10 Days Later: BluRay Problems and Project #PS3bluray Tool!

[The Central Scrutinizer]

When I first started the WARNING (WARNING! RED ALERT! DOWNGRADING KILLS BLU-RAY MOVIE PLAYBACK!) thread back 10 days ago, no one had any clue there was a problem with downgrading, and the news spread like wild-fire around the 'net, and since then over 3,000 posts have been made but sadly after over a week there is still no clear answer of how to resolve this problem for all those that been hurt by downgrading their consoles.

What has been made clear after 10 days of chatter on our forums, is it is only those consoles with 256mb NAND that will 100% lose their Blu-Ray Movie playback when downgrading, see this handy chart of PS3 consoles:

Also it has been made clear, it is nothing to do with modded PUP's, or other things like different dongles, and many makers have come out with so-called v2 of their downgrader dongles but clearly that is just a marketing side-step to grab sells from others as their so-called fixes have not solved the problem.

There been the lucky few that have had previously made backups of their /dev_flash3 which is only possible to be done when in Jailbroken mode using v3.15 or v3.41 have been able to restore their files, and even more rare bunch have been able to use supplied files from other consoles, review this two threads for people that have posted their backups which might help out your broken blu-ray playback problem:

http://psx-scene.com/forums/f118/col...-bluray-73434/ (Collection of dev_flash3 Directories to Restore Bluray)
http://psx-scene.com/forums/f118/bac..._flash3-72606/

But there is light at the end of the tunnel, announced last night on PSGroove.com is Project #PS3bluray and they are working towards a solution but your help is needed!

One of the most exciting recent developments is the ability to downgrade PS3s to previous firmwares. Unfortunately this has proven to have an unexpected side-effect for certain older ("phat") PS3s: After downgrading, systems with 256MB of flash RAM (NAND) lose the ability to play Blu-Ray movies. Despite what you may have heard or what has been promised by certain unscrupulous sellers of USB-dongles, there is no fix at this time.

That's why we have formed Project #PS3bluray and are trying hard to remedy this situation. However, we can't do it without you. To find a solution, we need your help! We are not asking for any money; all we need are a few short moments of your time. This is your chance to actively contribute and support the community, by helping find a solution!

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
To solve the Blu-Ray problem, we need a file from inside the PS3's NAND, specifically the DRL1/2-files located inside dev_flash3. DRL is short for "Drive Revocation List"; these files are reponsible for allowing Blu-Ray video playback.

In order to collect and analyze as many DRL files as possible from PS3s with working and non-working Blu-Ray playback, we have created an easy-to-use utility called DRLbackup, which automatically extracts DRL1/2 and creates a zip archive, which we'd then like you to send to us by email.

Please note that this file does not contain any personal information or serial numbers and can't be traced back to you. It is perfectly safe and anonymous.

USAGE:
1. Start your PS3 in Jailbreak mode
2. Put DRLbackup.pkg into the root of any FAT32 USB storage device and connect it to your PS3.
3. Install DRLbackup.pkg (under Game / Install Package Files), then run it from the XMB.
4. The screen will go black for a few seconds. When DRLbackup is done you will be returned to the XMB.
5. Verify 3 files were written to the USB drive: Copies of DRL1/DRL2, and a .zip file named like: devflash3_.zip
6. Send the zip-file to ProjectPS3bluray@gmail.com (keep the copies of DRL1/DRL2 as personal backup).

That's it, thank you for your time!
If all goes well, this may lead to a way to return Blu-Ray playback capability to all PS3s that have lost it.

ABOUT:
Project #PS3bluray was formed on efnet by a group of enthusiasts after the Blu-Ray playback problem was discovered, our goal is to find a solution. For serious discussion, join us in our IRC-channel #PS3bluray on efnet. PS3bluray DRLbackup v0.01 was compiled with PSL1GHT to gather forensic evidence regarding the PS3 Blu-Ray Playback issue.

Thanks to everyone involved!
Your time and hard work is very much appreciated!

News Source: Help Bring Back PS3 Blu-Ray Playback! (via) PSGroove.com

Many thanks for braschlosan of informing me of this wonderful new project!

[Kamse]

Thanks for the info.
I'm gonna test this on all the ps3 i know, starting from mine (CECH-2004B, SLIM - PAL - 250G - BR Working).

[korn16ftl]

hopefully my fat with BR working (as i never used the downgrade) dump will be of some help not shure of NAND size tho.

[Erikih]

My ps3, wich i downgraded from 3.41 to 3.15 still got BR playback working and it isn't on the list above. My ps3's model name is cechc04 and it's a 60GB fat ps3.

[JonahUK]

My ps3, wich i downgraded from 3.41 to 3.15 still got BR playback working and it isn't on the list above. My ps3's model name is cechc04 and it's a 60GB fat ps3.

04 is the region so ANY CECHC will be a fat. The list above is merely a guide to go off.

If you have a model in the range of CECHA - CECHG (according to the list above) it will be a 256 NAND model and WILL lose playback.

[ieder-zijn-meis]

familiar table :P

Lets hope it gets fixed permanently

To avoid the long sequence of already answered questions:

1. CECHH and higher/newer with 16MB NAND are unaffected (but are most likely to format the disk).
2. A full backup and restore from the XMB does not backups/restores the /dev_flashX files regarding BluRay movie playback.
3. FAT PS3's with 256MB NAND don't boot to XMB without harddisk
4. Any question/answer is almost useless if you do not add info about which model !
5. If you claim any downgrade without loss of BluRay movie playblack of known affected models, you've proven nothing without the downgrade log. Also providing more info about what you used to downgrade is much appreciated
6. If you restored a backup of the /dev_flashX files, to re-enable blueray movie payback on affected models please post info that you did (and possibly post the files too).
7. If never played any bluray movie on the PS3 it is normal to have an empty /dev_flash3 , files will be created the first time you play a bluray.
999. If you are new to downgrading, a full guide is posted here, also the origin of the above posted table from the same author.

Alot of FW usable for downgrade, upgrade or crossgrade can be found here.

.
Anyone succesfull in downgrading without loss of bluray movies playback on models
CECHA, CECHB, CECHC, CECHE, CECHG WITHOUT needing to restore /dev_flash3,
please post the following info:

Please post the LOG including:

MODEL:
Dongle/Device:
Hex:
FW Before:
FW After:
PUPS used:

Please include exact steps you took when you downgraded.

Users claiming this:
http://psx-scene.com/forums/633161-post4.html (10 Days Later: BluRay Problems and Project #PS3bluray Tool!) (Erikih - CECHC-04(7A) - added info: http://psx-scene.com/forums/633268-post39.html (10 Days Later: BluRay Problems and Project #PS3bluray Tool!) )
http://psx-scene.com/forums/633180-post11.html (10 Days Later: BluRay Problems and Project #PS3bluray Tool!) (DKBN - CECHE - fail to provide info)

[Shinto Z]

Hey Everyone,

Im new on the forum but have done a lot of reading on some of the previous threads about what is affected, what could be causing BD playback issues in the old PS3 Fats. Don't stop reading here because I might actually have something of value for those "in the know."

I have a jb ps3 fat with 3.41 on it. I had downgraded from 3.5. BD doesn't work now. It is one of the early 60GB models. I heard a lot about trying to boot it without the hard disk in. Everyone said it would error out on power up. So I tried it. I did.

Then I got an idea. What if I try to put it into Service Mode then power up? So I did.

The short of it is that even old Fats boot up without the hard drive in service mode. Im gonna try to run a BluRay without the hard drive in....

Well. That doesn't work. Is there any way to run homebrew from thumbdrive?

[petso]

hello if i crate a full buckup of internal hdd with ps3 buckup manager and the do upgrade to 3.50 and downgrade to 3.41 and i have problem with bluray playback !! if i do restore can solve the problem??????

[garyopa]

Opps. -- I somehow wiped out the attachment in my moving of posts and editing the news!

All fixed up now, see the first post for the "Project DRLBackup.pkg" files!

[norain]

As always... willing to provide any help I can.

I probably have the largest collection of dev_flash3's on the internet. (Haven't posted them all because they aren't all from this site.)

So I'll get over to ps3groove.com and see if they can do the guys any good.