Hacking EZ-FLASH Junior Stuck at Loading Screen

[burgoyne]

I picked up a Junior a few months ago and had a terrible time getting it to work. I could never get past the "Loading..." screen. After going through 5 brand new 16GB MicroSD cards formatted in Fat32 32kB allocation size, and trying it on multiple GBC's and DMG's, I eventually got it started on one of my GBC's. After running the firmware update (FW4 at the time), it began to work on all my handhelds.

Fast forward to today. After not playing it for a few weeks, I picked up my Junior and tried it in my main DMG. Stuck at the "Loading..." screen. Same issue with my GBP, and two different GBC's. So I decided to start over. I formatted the SD (Fat32, 32kB allocation), and downloaded Kernel 1.05e and Firmware 5 Release Candidate from the main page and added the two files to the root of my card. Before putting the SD in the cartridge I popped out the battery for a few minutes (I was told in a previous post to remove the battery to clear it out, not sure how true that is, or if it was needed). I then put the SD in the cartridge, but no luck on any of my Gameboys! I'm still stuck on the "Loading..." screen, I don't even get to the next OS INIT screen.

Is getting the Junior to start properly honestly this difficult? Do I just have a lemon? Can someone please help me get this working?

 

[EZ-Flash2]

If no osinit message displayed. it means the cartridge does not read the SD card properly. Since you say it's been a while since you've played, I'm thinking it could be an oxidation issue causing poor contact. Try to clean the metal contact on SD card. plug it into the slot several times. and try again.

 

[burgoyne]

Not trying to be rude, but is that honestly an issue with an SD that sits in the cartridge for two and a half weeks? I have so many devices with SD cards in them that have no issues sitting unused for a few weeks.

Cleaning the SD contacts didn't fix the issue. I'll buy another today and see if a new card fixes it. Are there specific cards that work better than others? All of mine are 16GB Sandisk Ultra MicroSDHC. I normally have multiples on hand for Raspberry Pi work, but I'll need to order some more as they are all in use now.

 

[EZ-Flash2]

Not trying to be rude, but is that honestly an issue with an SD that sits in the cartridge for two and a half weeks? I have so many devices with SD cards in them that have no issues sitting unused for a few weeks.

Cleaning the SD contacts didn't fix the issue. I'll buy another today and see if a new card fixes it. Are there specific cards that work better than others? All of mine are 16GB Sandisk Ultra MicroSDHC. I normally have multiples on hand for Raspberry Pi work, but I'll need to order some more as they are all in use now.

I suggest the red 32GB sandisk. it can prevent several issues which caused by SD card.

 

[burgoyne]

I suggest the red 32GB sandisk. it can prevent several issues which caused by SD card.

Yes, I believe those are the only ones I use. This is an Amazon link to show the exact ones. I assume these are the 'red' ones you recommend?

I got a few more of those cards, and I got the cartridge working. I had to re-flash it 4 times before it actually started to work. The old card that wouldn't work is working fine in a Raspberry Pi, so not sure what the issue was. Hopefully I don't run into it again, but I will constantly be backing up my card just in case.

 

[burgoyne]

I'm reviving this thread in hopes somebody else has encountered this issue, and has maybe found a resolution. A few weeks later, and my cartridge is back to being stuck at the Loading screen. I'm going to keep flashing SD cards until another works, but this is very disappointing. I've purchased so many SD cards as whenever this happens I am told to try a new card.

This is 100% not an SD card issue. This is an issue with the cartridge. Unfortunately I have had the cartridge too long to be considered for a return. At this point, I am probably going to cut my losses and purchase an Everdrive. I have spent way more time trying to configure this card than I have spent playing the games. It's just not worth it.

 

[Fndo]

Hi burgoyne I have a very similar problem. Take a look at my latest post.
I've tried everything from different SD cards, to different game boy units, batteries, cleaning everything multiple times, etc... as I've had the cart for a few weeks now I'm also unable to call out for a refund from the dealer directly. Hope the brand cloud give us a solution, even if the solution is a refund or a new unit.

 

[noj86]

Did you try putting just the roms at the root of the SD card without any folder ?
I've had issue with my Junior when I created new folders onto the SD.
It's still unclear why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt but everytime i get stuck at the loading, i can just delete the new folders from my sd card (while keeping the previous one and adding files in it) and suddenly it works as expected again

 

[Smith]

Did you try putting just the roms at the root of the SD card without any folder ?
I've had issue with my Junior when I created new folders onto the SD.
It's still unclear why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt but everytime i get stuck at the loading, i can just delete the new folders from my sd card (while keeping the previous one and adding files in it) and suddenly it works as expected again

I think the DMG is particuarly vulnerable to low battery. I've been messing about with mine, and with an IPS screen in and nothing else changed, the EZ Flash Jr throws a bit of a wobbly when the batteries are still around 80% according to the OSD.

Worked fine while the batteries were fresh. And the cart went back to working just fine in my SP. Meanwhile the DMG gets screen corruption on initial boot once the batteries have drained a little, and after a reset doesn't get past the LOADING message. But the DMG will still play my original carts.

So, both devices are confimed fine, they just won't play nice without fresh batteries in the DMG. Possibly worth investigating.

I'm curious to see whether a recap and/or cleanpower regulator would help