[PSTV] brick after uninstalling enso and updating system firmware

[GothicIII]

I thought it was patched? I am really mad!

Had henkaku 3.60-11 and enso running on a PSTV

-Got enso.vpk from enso.henkaku.xyz to uninstall 3.60 enso. If you use the vpk from the github you'll get "Failed to load kernel module: 0x8002d003"
-uninstall was successful rebooting pstv works.
-initiated 3.65 update installation through recovery mode (copy to usbdrive:/PSVITA/UPDATE/PSVUPDATE.PUP)
-update copies successful and the update is installed
-after reaching 100% the device automatically reboots but the device won't show the warning screen anymore. You are bricked. The controller is recognised over usb and connects successful but the pstv doesn't show any screen output unless you boot into recovery.

All options in recovery mode don't help to get the pstv properly booting again.
Where is it mentioned that updating the firmware bricks you???

[Cimmerian-Iter]

The enso vpk of enso.henkaku.xyz and henkaku github are the same, the enso.henkaku.xyz just redirect the download to the latest release of enso from "releases". If you had the failed to load kernel module, it might be because you used the flow fork that intend to works only in 3.65

Also the bug you're talking about is when you uninstall enso AFTER a system update. You did the other way (which is correct) so i don't think that enso is the problem, as you saw, your pstv boot just after you uninstalled enso. So the mbr was fine. The system update reflash the bootloader anyway, so it would uninstall enso at the same time too.

You sure wouldn't had moved from 3.60 as it is the best fw for hacks.

Anyway, as long as the recovery works, it should still be okay your pstv isn't bricked. Try to do a restore te system in recovery mode.

[GothicIII]

I used all recovery options including installing the 3.65 installation file. The device is still bricked. I can't do anything with it anymore. I tried it with the current 3.70 firmware and it is the same behavior like I described above in detail.

If enso wasn't the cause how can it brick then? I rebooted the device before updating to make sure everything is fine. I removed all plugins and had a plain system running without henkaku.
Updating it bricked it.

I had only renpdrm (to use my activation files from my account), rotm0 (so the act.dat won't be removed) and gamesd (sd2vita) installed. Of course I disabled everything beforehand and booted the pstv from internal memory with sd2vita removed.

[Cimmerian-Iter]

if enso was the root of all, your pstv wouldn't even boot into safe mode.

When you try to boot your pstv normally, does the light stay constant or does it blink?
Also you have no screen output at all? not even the PS logo at boot?

[GothicIII]

If I put in the power cord, the LED stays constant white. If I trigger the sleep mode, the LED blinks a few times and goes solid again.
No Logo, no epileptic warning. When I updated it the 1st time I waited for over 30min to let the console boot after it reached 100% of the firmware installation.
My display (monitor and TV) show an input signal and they stay on but the screen is plain black.
Only the recovery menu is working.

[Cimmerian-Iter]

that's weird if the recovery menu is booting and the led isn't blinking. Try on another TV maybe

[GothicIII]

Tried all I had.
I don't think that the PC monitor I used for years broke magically while updating the firmware of the pstv. Also both TVs I have (Samsung and Panasonic) show exactly the same symptoms. If the cable was broken or whatever it would show me "no input signal" instead I'm getting a full lighted black screen. If it had something to do with the signal settings (e.g. 1080i not working with the display or something like that) then a "reset to factory settings" would solve this issue. Not here.
That I can't put the PSTV into sleep mode tells that it is a brick. Normally the LED would blink a few times and goes off. But instead it stays on after blinking.

I love to play PSP/PSX games on my TV with a Controller and PSTV was a great way to do this. This is setting me back about 120$+Shipping.
I wish somebody would post this on vita.hacks.guide and the readme files and make a big red warning for updating the firmware after removing cfw. I never bricked a device for good and I have a huge amount of experience with this stuff since the DS-Era.

The update file couldn't have been broken because the playstation devices check hashes and a valid signature before flashing the file. It wouldn't have installed if there was a problem with it. In fact I checked the file with a hex editor and the header is valid and the files doesn't end with a bunch of 00/FF.

[Cimmerian-Iter]

where did you took the pup by the way?

[GothicIII]

It was a playstation server mirror from web.archive.org which is also linked in https://vita.hacks.guide/updating-firmware-(ps-tv-3.65-and-3.68)

[Cimmerian-Iter]

dus01.psv.update.playstation.net/update/psv/image/2019_0109/rel_54227fd645fcb6f177102cbd1f2d1924/PSVUPDAT.PUP

try with this one

[GothicIII]

I already tried it with the 3.70 pup from http://deu01.psv.update.playstation.net/update/psv/image/2019_0109/rel_54227fd645fcb6f177102cbd1f2d1924/PSVUPDAT.PUP
which is the official download.

I see. This is the same link except mine is from a german server.

[Cimmerian-Iter]

https://discord.gg/m7MwpKA
come to henkaku server, will be easier to talk

[GothicIII]

Ok this took a while but finally we can close this.

The brick is not the fault of henkaku or enso. It was triggered by updateblocker not restoring the vs0 filessystem correctly when unblocking the system updates. After updating the firmware from recovery it should have thrown an error but instead it went successfull with a borked vs0:.

Since I can't test it anymore I got following information from >•SKGleba•< to recover from that type of brick:

1. restore
2. update to a different fw, interrupt the update in half of updating (75%)
3. update with a pd pup
4. retry update main
   This will force clean, because vs0 filesystem will be corrupted
   (Because of how the updater works)

I don't know if it works but if somebody has the same symptoms then he could try that as a last resort since there is no other way to recover from this.

Thank you very much for listening and helping to me @Cimmerian-Iter ;)

Case closed

[Cimmerian-Iter]

Update blocker being the culprit isn't proved yet, so it's just a theory.

And also that method SKGleba said wasn't tested on his pstv, so we don't know if it would indeed fix or no. Use it as a last resort and with caution cause you can perma brick.