Hacking M3 Lite Perfect GBA problems

P3T3Y

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I'm having a problem getting GBA games to run. I'm using an M3 Lite Perfect, Game Manager 35e and firmware 35. I use the game manager to load the games, and I don't touch any options. I remove the passcard and boot to the GBA menu. When I try to run a game it hangs on the "Loading . . . !" screen and says "00000KB"
 

Another World

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when you boot a gba game make sure you are pressing "start" to boot the m3 lite into the gba mode, then select your rom and play it. when you're all done and you make saves the m3 lite will store your information into the battery backup sram. each time you power up your m3 lite it will 'auto save' the last sram save to the .dat file associated with the rom. it does this for both .nds and .gba roms. this allows the sram to be flushed for a new rom so that things don't overwrite other things, keep in mind that with a retail cart there is only 1 sram area per cart and no problem of things being overwritten by a different cart.

if you have the 'auto save' feature turned off in the setup menu then each time you goto the mode you want (nds/gba) hit select and then back up the sram to the dat manually. keep in mind that you can only find this feature when you are in the right place. so for a gba rom you will have to hit 'start' first to get into gba mode and then select the icon for 'games,' after that you can hit select to back up your sram.

if you are receiving an error message then try deleting the rom and .dat file associated with it using either the m3 game manager delete function or manually by hand. just make sure you get them both or you will experience more issues. then reload the rom and use the info above to properly dump your sram. if all else fails format the micro sd card and start over. you will not have to reflash your firmware that stays in the m3 lite.

i have noticed that when i batch flash rom files some will not load correctly or i have save issues. so load each rom 1 at a time until your card is set up the way you want it. you might want to use the soft reboot associated with gba roms on the m3 lite as it offers a save state feature which fixes human error found with sram dat backups.

i personally keep the auto save feature off because i mostly use my m3 lite for homebrew (which all have save states, or other save features) and gba games. when i load up the gba mode i simply save manually, or over write the sram by playing a new rom if the game i was playing isn't important to me. i found that auto saves were more trouble then they are worth. i had a few things auto save when i booted in the wrong mode to the wrong file and now perfer to just do it manually when i need it done.

i hope that info helps you.

-AW
 

m3rox

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GBA games have to be booted from GBA mode. Either remove the passcard and boot using the GBA button, or wait until your flash cart has booted, and press the start button to boot into GBA mode.
 

P3T3Y

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GBA games have to be booted from GBA mode. Either remove the passcard and boot using the GBA button, or wait until your flash cart has booted, and press the start button to boot into GBA mode.

I boot to the GBA menu by removing the passcard before powering the system on. Trying to load the GBA rom from the DS menu isn't the issue.
 

Another World

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i see that you edited your original reply and now you are saying that the issue isn't with .dat save errors but with rom files simply not loading. the m3 lite will load your gba game by counding up the bytes until the full rom is loaded. if your m3 lite just hangs at 00000kb i would expect that either 1) its an issue with the format of your micro sd card, 2) it is a faulty m3 lite or 3) the rom is bad. it could be the passme device but this is very rarely the issue.

you did not provide information like if the micro sd card was previously tested, or if the m3 lite works with .nds or homebrew. so i can not assume to point you in other directions. i will instead assume that the rom is bad. you did not mention trying multiple different roms.

before you test anything, you did flash your m3 lite with the correct SD firmware? if you flash it with the CF firmware you will experience issues including bricking your m3 lite.

the following link is for an official supported port of eric chahi's sci-fi game 'another world.' i can confirm that this rom works perfectly. i play it on different flash carts atleast 4 times a week (been addicted to this game for years). it is a clean rom with no problems, so grab it and give it a try.

http://www.foxysofts.com/?l=content/gba/an...f2138d828bd19e8

the m3 lite team advises nds users to use the 'start' option to boot your flash cart into the 'gba' mode for playing .gba roms. you can boot up using the gba menu in the nds but this has mixed results from my personal testing. this is because the nds is booting the slot2 into gba mode, because the nds does not know your using a 3rd party flash cart. but instead you should just boot the flash cart in its native mode, which is just a file browser. once it is fully loaded goto your 'games' icon and hit the start button to boot into 'gba' mode. then in 'gba' mode hit the 'games' icon again and navigate to the clean 'another world' rom and give it a load.

debug that far and tell me what you experience.

goodluck!

-AW
 

P3T3Y

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Thanks for your input AW. I'm not quite sure what you meant about the micro SD being tested, but it does work with .nds. I've tried about 6 .gbas starting as early as 50 (Super Mario Advance) and the most recent being 2039 (Riviera: The Promised Land).

I loaded Another World from your link and booted the GBA menu by pressing 'start' like you suggested and got the same results. When I updated the firmware I'm positive I used the SD version. I checked the format in the properties and all it said was "FAT" I'm not sure if that's 32 or not.
 

Another World

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by asking if the micro sd has been tested, i just ment that it has been used to play roms before. sometimes you hear about a micro sd that just doesn't work after a format. it happens from time to time thats why that information is important. you mentioned that it is formatted in FAT, which is the correct method. if it is fat32 or 16 does not really matter unless you have a cheap off brand card and you are trying to get some of the notorious .nds roms to play (castlevania, etc). because you can play .nds roms i will assume that your firmware flash went a'ok. my advice to you at this point is to reformat your micro sd doing a full format, then just flash 1 or 2 gba roms to the cart. make sure you flash them 1 at a time and don't use the batch flashing method. as i stated earlier i've had mixed results with it, my most recent is that i batch flashed 10 roms and the first one would not load. i was forced to delete it and reflash it.

i can tell you that when i flash roms i use the defult settings. i don't need any of those fancy speed hacks, cheats, or soft resets. so try the defults as well...

once that is done try to run those few roms you flash in the 'gba' mode by pressing 'start' when the m3 lite has fully booted into your nds. if at this point you can't load or play and gba you may simply have a faulty m3 lite. it is known to happen, infact some of the more recent m3 real cards have had a bad batch. the m3 team is a little hard to get an e-mail response from, and if you have a bad card you should start the process to RMA and return it to where you purchased it from. i can tell you that once the card is working, it is a great flash kit that can do a lot of good, and provide a ton of fun. so don't give up just yet....

you could try reflashing your firmware to the most recent SD version. just drop the firmware and nothing else on the newly formatted micro sd and let it load. after that delete the firmware off of the micro sd and flash some gba roms to test with.

this is all you can really do as far as debugging. the only other step would be to purchase a different micro sd. i did not ask what one you have but i can suggest the kingston 1gb and 2gb japanese TF, and the scan disk ultra II models. they have both been reported to be compatable with all the .nds roms and infact the japanese kingston is often sold as a package deal with flash kits these days. i myself own 2 of the japanese kingstons and will probably buy a third when i run out of space.

the firmware i am currently using is updagcsd.e35. i don't know if this is the most current right now but it was around x-mas with i flashed my card. it is working just fine for me so perhaps you want to try that version.

again post back with your results. but at this point i'm out of debugging ideas after this post!

goodluck,

-Another World
 

Sweater Fish Del

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I don't know if you've already solved your problem or not, P3TEY, but I recently bought an M3 Perfect and was aving this same problem. It ran commercial and homebrew DS games just fine, but would freeze at 00000KB when trying to load most GBA ROMs. However I found that very small GBA ROMs instead gave an error that said, "SD card not formatted" or something to that general effect.

So, even though my card was in fact formatted (as FAT16) and like I said it loaded NDS ROMs with no errors, I tried converting it to FAT32 and that seems to have solved the problem. This is not a cheap microSD card; in fact, it's a Japanese-made Kingston card that runs problem NDS ROMs like Portrait of Ruin just fine.

So, if you're still having this problem or if anyone else does, try FAT32.


...word is bondage...
 

P3T3Y

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Thanks for the input guys, I did in fact mange to work this out. I ran across somebody else on the M3Wiki who had the exact same problem as I did and it turns out the "fast load" option is buggy. All I need to do is use 'start' instead of 'A' to run a game.
 

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