Hacking R4iSDHC card not running after Wood R4.nds

[HeyItsJono]

Hi there,
So I have one of these cards which I'm fully aware is a knockoff. However, it was working perfectly and I managed to get YSMenu as its primary firmware which was great. But today I was googling around and found these threads to load Wood on knockoff carts, so I decided to give it a shot. I placed the WAIO files on my SD root along will the NDS files from the second thread, then I ran one of them (Wood R4.nds, I was going to try them all sequentially to see if one would work). My screen went white and stopped responding so I shut down my 3DS and restored the R4's SD card to how it had previously been with all the necessary YSMenu files. Now, however, the card won't boot. When I start it up on my 3DS I just get "An error has occured. Press and hold the POWER button to turn the system off. Please refer to the Operations Manual for details." I tried the cart on my DS Lite and I just get white screens when running it. Keep in mind this cart worked fine on my 3DS firmware before I tried WAIO (I'm on 10.6 with no TWL_FIRM patch). Is there any way at all I can salvage the cart? Thanks!

 

[SlenderPanda02]

Load the card back onto your Laptop / PC and re-install the most recent firmware for your card, and try load it up.
Your 3DS has been updated and the card won't work till they come out with another update that gets past the update.

 

[Sleet]

These cards can brick when you use the wrong kernel on them. I tried getting waio on mine too but it didn't work (only tried it once though).

Do you still see a game icon on your DS lite?

 

[SlenderPanda02]

These cards can brick when you use the wrong kernel on them. I tried getting waio on mine too but it didn't work (only tried it once though).

Do you still see a game icon on your DS lite?

I doubt it's bricked, I've had 4 of the same r4i's and I've installed Wood on all of them.

 

[Sleet]

I doubt it's bricked, I've had 4 of the same r4i's and I've installed Wood on all of them.

Huh, really? If you could post instructions on how to get it working I'd really appreciate it.

@HeyItsJono Also try formatting your SD with SD Formatter (make a backup first)

 

[SlenderPanda02]

Huh, really? If you could post instructions on how to get it working I'd really appreciate it.

@HeyItsJono Also try formatting your SD with SD Formatter (make a backup first)

Download the most recent r4 wood file and extract all the files into the root of the MicroSD Card and run the card through your un-updated DS Lite/DSi/3DS and do as you would normally.

 

[HeyItsJono]

Your 3DS has been updated and the card won't work till they come out with another update that gets past the update.

That's not the case since my 3DS was on 10.6 before I attempted WAIO and is still on 10.6 after I attempted WAIO. Furthermore, it doesn't boot on my DS Lite which has no blacklist so it's not a blacklist issue.

Download the most recent r4 wood file and extract all the files into the root of the MicroSD Card and run the card through your un-updated DS Lite/DSi/3DS and do as you would normally.

Which files exactly are you using? Are you sure you have this particular card? Because it wasn't made to use Wood, I'm pretty sure it's a DSTT knockoff or something.

These cards can brick when you use the wrong kernel on them. I tried getting waio on mine too but it didn't work (only tried it once though).

Do you still see a game icon on your DS lite?

Did your card brick as well? Any way to salvage it? I do still see the Title and Icon when I load it in my DS Lite/3DS, but I get whitescreens when I run it on DS Lite and the error message when I run it on my 3DS. I'll give formatting the SD a shot though. I thought the whole purpose of the .NDS WAIO files was to be able to load it as a secondary kernel (so I could see if it was compatible), I didn't realise they installed a new firmware - it's kind of ridiculous that the thread they're in paints them to be something they're not.

EDIT: Formatting the SD did not work. Is there any way to write directly to the card's firmware and restore it?

 

[Sleet]

Did your card brick as well? Any way to salvage it? I do still see the Title and Icon when I load it in my DS Lite/3DS, but I get whitescreens when I run it on DS Lite and the error message when I run it on my 3DS. I'll give formatting the SD a shot though. I thought the whole purpose of the .NDS WAIO files was to be able to load it as a secondary kernel (so I could see if it was compatible), I didn't realise they installed a new firmware - it's kind of ridiculous that the thread they're in paints them to be something they're not.

EDIT: Formatting the SD did not work. Is there any way to write directly to the card's firmware and restore it?

The thing is those files don't write to the firmware on their own. It's either a bug inherit to these cards or a deliberate way to stop people from using other kernels. I didn't brick so maybe it is a bug (then again, Gateway didn't purposely brick every time, perhaps certain conditions have to be met).

I don't think you can flash the firmware without loading the kernel. Only DSTwo can that I know of.

All I can say at this point is to try a different SD at the off chance the one you used got unreversably corrupted.

 

[HeyItsJono]

The thing is those files don't write to the firmware on their own. It's either a bug inherit to these cards or a deliberate way to stop people from using other kernels. I didn't brick so maybe it is a bug (then again, Gateway didn't purposely brick every time, perhaps certain conditions have to be met).

I don't think you can flash the firmware without loading the kernel. Only DSTwo can that I know of.

All I can say at this point is to try a different SD at the off chance the one you used got unreversably corrupted.

Unfortunately a different SD card didn't work either. I have an old Acekard RPG, would I be able to run some sort of firmware updater program from that then hard-switch the flashcart so it installs on my R4iSDHC one? It's weird because the YSMenu kernel worked fine both being loaded as a secondary .nds and as my primary kernel so it's probably a WAIO problem.

 

[SlenderPanda02]

Unfortunately a different SD card didn't work either. I have an old Acekard RPG, would I be able to run some sort of firmware updater program from that then hard-switch the flashcart so it installs on my R4iSDHC one? It's weird because the YSMenu kernel worked fine both being loaded as a secondary .nds and as my primary kernel so it's probably a WAIO problem.

That would probably mess up the Acekard way more than the r4 currently is. Did you make sure to reformat it in FAT32? Have you tried taking everything off the flashcart's SD card and then seeing if it boots and starts loading forever? Try that.

 

[HeyItsJono]

That would probably mess up the Acekard way more than the r4 currently is.

I'd be looking for one with some sort of confirmation before it updated the firmware, so I could start it up on the Acekard, switch cards and press A to write the firmware to the bricked card.

Did you make sure to reformat it in FAT32?

Yes.

Have you tried taking everything off the flashcart's SD card and then seeing if it boots and starts loading forever? Try that.

This still gives the same error.

 

[Hking0036]

However, it was working perfectly and I managed to get YSMenu as its primary firmware which was great.

I'm interested in this part, how did you go about that (and/or could you PM me your files)? The default firmware is so painfully slow.

I tried it according to this guide: https://gbatemp.net/threads/ysmenu-for-r4-sdhc.187663/
with the .nds file, renaming and then replacing the .dat but it didn't work. Is it included in this thread? https://gbatemp.net/threads/retrogamefan-updates-releases.267243/

 

[Sleet]

I'm interested in this part, how did you go about that (and/or could you PM me your files)? The default firmware is so painfully slow.

I tried it according to this guide: https://gbatemp.net/threads/ysmenu-for-r4-sdhc.187663/
with the .nds file, renaming and then replacing the .dat but it didn't work. Is it included in this thread? https://gbatemp.net/threads/retrogamefan-updates-releases.267243/

See this post R4SDHC Dual-Core Firmware

 

[Hking0036]

See this post R4SDHC Dual-Core Firmware

amazing, thanks a ton.

 

[HeyItsJono]

For future reference for anyone who finds themselves in my predicament; turns out I can actually still use the cart but I have to boot it with Apache Thunder's Stage 2 Launcher for DSTT. By using the Stage 2 launcher I can bypass the bricked bootloader/firmware because that seems to be handled by the Stage 2 Launcher that then just reads from the flashcart's SD. I'm still trying to figure out if it's possible to flash the correct firmware back again.