Hacking EZ-FLASH Junior TestFlight

drenco

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Have you tried different sd card because i had problem when i puted 8gb transcend sd card, it had problems saving first savefile for game that doesent have created savefile it tooks 20sec. Then i changed sd card to 2gb sandisk that i had and everything started working correctly, butt this is not likely, because you had working it fine on other consoles.
Have you tried different motherboard on that screen?
Mentioned about SD cards in my previous comment and i dont have any other motherboards to try out im afraid.
 

drenco

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OK so i dont know whats going on with this Junior but after hours of fiddling i managed to get it to update by simply holding the A button instead of pressing it, also after what must be hundreds of attempts i manged to get only one game to load the Gameboy version of 'Batman the videogame' unfortunately it wont load again when i try or any others, consider me confused a
Hi @drenco, try with FW4 K1.04e from the offical web (and if this is the one you are using, try with the last Release Candidate Firmware-Kernel from #405 comment). Somethings to add, microSD formated FAT32 32KB Cluster, try with just few games in the microSD card, see if the "SAVER" folder is already created, if no, create it in the Root of the microSD and if you can use a save created with the other console. (When mixing saves, ALWAYS use the same FW&Kernel with the one it was created). If your screen has brightness level control, turn it all the way down.

Also, can you confirm your GBA can play perfectly original GB-GBC games? Because with a couple of friends I had an issue (GBA SP 001 & GBA Normal Indigo) those consoles were like weird only from the logic that plays GB-GBC games, beacuse they both play flawlessly GBA games (Even the EZ Flash Omega), so the EZ Flash Junior was working very weird when loading them, like sounding correct but displaying all kind of weird numbers and symbols of a corrupted signal.

If it still doesn't work, maybe it's an issue with the power because of the modification :s ,but let's wait to see if another mate can make any other suggestion. Cheers.
OK so i dont know whats going on with this Junior but after hours of fiddling i managed to get it to update by simply holding the A button instead of pressing it, also after what must be hundreds of attempts i managed to get only two games to load the Gameboy version of 'Batman the videogame' and Star Saver unfortunately they wont load again when i try or any others so i suspect that this now must be a serious software issue, consider me confused and err somewhat annoyed now.
 
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Csolo

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I've updated to this fw and would like to say that it has fixed a big portion of the bugs I was having with rtc and crystal clear. but inside of battles it is not keeping time. I am going to test and see if it keeps time in vanilla crystal. Also, it catches back up if I restart the game, so either it's pulling from the rtc chip on the cartridge (ez flash jr) or time is slipping in battle in the rom itself.

Update: It doesn't keep time in vanilla crystal while battling either. I tried a few roms to make sure I didn't have a crap rom and still had the same issue. So to clarify. In crystal and crystal clear, the rtc is fixed for the most part. Just doesn't keep time in battles and you have to restart the gameboy for the time to correct itself. I think it may be a mapper issue, but I also have surface level knowledge of how the rtc works so I could be talking out my behind
 
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RetroKarl

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OK so i dont know whats going on with this Junior but after hours of fiddling i managed to get it to update by simply holding the A button instead of pressing it, also after what must be hundreds of attempts i manged to get only one game to load the Gameboy version of 'Batman the videogame' unfortunately it wont load again when i try or any others, consider me confused a

OK so i dont know whats going on with this Junior but after hours of fiddling i managed to get it to update by simply holding the A button instead of pressing it, also after what must be hundreds of attempts i managed to get only two games to load the Gameboy version of 'Batman the videogame' and Star Saver unfortunately they wont load again when i try or any others so i suspect that this now must be a serious software issue, consider me confused and err somewhat annoyed now.
Hi @drenco, you mentioned that you tested in another unmodded Gameboy, try to perform the update in the other Gameboy. You said that you updated it by pressing and keep pushed "A" but there are some reasons why the developer stated in the installation screen to not push any button in the progress, maybe it can lead to a bad installation, so ALWAYS perform the update in a console that you know it's working fine with the card. After that you can try again the troubleshooting recomendations.
 
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drenco

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Hi @drenco, you mentioned that you tested in another unmodded Gameboy, try to perform the update in the other Gameboy. You said that you updated it by pressing and keep pushed "A" but there are some reasons why the developer stated in the installation screen to not push any button in the progress, maybe it can lead to a bad installation, so ALWAYS perform the update in a console that you know it's working fine with the card. After that you can try again the troubleshooting recomendations.
No i mentioned that a guy on Reddit has the same issue and has tested it in other unmodded Gameboys and it works fine just not in a IPS V2 GBA also the only way it would update that one time was when i held the A button in, all other times it simply cut the screen off like loading a game and didn't do anything, incidentally it was only after getting the update to work did i then manage to get a couple of games to load just the one time, i mentioned this in #442 comment.
 
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RetroKarl

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tried several differnt sd cards and i cant get any game to load they work on any unmodded handheld Gameboy just not on my main device an IPS V2 screen GBA the menus load but the IPS screen glows for a bit then cuts out when i go to load a game and i can hear the sound but no picture, ive tried rechargeables and alkalines it makes no difference PLEASE Help ?
Ok, I read this, that's why I thought. Well, that's a bummer. I'm out of ideas, but yes, there are several reports that in some hardware modifications (almost always screen related) on GB, GBP, GBC & GBA the EZ Flash Jr had some issues or it's not working. In this modifications, at least right now is like a roulette, It can just work like a charm or not work at all. If you can borrow a GB-GBC-GBA from another mate to update, maybe it will help.
 

Gletro

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I have the same issue. I update the junior to 1.5 with no change.

On all stock gameboy's it works fine.

On a Gameboy Pocket with a Funnyplaying IPS screen it works fine.

On GBA with an ebay IPS V2 it loads the menu, but can't load a game. The Nintendo sound chimes while the screen goes black with a bright spot that fades out sort of like turning off an old tv.

The GBA with the ebay IPS V2 screen loads original nintendo gameboy games no problem. The GBA with ebay IPS V2 screen loads GBA games from the EZFlash Omega fine.


I've heard from others that the junior works on the Funnyplaying IPS V2 GBA but can't confirm as I don't have the funnyplaying GBA screen.
 
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drenco

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I have the same issue. I update the junior to 1.5 with no change.

On all stock gameboy's it works fine.

On a Gameboy Pocket with a Funnyplaying IPS screen it works fine.

On GBA with an ebay IPS V2 it loads the menu, but can't load a game. The Nintendo sound chimes while the screen goes black with a bright spot that fades out sort of like turning off an old tv.

The GBA with the ebay IPS V2 screen loads original nintendo gameboy games no problem. The GBA with ebay IPS V2 screen loads GBA games from the EZFlash Omega fine.


I've heard from others that the junior works on the Funnyplaying IPS V2 GBA but can't confirm as I don't have the funnyplaying GBA screen.
Ditto my friend thats EXACTLY it, it looks like and old fashioned TV being switch off, and yup i have the Omega and that works perfectly fine, considering that currently the biggest most important Mod for the GBA is the IPS V2 screen and most people are using the unbranded one this problem need addressing from the EZ FLASH Team i hope i can get a response about this.
 

ghjfdtg

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The problem is clearly power usage. The regulators on the old GBs are not designed to handle IPS screens and power hungry flashcarts at the same time. So this could possibly be worked around using a stronger internal regulator.
 

Csolo

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I've updated to this fw and would like to say that it has fixed a big portion of the bugs I was having with rtc and crystal clear. but inside of battles it is not keeping time. I am going to test and see if it keeps time in vanilla crystal.[/QUOT
"we don't need"
Are you an ambassador of people around the globe?
if you squeeze the cartridge, it soft resets. It's honestly easier than doing some sort of key combo.
 

Localhorst86

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Ditto my friend thats EXACTLY it, it looks like and old fashioned TV being switch off, and yup i have the Omega and that works perfectly fine, considering that currently the biggest most important Mod for the GBA is the IPS V2 screen and most people are using the unbranded one this problem need addressing from the EZ FLASH Team i hope i can get a response about this.
it clearly seems to be a power issue then, and I don't think it is reasonable for the EZ-Flash team to accomodate for every possible non-official hardware - at what point do we stop? IPS V1 works fine, IPS V2 not. So If the EZ team were to find a sollution to make it work on the V2 (which would be an appreciated move, lets clarify that), what if V3 of the kit comes around and suddenly it stops working on these?

At what point do we stop saying "EZ Team, make your card work with <unofficial hardware X>" and instead say "hey, <manufacturer of unofficial hardware X>, make your hardware work with <peripheral Y>"?
 
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Csolo

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it clearly seems to be a power issue then, and I don't think it is reasonable for the EZ-Flash team to accomodate for every possible non-official hardware - at what point do we stop? IPS V1 works fine, IPS V2 not. So If the EZ team were to find a sollution to make it work on the V2 (which would be an appreciated move, lets clarify that), what if V3 of the kit comes around and suddenly it stops working on these?

At what point do we stop saying "EZ Team, make your card work with <unofficial hardware X>" and instead say "hey, <manufacturer of unofficial hardware X>, make your hardware work with <peripheral Y>"?
I mean, I don't think it's an issue if someone just says that their system isn't playing the flash cart. the v2 mod is one of the most popular gba mods and the ez flash jr is one of the most popular flash carts. All data is good data when a product is new and still being worked on.
 
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drenco

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it clearly seems to be a power issue then, and I don't think it is reasonable for the EZ-Flash team to accomodate for every possible non-official hardware - at what point do we stop? IPS V1 works fine, IPS V2 not. So If the EZ team were to find a sollution to make it work on the V2 (which would be an appreciated move, lets clarify that), what if V3 of the kit comes around and suddenly it stops working on these?

At what point do we stop saying "EZ Team, make your card work with <unofficial hardware X>" and instead say "hey, <manufacturer of unofficial hardware X>, make your hardware work with <peripheral Y>"?
Well on there own website its advertised as Support Gameboy, Gameboy Pocket, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance/SP, even with backlit mods and rechargeable batteries. So at time of publication one would except it to be compatible with all models and most common mods with that statement and as ive stated the most common mod on the GBA is the IPS V2 common sense then dictates that they should of had this sorted and working instead it doesn't work at all.
 
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Shadow#1

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Well on there own website its advertised as Support Gameboy, Gameboy Pocket, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance/SP, even with backlit mods and rechargeable batteries. So at time of publication one would except it to be compatible with all models and most common mods with that statement and as ive stated the most common mod on the GBA is the IPS V2 common sense then dictates that they should of had this sorted TBF.
When that was posted IPS v2 mods didn't exist
 

altobo123

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The Junior come out around December 2019 the IPS V2 came out in August 2019 as far as i know, and now the GBA community has exploded with these IPS V2 screen mods.
I have 2 GBA's with IPS v2 from Funnyplaying, and both are working perfectly with the latest "patch".
Even updated to this new "patch" with low batteries.
Idk if it can help, one of the GBA's has the soldered L R and Select, another doesnt. And i am using Duracell, the expensive ones. ( non rechargable )
 
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drenco

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I have 2 GBA's with IPS v2 from Funnyplaying, and both are working perfectly with the latest "patch".
Even updated to this new "patch" with low batteries.
Idk if it can help, one of the GBA's has the soldered L R and Select, another doesnt. And i am using Duracell, the expensive ones. ( non rechargable )
Yeah it does seem to be a problem only with the Unbranded IPS V2 screens and not the Funnyplaying ones as mine has the 10 steps brightness of which ive tried it on the lowest brightness setting with no luck.
 

RetroKarl

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I've updated to this fw and would like to say that it has fixed a big portion of the bugs I was having with rtc and crystal clear. but inside of battles it is not keeping time. I am going to test and see if it keeps time in vanilla crystal. Also, it catches back up if I restart the game, so either it's pulling from the rtc chip on the cartridge (ez flash jr) or time is slipping in battle in the rom itself.

Update: It doesn't keep time in vanilla crystal while battling either. I tried a few roms to make sure I didn't have a crap rom and still had the same issue. So to clarify. In crystal and crystal clear, the rtc is fixed for the most part. Just doesn't keep time in battles and you have to restart the gameboy for the time to correct itself. I think it may be a mapper issue, but I also have surface level knowledge of how the rtc works so I could be talking out my behind
Hi @Csolo, I just tested vanilla crystal started some battles and stay in them for 5, 10 and 15 minutes, and the time is correct always. Please explain me your methodology to try to test if it appears. Cheers.

Also a reminder, because of the method of measuring and saving the RTC have changed in all the test versions, you have to create a new save or it can cause issues.
 
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