I just got one M3i zero for my son from Depot888, and downloaded the firmware on http://www.handheldsources.com/M3DS/Download_M3DSR.html. It works fluently.
There are no much difference of price on the three sites. All reasonable! On depot888, with coupon number "280721" will get $1 off. And they sell the cards with downloaded firmware. Great service.
Try this e-shop: http://www.depot888.com/index.php, many R4 & R4i & R4-SDHC are sold very cheap. It is Canada based, paypal verified, and support payment by credit cards directly.
The message " MENU ??" shows that your downloading is not correct. You probably didn't extract the "R4i English V1.11b" to TF card's root-directory. Pls remember to TF card's root-directory!!! A lot of people 's extract software will build a folder "R4i English V1.11b".
Pls do carefully as the...
go to http://www.earlydepot.com/golden-ndsi-ndsl-p-797.html they have the link to download or http://www.r4ids.com/r4i-download-e.html. I just checked. it works.