Syscon Hardware

Syscon 1st Generation (BGA Packaging)

Pyramid Syscon live probing

Syscon is the main power controller chip of the PS3. It is responsible for powering up the various power systems and for configuring and initialising the CELL BE, RSX and South Bridge. It communicates with these devices via separate SPI busses. There is external access by JTAG (disabled from factory on retail models), an EEPROM programming interface and Serial (UART). The Syscon is a SoC and consists of an ARM7TDMI (ARMv4) CPU, a 256KB EEPROM and 16KB RAM.

Serialnumbers per SKU

Retail

Model	Product Sub Code	Motherboard	Syscon part no.	Syscon Soft ID	Notes
CECHAxx CECHBxx	0x01 0x02	COK-001	CXR713120-201GB	0B8E
CECHCxx CECHExx	0x03 0x04	COK-002 or COK-002W	CXR713120-201GB or CXR713120-202GB	0C16
CECHGxx	0x05	SEM-001	CXR713120-201GB or CXR713120-202GB or CXR713120-203GB	0D52
CECHHxx	0x06	DIA-001	CXR714120-301GB	0DBF
CECHJxx CECHKxx	0x07	DIA-002	CXR714120-301GB or CXR714120-302GB	0E69
CECHLxx CECHMxx CECHPxx CECHQxx	0x08	VER-001	SW-301 or SW-302	065D
CECH-20xx	0x09	DYN-001	SW2-301	0832
CECH-21xx	0x0A	SUR-001	SW2-301 or SW2-302	08A0
CECH-25xx	0x0B	JTP-001 or JSD-001	SW2-301 or SW2-302  or SW2-303	08C2
CECH-30xx	0x0C	KTE-001	SW2-301 or SW2-302 or SW2-303 or SW3-301	0918
CECH-40xx	0x0D	MSX-001 or MPX-001	SW3-302	098F
CECH-42xxA	?	PQX-001	SW3-304	?

Non retail

Model	Product Sub Code	Motherboard	Syscon part no.	Syscon Soft ID	Active JTAG	Notes
CEB-2040	-	MPU-501	CXR713F120GB-000	?	?No?	Retail prototype
DECR1000(A/J)	0x01	TMU-520	CXR713F120A	03FB	No	Reference tool
DECR1400(A/J)	0x01	DEB-001	CXR714120-302GB	?	?	Reference tool
DEH-H1001-D	0x01	COOKIE-13	CXR713F120A	0B67	No	Preproduction
DEH-H1000A(S)(-E(S))	0x01	COK-001 (Prototype)	CXR713F120A	0B67	No	Preproduction
DEH-FH1500J-A	0x08	VERTIGO-02	D79F0073 (SW-301)	0658	?Yes?	Preproduction
DEH-ML00AK-G	0x0D	MPX-001 (Prototype)	D79F0123 (SW3-302)	098F	?No?	Preproduction
CECHAxx CECHBxx?	0x01 0x02	COK-001	CXR714120-304GB	0F38	?	40nm RSX

---

Not mentioned:

0F29 - ?

Syscon Externalised Ports

Note: for more specific information per model, see the links to each subpage in the Serialnumbers per SKU table.

Syscon UART packets

SCUART daemon (SCUARTD) packet structure

SCUARTD packets includes header of 0x3 bytes and optional payload (depending on the command).

Packet IDs are not important, they are used only by clients and processed by SCUART daemon. SCUART daemon opens terminal file /dev/ttyS0 and use it to send commands and receive responses.

Offset	Size	Description
0x00	0x01	Magic?
0x01	0x01	Payload size
0x02	0x01	Command
0x03	Payload size	Payload data

Packets

Packet ID	Command/Action	Description	Notes
0x00	version	Firmware version	Gets installed syscon's firmware version (Note: backup bank contains version 0.4.5_b4 !! On CEB-2030 it is 0.3.0 )
0x01	bringup	Bring up
0x02	shutdown	Shutdown
0x03	firmud	Firmware update	Notifies about firmware update operation
0x04	bsn	Board Serial Number	Retrieves syscon's Board Serial Number
0x05	halt	Halt	Used at start of firmware update operation
0x06	cp ready	Communication Processor Ready
0x07	cp busy	Communication Processor Busy
0x08	cp reset	Communication Processor Reset
0x09	bestat	Cell B.E. status	Retrieves Cell B.E. status
0x0A	powersw	Power switch	toggles power switch button short pressing
0x0B	resetsw	Reset switch	toggles reset switch button holding
0x0C	bootbeep stat	Boot Beep Status
0x0D	bootbeep on	Boot Beep On
0x0E	bootbeep off	Boot Beep Off
0x0F	Reset syscon	Reset Syscon	Resets syscon
0x10	xdrdiag info	XDR diagnostics Information
0x11	xdrdiag start	XDR diagnostics Start	Starts XDR diagnostics
0x12	xdrdiag result	XDR diagnostics Result	Gets a result of XDR diagnostics
0x13	xiodiag	XIO diagnostics	Starts XIO diagnostics and gets a result of it
0x14	fandiag	Fan diagnostics	Retrieves RPMs of fans
0x15	errlog	Error log	Retrieves a list of codes (with timestamps) of latest errors
0x16	Read line	Read Line
0x17	tmpforcp <zone ID>	Reference Tool's temperature For Communication Processor	Gets the temperature of reference tool
0x18	Invalid CMDs
0x19
0x1A
0x1B
0x1C
0x1E
0x1F
0x20	cp beepremote	Communication Processor Beep Remote
0x21	cp beep2kn1n3
0x22	cp beep2kn2n3
??	csum	Checksum	Calculates the Checksum of something (No packet ID listing on scuartd)
??	osbo	?Operating System Boot?	No idea what this does, but returns done when it's sent
??	scopen	Syscon Open	returns SC_READY or ERROR 1
??	scclose	Syscon Close	???
??	ejectsw	Eject Switch	toggles eject switch button pressing (3 beeps)

Packets Logs

Packet ID	Command/Action	Logs	Notes
0x00	version	version\nv1.0.4_c2\n (END)
0x01	bringup	(END)
0x02	shutdown	Do nothing. (PowerOff State)\n (END)	Returns (END) if the system is on
0x03	firmud	Start...\nErase User Program Area\n (END)	This will brick your SYSCON if you don't feed it any argument or feed to it the wrong argument!
0x04	bsn	bsn\nNANNNNNNNNNA\n (END)	N is digit and A is char (removed for privacy)
0x05	halt	halt\n (END)
0x06	cp ready	cp ready\nCP READY: OK\n (END)
0x07	cp busy	cp ready\nCP BUSY: OK\n (END)	STATUS light blinks forever
0x08	cp reset	No response	Should reset CP to factory settings
0x09	bestat	(PowerOff State)\n (END)
0x0A	powersw	(END)
0x0B	resetsw	(END)
0x0C	bootbeep stat	BOOT BEEP: ON\n (END)	when it's off BOOT BEEP status changes to OFF
0x0D	bootbeep on	BOOT BEEP ON: DONE\n (END)
0x0E	bootbeep off	BOOT BEEP OFF: DONE\n (END)
0x0F	Reset syscon
0x10	xdrdiag info	32\n (END)
0x11	xdrdiag start	DIAG START\n (END)
0x12	xdrdiag result	XDR OK\n (END)	will return ERROR NOT STARTED if xdrdiag start wasn't run previously
0x13	xiodiag	0 903\n (END)
0x14	fandiag	ERROR FAN ACTIVE\n (END)
0x15	errlog	ofst[ %d]:err_code:0x%08X, clock:0x%08X YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS	bunch of error logs. ends with (END) once they're over
0x16	Read line
0x17	tmpforcp <zone ID>
0x20	cp beepremote	(END)
0x21	cp beep2kn1n3	(END)	sends a beep different than SYSCON beep :)
0x22	cp beep2kn2n3	(END)	sends two beeps different than SYSCON beeps :)
??	csum	Checksum: [027460C9] [68269779] [C19A855E]\n (END)	displays 3 hexadecimal numbers inside rect parenthesis. the numbers are always the same, except when syscon version changes (v1.0.5_c1)
??	csum	Checksum: [02746F91] [682F04DA] [27688CF5]\n (END)	Another response (v1.0.4_c2)
??	csum	Checksum: [0274C877] [684DA659] [EA426BB1]\n (END)	Another response (v1.0.4_c1)
??	csum	Checksum: [027B4064] [6B450C64] [4FBF6DA3]\n (END)	Another response (v1.0.3_c1)
??	csum	Checksum: [027E1B71] [6CDA9F25] [E0C67065]\n (END)	Another response (v1.0.1_c1)
??	csum	Checksum: [02812855] [6E83917C] [D40F70A5]\n (END)	Another response (v0.9.14_c1)
??	csum	Checksum: [02835059] [6FC5C632] [BB9BBEC3]\n (END)	Another response (v0.9.9_c1)
??	csum	Checksum: [026F7951] [66CB09FF] [4EA06B56]\n (END)	Another response (v0.8.4_c8)
??	osbo	done\n (END)
??	scopen	SC_READY\nERROR 1\n\n*** Invalid Argument ***\n\n[mullion]$
??	scclose	\n\n\nSC_SUCCESS\n\n[mullion]$

Notes

• Some commands are unavailable on earlier firmwares, for example, tmpforcp is only supported on 1.3.3+.
• Some commands are divided into several strings, the first part (if exists) describes a command group, the second part describes the actual command and other parts describes command arguments.
• Real syscon commands have an ASCII form (a bold text in the 2nd column) instead of bytes above.
• Packet with ID *0x03* notifies syscon and calls SX program (based on ZMODEM protocol) to send firmware, syscon have custom or original implementation of RX program to receive firmware. An implementation of ZMODEM protocol used by Sony: http://oss.sony.net/Products/Linux/Others/Download/DECR-1000/mips_fp_le-lrzsz-0.12.20-devtool.1.src.rpm

A start of syscon's update procedure:

• A CP development tool includes several scripts which are participated in syscon update procedure. It starts after a CP update via update_syscon.pl perl script.
• This script checks the current syscon's firmware version. If it is in mask rom then it skips an update procedure, if not it checks major/minor/release parts of both versions and if a new version is applicable then it launches scfirmup utility and pass the firmware file path as an argument.
• scfirmup is a stupid tool which prepares a connection to SCUARTD and sends an update packet with a file path inside it. There is no need to comment it, here is reimplementation: http://pastie.org/private/6h8mfeoics4mdxear7ayg

A syscon's update operation in SCUARTD consists of following steps:

• 1. Check if SX program presents in /usr/bin/sx. It should be a regular file.
• 2. Check if specified firmware file is a regular file.
• 3. Halt syscon by sending command halt to UART, then wait some time until it prints HALT: OK.
• 4. Reset syscon by sending byte 0x30 to GPIO register SC_PI0_DIPSW, byte 0x30 to GPIO register SC_RSTX, waiting 1 second and writing byte 0x31 to GPIO register SC_RSTX.
• 5. Get current syscon's firmwave version by sending command version to UART. After receiving it, look for a character after the first _ (underscore) symbol from the left side of string and if it equals to the character b, then proceed to the next step, otherwise go to the (8) step. (It is possible to patch this step to allow upgrading or downgrading at will)
• 6. Prepare syscon for an update by sending command firmud to UART, then fork the current process; the current process won't finish until a message Done from UART arrives (it is the end of update operation).
• 7. In the forked process start SX program and pass firmware file path to it. SX program reads firmware file and transfer each chunk of it to syscon.
• 8. After successful update operation reset syscon (a different way) by sending byte 0x31 to GPIO register SC_PI0_DIPSW, byte 0x30 to GPIO register SC_RSTX, waiting 1 second and writing byte 0x31 to GPIO register SC_RSTX.

Notes:

• It seems all scuartds checks firmware revision and probably syscon is updated only once (after factory).
• To be able to reflash it you need to patch SCUARTD or do a manual update without the use of SCUARTD.
• You need to patch a single byte in SCUARTD to be able to flash any firmware (for example, to downgrade your syscon).

.text:00403A94: /* scuartd from CP 1.3.3 */
lb      $v1, 1($v0)
li      $v0, "b" /* 62 00 02 24 -> 63 00 02 24 */
bne     $v1, $v0, loc_4039F4
move    $a0, $zero

• An actual firmware update process (without halting and resetting steps) takes about 1 minute.
• You cannot install a corrupted firmware with scfirmup unless you corrupt the header! It seems there is a hash of sorts (possibly of the plaintext) in the header preventing scfirmup from installing something corrupt
• Updating SYSCON requires the DECR to be in standby mode! You cannot update it while it is on.
• Corrupting the header and the body will make firmup install the SYSCON update anyways! be careful not to do it!
• Should you brick SYSCON, here's a patch to "unbrick" it, do not use it unless you brick it though!

.text:004038C0:
lw      $a0, 4($s4)
li      $a1, 0x400000
nop
addiu   $a1, (aHalt - 0x400000)  # "halt"
la      $t9, scuartd_send_sccmd
nop
jalr    $t9 ; scuartd_send_sccmd
nop
lw      $gp, 0x1E8+var_1D8($sp)
bnez    $v0, loc_4039B4 /* 33 00 40 14 -> 33 00 40 10 */
li      $a0, 1

• You can use this bruteforcer to try your luck when finding new packets: https://hastebin.com/vomogesaru.cpp

Syscon UART

BGA	Name	Description
P16	UART0_TxD	Serial Transmit
P15	UART0_RxD	Serial Receive

You can attach a 3.3v TTL cable (LV-TTL) to the UART on syscon (UART0_TxD, UART0_RxD). (Convenient solder points are available on JSD-001 / JTP-001 by the NOR test points. They are marked as '?' in marcan' noraliser / judges' NORway install picture, closest to the ground at the bottom - RX is left, TX is right) Baud rate is 57600. There is a simple plaintext protocol involved. This varies on different syscon models. Example:

<command>:<hash>

Where the hash is the sum of command bytes & 0xFF.

You should terminate commands with \r\n, the syscon messages are only terminated with \n.

Samples

Here are some of the commands/messages encountered:

Messages:

Power applied (standby mode)
OK 00000000:3A

Power on
# (PowerOn State):7F

Power off (Hard shutdown)
# (PowerOff State):DD

After Fan test:
# (PowerOff State) (Fatal):36

No text, invalid hash:
NG F0000002:4D

Commands:

VER:ED
OK 00000000 S1E 00 00 065D:A4
OK 00000000 S1E 01 0B 00 0832:A3 (on DYN-001 board)
OK 00000000 S1E 02 03 00 0918:9A (on KTE-001 board)

ERRLOG:CB
OK 00000000:3A

DATE:1E
NG F0000003:4E

C:F1:BUZ
E:4F:NG F0000004
E:50:NG F0000005 (in DIAG mode)

C:D0:CID
E:50:NG F0000005

C:D0:CID GET
E:50:NG F0000005

C:DA:EEP
E:50:NG F0000005

C:DA:EEP GET
E:50:NG F0000005

C:E6:EEP SET
E:50:NG F0000005

C:D5:FAN
E:50:NG F0000005

C:83:FAN START
E:50:NG F0000005

C:3B:FAN STOP
E:50:NG F0000005

C:F4:KSV
E:50:NG F0000005

C:ED:REV
E:50:NG F0000005

C:F8:SPU
E:50:NG F0000005

C:FD:AUTH1 
0000802000000000003000309C0EDB3F
E603EDB98A38DDC09400A2AB2DDE8CAB
0AECFE951FF7E2E8D8A7CF2202719F81
2F36DE83B424C27063C274CB0000E46B
<Important Note: 0x40 bytes>
                   
E:5D:NG E00000C0

C:34:BOOT
E:50:NG F0000005

See also Syscon commands.

Bruteforcing commands: http://pastebin.com/CNei0xbC

VERY IMPORTANT:

• Max size of a command is 11 characters, 16 if you count with C:<hash>:
• Sending a command with 11 chars results in NO OUTPUT
• Sending a command with more than 11 chars results in NG F0000002
• Max size of a command on DECR is 135, 140 if you count with C:<hash>:

Syscon EEPROM (SPI)

BGA	Name	Description
F16	CSB	Chip Select (needs to be low)
H16	DO	Serial Data Output
G16	DI	Serial Data Input
E16	SKB	Serial Data Clock
J15	WCB	Write Protect
J16	RBB	Ready/Busy
G11	VDDep	+ 3.3V
C15	VSSep	GND

Syscon JTAG

It is disabled in factory after production on retail models.

BGA	Name	Description
L8	JRTCK	Return Test Clock
K8	JTCK	Test Clock
K9	JTDO	Test Data Out
L9	JTMS	Test Mode State / Test Mode Select
K7	JTDI	Test Data In
L7	JNTRST	Test Reset

Syscon underlying ports

Syscon Cell SPI Bus

BGA	Name	Description
M2	/BE_SPI_CS	Chip Select
N2	BE_SPI_DO	Serial Data Output
M1	BE_SPI_DI	Serial Data Input
N1	BE_SPI_CLK	Serial Data Clock
P2	/BE_RESET	CellBE Reset
P1	BE_POWGOOD	CellBE PowerGood
T2	/BE_INT	CellBE Interrupt

Syscon Southbridge SPI Bus

BGA	Name	Description
B9	/SB_SPI_CS	Chip Select
B8	SB_SPI_DO	Serial Data Output
A9	SB_SPI_DI	Serial Data Input
A8	SB_SPI_CLK	Serial Data Clock