# New here, and not sure where to post: Mini SuperCard SD (for gba) help?



## Donzieja (Oct 31, 2012)

Hello, all. My name is Don. I've been having some trouble with my GBA flash cart, the Mini SuperCard SD. It started off like this: If I played one game, and saved somewhere along the way, and switched to another after that, and then tried to play the first game again, the save would be gone. Now, it's failing to save all together. Also, I always get the "internal battery has run dry, the game can be played" error (the only gba games I bother to play are pokemon, so... yea xD)

Could anyone help me out here?

Thanks,

~Don N.


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## Lemmy Koopa (Nov 1, 2012)

Your SRAM battery has probably died. I have the exact same problem with my M3, but to a less extent (it can hold a charge for a day to several). Most cartridge games have SRAM which stores saved data, and is always charged via a battery:









I assume the Supercard saves the same as the M3, as in it stores saved data in the SRAM, then backs it up to the SD card, then when you play again, it loads the backup into the SRAM.

Here are some things you can do: 
1) try to charge the battery by leaving your Gameboy on with the Supercard in it for a while. I did this with my M3, but it didn't work permanently. You can try to give it a shot though. Basically for me my SRAM data didn't die until a week later.

2) Replace the battery. I made a topic about this and people informed me of ways to replace the battery. You can either solder in a new one, or pry off the battery from the tabs and tape a new CR battery to the tabs.

3) You can keep it that way if you think the other options are too risky. I think if your battery is the only problem it should be easy with option 2.


Here is the thread I made in case you want to see some answers people gave me:
http://gbatemp.net/threads/m3-perfect-battery-is-bad.334951/#post-4439709


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## DanTheManMS (Nov 4, 2012)

The GBA Supercards by nature need an additional step for saving.  After saving in-game, press L+R+Select+A to bring up the saver menu, and use that to permanently write the updated save data to the *.sav file on your card.  If that button combo doesn't work, then try the Quick Power Cycle method.  Turn off the GBA and quickly turn it back on (if on a DS, use the button combo to force it to boot in GBA mode if needed), press right once to get to the Saver tab, and find your *.sav file and press A twice.

The "internal battery has run dry" thing is specific to games with real-time clocks, like the GBA Pokemon games.  I'm not sure what to advise you there, but it is in fact a separate issue from the main "can't save properly" issue.


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## superspudz2000 (Nov 4, 2012)

im pretty sure the Supercard GBA line dont have Batteries at all.
i remember how much of a pain it was to have to restart to main menu
and browse to saver tab.

but you said you only play pokemon so thats an entirely different problem.
Pokemon Games need to be patched.
you can probably find the patches here on GBAtemp in the Downloads section.
or here;
http://www.pocketheaven.com/ph/bubbz/?system=gba&section=patch

or if you have the goodtools/goodmerge rom set try the
Pokemon - Leaf Green Version (U) (V1.0) [f1].gba


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## DanTheManMS (Nov 4, 2012)

The Supercard miniSD does actually have a battery inside, which is supposed to keep the SRAM of the last game you played, but honestly I never trusted it.  It's always better to use the button combo to save, or the Quick Power Cycle if the button combo doesn't work.


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## Lemmy Koopa (Nov 5, 2012)

DanTheManMS said:


> The Supercard miniSD does actually have a battery inside, which is supposed to keep the SRAM of the last game you played, but honestly I never trusted it. It's always better to use the button combo to save, or the Quick Power Cycle if the button combo doesn't work.


 
I know the Supercard was a competitor of the M3, with many of the same features. I don't have a problem with the Battery backed SRAM, but it's ridiculous how fast these batteries die.
Like I said on my topic, I think the RTC is to blame for that though.


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## Deleted-236924 (Nov 12, 2012)

Lemmy Koopa said:


> I know the Supercard was a competitor of the M3, with many of the same features. I don't have a problem with the Battery backed SRAM, but it's ridiculous how fast these batteries die.
> Like I said on my topic, I think the RTC is to blame for that though.


The RTC could be to blame with the M3 indeed.
But on the other ones, since there is no RTC at all, the battery only runs out from keeping saves in memory.

I like the EZ-Flash IV because even if the internal battery runs dry, you would still be able to save from using in-game soft reset (I remapped my in-game soft reset to A+B+Start+Select, so when I'm done playing and saved in-game, I hit the Soft Reset button combo, which brings me back to EZ-IV main menu which proceeds to copy save file from SRAM to miniSD.)

But then... I still need to get another miniSD.


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