PlayStation 3 Firmware 2.51 Released, for Demo Units Only?!

It will be interesting to see if this is an indication that 2.51 retail is coming, or if it will be skipped assuming this revision only applies to the Store Demo units. :hmm:

In any case, cool news hacked2123. :tup2:

What kind of unit is this DEMO? So far I have only heard of DEVEL, TEST and RETAIL... Can someone clarify? Thank you...

CJPC (or hacked2123, etc) may know more, but as far as I'm aware there is only:
[list]
[*]Retail PS3
[*]PS3 Demo (Store units)
[*]PS3 Debug (TEST units)
[*]PS3 Prototype (TEST units)
[*]PS3 TOOL (the "large box" that goes for over $10k)
[/list]
As mentioned in a few older threads here, the updater link to the Demo units is: http://fshop01.ps3.update.playstation.net/update/ps3/list/shop/ps3-updatelist.txt

But where is the pasword for ?? Does this mean every single Demo console is locked with the same key :confused:

Nah, a few posts down is the thread with the passwords for unlocking the various PS3 Demo machines based on Firmware version:

http://www.ps3news.com/forums/ps3-news/turn-off-unlock-demo-mode-56991.html

:arrow: The procedure is also outlined here: http://www.ps3news.com/forums/ps3-guides-tutorials/ps3-demo-unlock-codes-guide-99034.html

Although the retail ps3update.pup is detected in the recovery menu via 2.51, it give the message:

The data is corrupted. (8002F2E4)

Lame.

If anyone achieved 2.50 DEMO upload it for me, I would like to know if its relevant to the restore menu.

Yeah, that's the jist of it, but there are basically (with a few exceptions) no hardware differences between Retail/Demo/Debug/Prototype units, the only difference being the software loaded onto them.

There are some slight differences, but mostly with the case itself, vs the actual hardware!

Just out of curiosity, which and how many of those non-retail units are there available to the DEVs here on PS3NEWS to work with??

Is the "6258" password for ANY DEMO unit running 2.51 ?

I have a demo unit like the person above. so are we stuck with this firmware? i would really like to use the my home and playstation store features, even when unlocked i do not have access to them when i called sony they acted like they never heard of a demo unit. Is there nothing we can do to get a retail firmware on it? i tried to download the 2.53 and put it on a sd card but it dosent recgonize it as applicable :( but the US version of the 2.53 link was dead so i had to get the AU,could that be why?

Sadly yes, for the moment you are stuck with the firmware. Without going into too many technical details, the DEMO units are identified by a flag (just like a retail, or a TEST etc), so it will not allow you to install the Retail FW on it.

Basically, you are stuck waiting for an updated firmware.