I almost had a heart attack yesterday. I got myself a copy of Dissidia: Final Fantasy U.S. version, but it wouldn’t run on my PSP. My modified PSP was only running 4.01 M33-2. Apparently, Dissidia needs 5.00 firmware or higher to run.
Thus, I tasked myself with I upgrading the custom firmware on my Sony PSP, going from Dark Alex’s 4.01 M33-2 to Team33′s 5.00 M33-6. I did everything written in the instructions. I copied the 5.00 M33-6 updater to my /PSP/GAME directory. Since I was upgrading to 5.00 firmware I copied the official Sony PSP 5.00 firmware as well.
The firmware installation went smoothly. At the end of the update it gave me a confirmation message then did a reset. After resetting I went to System Information and it shows that I was able to successfully upgrade to 5.00 M33-6.
Ok, time to play! To my horror, none of my ISO / CSO games would run. Whenever I tried to load a game I would get kicked back to the XMB with the following message:
The game could not be started. (80020321)
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
I almost panicked. Did I send up with a semi-bicked PSP? I thought of re-flashing my firmware or downgrading back to 4.01. I tried doing a search, and although I did not find the exact solution I was looking for, I saw some posts that led me to recall that there is a “UMD Mode” setting in the recovery menu. Here is what I did:
- Turn off the the PSP by holding the power button for 3 seconds
- Power up the PSP while holding the R trigger to go into recovery mode
- Open up the confiugration settings and locate the UMD Mode setting
- Change the setting from Normal to m33 driver – no UMD
- Exit recovery mode
I fired up my games and they started working again. Even better, Dissidia: Final Fantasy was running like a charm. I am one happy camper.
By the way, in case you are afraid you might mess something up by going to the recovery console, there is an easier way to change the UMD Mode setting through the XMB menu. The steps below will show you how do the alternate method:
- From the XMB menu, press the Select button
- Scroll down to UMD ISO Mode
- Change the setting to m33 driver – no UMD
- Press the Select button again to exit the menu
Viola! You can now play ISO and CSO games again.
Let me know if it works for you.
Comments
72 responses to “How to fix “The game could not be started” error on modified Sony PSP”
Thank you so much for this. Works great.
Thanks dude! 🙂
Thanks a lot!! My heart was beating like boom badoom boom boom badoom boom bass! 8)
wow…..thanx bro
it didnt work
can nybody tell how to convert a rar file into iso file????????
i m not able to open naruto ultimate ninja heroes 3 ……error 80020321 .i also changed the setting as above mentioned…..plz help me out,…………
LOL great post dude. now i can play my psp 1000 again hahahha.
Still can’t open Monster Hunter Portable
works perfectly on 5.00 version for homebrew games!!!
thank you so muchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Hey there, I tried doing the steps. But it didn’t work. The game’s Naruto Shippuden: UNI. Thanks.
hey,,i hve 5.00 m33-6 cfw, tried to download dragonball z shin budokai 2 and put it on my psp,,,and suddenly only black screebn is appearing…can u help me???tnx
thank you man your great……
thanks friend, its been a while since i picked my psp up so ive forgot a lot of the “in’s” and “out’s” of CFW.
pls help i cant play nba 2k12 on my psp 2000 running on 5.50 gen-d3,it says “GAME COULD NOT BE STARTED”…pls help me…
put 6.6 pro b 10
or or try before to change the umd iso mode
tnx man!!!
i want to make love to your face all i had to do was the second method now soul calibur works thanks so much
i used the second option on fixing the UMD but when i press select my psp hangs….darn
your guide saves my day thanks
tnx u
thank you so much. yeah you saved the day man!!!
It didn’t work 🙁 My psp won’t run any games that I put in my psp. I have 5.50 gen d-3. Did I did something wrong on Recovery Menu? All the games worked before when I didn’t discovered the Recovery Menu, but when I discovered the Recovery Menu (Changed some of the settings, but don’t know what settings I changed), all iso and cso games won’t work. Please help me I need help!! I downloading Iso Tool 1.91, and 1,81 and Eboot decrypted these games: Gods Eater Burst, WWE 2011 Smackdown v.s. Raw, and The 3rd Birthday. When I tried to run Gods Eater Burst that I decrypted, the screen turned black and went back to the XMB and this message popped up “The game could not be started 80020148”. I tried to run WWE @3762cb4586c88da7a2df5d4a529e46c3:disqus 011 and the same thing happened but the code is different, its 80000002. I tried to run The 3rd Birthday and the same thing happened as Gods Eater, and etc.. Please need help someone!!!!!!! 🙁
I meant WWE 2011 Smackdown Versus Raw srry
well my psp game wont play on my psp and the game working so i tried it and not working what do i do get a new psp but i want to know how to fix it
Fucking awesome post, much love. Saved me a lot of time and worry.
OH MY GOD! THANK YOU! IV BEEN TRYING TO FIX IT!
you are the best dude, that’s really a great help…. now I know the purpose of m33 driver..
good job!
I’m having trouble starting Monster Hunter Portable 3rd.. hope this fix helps.
>_<
in need of help my psp wont alow me to play final fantasy dissidia 012.
thanks dude. Great!
that didn’t work.
I could play my assassin creed : bloodlines.
tried everything with these firmware.. I have psp 2000 firmware 4-01 M33.
The disc could not be read.
it doesn’t work… my game is Naruto Ninja Impact.
help my psp no menu to change driver no reboot even pressing r then start.. // help plzzz…
the umd didn’t work.
I try to use the second option but when I press the select button my psp hanged…..why is it?
thank you very much! it worked!
Does not work dude? I got 5.50 Gen-D.
Fuck.. thanks a Lot. xD
^^ thanks realy works..psp 1001.
heyy thanksss ,
it help me alot ,
now my psp is ready to play games ,
hahahahaha
thanks man! nice one…
hey dennison I got a psp 3000 and my white knight wont start like that example of yours I tried everything your methods it was late when I see you said that it doesn`t work at psp 3000 soo… any idea what to do.. hey did you download that dissidia final fantasy? if you downloaded it where… pls tell
same as my game harvest moon hero of leaf valley can’t start the game.
Awesome! I nearly panicked after my PSP had an error and reset! You’re a lifesaver!
did no work.
thanks bro… had it working again.
thxs dude. it worked:)
Thanks Mr. Dennison, it worked! =)
I cant open my recovery mode using.
” Power up the PSP while holding the R trigger to go into recovery mode”? please help :((((.
my psp was upgraded from 3.80 to OFW 5.03, and I was shocked because the RECOVERY MODE doesn’t work at all! and all my iso games can’t be seen… please help me guys… really need your help… and the when I press the select button in the XMB menu, nothing flashes…
*i don’t have any pandora and magic memo.stick…
I nid help 🙁 I cant play god of war… I try all the troubleshoot I see in the youtube. but didn’t.. now wen I open GOW.. my psp got shutdown!
My PSP 1000 won’t play God of War: Ghost of Sparta ;/ It comes up with the same error message an dneed help to fix this?
My psp is also having this kind of problem… I tried this one but it didn’t work… now when I inserted my other memory stick sitll all of the games could not be started… Can anyone help me please Q~Q it’s been months since this kind of thing happened…
thankyou so much man! ilove this! its working
trying again and again but in vain………………….can anyone help me out.
doesn’t work any help? I’m on 4.01 m33-2.
I cant seee the UMD Mode Setting in my PSP by the way this is a PSP 3000.
THANX MEN! it WORKED! PHEW!
Tried this and it wouldn’t work for me. Using a psp phat (1000 series) running 5.00M33-6. FF2 anniversary works fine but ffiv complete shows the icon and all, but when I try to run it it kicks me back to the xmb x.o.
my psp1000 did not read umd. please help me.
I did everything in your instructions but still I cant play my monster hunter freedom 2. anything moreican do?
Thanks a lot… 😀
Hi I am on a 5.00 M 33-4 and I did the above setting mentioned! and some of my games eg. Bleach HTS 6 works but not the Naruto ultimate ninja 6! error code: 80020148.
hey idont have vsh menu and recovery I have an OFW 6.38 I updated it today and I want to update my psp to CFW 6.38ME 2 and it says the game could not be started 80020148.
HEY! thanks much xDD pretty easy 😀 I tried to downgrade from 6.38 me2 to 5.50 gen D3 but that’s almost impossible… atleast I didn´t find anything but this works thanks man!
It didn’t work I’m trying to run BLEACH Heat the Soul 7 and Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 and it gives me 2 error adresses I did the instructions but still Help please DX.
oh my god! it works! thank you very much! >.<
making of SHOOOOP video!
http://j.mp/Agfl2M