Dumping BIOS

This page helps you dump the BIOS files from your PlayStation 2 console.

These files are proprietary software and must therefore be dumped from your own console. PCSX2 cannot play games without a BIOS, and no open-source alternative exists. However, thanks to the hard work of the homebrew community, dumping the BIOS today is a one-time, streamlined process.

Tip – Support

• This guide assumes minimal technical knowledge.
• The PCSX2 project is happy to help with clarification where we can.
• Please reach out on our Discord server or on our forum with any questions.

Overview

Dumping your PlayStation 2 BIOS is conceptually a two-step process:

1. Modify the operation of your PS2 so that it can run any program.
2. Run a BIOS dumper utility program on your PS2 that reads its BIOS and writes it to an external device such as a USB drive.

Modifying Your PS2

First, you will need to modify your PlayStation 2 device's operation so that it can run a BIOS dumping program. Below are several methods to accomplish this, among which we most heavily recommend FreeMcBoot or FreeDVDBoot. These two are software modifications ("softmods") which live on a PS2 memory card and DVD, respectively, and do not permanently alter your PlayStation 2 console. Fortuna is a similar softmod to FreeMcBoot, but it is somewhat harder to find and use.

	FreeMcBoot	Fortuna	FreeDVDBoot	Disc swap exploit	Modchip
Skill	Very low	Low	Low	Advanced1	Expert2
Price	~15 USD	~15 USD	Free	PS2 game disc	~10–60 USD
Compatibility	All fat models and all but the newest slim models3	All slim models	Many slim models and some fat models	Unknown	Unknown
Materials	FreeMcBoot memory card4	Fortuna memory card5	Blank DVD	Swap tool (find and refer to a guide), PS2 game disc, blank DVD, various software	Modchip, documentation, wires, various tools, soldering iron
Risk	Minimal	Minimal	Minimal	Moderate	High
Recommended?	Yes	For slim models that don't work with FreeMcBoot3	Yes	No	Only for experienced solderers who want to do more than dump their BIOS

Caution – Modchip dump corruption

• An active modchip may cause an incomplete or corrupted BIOS dump.
• To guarantee an accurate BIOS dump:
  1. Use your modchip to install FreeMcBoot or Fortuna.
  2. Disable your modchip and use uLaunchELF to launch biosdrain as described below.
• Refer to your modchip's documentation to see what button combination disables your modchip.

Downloading biosdrain

Info – biosdrain download

The download for the latest stable release of biosdrain is here.

The BIOS dumper utility we recommend is biosdrain. It will run on your PS2 during the dumping process but does not in any way alter your PS2. The instructions below assume you're using this tool.

Starting uLaunchELF

FreeMcBoot and FreeDVDBoot bundle a generally useful homebrew program, uLaunchELF,⁶ that lets you browse memory cards, DVDs, and USB drives connected to your PS2 and run programs from them.

Using FreeMcBoot

1. Insert the FreeMcBoot memory card into Memory Card Slot 1.
2. Make sure the disc tray is empty.
3. Turn on your PS2.
4. Select uLaunchELF from the menu.

Using FreeDVDBoot

1. Download the ISO which corresponds to your PS2 model from FreeDVDBoot's GitHub repository.
2. Burn the ISO to a DVD.
   • The most generally reliable media is a DVD-R disc burned at a slow speed (e.g. 4X speed).
3. Make sure your PS2's language is set to English.
4. Place the burned FreeDVDBoot disc into your PS2.
5. Reset/turn on your PS2.
6. uLaunchELF should open.

Dumping the BIOS

Creating the BIOS Dump

biosdrain supports dumping both to a USB flash drive and via HOST through ps2link. We recommend USB for most users. If your console does not have networking support, you cannot use the ps2link method.

USB Flash Drive

Note – USB issues

• Some incompatibilities exist between certain USB drives and PS2 USB drivers.
  • If your USB drive is not detected by uLaunchELF (mass: is empty) please try another flash drive, preferably USB 2.0.
• USB transfer on the PlayStation 2 is slow. Please be patient.

To use the USB method, you will need a USB flash drive which is partitioned as master boot record (MBR) and formatted with a FAT32 filesystem.

Expand to see a guide on formatting your flash drive

Windows

On Windows, we recommend the free and open-source tool Rufus.

Danger – Data loss

Rufus is a powerful tool which can easily cause permanent data loss if misused.

• Formatting a flash drive permanently wipes all of its data.
• Make absolutely sure that you do not format another drive by accident.
• Do not format a flash drive if it contains any data you want to keep.

1. Download Rufus, preferably the latest 'Portable' version.
2. Plug your USB flash drive into your computer.
3. Open Rufus.
4. Make sure the drive selected under "Device" is the USB flash drive you wish to format.
5. Under "Boot selection", select the option "Non bootable".
6. Make sure "Partition scheme" is set to "MBR".
7. Make sure "File system" is set to "FAT32 (Default)" or "Large FAT32 (Default)".
8. Click Start.
9. Wait for the process to finish.

You can now exit Rufus and proceed.

macOS

On macOS, we recommend the built-in Disk Utility application.

Danger – Data loss

Disk Utility is a powerful tool which can easily cause permanent data loss if misused.

• Formatting a drive permanently wipes all of its data.
• Make absolutely sure that you do not format another drive by accident.
• Do not format a flash drive if it contains any data you want to keep.

1. Plug your USB flash drive into your computer.
2. Open Disk Utility.
3. At the top of the window, click View > Show All Devices.
4. In the left-hand tab, under "External", select the flash drive you wish to format.
5. At the top of the window, click Erase.
6. Under "Format", select "MS-DOS (FAT)".
7. Under "Scheme", select "Master Boot Record".
8. Click Erase.
9. Wait for Erasing "[DRIVE]" and creating "[NEW VOLUME]".
10. Click Done.

You can now exit Disk Utility and proceed.

Linux

On Linux, we recommend KDE Partition Manager or GNOME Disks.

Note – Command line

• This process is also possible through the command line using tools like fdisk.
• We categorically recommend against formatting in the command line for non-advanced users.

KDE Partition Manager

KDE Partition Manager is an application built into KDE Plasma for managing storage devices.

Danger – Data loss

KDE Partition Manager is a powerful tool which can easily cause permanent data loss if misused.

• Formatting a drive permanently wipes all of its data.
• Make absolutely sure that you do not format another drive by accident.
• Do not format a flash drive if it contains any data you want to keep.

Tip – Installing KDE Partition Manager

Debian

sudo apt install partitionmanager

Fedora

sudo dnf install partitionmanager

Arch

sudo pacman -S partitionmanager

SUSE

sudo zypper install partitionmanager

NixOS

• MyNixOS page

Many distros also have a graphical package manager.

1. If not on KDE, install KDE Partition Manager.
2. Open KDE Partition Manager.
3. Authenticate with your password.
4. In the left-hand tab, locate your USB flash drive and right-click it.
5. Click New Partition Table.
6. Choose "MS-Dos".
7. Click Create New Partition Table.
8. In the table on the right, there will be an unallocated partition of "unknown" type.
9. Right-click this partition row and click New in the menu.
10. Under "File system", select "FAT32".
11. Click OK.
12. In the upper-left corner of the window, click Apply.
13. Review the operations and click Apply Pending Operations.
14. Wait for the process to finish and click OK.

You can now exit KDE Partition Manager and proceed.

GNOME Disks

GNOME Disks is an application built into GNOME for managing storage devices.

Danger – Data loss

GNOME Disks is a powerful tool which can easily cause permanent data loss if misused.

• Formatting a drive permanently wipes all of its data.
• Make absolutely sure that you do not format another drive by accident.
• Do not format a flash drive if it contains any data you want to keep.

Tip – Installing GNOME Disks

Debian

sudo apt install gnome-disk-utility

Fedora

sudo dnf install gnome-disk-utility

Arch

sudo pacman -S gnome-disk-utility

SUSE

sudo zypper install gnome-disk-utility

NixOS

• MyNixOS page

Many distros also have a graphical package manager.

1. If not on GNOME, install GNOME Disks.
2. Open Disks.
3. In the left-hand tab, locate your USB flash drive and click it.
4. Click the triple-dot menu in the upper-right of the window.
5. Click Format Disk....
6. Make sure "Partitioning" is set to "MBR / DOS".
7. Click Format....
8. At the bottom left of the volume "Free Space", click the plus icon ('+').
9. Click Next.
10. Select "For use with all systems and devices (FAT)".
11. Click Create.
12. Wait for the process to finish.

You can now exit GNOME Disks and proceed.

1. Transfer the biosdrain.elf file to your formatted USB flash drive.
2. Insert your USB flash drive into your PS2.
3. In uLaunchELF, navigate to the device named mass: and open it.
4. Locate and run biosdrain.elf.
5. When biosdrain says "Finished Everything", the dumping process is finished.
6. You can now plug the USB drive back into your computer.

You should see files prefixed by your console model ID and ending in .rom0,.rom1,.nvm, etc., on your USB drive.

ps2client & ps2link

1. cd into the directory where you have biosdrain.elf.
2. Run the command:

   ps2client execee host:biosdrain.elf

3. biosdrain will automatically detect that the host device is present and dump your BIOS contents to the root directory of host.
   • The root of host is usually where you have the biosdrain.elf file.
4. When biosdrain says "Finished Everything", the dumping process is finished.

You should see files prefixed by your console model ID and ending in .rom0,.rom1,.nvm, etc., in the root directory of host.

XLink & ps2link

1. Execute the biosdrain.elf with the user interface.
2. biosdrain will automatically detect that the host device is present and dump your BIOS contents to the root directory of host.
   • The root of host is usually where you have the biosdrain.elf file.
3. When biosdrain says "Finished Everything", the dumping process is finished.

You should see files prefixed by your console model ID and ending in .rom0,.rom1,.nvm, etc., in the root directory of host.

Checking the BIOS Dump

Once you've finished dumping your PS2's BIOS, you're done and ready to use it for PCSX2. However, if you wish to first verify the integrity of the dump, the ReDump project maintains a data file containing hashes for every PS2 BIOS version. To compute the SHA1 hash of the BIOS file you dumped:

Windows

On Windows, use Get-FileHash in PowerShell:

Get-FileHash [path-to-file] -Algorithm SHA1

macOS

On macOS, use shasum in Terminal:

shasum [path-to-file]

Linux

On Linux, use sha1sum in the shell:

sha1sum [path-to-file]

Info – Graphical hashing

Some file managers such as Dolphin (KDE) provide built-in support for hashing, while some like Files (GNOME) require an extension.

Footnotes

Footnotes

1. For more information on disc swap, see this section on the PS2 Dev Wiki. ↩

2. For more information on modchips, we recommend this article by FreeckyCake on Altar of Gaming and this catalogue on the PS2 Dev Wiki. ↩

3. 9xxxx serial number with a date code larger than 8B ↩ ↩²

4. Memory cards with FreeMcBoot preinstalled are sold on a variety of digital storefronts. ↩

5. Memory cards with Fortuna preinstalled can also be found on digital storefronts, but they are rarer than FreeMcBoot. A modern, open-source version of Fortuna, OpenTuna, is not typically bundled with memory cards sold by online retailers. ↩

6. The modern continuation of uLaunchELF, wLaunchELF, is sometimes bundled with modern versions of FreeMcBoot like 1.966. It is not bundled with FreeDVDBoot, which still includes uLaunchELF. This guide treats uLaunchELF and wLaunchELF interchangeably. ↩