Hacking Confused about EZ-Flash IV GBA firmwares....

[romanaOne]

I have a full-size EZ-Flash IV that came with 1.66 star wars firmware pre-installed and I upgraded to 1.72 mother+reset patch. Is this the latest/best? I got it on eBay. The Chinese seller claimed it was brand new and it does look pretty new.

How do I tell if it is the 2013 version or an older one?

I've tried goomba, goombacolor, cologne and a few home-brews like the mod player and rogue. Most of these I can exit w/o turning off the GBA.

I got the mother+reset1.72 from filetrip.net and it appears to be the latest.

But if you go to the EZ-Flash OEM website, it looks like there is a more recent version but it doesn't say what number. I think I remember reading about 1.74 someplace...but there is waaaay too much defunct info on these carts!

 

[Joe88]

Flip the cart over and look on the back
It will say EZ402 and the year, thats how you can tell which one you have, but it seems you have a 2006

I suggest this firmware instead http://ezflash.sosuke.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&p=78999
If you do have a 2006 model then install 1.72 soft reset clearlooks v5
If you have the newer model then instal 1.74

 

[romanaOne]

Thank you! After posting, I got curious, removed the cart from my GBA and discovered the date was printed the back! Doh!

 

[migles]

lol, its funny i had annoyed FAST6191 with this question via pm, thanks!

 

[Jayro]

So no hopes of any new firmware for this cart? Not even a CE-supported edition? While I realize 1.72 is stable and almost flawless, it could use some improvement... Namely, FAT32 support.

 

[romanaOne]

Well, I quickly discovered that the NOR does not work with the 1.72 reset+mother-skin firmware from filetrip.

I have exactly the same problem as in this thread:
http://gbatemp.net/threads/ez-flash-iv-wont-save-games-to-nor-no-error-it-just-doesnt-work.364188/

There is no error, but nothing is written to or read from NOR.

The "2013-NOR-fixed" firmwares at filetrip work fine--I am able to play Mother 3. I chose the carbon skin b/c it looks the nicest. The version # says 1.71. Hope nothing too important got fixed from 1.71 to 1.74

Is my "2006.03" EZ-Flash really a 2013 model?

 

[FAST6191]

I am not sure the silkscreen was updated for the new batch, or indeed any new batch (they did keep making them for a couple of years).

The version numbers are basically random, they certainly mean very little.

Also there were some new firmwares released on the site. More on that http://ezflash.sosuke.com/viewtopic.php?p=79002#p79002

 

[migles]

so, i did get this exact same card (same numbers from Joe88 picture)

i am confused on which software version i should use.... i'd like to download from the ez iv official website :/

i tried to download the client from the official website i selected english language and after that crashes and dont let me open it again D: win7 compatibilty issues?

 

[romanaOne]

The number on the board doesn't mean anything. I bought one from some Chinese guy on eBay AND a brand new one from realhotstuff.com. They both have the 2006.03 number. And they're both 2013 models. The company probably just changed the NOR chips and then bumped the firmware version to 1.74 make it look like there is something new to get people to buy their new batch.

I tried various 1.72 firmwares and none were able to access the NOR but everything else was ok. The 1.74 firmware from the ez-flash site works fine, can access NOR = play Mother 3. For now, I will live with the Darth Vader theme. It's not so bad to have the full functionality of the card at the expense of aesthetics.

I'm also using a micro SD to mini SD adapter. Seems fine.

One quirk I notice is the most GBA ROMs will not RESET when you press L+Up+B+A even though I checked RESET in the EZ-Client and made sure the proper keys were selected in the config dialog.
Nothing happens. Tried it with a bunch of them.

The RESET patched cologne/goomba/sms/pocketnes you can find in sosuke forums still work fine.