I got my R4i from deal extreme as well and the only thing wrong is that it won't soft reset.
I have everything(Roms, Moonshell, DPGs etc) running on my R4i Revolution w/ 1.55 firmware from, http://www.r4i.cn/index-en.htm but it will not soft reset. I have no idea why. I am using the R4i on a DS...