PS3 [GUIDE] How to install Custom firmware on your PS3 in 2023

[aldostools]

Sorry, one last question, by installing the cfw, the games I have on the hdd stay or are they deleted?

CFW installation doesn't erase anything in HDD. It's behaves like an official firmware update.
The games, saves, trophies, dlc, licenses, user accounts, themes, etc. stay intact in HDD.

 

[yterbiu]

Hi all, just arrived around , i m just became the proud owner of an Ps3 CECHC04.It has 4.78 firmware and my question is, can i install a custom firmware (4.90)following this thread of should i the install something more specific for this ps3 model? Thank you !

 

[Coro]

Hi all, just arrived around , i m just became the proud owner of an Ps3 CECHC04.It has 4.78 firmware and my question is, can i install a custom firmware (4.90)following this thread of should i the install something more specific for this ps3 model? Thank you !

yes. follow the guide and install Evilnat 4.90.1 CFW when done.

 

[NiQ]

Hi all, just arrived around , i m just became the proud owner of an Ps3 CECHC04.It has 4.78 firmware and my question is, can i install a custom firmware (4.90)following this thread of should i the install something more specific for this ps3 model? Thank you !

It has one thing that's different than most other models - When you run Flash Writer, select "NAND".

 

[DragonWario]

Hi, I'm attempting to self host the Flash Writer and everything looks good, but I cannot connect to the website on my PS3 or the [your ip]/ps3xploit url. I'd post an image saying what it says but that ability is disabled for me.

Is there anything I could try to fix this? I already made firewall exceptions, launched as admin, and disabled my antivirus. No luck.

 

[DragonWario]

Help no longer needed, used one of the internet hosted Flash Writer links and that worked fine. Thank you for hosting those solutions!

 

[rkkiler]

hello everyone,
I bought ps3 slim SKU: 3.50 CECH-2504B. I did OWF updates to 4.90 and replaced the disk with a 1TB SSD - it was ok. Then I wanted to upload CFW. Everything was going well according to the instructions until I flashed CFW 4.90 Evilnat Cobra 8.4 [CEX]. The console crashed during the update, the flash drive stopped flashing, the clock stopped. I waited like that for 15 minutes, pulled out the flash drive and turned it off with the button. I tried to fix it in recovery mode but I get error 8002f281. I tried with different fw, pendrive, ssd, what am I doing wrong? Sorry for my English

 

[Coro]

hello everyone,
I bought ps3 slim SKU: 3.50 CECH-2504B. I did OWF updates to 4.90 and replaced the disk with a 1TB SSD - it was ok. Then I wanted to upload CFW. Everything was going well according to the instructions until I flashed CFW 4.90 Evilnat Cobra 8.4 [CEX]. The console crashed during the update, the flash drive stopped flashing, the clock stopped. I waited like that for 15 minutes, pulled out the flash drive and turned it off with the button. I tried to fix it in recovery mode but I get error 8002f281. I tried with different fw, pendrive, ssd, what am I doing wrong? Sorry for my English

check HERE (bookmark the page!)

after the page loads, use your browser's text search function to find the number. there are 2 entries for that one. one about wifi/bt board and one about hdd.

good luck

 

[nashxx101]

Bella guida centrato al primo colpo ,ho una domanda se installo hen come torno indietro ?devo reinstallare il cfw?:confuso3:

English:
Nice guide centered on the first try, I have a question if I install hen how do I go back? Do I have to reinstall the cfw?

 

[NiQ]

Bella guida centrato al primo colpo ,ho una domanda se installo hen come torno indietro ?devo reinstallare il cfw?:confuso3:

English:
Nice guide centered on the first try, I have a question if I install hen how do I go back? Do I have to reinstall the cfw?

You need to reinstall everything from scratch.
Although now that I think about it, if going from CFW to HEN it might be possible to use DB-Hybrid instead of regular HFW, which should give you the option to easily switch back to CFW anytime you want.
Would like someone else to confirm though.

 

[Coro]

DB-Hybrid instead of regular HFW, which should give you the option to easily switch back to CFW anytime you want

yes, that is what it is for. it is so that devs/testers with cfw consoles can still work on hen or test thier homebrews on hen without having to flash again.

 

[Rallye89]

@bguerville PS3 Toolset is now back online for 4.80>4.89 at http://ps3toolset.com/

 

[aldostools]

Sorry, one last question, by installing the cfw, the games I have on the hdd stay or are they deleted?

CFW installation behaves the same as OFW installation: nothing in hdd is deleted, only CoreOS & dev_flash are updated.

Therefore your games, apps, homebrews, DLC, saves, trophies, licenses, themes remain untouched.

Your XMB customizations stored in /dev_flash need to be reinstalled.

If you're using HEN, you will need to reinstall it.

 

[mcshreddin]

Do you have to install through safe mode back to back during consecutive safe mode boot ups? Also how big of a usb drive is needed for a backup of the CECHA fat model backup? I need a bigger thumb drive as currently I have only an old 256 mb from the past which doesnt appear to be big enough for the backup. LOL

 

[Comfy]

Gonna dust of mine tonight (and the ps3!) - mines already modded but, im pretty sure that ive got an older CFW installed....am i right in saying i can just flash straight over the top of the old CFW thats on there?? - Cheers to anyone that chips in.!

 

[NiQ]

Gonna dust of mine tonight (and the ps3!) - mines already modded but, im pretty sure that ive got an older CFW installed....am i right in saying i can just flash straight over the top of the old CFW thats on there?? - Cheers to anyone that chips in.!

Yes, just put Evilnat 4.90 CFW on an MBR-FAT32 USB disk and do a system update via storage.

 

[iTzSweetTooth]

Hi all, I have a question

My PS3 is on v4.88, Now can I still use the old method and install CFW 4.88 ?! Or I need to update to 4.90 and follow the new method for CFW ?!

 

[NiQ]

Hi all, I have a question

My PS3 is on v4.88, Now can I still use the old method and install CFW 4.88 ?! Or I need to update to 4.90 and follow the new method for CFW ?!

The main method (bgtoolset) hasn't changed since 4.88 so yes, you can use it (assuming your model supports CFW). You don't have to install 4.88 based CFW though; once bgtoolset does its magic you can immediately install Evilnat 4.90.
If you're following a guide from two years ago though, please mind that bgtoolset's URL has changed to ps3toolset.com

 

[iTzSweetTooth]

The main method (bgtoolset) hasn't changed since 4.88 so yes, you can use it (assuming your model supports CFW). You don't have to install 4.88 based CFW though; once bgtoolset does its magic you can immediately install Evilnat 4.90.
If you're following a guide from two years ago though, please mind that bgtoolset's URL has changed to ps3toolset.com

Thank you so much for the info, I used CFW 4.88 with my other PS3 and its working fine without any issues, Is it worth upgrading to CFW 4.90 ?!

Which CFW consider more consistent?

 

[NiQ]

Thank you so much for the info, I used CFW 4.88 with my other PS3 and its working fine without any issues, Is it worth upgrading to CFW 4.90 ?!

Which CFW consider more consistent?

Generally if you're on Evilnat 4.88 it would be worthwhile updating to 4.90. Evilnat has been adding a lot of new features to his CFW that previously required a 3rd party app (e.g. Rebug Toolbox). At the very least you will want to dump and backup your ERK and IDPS.
Also, if you wish to use PSN, mind that PSN requires you to be on the latest firmware version, and while there are ways to spoof the reported version, it is considered safer to just actually update to it if there's a CFW based on it (which there is) and there are no undesired changes (which there aren't).

Generally the changes that OFW had between 4.88 and 4.90 are:

• Updated Blu-Ray encryption keys. This is needed if you use your PS3 for watching Blu-Ray movies. It has no effect on games.
• Removal of the ability to create new PSN accounts directly on the PS3 and the ability to use credit cards on the PS3 store, due to security concerns. Staying on 4.88 will not allow you to work around this, because it has also been disabled on the serer side. You can still create new PSN accounts on Sony's website. To buy digital games and DLCs on the PS3 store you need to buy credit on the PSN account via the website or on a PS4/PS5, and then you can use it on the PS3 store.

By the way, CFW allows you to QA flag the console, which in turn allows you to downgrade the firmware back to any version not lower than the one your console originally shipped with, so the update is not a one way process.