SuperFW: a custom firmware for Supercard

[blckbear]

Hi, i investigated why some OG agb 001 and found out that maybe some pcb revision doesnt work (stuck on white screen when booting game).
Currently i tested on:
- AGB-CPU-01 (need confirmation from those who have one).
- AGB-CPU-02 (not working), number on back: 02 6-2
- AGB-CPU-03 (not working), number on back: 03 7-2
- AGB-CPU-04 (need confirmation from those who have one)
-AGB-CPU-10 (32 pins one, not working), number on back: 10 1-1

Note that all go in SuperFW menu and all works in menu but when loading gba game it's stuck on white screen, sometime screeching noise are heard from speaker. And note too that on original fw 1.85, it works great on the revision mentionned. Note also that some gb/c rom boot but have messed up graphics and some stay on white gb/c mode screen.

So i need help and confirmation from those saying it works on their console by giving revision version. To see revision version, on the back of the console, there is small number (like when identifiying pin number version). If it begin by 0X #-#, where # are just some number and X can be between 1 to 4. Thanks

Hi, I've already tried on my GBA (AGB-CPU-10 board, 10 1-1 "revision"): https://gbatemp.net/threads/superfw-a-custom-firmware-for-supercard.654847/post-10613336

It's working mostly fine for me, the artifacting and glitching I get were also present on original firmware but are gone after reloading the same ROM. I'm guessing the issues are more likely related to the cartridge's quality rather than the console itself. Mine has a dead SRAM battery, no other issues are apparent.

 

[Tsila]

Hi, I've already tried on my GBA (AGB-CPU-10 board, 10 1-1 "revision"): https://gbatemp.net/threads/superfw-a-custom-firmware-for-supercard.654847/post-10613336

It's working mostly fine for me, the artifacting and glitching I get were also present on original firmware but are gone after reloading the same ROM. I'm guessing the issues are more likely related to the cartridge's quality rather than the console itself. Mine has a dead SRAM battery, no other issues are apparent.

But the strange thing is that it works on a gb micro, 2 nds lite and 2 gba sp, all tests pass in menu. So i don't really think it's a supercard problem. I'm thinking that for some agb-001 some wait timing is needed to change (i don't know if it's possible), tried multiboot to wait for rom loading but didn't work. Also wondering if the cristal on the board can mean something too, maybe different speed even a little. And some agb board don't have the chip AGB-REG and some have smaller DRAM chip too

Post automatically merged: May 4, 2025

Also tried revert to stock firmware and all agb boards revisions works (beside of needing to patch them using the software manually). Any idea where to modify on the source code to tedt things up?

 

[Gamemaster2022]

Hey, it's been a while since I was playing around with my Supercard and I amazed to see how much progress was made. Thanks to this firmware the Supercard works on the GameBoy Player too. Yeah it has glitches like on the the OG GBA but still. That might be solved in the future. Many thanks! Incredible work!

Post automatically merged: May 7, 2025

Hi, I've already tried on my GBA (AGB-CPU-10 board, 10 1-1 "revision"): https://gbatemp.net/threads/superfw-a-custom-firmware-for-supercard.654847/post-10613336

It's working mostly fine for me, the artifacting and glitching I get were also present on original firmware but are gone after reloading the same ROM. I'm guessing the issues are more likely related to the cartridge's quality rather than the console itself. Mine has a dead SRAM battery, no other issues are apparent.

Supercards always had problems with the original GBAs. Not sure why though but it's definitely some sort of hardware incompatibility. On all of my original GBAs games load with artifacts (Gameboy player included) while on DS and both SPs all works like a charm.

 

[johndagun]

i have tried to install it but when i choose superfw.gba it just stays at 00000k/00495k

 

[Gamemaster2022]

With good soldering skills ...
Is your battery dead then? Usually you use the IGM to reset and that saves the SRAM. Since the IGM doesnt work for this game, you can try resetting your device very quickly (off and on again), that works... sometimes Make sure you perform backups (settings menu).

I have one proposion. I don't know if it wasn't suggested already but if you can, it would be awesome if you implemented overclocking like Metroid Maniac's SCFW had. Some games ran better with less slowdowns.

 

[Sasiccia84]

I have one proposion. I don't know if it wasn't suggested already but if you can, it would be awesome if you implemented overclocking like Metroid Maniac's SCFW had. Some games ran better with less slowdowns.

Hi! @Gamemaster2022 I never managed to get overclock to work, can you please explain how it works?

 

[dareon88]

Im trying to play legacy of goku or taiketsu, and it says hardware no compatible, any way to play this games in this firmware?

Post automatically merged: May 7, 2025

Im trying to play legacy of goku or taiketsu, and it says hardware no compatible, any way to play this games in this firmware?

 

[Sasiccia84]

Im trying to play legacy of goku or taiketsu, and it says hardware no compatible, any way to play this games in this firmware?

Post automatically merged: May 7, 2025

Im trying to play legacy of goku or taiketsu, and it says hardware no compatible, any way to play this games in this firmware?

Taiketsu! Ultra Hero (Japan) runs fine, Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku (USA) also runs fine, are you generating patches? Maybe bad roms?

Post automatically merged: May 7, 2025

i have tried to install it but when i choose superfw.gba it just stays at 00000k/00495k

You mean when flashing or when running superfw.gba? Maybe bad SD?

 

[Gamemaster2022]

Hi! @Gamemaster2022 I never managed to get overclock to work, can you please explain how it works?

Well, you just have to start the kernel.gba of the latest version of SCFW. It will overclockthe chip automatically. This is not the case for SuperFW, at least not for now. But we will see in the future.

 

[johndagun]

Taiketsu! Ultra Hero (Japan) runs fine, Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku (USA) also runs fine, are you generating patches? Maybe bad roms?

Post automatically merged: May 7, 2025

You mean when flashing or when running superfw.gba? Maybe bad SD?

when i try to run it. it also does the same if i try to run a rom

 

[Sasiccia84]

when i try to run it. it also does the same if i try to run a rom

Can you please explain? I don't quite understand

 

[johndagun]

Can you please explain? I don't quite understand

If I try to run any roms or when I try superfw.gba it does not load anything it stays at 00000k

 

[Sasiccia84]

If I try to run any roms or when I try superfw.gba it does not load anything it stays at 00000k

Are you doing this from the original firmware?

 

[Gamemaster2022]

If I try to run any roms or when I try superfw.gba it does not load anything it stays at 00000k

Do you own a DS?

 

[johndagun]

Do you own a DS?

No I don't

 

[Gamemaster2022]

No I don't

Okay, now what model of GBA are you trying to run games with Supercard on?

 

[johndagun]

normal gba agb 001

 

[Sasiccia84]

normal gba agb 001

Have you done this?:

https://superfw.davidgf.net/docs/usermanual/gettingstarted/

 

[johndagun]

Have you done this?:

https://superfw.davidgf.net/docs/usermanual/gettingstarted/

Flashing on GBA (or DS in GBA mode)​

You can flash SuperFW using the original firmware and/or any other custom firmware like SCFW. As long as the firmware is capable of launching homebrew you can launch SuperFW and use it to flash itself.

Prerequisites​

You will need the following:

• GBA or DS device
• Supercard cart
• An non-HC SD card (those older low capacity cards, SDHC cards are not supported by the original firmware!)
• The firmware (check the download page)

Preparation​

The SD card must be formated using FAT16 or FAT32 (exFAT is not compatible with the original firmware). Extract the superfw.fw and place it in the SD card. Create a copy of this file and rename it to superfw.gba.

Install​

• Boot the Supercard firmware and load the superfw.gba ROM. It will boot SuperFW.
• (Optional) Backup your current firmware using the Tools menu. Select Flash backup and backup the .superfw/flash_backup-*.bin file to your PC.
• Navigate (using the L/R shoulder buttons) to the Info menu (the rightmost one).
• Press the key combo Down + B + Start, you will see the message Flashing is enabled at the bottom.
• Navigate back to the File browser menu and locate the superfw.fw file. Press the A button to open it.
• You will see a pop up menu, proceed to flash with the key combo L + R + Up.

It is very important that this process is not interrupted or the flash will be corrupted. It can take up to a couple of minutes to complete, you will see the info message updated on each flashing step (Checking, Erasing, Flashing, Verifying). Should the process fail, you might try again. Once flashed, shutdown and restart your device, it should boot SuperFW.






thats what i am trying to do but when i try it just hangs at 00000k/00495k

 

[Gamemaster2022]

normal gba agb 001

That's most likely the problem. Original AGBs are not fully compatible with Supercard. If you have a GBA SP, try flashing the firmware on it. Otherwise you risk bricking the cart (this happened to me when I attempted to flash the SCFW firmware for the first time). I had to buy a DS to unbrick it.