Hacking AKAIO 1.7 soft-reset problem

McNA5TY · Jun 7, 2010

Hey all. I just installed AKAIO 1.7 on my Acekard 2.1 (bad batch) flashcart. I love it, BTW. Seems a lot faster plus there are a lot of features that I haven't been able to use until now because of the Acekard that I have. My only problem is that when I soft-reset from any game all my system settings revert to default. This doesn't happen when I turn the DS off then back on. Any ideas?

edit: Before anyone suggests it, I've already formatted with SD formatter and reinstalled AKAIO and my games.

tk_saturn · Jun 7, 2010

A small number of people were having the same issues with AKAIO 1.6. I believe some fixed it by formatting the MicroSD card with Gparted (linux). Otherwise set AKAIO up how you want, then give the globalsettings.ini in the __aio directory the read only attribute.

I've suggested this a few times, but no one has said if it fixes the issue. If you to change your AKAIO settings, you'll have to remove the read only attribte. The options for the games though are stored in a different file.

KevInChester · Jun 7, 2010

I have this issue myself. I tried the globalsettings fix, didn't work (odd I know). Was late though so will try it again later.

One thing that did fix it temporarily was to remove some old saves off my SD that I never used, for games long since deleted for example. This fixed it, I could reset without issues. Then it came back out of the blue, no idea what is causing it. The AKAIO team can't reproduce it unfortunately.

doz592 · Jun 8, 2010

I too have this problem - after 1.6, I've had to shut off Soft-Reset for everything, or else I lose all of my settings (which is bad - I need it to boot into my slot-2 flashcart). I would like to see a fix soon, because setting it to read only is not only inefficient, I'm losing out on a feature I paid for!

KevInChester · Jun 8, 2010

If anyone who is experiencing this problem send me a picture of their root directory (the one with all the games in) or a listing to my PM I'd be most interested.

Just want to see if there are any correlations. Also let me know what HWID and SVN you have according to AKAIO.

penthaler · Jun 8, 2010

Just a question : DID YOU FULL FORMAT with PANASONIC FORMATER?
(options full format erase off)

EcoSport · Jun 8, 2010

McNA5TY: Do you have a DS Lite or DSi?

penthaler: Do you think FULL FORMAT, Erase OFF will solve the issue?

I am having the same issue with an Acekard 2i in a friend's DSi (HW ID 81). I had no issues with the AKAIO 1.6RC2. I copied all .nds files and .sav files to my hard drive, then did QUICK FORMAT on the microSD, then loaded AKAIO 1.7, then copied all the .nds and .sav files back to the card. Every time I soft-reset, it reverts. So, I deleted 1.7, and put 1.6RC2 back on, and it works fine again. If I put 1.7 on again, it messes up again.

OK, and here's something strange. In my family, we have a DSi, and 2 DS Lites. I upgraded our DSi by doing the same as above on the friend's DSi, but on ours, I encountered NO soft reset issue. Also no issue on our DS Lite. All upgrading from 1.6 RC2 to 1.7 on Acekard 2i's. Now I know why the AKAIO team has trouble reproducing it! I couldn't reproduce it either.

I will get my hands on the friend's DSi again, and see if a FULL FORMAT will solve the issue.

penthaler · Jun 9, 2010

My friends on another site had many problems with new AKAIO 1.7.
FIRST -> cannot start some game, although they was fixed -> the same "bad batch" card -> panasonic solved it
SECOND -> non working soft reset with games, although all settings was set up in right way -> ak2i -> full format via sd formater solved it
THIRD -> cannot run any games (stuck at loading sign), although he properly reinstalled whole system -> again, solved via sd formater.

I think that it should work. If not, try the oldest trick -> paper work.

My opinion is that there are two possible faults -> wrong formated msd or bad contacts.

JabbaFlap · Jun 9, 2010

I had that problem of games 'sticking' on AKAIO 1.7, but it was my own fault as I didn't use sd formatter on my msdhc card, soon as I did it all games I tried loaded & worked really well, also fast loading

Excellent system!

woffi63 · Jun 9, 2010

I had this problem from Akaio 1.5.1 to Akaio 1.6RC1. And no one could reproduce this error!!!

For me the solution was GParted - delete Partition --> New partition --> format this new partition (fat32), and all works!!

This error was only by one of my three TF, so i would say this is a problem with MicroSD (Mine was a Kingston 4GB).

EcoSport · Jun 10, 2010

woffi63, what are the numbers written on your Kingston 4GB microSD? Also, how does one use GParted? I downloaded the files, but can't figure out how to run them.

After extensive testing on multiple devices, I have concluded that this is a specific microSD card problem. I also had the issue with a certain Kingston 4GB (had 2 other Kingston 4GBs that worked fine).

I had one microSD that would lose AKAIO 1.7 settings after soft-reset.

I tried:
2 DSIs,
2 DS Lites,
4 Acekard 2i's,
and 6 microSDs. (3 x Kingston 4GB ; 1 x Transcend 8GB ; 2 x Kingston 2GB)

The other 5 microSDs worked fine with AKAIO 1.7 soft-resets. The problem microSD had the same problem in multiple combinations of the DSs and AK 2i's. So, it is certainly a card issue.

So, I reformatted the thing a million times using the SD Formatter (a.k.a. Panasonic Formatter) using every setting except Erase On since my reader doesn't support it. I tried, QUICK FORMAT (erase off), FULL FORMAT (erase off), FULL FORMAT (erase OFF ; format size adjustment ON). Each time I then reloaded AKAIO 1.7, and a game or two, and still had the same problem with soft resets each time. Nothing worked.

So, I looked closer at the problem microSD. It says the following on it:
Kingston
4GB
CO4G Taiwan
SDC4/4GB 37

One of the other "good" micro SDs has this:
Kingston
4GB
CO4G Taiwan
SDC4/4GB 41

The only visible difference between the two are the 37 and 41 numbers.

Both were bought from Amazon about a month apart. One just arrived this week, and one I purchased last month.

However, I noticed another difference. When I format them in the SD Formatter they come up with different Total Space values when it says "Drive Format Complete".

Good card = 3.68 GB (3,955,228,672 Bytes)
Bad card = 3.67 GB (3,951,034,368 Bytes)

So the bad card has less space on it.

SD cards have a secure protected area on them, which is why they are called "Secure Digital." It seems that the "37" card has more "hidden" space on it. Maybe this is the source of the problem. Maybe there is some data that isn't getting deleted that is messing with the AKAIO.

The strange thing is that if I load AKAIO 1.6RC1 or 1.6RC2 on that "bad" card, they both work fine with soft-resets. Just 1.7 has an issue. Strange.

I haven't tried GParted yet. I'm thinking I'll just exchange the card, but it still bugs me as to why this problem occurs.

EcoSport · Jun 10, 2010

BTW, AKAIO Help says I have:
AKAIO 1.7 HW: 81 SVN: 892

What is the SVN anyway?

McNA5TY · Jun 10, 2010

Hey all thanks for the suggestions.

By the way, my system setup and specs are:
DS Lite
Acekard 2.1 HW:80 SVN:892 (bad batch)
AKAIO 1.7 (duh)
Lexar 2GB microSD card (Wal-Mart)
formatted FAT with SD Formatter Full Format, Erase OFF

I tried everything, but couldn't seem to fix the issue I'm having. I just won't use soft-reset until I get another microSD card to try on.

BrotherCheng · Jun 22, 2010

i have the same problem.
it has no problem with my 2GB micro sd.

recently i brought a kingmax micro SD 8gb.
then i copied the files from my old card to the new one.when i soft-reset my dsi it had the same problem.

then I formatted with PANASONIC FORMATER
it works fine now.

it really helps me a lot. thanx.

ps: i am not good at english..

EcoSport · Jun 22, 2010

BrotherCheng, did you get it to work with BOTH cards after re-formatting with the Panasonic Formatter?

I got it to work OK with 7 out of 8 cards after reformatting, however, there was one card that just wouldn't work even after FULL reformatting with the Panasonic Formatter.

Did both your cards end up working?

dysoct · Jun 22, 2010

Hi there, I've also encountered this problem this whole week. It really annoys me to know that something is not working as they should. Well gladly I've overcome it, just by formatting using the Gparted software from inside Ubuntu. It seems that there are some unallocated space which could have caused this problem. Good luck!

BrotherCheng · Jun 22, 2010

EcoSport:
both of my cards work fine.
AKAIO 1.7 HW: 81 SVN: 892
KingMax 8GB SDHC made in Taiwan

tk_saturn · Jun 22, 2010

EcoSport said:
What is the SVN anyway?

It's the AKAIO build.

woffi63 · Jun 22, 2010

I have 5 MicroSD:

Two 8GB Kingston
Two 4GB Kingston
One 4GB Sandisk

And only by one of the 4GB Kingston i have this issue of resetting Global settings by soft reset a game.

First time the error appears after updating from Akaio 1.5.1 to 1.6RC1, and second time it was after installing Akaio 1.7.

In both cases i format the MSD several times with Panasonic formatter ---> the error resists

The solution in both cases was GParted under Ubuntu 9.10!!
Delete the complete Partition ---> create new Partition ---> format fat32 ----> problem solved.(Akaio starts a little bit slower after formatting with GParted)

since it was only by one of my five MSD, i think it´s a problem with this Kingston 4GB.

@EcoSport: My Kingston with this problem:

Kingston
4GB
CO4G Taiwan
SDC4/4GB 37

seems the same than you have!!!

tomrev · Jul 4, 2010

woffi63 said:
I had this problem from Akaio 1.5.1 to Akaio 1.6RC1. And no one could reproduce this error!!!

For me the solution was GParted - delete Partition --> New partition --> format this new partition (fat32), and all works!!

This error was only by one of my three TF, so i would say this is a problem with MicroSD (Mine was a Kingston 4GB).

I confirmed that GParted is worked! SD Formatter can't solve the soft reset - reset setting problem for some Microsd card. I founded that there is a small unallocated space between first sector to start point of partition's first sector that formatted by any Windows formatter. After deleted and recreate FAT32 and re-copy all backup file to microsd card, the soft reset never reset setting again. I guess there is no Windows software that can delete partition on MicroSD like GParted. I suggest anyone who didn't use Linux like me download Gparted from official site and burn or make bootable on flashdrive.

Edit: I confirmed that formating in Windows could be cause the problem for some Micro SD cards. My testing cards are two 4GB Kingston Micro SDHCs that bought from different date and shop which they have the same soft reset - reset AKAIO setting problem. Testing is ...

1) Format MSD with "Sony formatter" or "Windows formatter" reproduce the same problem.
2) Delete and Recreat Partition with GParted fixed the problem.
3) Resize Partition with GParted by filling small space between first sector to initial partition that produce by Sony / Windows formatter fixed the problem.

I founded that 3) is interesting because small space from Windows formatter could be real cause of the problem and it's not neccessary to delete the old data for fixing the problem.

Edit 2:
From woffi63 :-

QUOTE said:

The solution in both cases was GParted under Ubuntu 9.10!!
Delete the complete Partition ---> create new Partition ---> format fat32 ----> problem solved.(Akaio starts a little bit slower after formatting with GParted)

Because of GParted format process have no adjustable cluster unit size option and it format to default cluster size, for fat32 = 4K (I'm not sure that Gparted's default fat32 cluster size is 4K or not), which small cluster size is efficient for space usage but not efficient for transfering speed that may be the cause of slow down in Acekard process .

I suggest to format with Panasonic formatter or whatever formatter that provide the best speed and resize the partition with Gparted.

Alternative solution, use linux to delete partition and format to 32K cluster size which is the maximum usable fat32 cluster size and most efficient for transfering speed by using command :-
QUOTE

Click to expand...

sudo mkdosfs /dev/[sdxx of your microsd card] -s 64 -S 512 -F 32

Hacking AKAIO 1.7 soft-reset problem

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