- A PS3
- A PC
- PS3 Proxy Server (and the knowledge to use it)
- PS3UPDAT.PUP (real FW updates, no editing)
First Sync the PS3 an PC together by setting up PS3 proxy server.
Now if you are on a FW lower than 2.35 (or whatever the current FW is) just download a FW of your choice to your PC. For this example I will use a Debug FW on the PS3 go to Settings > FW update> update via Internet. Start downloading but cancel after it starts.. then on PC go to PS3 proxy server. go to logs and you should see something like this:
Note that this will be different for other regions.
Copy the text and go to "replace files" on the ps3proxy program.. and click the add tab. In the left field paste the text you just copied. Click the little right box next to the right field and browse to your PS3UPDAT.PUP.
On the PS3 go to Settings and download the FW update via Internet again. This time the PS3 will download the ps3updat.pup from your PC.... this is because the PS3 checks the ps3update list.txt instead of the actual PUP file... this bypasses the first FW check.
If you're on the latest FW you can still do this... when u start the real FW update via Internet or sign into the PSN the PS3 checks this first:
Where it says "ImageVersion=0003b05;" you edit ""3b05" which actually is 2.35. Use "00a0" to Bypass The forced Update to log into the PSN, to do that on PS3Proxy you go to "replace files" and paste "http://fus01.ps3.update.playstation.net/update/ps3/list/us/ps3-updatelist.txt" into the left field (just like before) and click the little right box to browse to the edited ps3-updatelist.txt on your PC.
Where the trick comes into play is instead of editing the ps3-updatelist.txt to a lower FW version we edited it to a higher FW version... so the PS3 will accept any PS3UPDAT.PUP pretty much... here is a video I made before the HDD swap exploit was found:
From there you can do the HDD swap exploit (before pressing the PS button like I did in the video), instead just hit the power switch in the back of the PS3. Then start up a real FW update that is a higher version that the PS3 your using, after the second check you do the HDD swap again with the first HDD (that has the debug FW/lower FW).