Hacking Sky3DS freezes (blackscreen)

[Rashka]

Hi there,

I've a Sky3DS v1 (red button) with 8 Games (all NO EEPROM) on a Transcend 32 GB SDHC µSD.

In many cases and with different Games, there are blackscreens/ freezes.

At first the music stops playing while sounds still work. And on the next change of a scene (loading screen, finished stage etc.) the screen stays black and the only thing I can do is to shut off the 3DS.

I don't think that should be the way sky3ds works, so I woul like to get a little help with that

best regards
Rashka

 

[Phantom_User]

Damn. This is a first. Good luck with your problem here buddy.

 

[johnbus]

To me, it sounds like it could have something to do with the read and write speed of the MicroSD (basically causing the system to choke and crash).

What class is it?

 

[Rashka]

It's a 4 year old Transcend Class 10 32GB SDHC but without UHS-I

I've a Transcend Premium Class10 UHS-I (up to 45 MB/s) here, bought today for my smartphone.... You think I should try this one?

 

[WaterBotttle]

Yes, definitely try another micro sd card, it will let you know if it the other mirco sd card at fault or the sky 3ds.

 

[johnbus]

First off, I would just like to say I don't know much about the science behind flash memory, so this is entirely anecdotal.

After so many years of using different forms of computer hardware and peripherals, I can't shake the feeling that flash slows down after so many uses. While HDDs seem fine after 5 or so years, a USB stick doesn't seem to work as well after the first year or so of continuous use. This seems to also be true of SD cards, since if I use a card so many times, it seems to get slower and slower over a long period of time.

Of course, testing different cards is a standard practice of troubleshooting issues to find problems, but personally, I wouldn't expect a four year old card to be quite as fast as it was originally marketed.

 

[Rashka]

well., I'm using the faster on now, but i can't test it now and have to do this on todays evening.

I'll report the results

 

[Phantom_User]

well., I'm using the faster on now, but i can't test it now and have to do this on todays evening.

I'll report the results

Hope it works for you!

 

[Foxi4]

This has only happened to me once when using the cartridge as intended (without the NO EEPROM patch for games) - for whatever reason the SD card just went to sleep and I had to restart. I have heard that the NO EEPROM patch does cause some freezing/glitching/black screens with some games though, so that's also a vector. Best case scenario is that the SD card is too slow, as mentioned above, so here's for hoping that replacing it will fix the problem.

 

[Multiboy2k]

No worries. I had this exact same problem using my 64gb Sandisk Ultra Microsd card.
I knew immediately it was my card because it did the same thing in my Nvidia Shield. I replaced the card with a PNY and everything works perfectly now.
It's your sd card. The read/write speed is the problem, like someone else said here. Nintendo actually fixed this problem with the New 3DS model. Also, if it is in your budget, you may want to consider picking up a Blue Sky3ds card.
It's been pretty awesome for me since day one. And, you can write and rewrite as many games as your sd card can handle on it.

 

[Rashka]

It's been pretty awesome for me since day one. And, you can write and rewrite as many games as your sd card can handle on it.

With the No EEPROM trick, I can do the same with the red button version

No blackscreens in BTHP in ~30 Minutes... new record
I'll test BALP & AWAD later

 

[Rashka]

OK, I've played for ~ 3 hours now, 6 different games, no freezes!

The new µSD solved my issue!

 

[paul_luhg]

Sorry to bump an old thread but I just got a SKY3DS today and I'm having the same problem.

I have the new, blue button SKY3DS and a brand new 64gb Samsung Grade 1 Class 10 MicroSD card. I put six games on it but I have only tested two so far. One of the games freezes completely within a few minutes at approximately the same point in the game every time I run it. The other plays fine for the most part but freezes intermittently probably every hour or two. When it does freeze and I load it up again it tends to freeze again at a similar point but after a couple of reboots it will run fine for another hour or two.

I was under the impression I had bought a good MicroSD card but maybe not. Is the card likely to be the problem in my case?

 

[RoDryBones]

Sorry to bump an old thread but I just got a SKY3DS today and I'm having the same problem.

I have the new, blue button SKY3DS and a brand new 64gb Samsung Grade 1 Class 10 MicroSD card. I put six games on it but I have only tested two so far. One of the games freezes completely within a few minutes at approximately the same point in the game every time I run it. The other plays fine for the most part but freezes intermittently probably every hour or two. When it does freeze and I load it up again it tends to freeze again at a similar point but after a couple of reboots it will run fine for another hour or two.

I was under the impression I had bought a good MicroSD card but maybe not. Is the card likely to be the problem in my case?

I suffered the random freezing too and the microSD was the problem. Stick to a Kingston or Sandisk one with high writting/reading speed.
After I changed it everything is perfect (Red button card).

My thread, same problem: https://gbatemp.net/threads/sky3ds-issue.376973/

 

[Rashka]

try a "up to 45MB/s" µSD

I've perfect and lag-free gaming with a Transcend Premium (~18$/15€ for a 32GB card)

 

[paul_luhg]

Thanks Ro and Rashka for your replies.

I currently have this Samsung card which has write speed 'up to 48mb/s' and am getting a lot of crashes. I was looking at this SanDisk card which has the same speed so I'm not sure if I will get the same problems or not. I was also looking at this PNY card which is up to 100mb/s but is a lot more expensive.

 

[Rashka]

take this Transcend 64 GB SDHC Card

I had issues with the use of a SDXC card too, so spend the 25 GBP for the transcend and enjoy gaming

 

[paul_luhg]

Thanks again Rashka. I will try that card.

 

[paul_luhg]

I received the Transcend card earlier today and it works perfectly. No crashes whatsoever so far.

Despite being listed as an SDHC card by Amazon it is actually an SDXC card as can be seen on the images on their page. As I said though it works perfectly so I'm not sure that the HC vs XC thing is really an issue.

 

[johnbus]

I received the Transcend card earlier today and it works perfectly. No crashes whatsoever so far.

Despite being listed as an SDHC card by Amazon it is actually an SDXC card as can be seen on the images on their page. As I said though it works perfectly so I'm not sure that the HC vs XC thing is really an issue.

SDHC means 4GB to 32GB. The old SD standard only goes up to 2GB. SDXC is the newest standard, going up from 64GB onwards until they hit another wall with the technology.

Sky3DS can handle the latest SDXC standard, so it should be fine with anything up to 128GB so far (although it seems to have issues with SD cards, 2GB and below). It seems odd that it would be considered an issue.