43w ago - Following up on his initial release, today PlayStation 3 developer andbey0nd has updated his PS3 C2D.exe CEX to DEX Flash Patcher to version 2 which now includes Region / TargetID changing in the PS3 NOR Flash as outlined below.

Download: PS3 C2D CEX to DEX Flash Patcher v2 / PS3 C2D CEX to DEX Flash Patcher v2 (Mirror) / PS3 C2D CEX to DEX Flash Patcher v2 (Mirror #2) / PS3 C2D CEX to DEX Flash Patcher v2 (Mirror #3) / Metldrpwn (Pre-compiled) / C2D for 0x8D (China) Targets / C2D for 0x8E (HK) Targets by deank

To quote from the ReadMe file (via pastie.org/4282714):

c2d.exe (win32 app)

Requires:

• OpenSSL 1.0.1 installed in c:\openssl or d:\openssl (http://slproweb.com/download/Win32OpenSSL_Light-1_0_1c.exe)
  
• EID root key (per_console_key) obtained with...

44w ago - Following up on the recent PS3 C2D CEX to DEX Flash Patcher and PS3Tools GUI Edition v2.6, today I have released a CEX2DEX application that will allow you to extract the METLDR from ANY (NOR / NAND) PlayStation 3 flash dump and create a valid DEX (Debug / Test) flash from the given CEX (Retail) flash.

Download: PS3 CEX2DEX Application / PS3 CEX2DEX Application (Mirror) / MSVCP100.DLL (Required) / Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86) / PS3 CEX2DEX Application r1 (Runtime Libraries are built in, shouldn't require MS VC++)

Features:

• Can be used to extract the METLDR from ANY (NOR/NAND) flash dump.
  
• Can be used to create a valid DEX flash from any given CEX flash (NOR/NAND).
  

I will explain the two main options the program has.

Extract METLDR - This extracts...

45w ago - Following up on the PS3 CEX (Retail) to DEX (Debug) Conversion Method from earlier this week, today PlayStation 3 developer andbey0nd has released an easy C2D CEX to DEX Flash Patcher conversion tool for Windows (currently only works with the 16mb NOR) alongside PS3 LibEEID (library related to EID0) source code below.

Download: PS3 C2D CEX to DEX Flash Patcher (Windows) / LibEEID Source Code / GIT

To quote: andbey0nd has released (pastie.org/4243807) another tool to us this morning. c2d is a Cex 2 Dex Flash Patcher. Currently it only works with 16mb NOR. Slowly but surely the scene seems to be coming back to life. 1 hack at time... Thanks andbey0nd and keep up the awesome work!

[andbey0nd] works for 16MB flash dumps (NOR) only
[andbey0nd] also if for some reason a WRONG EID key is provided - the program will abort and will not generate invalid DEX flash.. so no chance for bricking
[andbey0nd] if an output DEX flash file is created - it means that it is valid

c2d.exe (win32 app)

67w ago - I want to give everyone the heads-up on my Dual Boot PS3 (2 NOR Flashes with Switch for Brick Recovery) project and try and get some feedback...

For the last few days I've been busy unbricking/downgrading etc. The spare time I've had has gone into designing my own Dual NOR expansion board for the PS3

Basics are this: It allows you to install 2 firmwares - one on either NOR which can be easily enabled/disabled via switch on the mod board. Initially the NOR expansion will need flashing (Dump NOR 1 & flash NOR 2 with the image)

Could be used as a "Brick Backup" if for any reason you brick your onboard NOR, you have a second image on the expansion.
Primary use is of course to Dual Boot firmware without needing to use your programmer all the time - initial program would be a one-off.

Can be quite useful, hence the reason for designing it. I am quite aware of the fact there are other products available which function the same. This is my own design which is a fair bit cheaper than the current Dual setups.

Once final thing, please bear in mind this is a VERY early prototype atm and still in testing. More than likely there will be a few changes along the way, but updates will be regular (finally got my head round Cadsoft)

I've attached a 3D sample picture......

83w ago - Today Spanish PlayStation 3 developer DemonHades has shared another video of JFW DH PS3 CFW, this time demonstrating the USB Preloader and Flash dumping without a JIG extracting the backup of the 4 PS3 flash files on the Custom Firmware.

To quote, roughly translated: In this video I show how the preloader already done, we can dump the 4 flashes of the flash, if we make an error to recover.

As you can see the preloader working safely by the combination of the jig, but without the use of jig (never activated if you do not do the combination, and although it does not detect activated if the magic flags or contained in GRID_UPDATER not perform nothing harmful).

Simply putting the usb where we want to save, and flags magic to do what we send in "direct mode".

In the video we can see GRID_UPDATER folder, this folder is the "Direct Modules Installer" unlike the "direct mode" (root pendrive) this only updates from configurations of plugins, modules to plugins or flash.

In summary:

• Direct mode: the configuration of the USB Pilla (in safe mode)
  
• Installer mode: Install the modules to replace dev and let the new configuration observed.
  

1saludo and thanks as not Jaicrab, Alexander and Maki and the explanatory video kiki...