Neo TeAm Forum
NEO Team's Projects for the GBA/NDS/NDS lite => NEO Flash and Magic Key 1/2/3 help, FAQ/guides and discussion => Topic started by: RuaRi on February 22, 2006, 01:04:33 AM
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I'd be greatful if anybody else has any info that would get my neomax flash cart working.
Used to be able to flash it fine until recently.
Now NPK says it writing and then nothing appears to be written to the cart when it finishes.
Same sorta story with neomax except that after formating it show that the cart contains 1.0mBit file with the name DS.If I try burning the same file just appears nothings appears to be written.
XG2 software shows that there is a 0.0mBit file written to the cart and and the name of this file starts off as SR but change depending on the size of the file I try and burn to it.
Looks to me as if theres some sorta corrupted memory on the flash cart, any help on trying to wipe it?
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Have you tried reinstalling the drivers to the writer? Or unregister and re-register the DLL for Neomax/XG (There's an option for it in the start menu).
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Tried to reinstalling the drivers manually multiple time and doesn't make a damn difference.
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>:(
>:(first remove neomax or XG software
>:(reinstall neopower kit.
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Again have done it already multiple times with no difference.
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Maby you schould format both SD card and GBA Flash cart
see if that helps.
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From what I've seen, re-installing the drivers/software may help when you are having problems detecting the Slimloader/neocart (or when the software is malfunctioning, such as NPK freezing).
In this case, it looks like everything is detected fine, and the programs function properly (except that the neomax cart just doesn't hold any data that's flashed to it). If you format using the neomax software, you generally get a single file (something like 'dsbooter') which takes up the whole 512 mb space.
He's tried all the various software programs to flash (and reformatted as well, which should restore the cart), yet he's only getting 0 or 1 mbit files. I would guess that the neomax cart is malfunctioning because it's defective (if I'm right, that would be a bum deal since he probably hasn't had it for very long)
BruceG
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maybe a non tech solution-when i and my son moved to 1024 carts,daughter 1 got 512 cart.couldnt even flash a rom without freezing.cart was two months old,so was battery.(i was just using it for a boot cart,it would flash the menu)
I changed the battery,and it works fine now.
this is a stab in the dark,possibly has nothing to do with your problem,but you never know.cant hurt to try.bad batteries happen.
BTW-i do not use NPK at all.
EDIT-i saw where someone else is covering a similar subject in a different topic.now i dont feel so smart :(.
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Yes if its not holding any data then try changing the batery that should help.
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The battery is basically used for gba SRAM saving, so I don't know if it will help in this particular case...
That doesn't sound good if the cart isn't retaining anything that gets flashed to it (i.e. if it says flashing is completed successfully, yet nothing works)...
BruceG
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Most of the time when I burn things with NPK like the MKmenu to the NeoMax it will not appear at all in the files when I refresh/restart, but it is there and generally will work fine.
Occasionally when I write a MKmenu onto the cart, I will get cart not recognized errors in NPK (most likely because the menus mostly dont have a 'proper' GBA header), and using NeoMax to format it puts a single ROM called DSBooter into the next refresh under NPK.
-Try changing the battery for the heck of it (but Im fairly certain this will not help).
-Try cleaning the cart contacts with some high % alchohol/isoproyl (not alot, use qtip or similar).
-Make certain the cart contacts in the slimloader arent bent, or that there isnt something foreign blocking one of the pins.
-the suggestion that always frustrated me: try a different PC. (I mean, it was working on this one, now its not...) Perhaps something in your registry or hard disk is corrupted and causing these problems, or perhaps you have another device interfereing.
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Yeah, I assumed he was aware files frequently don't show up as being burned. Though, I interpreted his problem as being that he can't get anything to run from the cart anymore.
I thought about the contacts also, but since the slimloader and cart are being detected properly, I figured the neomax might be malfunctioning (very strange since 'dsbooter' should be 512 mbits in size, for example -- all his files seem to be either 0 or 1 mbit).
Hopefully, though, one of your ideas will fix his problem, and he'll post again if he can get it working...
BruceG
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Indeed I will post again if nothing works(will except trying another PC which would rule out any sorta software problems and confirm a hardware problem but alas I lack).
So any other ideas before I get desperate and open up the flash cart and get nasty with it.
Just an extra tidbit of information, larger files written to the cart show up as option pak on the ds where as small files like the mk menu show up as no cart inserted.
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if you do deside to open up the flash cart.
you undo the screw and it slides down.
But ONLY do that IF you have to.
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If you do decide to do some "explaratory bashing" wrather than surgery, I suggest taking a close look at where the USB connector on the slim loader connects to the PCboard first.
Do you have any other way of booting the MK menu besides your neomax cart? Using the menu to burn something to the cart (you can swap it in after the menu is booted) wrather than the slim loader could be one way of telling for certain if the cart is the problem.
An alternative to trying a different PC is reinstalling windows.. I did this recently on a separate hard disk (an old 8 or 10 gig one from an xbox) to test the slim loader 4 with NPK, which I had thought was not working due to possible software conflicts.