One of the most frequent questions I get asked, and comments I see made, are about the recovery menu on the PSP. Most people seem confused about how to access it, and what it actually does.

The PSP recovery menu is most often talked about in relation to custom XMB themes, as it allows access to the PSP’s inbuilt flash memory, where information about the PSP theme is stored. Therecovery menu not only allows write access to the PSP system memory, but also to a whole range of other features relating to the way the PSP operates.

Who can access the PSP Recovery Menu

Let me make this as clear as I possbily can – The PSP Recovery Menu is only available to PSP’s that are running a custom firmware version such as 3.03/3.30/3.40 Open Editions (OE), or 3.51/3.52/3.71M33. If your PSP is running a standard Sony firmware (from firmware 1.5 through to 3.71) you do NOT have a Recovery Menu on your PSP.

If you don’t understand or know which firmware version your PSP is running, it will most likely be running a standard Sony one. If you bought your PSP second hand, there is a slim chance it will have a custom firmware, but its likely to be sold purely on that fact alone, and there fore you would normally be aware of the fact.

To check your firmware version, turn your PSP on as normal, scroll to the SettingsSystem Settings and then to System Information. This will show you what firmware you have got. If the numbers are followed by the letters SE/OE/M33 then its a custom firmware version.

Entering the PSP Recovery Menu

If your PSP has a custom firmware, entering the Recovery Menu is simple – hard reboot the PSP and keep the right trigger button pressed in while it boots. You will go into a text based menu system, with one of many background colours depending on which custom firmware version you are using. The latest 3.71M33 recovery menu has a black background and red text. Previous versions have used blue backgrounds, amongst others.

When the PSP boots into the Recovery Menu, there are a nmumber of options open to you -

• Toggle USB
• Configuration
• Run program at /PSP/GAME/RECOVERY/EBOOT.PBP
• Advanced
• CPU Speed
• Plugins
• Registery Hacks
• Exit

Toggle USB

Simply connects the PSP to your PC with the USB cable, allowing access to your memory stick.

Configuration

Configuration contains a number of options for the PSP:

• Skip Sony Logo
• Hide Corrupt Icons
• Game Folder Homebrew
• Auto Run program at….
• UMD Mode
• Fake Region
• Free UMD Region
• Hard Reset on Homebrew
• USe vshmenu
• XMB USB Device

Each option can be toggled on or off, or is switchable between different values. Most of these options are self-explanatory, so I won’t go into further detail.

Run program at /PSP/GAME/RECOVERY/EBOOT.PBP

Does what it says on the tin. Runs the recovery EBOOT.PBP to restore the original 1.5 firmware. Note, you need to have correctly setup the 1.5 firmware EBOOT in the relevant directory for this to work.

Advanced

Advanced is where you can now access the PSP system memory (flash/0/1/2/3). Used to write custom PSP themes to the system, along with other custom options for the display menu. Now slightly redundant for themes with Sony adding the inbuilt theme function with 3.71 firmware.

Care should be taken when connecting the PSP to the PC via USB, as it opens up potential risk of bricks if you start removing files that are neccessary for the PSP to operate.

You also have the option to restore flash1 to its initial settings – useful if you have played around with custom themes and have managed to break something.

CPU Speed

With the custom firmware, you can select the speed you want the CPU to run at in both the XMB and when playing UMD games. Sony reduced the clock speed from 333mhx to 266mhz to conserve battery power. You can reverse this here and restore the system back to full speed.

Plugins

Plugins are custom options that you may want to use with your custom firmware, such as screen capture software. Once a plugin is enabled, it normally changes the way the PSP operates, or the function performed by a particular XMB menu option or PSP button.

Registery Hacks

This is where you can select wha tthe X button does on your PSP – useful if you have a Japanese PSP and want to switch the main function button from O to X, the same as European and US models.

You can also enable the WMA and Flash player under this menu option.

Exit

Does as you’d expect, funnily enough.

Conclusion

So, thats a brief run down of the PSP Recovery Menu. If you’ve got a custom firmware installed on your PSP, its worth checking out some of the options that Dark_AleX has provided for you.