Mathieulh: Enable Hidden Firmware Option

Hidden Firmware Option

( Means CFW On Steroids) 

While the PS3 scene is slow now a days and some of you are dreading for the return of PSN, Mathieulh has posted some interesting discoveries on his Twitter. Mathieulh has managed to QA Flag his PS3 and show the hidden options available for it. Before I go on, most of you are probably wondering what in the world does QA Flagged mean?



To quote:

QA flag is the internal console flag used by Sony, it enables hidden options and removes restrictions for both retail and debug consoles alike. It is used for QA centers and the R&D Department, there are 2 levels of QA flags, Minimum and Advanced, this console has been set to the Advanced one.

Now Mathieulh has come out and said that he will not be telling us how he did this, but nonetheless very cool and it will be interesting to see where this will lead to.




This Makes you feel teased




To quote video description:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzQLseA_ynU&feature=player_embedded

I just QA flagged my Metal Gear Solid 4 Limited Edition console and I thought I’d show you the hidden options for the sake of it. (and because I was bored)

I am sorry for the unstable camera, I only have two hands and the options are hidden and require (along with the actual flag) a crazy button combo to pop up. (I kid you not)

Sorry I am not telling you how to do this, please do not ask.

Yes, this video is real

Here are some interesting Tweets made regarding this:


Mathieulh:
@dantezteam It’s an UNMODIFIED RETAIL FIRMWARE.

@KaKaRoToKS For various reasons, one of them being that you can warez with this, and the flag stays even after updating.

@KaKaRoToKS The QA flag happens to remove a bunch of restrictions that have the side effect of preventing you to warez.

@dantezteam The console is QA flagged, The firmware checks for this flag and will enable special features when it finds it.

@dantezteam Basically it’s what Sony themselves use to allow special debugging on their consoles and loosen restrictions.

@KaKaRoToKS By the way, Advanced QA flag enables downgrading, just my 2 cents… xD

ps: if this is ever figured out it would mean a regular ps3 that if you push like up up left... x10 just saying not actual sequence you would be able to have a regular ps3 no cfw or dongle nothing just a regular ps3 retail on steroids it like a super cfw with out no mod just a button sequence to activate it one time only if it was release it would be the end of sony
of course, he won't share how to do it

BUT I WILL ON THIS BLOG AND SOON AS A CAN DO THAT SAFELY...

but... its pretty easy
UPDATE1: this how to QA flag your ps3 do at your own risk source psx scene

requirements:
grafs kernel, ps3dm-utils and linux_hv_scripts

to patch your DM you have to run dmpatch.sh (skip if you're on gitbrew fw)

read QA flag:
Code:
ps3dm_um /dev/ps3dmproxy read_eprom 0x48C0A
it should return 0xFF on retail ps3.
just set it to 0x00

write QA flag: <- on your own risk!

Code:
ps3dm_um /dev/ps3dmproxy write_eprom 0x48C0A 0x00

OR

ps3dm_um /dev/ps3dmproxy write_eprom 0x48C0A 0xFF
its a very mighty tool. you can also enable product mode and other things.
more offsets @ps3devwiki


This is highly useful if you figured it out :P