right now I only have a a update bin file for 6.60.
So first you will need to download the 1.50 downgrader tool from here
https://mega.nz/file/c5giDIqB#g1wetdwTn0CuhFDHiUMxzGqcK4EAqHN6673IXrQ3Xlw
Or here
https://anonfiles.com/N8Bap954u1/PSPhtool_150downgrader_7z
And unpack it somewhere on your computer. It use to live in the C:\usr\local\PSP\devkit\tool\PSPhtool_150downgrader\ folder in the SDK but you should be able to unpack it anywhere.
You will see a exe, a bin, some txts you can read later if you want and some dlls. The exe and the bin file are the only ones we really want right now.
The bin file is the 1.50 fw it's self and the PSPhtool_150downgrader.exe is the one we are going to run.
(Side note: These downgrade and updater tools are made for windows xp and vista and I just run them in windows xp. If you are having trouble running them in windows 10 then try windows 7 if you really don't want to or feel safe running xp. You can run xp or 7 in a vm if you set up your network bridging correctly and it will work with the dev tool)
The downgrader tool is pretty simple to use. Just run the exe, enter the IP Address that is shown on the psp's screen in the IP Address/Host name box and click start downgrade. It will auto find the 1.50 update fw bin in the same folder as the downgrader tool and then set up the dev tool to flash the update bin file.
The downgrader tool will ask you if you are sure when you click start downgrade and if the dev tool is powered on with a stable power supply and you have entered the proper ip then you are. Then WAIT for the downgrade tool to do it's things.
1.PNG
The psp screen on the dev tool will turn off and the upgrade tool will seem to hang for 30 secs in the first bit while it sends over the files and checks them. This is fine, just wait. This process will take a little bit of time as it's formatting and resetting a lot of things. The hole update process will take around 9 minutes.
As the downgrader tool is writing to flash, again don't mess with it or you might brick the dev tool.
Capture2.PNG
After 9 minutes or so the downgrader tool will attempt to restart the dev tool and then give you a downgrade process has been completed message.
However for me the few times i'v ran this tool the psp dev tool tried to reset but then just stayed on the black screen so ONLY when this message shows, click the ok button and close the downgrader tool AND THEN reboot the dev tool.
Capture3.PNG
After the dev tool reboots you should now see the same txt boot screen however at the bottom we should see a new text string of System Software Version: 1.50.
However this 1.50 fw still isn't that useful. It does contain a "normal psp" mode but it's very early and is missing things like the PSN and debug settings. Also it has some bugs like not always showing that software version string so don't worry if it doesn't show the string, if the downgrade process was completed successfully and the dev tool boots up fine then it's on fw 1.50. Just sometimes it wont show the extra text string and I have no idea why. So we are going to update to a newer, more stable fw with the next tool. It may also have something to do with the downgrader tool not rebooting the dev tool when it's finished but as I said we are just going to move onto a better fw.
1605609075723.png

Updater tool (in this example we will be going from 1.50 to 6.60)
Now we are going to cover the normal updater tool.
This tool is used to update from a older fw to a newer one. Whether that be from 1.50 to 6.60 or 5.00 to 6.60. 6.60 is what we will be doing today as that's the only update bin I have. If you have update bins from other SDKs please leave a comment. Just remember that the update has to be for the dev tool not the testing tool.
Anyways you can download the update tool and the 6.60 bin from here
https://mega.nz/file/ctxEAQ6K#kQmo703dirYxNGw2WCsZMLeN7iOArvMLPHhDZNrI_bk
or here
https://anonfiles.com/DbTdpb51ud/PSPhtool_Updater_7z
And unpack them to somewhere on your computer. The updater tool use to live in C:\usr\local\PSP\devkit\tool\PSPhtool_Updater\ folder and the fw bin came from C:\usr\local\PSP\devkit\htool_updater\ but I packed them into the same folder for you.
Once you unpack the zip you want to run the PSPhtool_Updater.exe
Capture4.PNG
Then like the downgrader tool we want to enter the IP listed on the psp dev tool's screen in the Target Update Tool box, click on the TOOL update only box, then pick the update bin file with the Browse... button and then click Start Update.
This TOOL update will make sure all the backend dev stuff is upto date on the dev tool and is ready for the new system update.
As we are only updating backend stuff at this point it should only take around 30 secs
Capture5.PNG
It may appear to hang for a little bit but just give it some time, it will work it's self out. Once its finished you should get a update completed message, the psp dev tool should reset and now the dev tool should be displaying the system software 1.50 string if it wasn't before.
(I have no idea if this missing 1.50 string is a bug or i'm doing it wrong but if you follow all the steps then nothing brakes so i'm going to leave it.)
Capture5.1.PNG
Now that's done we can update the SYSTEM. So click ok on that update completed message then click on the SYSTEM update only box and the TOOL update only box should deselect itself then click start update again.
1605612211766.png

This time however as we are updating and writing to flash it will take some time to update so don't mess with it.
After about a minute the screen on the dev tool will show a 6.60 update progress bar so you can get an idea for how long this is taking and how long it has left.
1605607662824.pngafter around 3 minutes the progress bar will finish, the psp dev tool will reset and now show the same text screen however it will now show the software version string as 6.60. Then before you have time to read the rest of the screen the dev tool will reset again back to the debug text screen and the updater tool will say the update is completed. You can click ok and exit the updater tool now.
1605607872204.png
Now that both the TOOL backend and the SYSTEM front end are updated and the dev tool has fully rebooted we should now see the 6.60 version string at the bottom of the text screen... But the psp is still in debug mode and is not in "psp mode" so lets fix that.
1605609551524.png

Changing the psp dev tool from debug to "psp mode"
Now the psp is upto date but we can't use it as a psp soo lets fix that.
First off on your computer you want to open a web browser and enter the IP address of the dev tool into the url bar of the browser and hit enter.
You should get a development tool screen like this.
If the web page asks you to log in at some point use Administrator for both the username and password. It is case sensitive. I don't remember if it was at this screen or the next screen it asked you to log in as mine is already logged in and wont show this message any more.
Capture6.PNG
We want to click on English to launch the dev tools settings page in English.
Now at the top we want to click on Bootmode in the Setup pannal not in the Show Status pannal
Capture7.PNG
Then we want to click on the radial button next to PSP™ System Software mode to change it and click on the Setting button to save the setting.
Capture8.PNG
After you click the Setting button the psp dev tool should auto reboot, It will display the text screen for a few seconds and then it will boot into the psp mode. If you are doing this for the first time after a full reset and update you will have to do the initial setup but then the psp dev tool should function more or less like a normal psp.
This system boot mode is saved onto the dev tool so you can close this web page and you shouldn't need to use it again.
1605610638474.png1605610667601.png
When I said more or less like a normal psp I mean that the media functions like watching movies and listening to music are locked out, the psp camera doesn't work from the psp menu but pictures work, it wont run normal homebrew made for retail psps off the memory stick but will play retail or debug games off a UMD, It will play games from a DVD but that DVD has to be formatted properly, you can't just burn a UMD iso to a DVD and a few other things that I can cover later if people want but everything else seems to be "normal".
I hope I covered everything and this post isn't tooo long but it may be.. sorry, I just wanted to cover everything I could.
 
Last edited:

WorldGenesis

:D
Donator
Registered
May 31, 2019
Donations
£7.40
57
37
18
AGName
WorldGenesis
AG Join Date
May 12, 2007
Neat stuff :D

If you are able to flash back to the 1.00 FW via factory reset ( System Init ), are you able to dump the FW? :p

The firmware that is factory flashed might be 1.0.3 (or even 1.0.0 crosses fingers), I'm fairly certain that the main PSP flash NAND does not get reset if I remember correctly.

The main difference between a Testing Tool and Development Tool is that the Development Tools have a separate operating hardware called the "Communication Processor", it runs a embedded Linux system (MontaVista Linux). Which is the reason you are able to 'talk' to the PSP over a web interface unlike the Testing Tools :p

That 'System Init' flashes/reverts the CP firmware back to 1.0.0 (factory), bricking it would literally quite brick the system whereas a Testing Tool is recoverable via some switches and doodads.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MobCat

MobCat

Member
Original poster
May 30, 2019
8
25
3
@WorldGenesis I can try and dump the factory fw but will need a tool that's going to run on the dev kit. so far retail games is the only thing if had much luck running. even wagic dident run :(
And yeah the Communication Processor / would explain the like 3 min boot up time >__<'
 
  • Like
Reactions: quest4best

cyberghost

New member
Jun 27, 2019
4
3
3
AGName
cyberghost
AG Join Date
Feb 18, 2010
The main difference between a Testing Tool and Development Tool is that the Development Tools have a separate operating hardware called the "Communication Processor", it runs a embedded Linux system (MontaVista Linux). Which is the reason you are able to 'talk' to the PSP over a web interface unlike the Testing Tools :p
I'd been wondering what the difference was, thanks for that explanation.
Mobocat, great info, I'll definitely be referring to this thread later.
 

blackric

New member
May 20, 2022
1
0
1
AGName
blackric
Just wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you!

Saw MVG's youtube video about this so I figured out why not and try to get one. Managed to get all the parts: PC, controller and power supply off different eBay auctions and fortunately they all worked together once I hooked them up. Was so excited that it turned on that I started fiddling with the various buttons like and idiot and accidently ran a factory reset.

So I followed your guide to a T and updated the FW to 6.60. I too had the exact same experiences when updating so suffice to say, your guide was pretty through. I only have a UMD movie right now and as expected, the dev tool won't allow playback.

Thank you so much for this guide, I don't know what I would do without it, cheers!

psp.jpg
 

Make a donation