First of all I would start by introducing my self, My name is Faisal from Saudi Arabia. I am doing this step by step guide which is part of my quest to 1.5.

Now some of you may find this lengthy and boring. Well…. The idea behind writing this in such detailed way is to ensure I cover all the topics that are required to achieve a successful 1.5. Also this is intended for Noobs like my self who ask for more eachtime. So here it goes:

What PSP I have:

I bought my PSP 1 month ago. It was a factory 1.52FW PSP-1007K WS259 “C”. This is the Taiwanese version. For those of you who don’t know the previous versions of the Software downgraders were unscuccessful with a PSP-1006 & 1007 (Asian versions). But that’s not the case with Dark Alex’s Easy Full Downgrader 2.71>1.5 by XTRUSION.

History of UPGRADE Before getting 1.5!

As mentioned above, I had a factory 1.52FW, so in order to play the new games I upgraded to 2.60FW using the GTA disc FW upgrader that came embedded in my GTA. It is a US version of GTA (PATCHED ONE!!!!). believe me the reason I decided to use the new 2.71 Easy Full DG is because I couldn’t find the GTA unpatched version here in Saudi. For those who don’t know the previous Dark Alex DG 2.5/2.6 required an UNPATCHED Copy of GTA LCS (it is as hard to find these days as a factory 1.5… TRUST ME). (How to tell if you have a UNPATCHED …. The ONLY way is to put the UMD in, if it asks for a version 2.0 upgrade it is UNPATCHED otherwise it is PATCHED.

So on 1st September when I came to know about the new downgrader 2.71 > 1.5 I went to the dl.qj.net site and downloaded a copy of the 2.71 FW to upgrade. Successfully upgraded to 2.71 I believe it was the North American version. So once I had the 2.71 I was all set to get 1.5.

Checks before downgrading

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF MY POST…. READ CAREFULLY. All the information here will help you decide weather you qualify for a Downgrade or not. Pls. Pls. people don’t flood forums by posting 100s of questions with out doing your home work…. As for my self…. I studied about a month from various forums….. trust me the knowledge and person experiences of others really eased my quest…. Anyways…. This is a list that should be followed A-Z no if’s and but’s :

1) Dark Alex Easy Downgrader 2.71 > 1.5 by Xtrusion is ONLY for 2.71.
2) Don’t use it on 2.70 or 2.80. IT WILL BRICK. For 2.70 owners upgrade to 2.71 first.
3) Owners of TA-082 IC1003 (text is on right, if on left behind UMD casing no probs as in my case it had IC1009 behind UMD casing). Don’t do it if you have TA-082 MB, it’ll BRICK.
4) DO NOT forget to plug the power cord all through the process. VERY IMPORTANT.
5) I used a 1GB Sandisk Pro Duo MS. Formatted using my PSP. (u can use 32MB as well).
6) Ensure you use the FULL VERSION of the DG 2.71 > 1.5 using. Don’t use the LITE version. The Full does the job for you, don’t have to worry about placing files and folders in the right places.. The full version is the best way to go… YES It includes the 1.5FW dump… no need to ask for links anymore. Just get the full version and you’re good to go. I got it from RAPID SHARE. It is an EXE file 15.6MB has voice acting funny hehe… especially the “PSP” one….

The Actual Downgrade:

Ok, so after you’ve gone through the above check list, you’re good to go,,,, although the most important thing that you need to understand is : “You’ve been Warned !!!!! This could potentially brick your PSP. Your best chances of doing it right is if you follow the above list and ensure that you’re ready to accept the outcome, Don’t blame anyone…. IT IS YOUR DECISION.!!!

• Connect you PSP to the power adaptor.
• Format your memory stick using PSP.
• Connect to the PC using USB cable
• Run the Dark Alex Easy DownGrader 2.71 > 1.5
• It will ask you if your PSP is compatible or not. Proceed to the next screen and identify drive letter.
• Next the program will start copying the files on the MS for the 1.5 dump.
• Once done, it will ask you to disconnect from USB and go to Photo to run the DG.
• VERY VERY IMPORTANT: It may not run on the first try due to an instability of the TIFF exploit. For my case it took 5 tries until it Finally worked. Just remember don’t worry if you go to Photo and screen FREEZES. This means you need to restart. Don’t worry… you restart manually by holding the ON switch for 10 seconds. You’re still at 2.71 NO HARM to your PSP. According to Dark Alex the code will either execute Fully or Not at all. So don’t worry. I also encountered memory still flashing for about 20 seconds but no red screen. Also one time out of the 5 tries MS light just stayed ON until I manually switched the PSP OFF.
• REMEMBER you are only looking for a FULL RED SCREEN, this is the point of no return. Once you get the RED Screen just DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING!!!!! It should flash for about 2 Minutes and then your PSP will go BLACK. Again give it another minute don’t RUSH!!! Now the software will advise you to switch ON and see the BLUE ERROR screen.
• Just switch it ON using and you will get the BLUE Screen with a lot of text saying “System setting are corrupted press “O” to goto default settings. Now press the O button and wait for the hand of fate…………… You’ll get a reboot and it’ll ask you to set date time etc…. once done you will have a 1.5 FW… YAAAAAAAAAYY.

Special thanks to Dark Alex, Yoshiro, Fanjita, Xtrusion and other developers who made this so easy and possible. Also special thanks to POX & RAGGABLE of PSPHACKING101.com. You guys are unbelievable.. Watched all your 18 episodes… awaiting the next one anxiously.

So in the end guys, trust me it is not difficult at all….. it is really easy with the voice interface. And the process is only 5 minutes total.. so don’t deprive your self of the wonders of 1.5.. HOMEBREW, ISOS, DEVHOOK here I come!!!!!!!

Good Luck to all.!!!!!!