Actually 3.71 M33-3 is the latest firmware. It includes a fix for the USB prx file. Without the fix, you can corrupt the nand in a way that can't be recovered even with a battery/memory stick. The slims all use encryption on the nand, so if you get bad blocks or something causes the encryption to be invalidated, then your toast.
Yep, its not working in that build. This problem exists in all 3.71 M33-x firmwares before version 3. There is a drop-in prx file you use to manually fix the issue, but just doing that in itself could cause what your trying to fix. In any case, its probably better to just upgrade to 3.71 M33-3. In addition to fixing bugs, it also adds popstation and other junk you might want.
Cool, thanks for the tip. Now, to read for 10 minutes and figure out how to upgrade the firmware. I don't even have a single game or a memory stick at the moment.
Question: If I'm not flashing my machine, is this an issue? If I just copy stuff via the USB cable, am I at risk of ass-fucking my PSP? I would assume not since I'm only writing to the memory stick... even turd data shouldn't break it. I did get a warning w/ it saying that this wasn't fixed. I will not be able to get it upgraded for a bit of time. And.. is there a 100% safe way to upgrade it? Sounds like even it is a shot in the dark.
Just using USB mode to copy to the MS is perfectly safe. Upgrading using official Sony firmware while connected to a wall charger is pretty damn safe, as is using one of the M33 firmwares (they checksum everything, and you always need your battery charged a certain %).
With regular Memory Stick mounting you only risk a corruption of the memory stick. For flash memory, which can't be mounted under normal conditions, its a totally diffrent story! As for the flashing, just ensure you have a strong battery and a wall outlet to plug into. If ether power source dies, the other will kick in. There shouldn't be issues with the flash. 1, you will take a nand dump first to ensure any corruption can be fixed with it. 2, since the mounting issue was fixed, your not in danger of that. Just bad blocks that naterally develop in flash media. 3, the chances of bad blocks developing naterally new (out of factory) is actually pretty slim. I doubt you'll get it as flash is rated for several thousand read/write cycles.
I'll probably pay someone $8 to flash it for me. You can basically sell modded PSPs on Yahoo Japan. They run about an extra 4000 yen when it's all said and done, and there are about 5-8 sold a day. Not a bad way to make easy cash, but it's gray at best. Probably not the smartest way for a gaijin to make yen (although I admit, w/ the dollar dropping I do need to think of something).
Just remember, you get what you pay for. Some people charge more or less, but the ones that charge more (in most cases) actually warrenty their work. If something goes wrong and can't be fixed the more expensive/reputable places will give you a free console in return. I've seen people get burned by getting a "joe anyone" do a mod for cheap, then when something goes wrong, they just go "Not my problem, I'm just doing this as a side thing. At your own risk mate!". Really not responsible at all!
The person I got one from will do follow up work for a small fee (and I assume if it's borked from the get go replace it). It works like a champ though, so I'm good. My mate across the street is debating getting a PSP and he's a mod ninja (he did that 25-point PS2 mod almost w/o a hitch) so I'm hoping he buys a Magic Battery. I'll just walk across the street and do it.
If you have a access to a fat psp you can soft-mod a battery without the need to purchase one. If you have no fat psp, but soldering skills, you can hard-wire a battery. All your trying to do is blank out the serial number ID of the battery so it invokes service mode and loads an IPL from memory stick.
