PS5 Release: PS5 NOR Modifier 1.0
PS5 Hardware specialist TheCod3r has released PS5 NOR Modifier, a tool that helps you update the PS5’s NOR flash files, in particular for repairs.
What is PS5 NOR Modifier
We have mentioned TheCod3r’s work in the past, in particular is impressive way to salvage a PS5 with a broken Blu-Ray disc, by turning it into a digital version of the console. In order to do that, TheCod3r had to rewrite parts of the console’s NOR, in order for it to behave as a digital edition, in particular to avoid failing at boot time when no Blu Ray disc is found.
Generally speaking, PS5 NOR Modifier can assist in this kind of situation, where rewriting the PS5 Flash might be required, after critical failure issues (hardware or otherwise). From the tool’s readme:
The PS5 NOR Modifier by TheCod3r allows you to modify your PS5 NOR file to convert between digital and disc editions to save your PS5 when your disc drive fails, or when no disc drive is available.
Using this free software, you can bring your console back from the grave by converting a disc edition to a digital edition, as well as changing the serial number and reported variant in order to replace your SPI flash rom when it dies! This is particularly useful when you either don’t have a matching disc drive, by converting from a disc to a digital edition in order to allow future updates (restoring online functionality by keeping your PS5 up to date). If your SPI flash rom dies (very common) you can now modify the dump from another console and retain disc drive functionality. You no longer need to convert to a digital version when your SPI flash rom dies!
Features:
- Read reported BIOS dump serial number, reported version (disc or digital) and board variant (CFI-XXX model).
- Change the serial number which is reported in the BIOS dump.
- Change between disc and digital versions.
- Change board variant.
- One click processing, no need for experience in command line or any HEX editing skills.
- Fast, lightweight and easy to use.
- Standalone application, no installation required.
- Fully portable. Carry the application on a USB drive and run instantly.
Do I need PS5 NOR Modifier as an end user?
Unless you’re in the business of repairing consoles, this tool will probably not be super useful for you. With that being said, if you find yourself in a situation where overwriting the console’s NOR is required for you, you might have a use for it. Understand that significant soldering skills and adequate hardware are required to unsolder/manipulate the chip on the console, so this is not an easy “software only” manipulation (as can be seen here).
PS5 NOR Modifier vs PS5 NOR Tool
As a side note, it is worth mentioning that this tool by TheCod3r apparently only does a subset of what PS5 NOR Tool, by BwE, does. I won’t go into the details of the ongoing heated debate between these two folks, but BwE has claimed that his tool does way more, and in a safer way, than PS5 NOR Modifier. Of course, to the layman, the obvious initial difference is that PS5 NOR Tool costs $100, while PS5 NOR Modifier is Free.
Whether you choose to use one tool or the other will mostly depend on your use case obviously. (I’m personally not a big fan of folks charging for community/homebrew tools, but BwE’s stance is that a tool such as PS5 NOR Tool is targeted at professionals – not end users – who will charge for their repair service.). There is no doubt that BwE has been working on his tools for quite some time now, having started years ago in the PS4 era.
Wuh looks like the ‘competition’ is struggling to be more than just an automated hex editor.
Again! Don’t go around changing values or using other dumps without changing your per-console data as well! Thanks! pic.twitter.com/PFnksMvU70
— BwE (@BwE_Dev) May 10, 2023
Please note that I haven’t tried either tool, not feeling the urgent need to destroy one of my PS5s just for the sake of testing 🙂
Download PS5 NOR Modifier
You can download PS5 NOR Modifier from its official page here.
Source: TheCod3r
Why is this bwe guy so salty? You’d think he’d encourage competition and contributions to the scene? Maybe it has to do with him selling his software for profit?
There are always two sides to a story. As I said, I’m not a fan of people charging for such software, but I’m also not a fan of everyone harassing BwE for this. His code, his decision.
I’m not even remotely salty? I think it’s the other way around. Unless you see me writing *** xyz on my programs?
Either way I’m a business. It’s part of my job to make a profit afaik.
Hey! Thanks for the mention <3
Just wanted to add that this guys program does not actually seek and modify the offsets (of anything) but rather uses a regex instead to find and replace them.
So for the use case of changing from disc to digital and vice versa using his method its possible to corrupt the NOR entirely as the regex could find something other than what was intended and replace that instead. The strange thing is that he does actually use the offset in his code but only for displaying whether the console is disc or digital in the GUI – just not for actually changing it… I hope this is fixed one day.
Anyways, I would suggest using a hex editor instead of his program in the meantime as its fundamentally the same thing, searching for values and replacing them.
I also hope people understand that modifying per-console data has its risks and that is something that my program seeks to avoid.
<3 much love!
If you are US based, GameStop gives over $300 credit for a broken console, find some on eBay below that price, profit, so many new consoles can be had at a discount, GameStop takes your broken console minus a refurb fee, and the value is great. Even better when you find a console the user just didn’t claim the warranty on. Obviously this is only credit but if you find two PS5 consoles at say $250 each, wait until a trade bonus, you can easily net $150 off a brand new PS5, and have a working console brand new for $350 or so. My best advice wait until November/December, this is when the bonuses get as large as 50%, and broken consoles qualify for the bonus.
hail up brother just wanted to say thank you so much for all your hard work your tools have been indispensable help with ps3/ps4 repairs over the years. ill definitely be buying your tool when i move on to ps5
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