Compatibility notes
Compatibility Notes
Which entry point works best depends on your console family, its Mechacon and DVD player revision, and whether the board ships with an expansion bay. Use the matrix below as a starting point, then confirm against your exact model number printed on the underside of the console.
Reading the matrix
Models are grouped by their common community names. Boot ROM and Mechacon revisions vary within a family, so a method marked usable may still need the newest tool build on the latest board revisions.
| Console family | Boot ROM era | FreeMcBoot | FreeDVDBoot | MechaPwn | Recommended path |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fat early (SCPH-3000x to 3900x) | Early | Native | Yes | Limited | FreeMcBoot plus internal HDD |
| Fat late (SCPH-5000x) | Mid | Native | Yes | Yes | FreeMcBoot plus internal HDD |
| Slim (SCPH-7000x to 7900x) | Mid to late | Native or via MechaPwn | Yes | Yes | FreeMcBoot plus USB or network |
| Slim late (SCPH-9000x) | Late | Via MechaPwn | Yes | Yes | MechaPwn then FreeMcBoot |
| PSX DESR / late Mechacon | Latest | Often blocked | Yes | Yes | FreeDVDBoot or MechaPwn first |
Always identify your Mechacon version before flashing. The latest slim board revisions changed the installation path for memory card exploits, so an older installer may report success while leaving nothing usable. When in doubt, FreeDVDBoot is the lowest risk entry point because it never writes to the console.
After establishing any entry point, Open PS2 Loader provides consistent game loading across all of these families, regardless of how you first launched homebrew.