PS3 Downgrading pt.2

Sup Sup Forums. Back again with my PS3 Downgrading progress.

So this is the Teensy++ 2.0 that I'm using to downgrade my NOR PS3 with it, at first I was scared that I fucked up on installing the 3.3v regulator and messed it up

Other urls found in this thread:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_drawing
ps3hax.net/showthread.php?p=387777#post387777
ps3hax.net/showthread.php?p=387777
reddit.com/r/ps3homebrew/wiki/flashers/teensy
pakronics.com.au/products/teensy-at90usb1286-usb-dev-board-header-ada731
pjrc.com/store/teensypp.html
littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products/3-3v-800ma-linear-voltage-regulator-ld1117-3-3-to-220
psx-scene.com/forums/f19/how-build-your-own-ps2-bluetooth-adapter-use-real-ps3-ps4-controllers-wirelessly-your-ps2-127728/
google.com.au/url?q=https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Components/LD1117V33.pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwj61-imtNfTAhWJUZQKHRfQDOsQFggNMAA&usg=AFQjCNESSd32AFXkPAWQ3Wl9T6rhEi2P0Q
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

But I borrowed my father's multimeter and it seems that I am getting the voltage I require. So good news there!

Full pic of my frankenstein Teensy with all of the wires soldered onto it. The only issue is that I messed up the color coding so for some of the wires but that doesn't really matter at all. I'm just going to have to be extra sure I know which points I'm soldering to.

My only other concern is that at the top right, there is some leftover solder that might make a connection when I don't want it to. I'm going to try to melt it off or scrape it off. But at this point all I need to do is start soldering the Teensy wires onto the PS3 using this diagram.

And lastly my PS3's exposed mobo, with the points I need to solder right in the middle of the picture. Time to get to work. Hopefully I can finish this before I have to leave today.

Forgot the pic

I have a ps3 as well but no clue what you are doing
Homebrew?
Is it worth that hassle or did you feel like playing around with electronics? I love that as well

I used an E3 Flasher to downgrade two days ago.
It's a piece of shit but at least it's solderless

He's downgrading to the firmware that allows you to install custom firmware and therefore homebrew.

Yeah, I'm trying to flash the chip to 3.55 so I can CFW it to get free games.

Well I use to own a PS3 and bought and played most of the games I wanted to play on it. I got this PS3 for cheap so I have no problem with pirating games on a 10+year old system. I build computers so taking apart a PS3 isn't much different. It's just the soldering part that can be difficult, I ruined my first Teensy board so I had to order a new one (but they're only like 25 bucks so it was okay).

You can do this without soldering with an E3 Flasher, but they're a lot more expensive, like $90. About what I payed for my ESD safe soldering gun, solder, wire, 2 teensys and 3.3 regulator. But this was I will always have a soldering gun, wire, and solder at my disposal and I definitely like tinkering with electronics. And you WILL have to reapply thermal paste on your two chips.

I'm actually sort of scared about the thermal paste I applied, it's conductive and if it ended up dripping off the edge of the chip and making a connection I could fry my board. But just don't use conductive thermal paste if you're afraid of that. I made sure to use as less as possible.

This has been about a 2 day project so far, and I expect to finish it by tonight so 3 days.

>You can do this without soldering with an E3 Flasher, but they're a lot more expensive, like $90.
Mine was $40

can't you just find someone who does things like this for a living if you aren't confident with soldering and downgrading manually step by step?
That's what i did, it cost me about $20 and i didn't risk fucking things up beyond repair
if you're doing this as a hobby project you should really start with something easier

Hey OP a few comments:

Your soldering is not so great, but it's okay, I've seen far worse. It might be related to the type of solder so my advice (if you ever where to solder some stuff like this again) ditch the lead-free solder and get some of the good old stuff. SN63PB37 is a great alloy, SN60PB40 is alright too, but I prefer the former. Also invest in a flux pen and use it. For hobby use it doesn't make sense to follow the lead-free way. It's a fucking scam anyway.

>Fluke
Nice

I might do it if I find a ps3 for cheap. How much do they go for usually?

bro why not buy a 360 clip? the i realise your using a nor console yet soldering. an e3 flash is $50, not $90. i think your wires too thick if you solder that to a ps3, needs to be 8 guage i think its called

just keep an eye out. needs to be a 25xx 1a or lower. ive gor some for $30, some for $60, and payed $140 for one

AWG (American Wire Gauge) is a kind of fucked up way to describe actual wire diameter/cross section.

The higher the gauge number the more often the default copper core has been pulled to a certain length. So higher AWG numbers mean thinner wires. An AWG 8 would be rather thick compared to an AWG 22 wire.

Also OP you can set your multimeter to Ohms mode or beeper mode to check if you shorted something out in that unclean corner area.

I like to do these things manually, and I thought this would be good soldering practice (it has been, my precision skills have been getting a lot better). I could have done that, but I'm way too far in now and it's so far been faster (2 day delivery from Amazon, 3 days to do this shit myself, as opposed to sending this shit into some guy on Ebay which would certainly take longer and cost more.

Thanks for the advice, I'm for sure getting better and I don't see any shorts that could cause a brick so I'm pretty confident that I'm not going to fuck anything up. My solder is lead-free and rosin core. Bernzomatic SRC300.

I did not know how cheap E3s can get, but oh well. The wires are 26 AWG which was recommended in the ultimate guide for slim NOR PS3s.

i dont know awg, but i think 22 is the point where its as thick as a hair but a bit more.

I already started soldering some wires on my PS3, can I still do that?

well as long as it dumps i guess, whats your plan for removing the wires from the ps3 after dumping

Oh i think i just got it, its fractions of an inch isnt it? (1/22, 1/8 etc?

As a german eurofag I am more used to the metric system, but hair like copper wire is around 0.1mm2 cross section and 0.1mm2 cross section translates to AWG 27 circa.

Yes that shouldn't be a problem.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge

No it's like there is a default thickness of copper wire that comes out of the melting oven (where the wires are produced).

That wire is pulled / stretched to a certain length, and that would be AWG1, if it's stretched to double that length it's AWG2, etc.

So an AWG 22 has been pulled 22 times the length of that standard length. Each time it's pulled/stretched it gets thinner (reducing cross section).

Sorry my English is not the best to describe this. You can read more about it on the Wikipage I linked.

I have a desoldering pump and wick as well, though I have not been successful in using the wick to desolder. I'm not worried, removing the wire from the PS3 should be easy after I flash it.

It seems to be called

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_drawing

... the process of elongating / thinning a wire.

What a horrifying frankenstein abomination.

great thread

i wish you success

please keep me updated, i want to see the desoldered pictures thank you

ah right, makes sense in an American way

To be honest I wouldn't use a solder sucker on the finder tracks. Those things can lift pads / tracks. It's probably better to remelt the joint, remove the wire from the pad you soldered too and then use some solder wick to clean up the remaining solder. Your Iron might not be powerful enough to heat the wick in a quick manner. That might be the reason why it fails for you. Watch a Youtube video on it if you have issues using it.

Did you scratch the 5v to 3v?

Looks fine, what's wrong with it?

So no matter which joints I put the multimeter on Ohms it beeps, even if the solder is nowhere near eachother or connecting to anything. Like see in here?

C7 connected to GND or D2 or anything like that will beep even though those aren't even soldered to anything or anywhere near eachother. Why is that? Should I unplug the microUSB and try again?

Yeah lol actually the 5v pad ended up falling off anyways but I would never use this for any purpose but downgrading so I don't give a fuck. But yeah I cut the 5v trace. And the multimeter is telling me it's all good, right?

>My solder is lead-free and rosin core. Bernzomatic SRC300.
Shit.
Pure shit.
Get some leaded solder. And some flux.

this, can I get a quick rundown on why should I do it.

Looks like C7 us actually the seventh pin of PortC on the Atmel chip of the Teensy++v2.

It shouldn't be connected to ground I think (shouldn't beep really ...).

Is the chip powered on (it shouldn't be when you check for continuity (ohms/beeper mode)).

it doesnt fucking matter what the solder is for a one time task. leaded solders not useful here at all.

google it

should be good since its 3.3v. on a side note your soldering is pretty bad but whatever we all start somewhere

>google it
no, tell me

>C7 connected to GND or D2 or anything like that will beep even though those aren't even soldered to anything or anywhere near eachother.
>dead shorts across your microcontroller
Sounds like the chip is fried and shorting pins together.

>it doesnt fucking matter what the solder is for a one time task. leaded solders not useful here at all.
Lead free solders are shit. I made the mistake of buying lead free solder to begin with and it was terrible once I tried some leaded solder in comparison.
Do yourself a favor and throw it in the trash like I did.

>it doesnt fucking matter what the solder is for a one time task. leaded solders not useful here at all.

Correct, hence my advice to get leaded solder for future jobs only. Leaded is superior to unleaded in most cases.

Not necessarily, if the chip was powered up, the port pin might have been set to "low" basically pulling the pin to GND.

Another option might have been, that it outputted a high signal to the multimeter, which interpreted it as "continuity". You're really not supposed to measure continuity if a device is powered up.

Like I said, the chip was powered on by Micro USB when it was doing that. Unplugging it fixed it. Now I am not detecting any shorts whatsoever.

ps3hax.net/showthread.php?p=387777#post387777

Literally all you need.

Did this a few weeks ago for the first time, was kinda scary but it all worked out in the end.

Then you're probably good to go. Also see my other post as to why it might have beeped in that case

Oops sorry wrong link.
ps3hax.net/showthread.php?p=387777

OP here, what was the purpose of folded card/cardboard? I just used a single one for each chip, should that be good enough?

See in here:

Is that cardboard?

>You can do this without soldering with an E3 Flasher, but they're a lot more expensive, like $90

Probably about the same or less than the price of buying another PS3 when you fuck up soldering.

After having everything done.

I found that the worst part of the whole thing was the lack of information, or rather the lack of up to date info. Most of the guides out there are outdated and the only up to date guide I found was kinda buried in google since it's too new and hasn't been referenced around the internet.

It's reddit but it's the best i found out there: reddit.com/r/ps3homebrew/wiki/flashers/teensy

I also found some good info on a thread there but I can't seem to find it right now.


It's just one piece of cardboard(not folded) and it's there to keep the tensioning bracket from touching the pcb and risking short circuits at the same time as It cushions the PCB from the hard metal that could potentially damage the board.

Yes.

So far, so good. Next time I might go the safe route, who knows/who cares.

Are you on Windows 10? Why does my Teensy not show the (communication class, abstract model) part?

>I found that the worst part of the whole thing was the lack of information, or rather the lack of up to date info. Most of the guides out there are outdated and the only up to date guide I found was kinda buried in google since it's too new and hasn't been referenced around the internet.

Welcome to the PS Scene. I know that pain all too well.

>journey
A man of good taste.

No, I did mine on a W8 machine I have laying around.

And I remember it didn't install the teensy at first, it took a little while for it to appear on device manager but it did happen on its own.

Did you already flash the teensy?

how many solder ppints do nor models have? nand is 40 i think

I'm sorta thinking about making a video on the whole downgrading process but with a more detailed explanation Instead of just telling people to do this then do that. I find that if I at least vaguely know what's going I'm more likely to not fuck up whatever it is I'm doing, which especially Important in a downgrade that risks bricking the console.

Maybe I'll do it someday, who knows.


Haven't played it yet but that game is on of the reasons that made me get this ps3.

I have no Idea but If I remember correctly all of the teensy pins get connected except for two.

Another picture I took during the downgrade.

Dumping the nor and it worked first try though I do have experience with soldering.

is this the right teensy?

pakronics.com.au/products/teensy-at90usb1286-usb-dev-board-header-ada731

No, that is not 2.0.

Get it from pjrc or Amazon. Teensy++ 2.0. And a 3.3v voltage regulator from pjrc (might be able to find on Amazon, I don't know).

Teensy removed after everything was done. At the time I couldn't be arsed to get proper wire so I just used LAN cable wires which are solid and therefore kinda hard. Worked fine but made things unnecessarily difficult.

I also forgot to buy the 3.3v regulator with the teensy so I had to make do with a locally sourced LM1117 which works just fine but has a different pin configuration so you can't mount it directly to the board, you have to have it dangling on wires, accompanied by the caps it needs to operate properly. You can sorta see on the picture one of the electrolytics I used, sticking out of the bottom of the board.


Just order directly from pjrc: pjrc.com/store/teensypp.html

Make sure to take a few dumps just in case like guides say to.

Is all that shit really necessary? Is it because you bought a newer fw one or what? I have a cfw on mine but haven't used it for almost 2 years already. Didn't have to solder at all.

After 3.55 or so you have to flash directly according to cursory research.

Yeah, when did it I took 4 dumps and compared them against each other like the guides said.

I also kept the dumps in a safe place in case I ever need them.

found it slightly cheaper locally, but i cant find the voltage regulator.

is this it?

littlebirdelectronics.com.au/products/3-3v-800ma-linear-voltage-regulator-ld1117-3-3-to-220

i know you say to buy from pjrc but theyre gonna cost the same but take longer.

downgrade only. because they updated

OP here, gotta go to work. Will continue solder work when I get back or next morning and update how it goes.

Thanks for all of the support fellas!

My next videogames related project: psx-scene.com/forums/f19/how-build-your-own-ps2-bluetooth-adapter-use-real-ps3-ps4-controllers-wirelessly-your-ps2-127728/

Already managed to buy a raspberry pi zero(those damn things are always outta stock) and in the next week i'll order the bluetooth adapter and the teensy.

It'll work but you won't be able to solder it directly to the board like you would If you had the proper one. You'd also need to pay attention to the pin configuration which Is different from the MCP1825 which the teensy is designed for.


I'll try to catch your thread again tomorrow. Would be easier If you posted the time you're gonna be here.

so what do i do if i cant solder it to the board? im kinda just following the guide here and need help with anything not on it.

You gotta buy an e3 flasher which can be found cheaper on ebay than the $90 OP was saying.

I will be home 11 PM EST probably. If I do not continue work tonight (might be too tired) I will bump it and continue the thread tomorrow around noon.

its for a nand console

I thought there were nor versions too.

Jerry rig it using wires instead of surface mounting.

You'd need both the regulator's datasheets to know which pin Is what on the board and on the new regulator, and then you'd need to solder wires from the regulator to the correct spot on the board.


I'll keep an eye out.

no, im using the teensy for a nand console. i just dont know how to connect the non MCP1825 to it.

After you do this you should leave it soldered so that you can reflash if you brick.

ah right, since its only 3 pins its only 3 wires just in a different order? i was actually thinking of doing a similar thing with a nand clip (to the teensy) since the pcs for connecting a 360 clip to a teensy is impossible to find. if not ill just solder the teensy to the ps3 but im a little hesitant

Did you look up the datasheet for it?

i did and it seems straightforward right?

google.com.au/url?q=https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Components/LD1117V33.pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwj61-imtNfTAhWJUZQKHRfQDOsQFggNMAA&usg=AFQjCNESSd32AFXkPAWQ3Wl9T6rhEi2P0Q

Yeah, just 3 and maybe some capacitors are needed but not sure If they really are necessary. I did put them on mine though.

Doing a similar thing to clip would be a much bigger pain due to the pin pitch, not even sure you'd be able to do it by hand.

Is there anything worth pirating on the PS3 from the past two years? I only know of persona 5.

figured as muxh. i tried to get one of the boards from the guy that prints them but he vanished once i asked hoe much. really think capacitors are necessary? i havent done this stuff on this scale before

I'm not totally sure if you need the caps since what's on the board could possibly be enough but if wanna be absolutely sure you're better off with the caps, or just getting the proper voltage regulator.

OP here! I'm back and ready to continue my work. Will update when I begin the process of flashing/dumping, or if I've horrifically fail and brick my PS3 haha.

user who had the idea to use the multimeter to detect shorts, I love you so much. It has been super helpful so far.

Bump. Almost done soldering. Also checking for shorts. Should be done in an hour or two.

Is the super slim downgradeable yet?

All Google shows are scam sites

Last time I checked you needed a ode

Doesn't seem possible since they came out after the 3.55 firmware.

Everything is now soldered, time to re check for shorts again and then start the flashing process!

Burger here, did not know this, thanks!

I'm saving this pic to show my brother. Looks like a nightmare, I wish you luck.

Okay, that's not right. I'm going to recheck the connections tomorrow morning.

This is what I meant, the NOR chip shouldn't be unknown. But I see a disconnected wire and a possible shorted area so it should be an easy fix. We'll try again tomorrow. Good night everyone.

Yeah, you dun goofed. Good luck rechecking the wires.

Why bother? MGO2 is coming back for OFW this summer.

But cfws can go into psn without getting banned, what difference would there be with MGO?

Use the e3 flasher fucktard its super easy its legos

>doing things the easy boring way when you can do it the hard slow fun way

The fuck you doing on Sup Forums? Just get a mac and fuck off to facebook.

I bought an e3 flasher and dumped whatever, then when I tried to flash it the clip died and started to solder it (e3 also comes with a board like the teensy), when I had 4 or 5 connections left to solder a wire in the fucking middle of the mess came out and I just gave up.

All the guides you can find about hacking the ps3 are terrible wasted too much time on that shit.

God what a spiders nest.

Hope you don't get fucked like I was. I modded two PS3 consoles and they both died within a week of each-other.

Fucking 60GB models. Both the best and worst model at the same time.