[baileyscream]

I have come across old posts by defyboy talking about dumping nand consoles using the starship nor test points.
but his blog is nolonger active and any google search about it hits a dead end.

does anyone here know how he did it as this is the first i knew you could dump nand with a nor flasher

and this way solves the bad block issue aswell

POST #325

POST #399

and then THIS THREAD has talk of his flasher before judges created NORway i think.

oh and anyone wondering what bad blocks on NAND

READ THIS

over on defyboy.org it contradicts his posts by saying it cannot be done.
if he has done it then why has it not been documented?

someone must know how it was done or has cloned / saved his blog posts.

his blog was http://blog.defyboy.org/

and paste it in here http://archive.org/web/web.php

thanks @underwurlde for the archive link

[underwurlde]

Perhaps he worked out what the protocol used on the EIB bus is between the Southbridge and the Starship2.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was NOResque in other words making the two NANDs 'look' like (in hardware) a NOR chip to the SouthBridge...
...my thinking here is if Sony removes the 2 NANDs & removes the Starship2 and instead bungs in a NOR instead, therefore no need to change the SouthBridge <- it remains the same device regardless of NAND / NOR. = cheaper, easier to manufacture PS3 hardware.

the protocol used on this EIB bus is unknown/undocumented. This makes it impossible to use these points for a hardware-flasher"

Or instead of working out this magical protocol, worked out what those test pads were, i.e. basically assumed what I have above and then sussed out all the control test-pads, Address test-pads and data test-pads. Once done, connected up a NOR hardware flasher, viola?

Wild stab in the dark all that of course.

Andy

[baileyscream]

Originally Posted by underwurlde Perhaps he worked out what the protocol used on the EIB bus is between the Southbridge and the Starship2. I wouldn't be surprised if it was NOResque in other words making the two NANDs 'look' like (in hardware) a NOR chip to the SouthBridge... ...my thinking here is if Sony removes the 2 NANDs & removes the Starship2 and instead bungs in a NOR instead, therefore no need to change the SouthBridge <- it remains the same device regardless of NAND / NOR. = cheaper, easier to manufacture PS3 hardware. Or instead of working out this magical protocol, worked out what those test pads were, i.e. basically assumed what I have above and then sussed out all the control test-pads, Address test-pads and data test-pads. Once done, connected up a NOR hardware flasher, viola? Wild stab in the dark all that of course. Andy

he does say the starship does make the 2 nands work as a nor chip
so what your saying is right 1 nor = 1 starship + 2 nands hardware wise.

what got my interest in this was that he said he has dumped / flashed by connecting a nor flasher to the nor type test points and the starship chip removes the bad blocks (ie it must re-sort them on the fly) and no need for de-interleaving

if we can get the correct points mapped then this would solve bad flashing on nand consoles

[underwurlde]

Again, guessing here:

Let us ASSUME that the southbridge chip is the SAME for both NAND and NOR consoles (the StarShip2 sorts out the NAND cr@p and makes it appear like a NOR).

IF that ASSUMPTION is correct then should be quite easy to map out:

1) Get a NOR motherboard - the test pads are known for what they do (/TRI, /RE /WE/ RDY, D0-15, A0-A22 etc). Then desolder the SouthBridge and see where these test-pads are connected to on the SouthBridge BGA.

2) Get a NAND console. Desolder the SouthBridge. Now do the reverse of above - Now we know how (/TRI, /RE /WE/ RDY, D0-15, A0-A22 etc) are connected to the SouthBridge BGA then trace those connections to the test-pad to work out what they are (/TRI, /RE /WE/ RDY, D0-15, A0-A22 etc)

Big ASSUMPTIONs though, but 'makes sense' to my tiny brain. Make sense to you?

Andy
************* [ - Post Merged - ] *************

someone must know how it was done or has cloned / saved his blog posts.

Perhaps this information IS still 'out there'

Try his blog in WayBack Machine here:http://archive.org/web/web.php
Website makes periodic back-ups of websites (they must have found a skip with about a million 2TB HDDs in it!)

Andy

[baileyscream]

Originally Posted by underwurlde Again, guessing here: Let us ASSUME that the southbridge chip is the SAME for both NAND and NOR consoles (the StarShip2 sorts out the NAND cr@p and makes it appear like a NOR). IF that ASSUMPTION is correct then should be quite easy to map out: 1) Get a NOR motherboard - the test pads are known for what they do (/TRI, /RE /WE/ RDY, D0-15, A0-A22 etc). Then desolder the SouthBridge and see where these test-pads are connected to on the SouthBridge BGA. 2) Get a NAND console. Desolder the SouthBridge. Now do the reverse of above - Now we know how (/TRI, /RE /WE/ RDY, D0-15, A0-A22 etc) are connected to the SouthBridge BGA then trace those connections to the test-pad to work out what they are (/TRI, /RE /WE/ RDY, D0-15, A0-A22 etc) Big ASSUMPTIONs though, but 'makes sense' to my tiny brain. Make sense to you? Andy

oh i like your thinking
now this is why i did the thread
ppl thinking from different directions can spot the obvious

i have been looking for info on the starship pins thinking thats how to do it and never thought to work from the southbridge.

when i can get at my knackerd boards and re-work station i will lift the southbridge chips from a nor and nand board then start tracing .

thanks Andy that was a big help

[underwurlde]

Would do it for you but new to the scene and have but one NOW WORKING PS3.

Good luck with that then, but I am wondering why defyboy never posted up any results of this? If that worked for me I'd have shouted it from the roof tops!

If this works... well, hell how cool would that be - ALL programmers would work and one would only need to purchase one that supports NOR (I note not many support NAND probably due to their hardware orientated git-ness).

Andy

[baileyscream]

Originally Posted by underwurlde Would do it for you but new to the scene and have but one NOW WORKING PS3. Good luck with that then, but I am wondering why defyboy never posted up any results of this? If that worked for me I'd have shouted it from the roof tops! If this works... well, hell how cool would that be - ALL programmers would work and one would only need to purchase one that supports NOR (I note not many support NAND probably due to their hardware orientated git-ness). Andy

ah this was from the early days of the flashers.
the patch to downgrade wasnt even thought of at this point so it was all looked at as a dev required tool not a downgrade tool.

it could also be that the starship "bottle necks" the dumping / flashing so it could now be looked at as pointless / too slow idk

looking here
if i use a dia-001 (nor) sem-001 (nand) then they both use the same syscon chip and hopefully the board layout should be very simular so making it easer to copy n trace lol

[4DoorITR]

This all sounds very promising!

[munky875821417]

might be easier to flash using these points i found a while back on sem-001

[baileyscream]

Originally Posted by munky875821417 might be easier to flash using these points i found a while back on sem-001

do you have a full schematic or a link to one?
or were the 2 attached to the pic of the board allready attached when you got this?

i think the few points marked are for soldering a nand flasher.

what i'm after is attaching a nor flasher and dumping the 2 nands as though there just 1 nor chip via the starship2 chip.

so although its great to get that image (and may come in use) i will still need to trace to know what wire goes where.

so if i can get a full clear schematic then i can trace without lifting the starship2 from any board to do it (problems at the min stopping me getting hold of my stuff to do it)