Hacking AK2i: Weird freezing problem.

[Jeimiikun]

Hey guys, sorry if this question has already been asked, I couldn't really find anything that fit the description of my problem...

You see, today something has happened with my Acekard and I have no idea what went wrong. It was fine the few days before, but now it does this weird freezing thing. Well, it's kinda frozen, it loads up fine and makes it to the main menu, but nothing is displayed (by that I mean files/folders) and yet it hasn't really froze because the time in the top right corner continues to tick along. Also, there's no response when pressing buttons and the same goes for the touch screen. It's like the bottom screen has given up or something.

I've tried using a different SD card and tried loading it up in both handhelds (I have a DSi XL and a DSLite, which both worked fine before this happened). The last thing that was played was Pokemon Black 2, which I think may have something to do with it considering I've found a few threads with problems similar to mine.

I figure I may have to re-flash my Acekard? That has been the most prominent response, but no one had pointed towards any guides on doing this.

Thanks in advance guys, and I apologise if this topic has been brought up before...

 

[Another World]

format the msd and try again with a clean install of akaio (not a previously backed-up one). do not put a single backed-up file back on as it is entirely possible that 1 small corrupted portion of a file is repeatedly causing your issues. if that works, then the problem is with the files, so begin placing them back 1 at a time and testing to figure out where the problem is. if that doesn't work then the issue could be a seating issue with the msd or the ever-popular contact issue.

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/Solving_Acekard_2i_Contact_Issues

-another world

 

[MidniteBlaze]

I have a similar problem, except it stays stuck to the black loading screen with "loading" in blue letters. At first it was loading the menu very slowly, then it stopped reading the Micro SD card altogether. It started being slow after leaving the Acekard 2i without the MSD inserted for a few days.

I think I hadn't updated AKAIO since like 2011 or 2010. Nothing I do seems to make the Acekard work. I've tried disassembling the Acekard and cleaning the motherboard with an antibacterial wipe, formatting the MSD card, using a different MSD card, downloading the latest AKAIO release, but nothing works. Has the card died? Should I just buy an SDHC R4 Dual Core?

 

[Latiken]

I have a similar problem, except it stays stuck to the black loading screen with "loading" in blue letters. At first it was loading the menu very slowly, then it stopped reading the Micro SD card altogether. It started being slow after leaving the Acekard 2i without the MSD inserted for a few days.

I think I hadn't updated AKAIO since like 2011 or 2010. Nothing I do seems to make the Acekard work. I've tried disassembling the Acekard and cleaning the motherboard with an antibacterial wipe, formatting the MSD card, using a different MSD card, downloading the latest AKAIO release, but nothing works. Has the card died? Should I just buy an SDHC R4 Dual Core?

I don't see how a lot of people like to get R4 clones. The only clone that (I think...) has ever been good is the R4i Gold.

 

[Another World]

the r4i gold and the r4i dsn (from the same team), and the original 1:1 r4 are the only r4 "clones" worth owning.

-another world

 

[MidniteBlaze]

It's not that I like R4 clones (in fact, that's the reason I bought an Acekard; I was told R4 clones don't last much, oh the irony), but it's the only type of flash cards that's sold here.

However, is there nothing that can be done about my Acekard? I've checked it, and it's a real Acekard (not a fake).

 

[Another World]

if you formatted the msd card, did you use the panasonic formatter?
have you verified that your msd cards work on another flash kit?
have you run any tools on the msd card to make sure the file system is ok, there are no issues, etc?
what icon does your ak2i display in the ds firmware?
were you playing a game 128MB (or larger) in size when this problem occurred?

this is the order you want to test in:
1. format the msd card using the panasonic formatter
2. put on a freshly downloaded clean copy of akaio 1.9.0
3. test to see if it boots up

after that report back.

-another world

 

[MidniteBlaze]

if you formatted the msd card, did you use the panasonic formatter?
have you verified that your msd cards work on another flash kit?
have you run any tools on the msd card to make sure the file system is ok, there are no issues, etc?
what icon does your ak2i display in the ds firmware?
were you playing a game 128MB (or larger) in size when this problem occurred?

this is the order you want to test in:
1. format the msd card using the panasonic formatter
2. put on a freshly downloaded clean copy of akaio 1.9.0
3. test to see if it boots up

after that report back.

-another world

I formatted the card using the Panasonic Formatter as well, forgot to mention that; afterwards, I used a freshly downloaded AKAIO 1.9.0; it still won't boot the menu. I'm using a DS Phat, so the icon I see is the regular Acekard icon, but when I insert it in my DSi, it displays a Danny Phantom icon.

When the problem first occurred (when it started loading the menu slowly; though it ran games just fine), I was playing a Japanese Pokémon White 2 (fixed) rom (512 MB). The last thing I played, though, was a Spanish Pokémon White 1 rom (256 MB) that I was using to clone Pokémon. After cloning a Pokémon, it simply stopped loading the contents of the micro SD card and wouldn't get past the black loading screen with the blue-colored "loading" text.

Edit: The Micro SD card works on my reader, and the fact that I used another micro SD card and it still doesn't boot up tells me it's probably dead =(

 

[Another World]

you probably corrupted the bootloader when you ran the larger rom with AP turned on.

you'll need to reflash it as the next step in debugging. to do that you'll need a second flash kit.

-another world

 

[MidniteBlaze]

But neither rom had antipiracy on. Or does AP stand for something else?

Thanks for the help. I'll see if I can get a friend to lend me his flashcard.

Edit: About the menu loading slowly, then not loading at all, wouldn't that indicate it's a hardware issue?

 

[Another World]

the most recent bootloader update has a really long load time. its most probably a contact issue, not a hardware issue. but a hardware issue is entirely possible, just not as probable.

no one knows yet why the pokemon games are causing issues. all i know is that a lot of people are reporting that after playing they are unable to boot back into the menu. the 2 fixes so far have been to format the msd card using a different cluster size and to reflash the bootloader.

-another world

 

[MidniteBlaze]

the most recent bootloader update has a really long load time.

no one knows yet why the pokemon games are causing issues. all i know is that a lot of people are reporting that after playing they are unable to boot back into the menu. the 2 fixes so far have been to format the msd card using a different cluster size and to reflash the bootloader.

-another world

Thank you very much. Luckily one of my friends still knows where he placed his R4, so I'll be able to reflash the bootloader.

 

[Another World]

if you are using a ds lite/dsi then try to hunt down one of the older bootloader updates. the recent updates only add support for the 3ds, at the cost of loading speed.

please report back if it fixed your problem.

also, you may want to format your msd card and set it up for the r4. that way you can test to see if its working or not, which would be a great way to rule out msd card failure.

-another world

 

[MidniteBlaze]

if you are using a ds lite/dsi then try to hunt down one of the older bootloader updates. the recent updates only add support for the 3ds, at the cost of loading speed.

please report back if it fixed your problem.

also, you may want to format your msd card and set it up for the r4. that way you can test to see if its working or not, which would be a great way to rule out msd card failure.

-another world

Oh, don't worry, it's not the MSD card. I tried a different one on the Acekard and it had the same effect as the first MSD card. I'll see if I can meet up with my friend this weekend.

 

[MidniteBlaze]

Alright, I'm back and happy to report that my Acekard is working again! Thank you very much! And here I thought it was a hardware issue.

You said I had antipiracy turned on, but because I hadn't updated since around 2010, I didn't even have that option, so that's why I was confused. I never had a problem with White 1, so it must have been White 2 that created the problem. Now, if I wanted to play it again (My reason for owning an Acekard is that it allows me to clone Pokémon, which I can do on White 1, but I'd like to use White 2 to teach tutor moves to my pokés without losing shards), do I have to enable the bypassing of antipiracy or disable it? Because the default option is to enable it, but it sounds as if it should be that way but your wording makes it sound like I should disable AP bypassing.

 

[Another World]

recent akaio loader updates add new support for white 2. http://akaio.net/loaders/

ap won't matter now because the fix is hard coded into the loaders. just make sure you are using a clean rom verified by crc against a known good set listing.

-another world

 

[MidniteBlaze]

Alright, thanks again!

One more question, though: The White 1 rom I'm using feels slow in comparison to before, and other Pokémon games don't have that problem. It has the experience gain fix (and only that one), so can I assume it's because of it not being 100% clean, that's the reason it behaves like that?

 

[Another World]

white 1 should have been fixed a long time ago. run a clean rom and report back if loading time is still slow. patched roms are never supported.

-another world

 

[MidniteBlaze]

It doesn't load slowly, it runs in a non-smooth manner when cycling through boxes. But I noticed something similar happens when I play my retail White 2 on the DS Phat (just a bit smoother, and I probably hadn't played the rom on the Acekard for far too long, so I didn't remember it was like that), so it probably just puts a lot of pressure on the processor and the DSi handles it better.

 

[Rydian]

The pokemon games are known to be a little slow in boxes and menus, since the DS only has 4MB of RAM so it has to do a lot of shuffling to manage all the icons for the pokemon and items.