PSJailBreak Reverse-Engineering Details Begin to Surface

[PS3 News]

Earlier today we reported that the PSJailBreak PS3 modchip is easily dumped and that PSJailBreak clones are already on the way, and now some PlayStation 3 developers are working on reverse-engineering the costly USB device in hopes to make a less expensive or free scene alternative available soon.

Tsujin, knightsolidus and bushing have made brief attempts at determining the PSJailBreak IC chip and pin-out, while Neme6 of Logic-Sunrise (linked above) has also shared his findings thus far.

More pictures are available HERE for those curious, and to quote, roughly translated on the linked pics:

"Many teams are studying the JSP to try to clone a low cost and how it works. From the photos released, I tried to determine the electronic design of PSJ.

Here is the result of my work and my observations. Feel free to post if can lighten the shadows that remain.

First ICP is probably the type PIC18F declination 4455, 4550, 4458, 4553. The size of the EEPROM is 256 bytes."

Comments:

Components (red dots)
A: Resistor, 1K
B: LED
C: LED
D: Resistor, 1k
E:?? Resistor ?? Resistor??
F:?? Capacitor ?? Capacitor??
G:?? Resistor ?? Resistor??
H:?? Resistor ; 1K (Pullup resistor) ?? Resistor, 1K (pullup resistor)??
I:?? Capacitor ?? Capacitor??
J: Capacitor, 100nF (Decoupling cap)
. . : XTAL

- The blue dots A, B and D control the LEDs.
- The blue dots ¤ K, L, G and H are for power (Vdd, Vss).
- I suppose the blue dots M, I and J are to program the PIC (ICPGC, ICPGD, / MCLR).
- Points E and F are blue and OSC1 OSC2. They should be connected to XTAL (orange dots A and B).
- And the GND (file alpha) through two 22pF capacity.
- The orange dot ¤ F, there should be a link with USB.D-(I can not quite see from the photos).
- Maybe the orange dot at point C is connected blue M (ICPGC).
- Maybe the orange dot C is connected to pin 33 (/ ICRST).
- I guess the orange dot E is connected to a via (through hole) noted alpha.




More PlayStation 3 News...

[tonybologna]

Clones will be popping up everywhere in the coming days and weeks ahead!

[BwE]

damn, here i was thinking it would be easier.

i'm hoping there will be a guide for me to follow in order to help the ripping process when i obtain my psjb.

[chrykel]

so no soft mods any time soon? So I guess we ps osners that aren't handy with soldering are just gonna have to wait...

[daveribz]

Hope a free solution will surface soon! Oh and just a question, wasn't a debug-mode PS3 downgradable through some sort of special 'downgrade' firmware?

BTW, I translated the post entirely by hand, but it wasn't approved yet (in the PSJailbreak HD video footage thread). It's easier to read and more precise.

[tripellex]

Awesome job reporting this Boss. Knowledge is power, and free knowledge is like perpetual motion, even better baby! :-D

[jayjo]

i'm buying some pic18f4550 right now... and wainting for a dump!

[hacked2123]

i'm buying some pic18f4550 right now... and wainting for a dump!

$5 chips, you'll still need resistors and such in addition to putting together something to program it with. $20 clone sounds like a much more worthy choice... then again FREE is nicer.

[tripellex]

Here's a question for the more techno-oriented members:

If the dongle is just handshaking its hardware ID to the system at startup, would it be possible to create a serial-to-USB cable from the PC to the PS3 and have it pulse the HW ID right as the system starts up to accomplish the same thing (I assume because of the presence of the oscillator, that it sends it as a pulse. Correct me if I'm wrong).

[Maniac2k]

The oscillator should be there for the USB communication. USB with an Atmega needs a 12 mhz oscillator.

How the dongle works is not known yet. If it's something thats static, you could sniff it with some USB sniffer and implement it to other hardware as well.