82w ago - I received my E3 Flasher a couple of hours ago from
LighTake.com and here is my review.
Packaging:
The E3 flasher comes in a nice big box, it's actually bigger than I expected it to be and it contains 3 inner boxes.
The first box contains all the important stuff like the Nor flasher, main board and the cover board which connects to the pins on the main board.
The second box contains all the accessories and cables like the Esata USB cable which is not used with the E3 flasher at all and is probably for use with the PC or something like that it also contains the Esata cable which is used with the E3 flasher and the power adapter which didn't fit in my power socket because it wasn't the right shape (different region), so I had to go of and buy a power adapter converter thing so the Esata station will work.
For the accessories they included a power switch for PS3 slim users and a metal case for the main board to sit in where the HDD usually sits but a screw driver wasn't included like they mentioned.
The third box contains the Esata station and it is the biggest and heaviest box out of the three.
Installation:
I installed the E3 flasher a NOR fat PS3 (after I fixed a broken Blu-ray drive and the YLOD on it), I'll install it on a slim PS3 in a few days and tell you how it compared to installing it on the Fat PS3.
Installing the NOR flasher clip on the PS3 is the easy part, it fits on but not too well so I decided to add some sticky tape to it to hold it on so it won't break off. But then I had to find a way to connect the NOR flasher to the main board (which sat where the HDD usually is) without breaking it, I did this by slightly twisting the NOR flasher and connecting it to the main board making it look a bit like a ribbon, this way I won't damage it.
After all that I closed my PS3 like I normally would and I was done. It would have been nice if they added a guide on how to install it on a FAT PS3 the same way they had a guide on how to install for the Slim PS3 but they still added some pictures as a guide (which I have attached) so that still helped a little bit.
Downgrading:
Before I did this I had to upgrade my PS3 to 3.73 FW so it will work. Downgrading using the E3 flasher was by far the most confusing thing I've ever done with my PS3, first of all I needed to add some files (e3_downgrade.bin and update.bin) to a Micro SD card which they hadn't included. So I had to use my Micro SD card from my Nokia N97.
After following some more steps I had to put some more files onto a flash drive (UPDAT.PUP and Lv2diag.self) and then follow some more steps to downgrade (I won't go in depth because there are too many steps to mention).
I successfully downgraded my 3.73 PS3 after a very long and confusing procedure and then I installed multiMAN on it, mutliMAN and the games ran normally on it.
Overall:
I give the E3 flasher a 7/10
+ Easy to install.
+ Good packaging.
+ Smart Design.
- Confusing guides with bad English making it very confusing, would've been nice if the guides were in better English or better yet if they made a video. (Download the downgrade guide to see what I mean)
- No Micro SD included.
If you can find this product for around $50 and want to downgrade I suggest you buy it, hopefully there will be more guides on how to use the E3 flasher so more people like me won't be so confused.
Below are the pictures of the product, the ones with E3-tech on it are from the guide on how to install it on a fat PS3 and the rest are my pictures. I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of me installing it on the motherboard (I kind of forgot), I will next time I install it on my PS3 slim.
Also big thanks to LighTake.com, I got my E3 flasher shipped to me from Hong Kong to Australia within 4 days which was actually pretty fast.
DLC for BLUS30778 :
The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim - Dragonborn
http://zeus.dl.playstation.net/cdn/UP1003/BLUS30778_00/bShuIaxVWkGUfBiOxikxdBCBHMNZFzl...
Also for those interested below are some pics of a Self-powered E3 Flasher (No need for PS3 power) from BwE, who states:
There are limitations and experiments that I have not done myself and I am keen for somebody else to take over I guess. How do we power it ? Through USB or through an external source or even through VCC of PS3 (directly, so no psu or power to ps3).
You can also desolder the nor and attach it to the E3 and read off board. Fun fun. I'll make a guide very soon.
If your ps3 is ylod/bricked/whatever you can still read/write NOR. If you don't want to turn it on for whatever reason, you can still read/write NOR. If you have spare chips or need to replace the chips, you can program them with the E3.
Most things are untested and I sold a version with a tsop adapter on it so I have to make a new guide re: that. But so far I have made the usb into 3.3v 500ma and added an external plug for 3.3v via a custom cable which is 1A.
I used that custom cable for the - 2nd? 3rd? picture where the e3 isnt plugged in via USB. I power the NOR on the PS3 directly - negating the E3 and the requirement of a PSU. E3 can still be programmed via the PC.
My board type is a DIA-001