When I put the acekard in my daughters ds lite the top screen displays menu with a question mark above it. I used the panasonic sd formatting tool on the micro sd. I have tried AKAIO 1.8.9. and 1.8.8. and get the same with both. We have another acekard I bought last year for her(I bought this one for someone else) that works great without any problems. When I take the sd card from the old one and put it in the new one still get the menu and question mark. Any insight is greatly appreciated.
I'm pretty sure that's not an acekard 2i. ak2i's usual 'hanging screen' is just a black screen with "loading" on the middle. If the icon looks like the one in the spoiler (below), I think it's a dstt or a clone of it. It'd be easier if we knew which exact cart you have. Maybe you can take a pic of the error icon?
except with a question mark .
Per the Acekard Anti-Counterfeit code it is legit. But I guess it could be a one off. I bought it from the same company i purchased the first one from. In the side by side pics the one on the left is the good functioning one. The case on the new one is a little different. It has slightly curved inward on the side at the top. Thank you for responding so quickly!! 
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EDIT: The error screen isn't that of an ak2i. Indeed, the left one seems like the legit one, having a green pcb and no engraving on the back (the micro sd engraving thingy that's on the other one). Judging from the error screen, I wouldn't say that it's even an ak2i clone; it looks more like a r4 clone (which are usually clones of other carts...). I don't recall the error screen, so maybe somebody else who knows/has a cart with the same error screen can help you identify it.
Once identified, you can use whichever firmware it uses. It'll at least be operable, but I can't guarantee you it'll function the same way (no akaio support, which is the problem you are having right now).
go to www.ndsgamer.com He is out of Texas. Real Cards, Fast Shipping. He is a member of Shoptemp. Go through shoptemp though as it will save you three dollars. Do you know how to get to shoptemp through this site? Go to home and look on the left side where it says "Shoptemp Marketplace", click it.
realhotstuff.com usually does a great job and are a reputable seller. It's based on the US, so, unlike Chinese sellers, shipping will be fast. The pricing isn't the very best, but the ones under $15 are usually China-based sellers, so $18 for a US seller is pretty decent.
Not good (read, bad) advice @s4mid4re
Realhotstuff.com is known to sell clones. A quote from acekard team and the AKAIO forums "The above two thumbnails are images of a fake/clone AK2i. Notice in the first image that the clone card is using the Actel design. This is the old AK2i design, sold by Ackard in 2009. Once sold, this design started out as the various R4 clones and later became the Ak2i clone. Please understand that you can no longer buy a real Acekard 2i with the Actel chip and the "window" in the back of the shell. Any resellers who order these kits new are stocking known clones. One such reseller is, RealHotStuff, who has openly said they can not see a difference in the kits. Keep in mind that AKAIO does not support clones and will not work on clones. Also, the larger difference, the fake/clone cards are not covered under the Acekard 1 year warranty.
Here is the link to read it for yourself. Scroll down halfway down the page.
For the US I've used ModChipCentral, though like most US stores (opposed to chinese ones) they're more expensive.
I purchased it from modchipcentral. I emailed them and said i had an issue with the one i purchased. This is the reply I got.
Hi David, this is the 4th report we have had of this in the last 2 weeks actually. Basically, you received an R4i 3DS card that had an Acekard2i sticker on it so I do apologize about that. It seems our supplier mixed up a couple R4i 3DS cards in our Acekard2i shipment
You will need to use the firmware from www.r4i-sdhccom for it to work.
If you want, I can refund you the difference for the R4i 3DS card which is $5.00 or I can have the proper card shipped out for you.
I do apologize about this as this was not our intention, just a simple supplier mistake.
Let me know.
Hi David, this is the 4th report we have had of this in the last 2 weeks actually. Basically, you received an R4i 3DS card that had an Acekard2i sticker on it so I do apologize about that. It seems our supplier mixed up a couple R4i 3DS cards in our Acekard2i shipment
You will need to use the firmware from www.r4i-sdhccom for it to work.
If you want, I can refund you the difference for the R4i 3DS card which is $5.00 or I can have the proper card shipped out for you.
I do apologize about this as this was not our intention, just a simple supplier mistake.
Let me know.
First I've heard of that shop having a supplier issue, but sadly it's not uncommon in general, suppliers are known to ship cheaper carts with the wrong stickers to make more profit. :\
Considering the one you ended up with, I'd opt for having the 2i sent.
Considering the one you ended up with, I'd opt for having the 2i sent.
That is what I asked of them. Just got a reply saying they will send one out to me Monday on their dime. Will wait and see. Like I said above last year I bought an Acekard 2i and it has worked perfectly. A few years ago I bought a xecuter chip from them for my old school xbox that worked awesome. I really hope it was an accident as I have had gotten good products from them in the past.
I'd like to point out that the article the user obtained this information from refers to a situation that happened in early 2010. The article jimmyemunoz quotes from is also a bit outdated as it does not mention that new(ish) security stickers on the back of Acekard cartridges. We (realhotstuff) are also not sure when we "openly" said that we were unable to differentiate between authentic and clones, but we can "openly" state now that we definitely can tell the difference.
Thank you again to those that posted and helped out. Just wanted to update. Modchipcentral has regained my business and trust. They immediately sent out another acekart to me and were very apologetic. They didnt question claim. They were very quick in responding to my emails even through the weekend. They didnt have me send the original kart back(saving me the return postage). Which it did function after getting the right software on it, even though it is a r4 clone. Will just toss it in the junk drawer. I feel it was a supplier issue and hopefully they have moved on from them.
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