PS3 Downgrading CECHG04 to 1.90 doesn't work

[LucaXCECHA00]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post here, so hello everyone, I'm Luca

As a little project I bought myself around 20 old PS3's, ranging from CECHC04 to the later CECHL04 models. The CECHC04's are still in the Netherlands to get a 40nm RSX installed tho..

What I usually do is I clean the consoles, delid them, install new thermal paste, polish the whole housing and sometimes resell them, but usually I just keep them in my personal collection.

Anyways, just wanted to provide a little bit of background info )

One problem I'm always facing however is downgrading them. For most CECHL04 models the minimum FW is 2.45. I have no problem install version 2.50 using Rogeros 3.55 (999) downgrader.

However I always have problems when trying to downgrade below FW 2.50.

One of the CECHL04's for example could be downgraded to 2.16, but no luck at all. Whenever I try to do so it just gives me errors or says that the data is corrupt.

Now I also have a CECHG04 where I could go as low as 1.90 and experience the "OG OS" but also here it gives me these errors...

I am on the 3.55 Rogero downgrader but still no luck..

Can someone help?

 

[GuilloteTesla]

Don't use Rogero's Downgrader. First enable QA flags on CFW, then downgrade to CFW 3.55, and finally downgrade to your desired firmware (or the lowest version permitted).

Bear in mind that downgrading below FW 2.80 is not that easy and brings lots of complications because of the lack of Recovery Update feature on boot.

 

[Charles_n_town]

Ironically, 2.50 is the firmware that introduced the recovery menu iirc. I also would advise against downgrading below that for safety reasons.

 

[LucaXCECHA00]

And what CFW do you recommend for my purpose? Rogero or Rebug or what?

Also what do you mean when you said that downgrading below 2.80 isn't easy, what problems should I be aware of?

 

[GuilloteTesla]

And what CFW do you recommend for my purpose? Rogero or Rebug or what?

That's a personal choice. I would suggest Rebug 3.55.4 REX (MIRROR), but it's up to you.

Once you are on CFW 3.55, you can try downgrading to FW 1.90 (but it's very tricky to go that low).

Also what do you mean when you said that downgrading below 2.80 isn't easy, what problems should I be aware of?

There has been some reports here on the forums that downgrading below FW 2.80 is where the problems begin: update not found, errors during the update, etc. It's very unstable and without any sort of clear error message or logs about what's going on during the FW downgrade.

Best case scenario: the update process passes all validations and installs the FW as usual. But here we are talking about FW versions that are way too simple, without any sort of recovery features or a matured update process.

Another thing is that downgrading via the XMB system update option tends to fail more than downgrading via Recovery Menu (which is not available on versions below 2.50 as @Charles_n_town said in the previous post).

 

[LucaXCECHA00]

Okay so I cannot somehow get to Rebug 3.55.4 REX as it always tells me that no applicable data was found. (On the 9.99 downgrader unfortunately).
I'll try some 1.90 , 1.94 and so on PUPs and let you guys know.

 

[GuilloteTesla]

Okay so I cannot somehow get to Rebug 3.55.4 REX as it always tells me that no applicable data was found. (On the 9.99 downgrader unfortunately).
I'll try some 1.90 , 1.94 and so on PUPs and let you guys know.

That's the problem of using the 9.99 downgrader, you now are stuck on it until a proper FW is installed.

Try installing OFW 3.55 and then REBUG 3.55.

 

[LucaXCECHA00]

So here's what I tried (without success)

• Downgrading with Rebug 3.55: Over the XMB it gave me an error that the datatype was not supported around 59% of copying
• Downgrading with Rebug 4.55: Over Recovery mode it did copy the file and reboot to the install screen, with the blue wallpaper where it also said Version 1.93, but then it says after pressing PS button that I already have the newest system software installed.
• Downgrading with 4.91 Evilnat: Exactly the same as on 3.55
• FSM: no luck at all, behaves just like the other

I also just tested it on a CECHH04 with 2.16 minFW, no luck installing 2.17 with same issues as above.

But every dang time I try to install 2.50 (where recovery mode was introduced) it goes through on any console without any problems whatsoever, using any of these methods.

It seems to me that the Recovery mode introduction seems to be the problem.

Does anyone have any ideas??

UPDATE: Using recovery mode I was (finally) able to downgrade to version 2.17 on the CECHH04 model.

Since this is a NOR (16MB) model, could the fact that the CECHG04 is a NAND model make a difference when downgrading?

UPDATE2: The CECHH04 started and wanted to rebuild the database. It got stuck at 14% and froze, so I had to reformat the HD on my Mac. After that, I put it back in and pressed the power button until I heard three single beeps. From there, it told me that the system software could not be started and had to be reinstalled. So I held START and SELECT, reinstalled 2.17 over the USB and then it booted up correctly. This extra step of reformatting and reinstalling was not needed when downgrading to 2.50, so could this have anything to do with the recovery mode?