Syscon

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Revision as of 08:21, 4 January 2025 by CelesteBlue (talk | contribs)
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On PS4, the Syscon is, together with the Southbridge, one of the main chips responsible for taking care of the functioning of APU, peripherals, etc.

PS4 Syscon is codenamed Colwick.

Hardware

See Syscon Hardware.

Software

Syscon Firmware

Syscon Update package

There are many types of Syscon update packages:

  • BLNK
  • BASE
  • SYST
  • PTCH #1
  • PTCH #2

The PTCH does not contain the entire firmware but only some patched functions that are appended to the base firmware. During the installation of a patch, the patch is flashed to the patch area and the syscon commands table is redirected to the patched one.

In case of Dev/Test Kit or prototype System Software downgrade, the Syscon should theoretically be downgraded using the BASE and/or SYST packages, and maybe also the PTCH package.

The functioning of the PS4 Syscon firmware update is near of the one used on PS Vita but seems more evoluted.

Syscon Non Volatile Storage

Syscon NVS is stored in Syscon Flash EEPROM at offset 0x60000.

Syscon NVS is accessible from EMC but only after doing the handshake to unlock EMC functionalities.

Syscon NVS contains the Secure NVS which is encrypted. The SNVS seems to be stored with an history in order to be restored in case of update error.

Syscon NVS is updated during a System Software update. For example, it contains the current System Software version and some hashes of the personalized bootloaders.

Ressources