Hacking EZ-FLASH Junior is not working with GB Boy Colour

Pakomon

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Hi all, good to be here. (I'm new.)

This thread is useful because I would like to have the GB Boy Colour and EZ-Flash Junior. It would be a convenient way to have a retro experience while using modern hardware. The combination might not work. I do own 1.2V Ni-MH batteries, so I decided to give it a try and order them anyway.

When I receive my orders, I'll let you people know whether it works to me or not. In both cases, I will provide details about the batteries I used, the manufacturing date or revision of the GB Boy Colour (if I can find those data), as well as the SD card and the EZ-FLASH firmware I'm using. I might also do some endurance tests.

EDIT: In the mean time I ordered a genuine GB Color and GB Advance SP AGS-001 on Marktplaats (the local "eBay" here in The Netherlands) so I will make the EZ-Flash Junior do some exhausting jobs anyway. ;-)
 
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ShadowZafter

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Hey there I'm having the same problem, and my EZFlash Jr came loaded with Firmware 4, Which plays nothing, Upgrading to firmware 5 lets me play GB Games but I want to play GBC games.

Trying to Crash the Update to Firmware 5 just puts me back to 4, advice?
 

Pakomon

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As far as I know, firmware 5 is still in development, so there may be problems. Developer is trying to support the GB Boy Colour, but it is not prioriy because it is non-original hardware.

I myself ordered a GB Boy Colour and an EZ-FLASH Junior and I'm waiting for them to arrive so I can share my results. Either works or not.

Your problem firmware 5 going back to 4 might be that EZ-FLASH reverts to the last working firmware if an update fails. So you could try to re-download version 5 and try again. You may also try to do the update on a genuine Game Boy and then insert the cart back into the GB Boy.

Good luck, I hope it works. If not, please returrn here.
 
Last edited by Pakomon,

Pakomon

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Hi. I promised to come back and share my experiences.

Earlier this week I received the EZ-FLASH Junior. It works okay on genuine consoles. Today I received my GB Boy Colour clone (model GBC-406). I inserted the EZ-FLASH Junior. I am using firmware 4, and 1.2V rechargeable Ni-MH 2450mAh batteries bought at IKEA. I noticed the EZ-FLASH Junior is indeed picky about batteries. Fully charged batteries cause the booting process to stall: "Micro SD initial error!" I then replaced the batteries with identical ones which I used earlier this week, so they weren't fully charged. Everything worked okay! Then I inserted 1.5V non-rechargeabe batteries, and the same error was there again.

So for now my conclusions are... Using 1.5V batteries is really too much. Now comes the part I'm not sure about. Either 1.2V is also too much. Or IKEA's 2450mAh batteries provide a voltage higher than 1.2V when fully charged: the 1.2V printed on them might be an average when using the battery from full till empty. Or... could it be some batteries provide more power than others, even if they came together in one package? I do not own a device that measures volts, so I cannot prove my conclusions.

I doubt this problem could be solved anyway. Here are just some simple thoughts about it... The EZ-FLASH Junior was not designed for use with a clone console. It is clear that the power this clone provides to the cartridge varies with the batteries' power, while a genuine console might provide a fixed voltage which the EZ-FLASH Junior was designed to use. I can imagine software (firmware) has no control over the voltage provided to the Junior's parts (in this case the memory card slot, I suppose). However, I imagine it could be possible to optimize the software in such a way that it reads/writes the memory card differently (slower, faster, or even using some power-save mode)?

So far my experiences and thoughts for now. When I learn more, I will again share my findings.
 
Last edited by Pakomon,

tepples

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"Most clone consoles of any form have traditionally worked by basically being a ROM and save dumper"
Does a Game Boy Camera work with this clone? If it does, it's highly unlikely to be a dumper.

"Get a real GBC made by Nintendo"
Nintendo no longer makes and sells an authentic Game Boy Color. Eventually, decades down the line, electromigration will cause authentic GBC hardware to stop working. (It's already been happening to Commodore computers from the early 1980s.) The only long-term solution I can think of is to clone the Game Boy system on chip under a free software license to run on an FPGA.
 
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mariotaotao

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"Most clone consoles of any form have traditionally worked by basically being a ROM and save dumper"
Does a Game Boy Camera work with this clone? If it does, it's highly unlikely to be a dumper.

"Get a real GBC made by Nintendo"
Nintendo no longer makes and sells an authentic Game Boy Color. Eventually, decades down the line, electromigration will cause authentic GBC hardware to stop working. (It's already been happening to Commodore computers from the early 1980s.) The only long-term solution I can think of is to clone the Game Boy system on chip under a free software license to run on an FPGA.

I think pocket camera may work on GB boy, I'm using a 16 bit pocket with GameBoy convert cart attached, and It does run pocket camera well. I think the GB convert cart is a GB boy clone, cuz it shows GB Boy logo on boot. But the cartridge does not boot Junior, too bad :hateit:
 
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Pakomon

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Hi. I just installed Kernel 1.05e and Firmware 5 Release Candidate. The GB Boy clone now boots correctly. I only tested Pokémon Red, and there some things go wrong. On the title screen, the slideshow that shows various pokémon left to Red/Ash, these pokémon look like bar codes; also no save game is seen. On a real GB all works correct. Just to let you know.
 

Shadow#1

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Hi. I just installed Kernel 1.05e and Firmware 5 Release Candidate. The GB Boy clone now boots correctly. I only tested Pokémon Red, and there some things go wrong. On the title screen, the slideshow that shows various pokémon left to Red/Ash, these pokémon look like bar codes; also no save game is seen. On a real GB all works correct. Just to let you know.
Yea so use real hardware not a clone
 

charlie_1988

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Hi. I just installed Kernel 1.05e and Firmware 5 Release Candidate. The GB Boy clone now boots correctly. I only tested Pokémon Red, and there some things go wrong. On the title screen, the slideshow that shows various pokémon left to Red/Ash, these pokémon look like bar codes; also no save game is seen. On a real GB all works correct. Just to let you know.

Hi, I just signed up when I saw this message.

What batteries have you used to make it work well in the GB Color (Kongfeng)?

I just received my EZ Flash Junior and with the Game Boy Original Classic it works perfectly, but with the GB Color Kongfeng it works when it wants, sometimes it does and sometimes not.

The few times I get it to work is with two new regular 1.2V batteries.

I have tried two rechargeable batteries of 1.2V each, new, one new and another used or two used and with rechargeable I have never managed to get it to work.

I have the same firmware and kernel (the latest ones).

Thanks a lot!.
 

Edgardoedg

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Hola tengo una gb boy color y un ez flash jr y pude solucionar el como agarre el cartucho el problema si fue el voltaje así que me puse a jugar con una fuente regulada hasta ver el voltaje correcto donde si funcionaba bien que fueron 2.750 volts lo que hice fue destripar la gb e instalar un regulador de voltaje que me diera el voltaje que necesitara de las pilas con dicho regulador no importa si son recargables alcalinas oh de celular disculpen por no poner fotos soy nuevo y no supe como
 
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Jayro

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Hi, I just signed up when I saw this message.

What batteries have you used to make it work well in the GB Color (Kongfeng)?

I just received my EZ Flash Junior and with the Game Boy Original Classic it works perfectly, but with the GB Color Kongfeng it works when it wants, sometimes it does and sometimes not.

The few times I get it to work is with two new regular 1.2V batteries.

I have tried two rechargeable batteries of 1.2V each, new, one new and another used or two used and with rechargeable I have never managed to get it to work.

I have the same firmware and kernel (the latest ones).

Thanks a lot!.
It needs 2.7 or 2.8V to operate normally. The closer to 3V, the better. Adding a voltage regulator should help.
 

melowjr

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Hello, several days ago I received my ez flash jr and I tested it on my gba ags 001 all perfect, I received my gb boy model 406 and with fw4 the ezflash did not start, I tested several versions of the fw5, probe 3, the first (4-13 test) I turn on the ezflash but it did not load any game in the gb boy, in the perfect sp, 2 I tested the version (4-20 test), with this version the ez flash turns on sometimes it has a bug when it is turned on, I think it is due to the 8gb sandisk sd with a 16'gb samsung evo has not given me so many problems, the problems come when restarting the gb boy, I also tried the version (FW5K105RC) I think it is the last one, with that version I only started the ezflash with the samsung sd, it runs games but not romhack. add video of gb boy 406 with ezflash fw5 4-20 test
Greetings I hope it helps


youtu.be/yxPMWdSuLBY
 

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sefon

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View attachment 193548 View attachment 193547

The support of clone consoles(none genuine game boy consoles)are not listed in the product features.

but the chinese users find the solution

if the batteries's total voltage higher than 2.8v, the sd init error, and lower than 2.2v, recycle gb boy title

so please try to use a pair full charged rechargeable ni-mh batteries instead normal batteries

The issue with "GB boy colour" is totally hardware or it can be solved with new ezflash firmware?
In case ezflash firmware could solve the issue why you do not release any patch? Nintendo does not produce "gameboy colour" anymore then gameboy's fan can buy just new clone console.
As far as i understood reading aroud the web the the public interested in this possibility is very large.
 

Shadow#1

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The issue with "GB boy colour" is totally hardware or it can be solved with new ezflash firmware?
In case ezflash firmware could solve the issue why you do not release any patch? Nintendo does not produce "gameboy colour" anymore then gameboy's fan can buy just new clone console.
As far as i understood reading aroud the web the the public interested in this possibility is very large.
Another one?
 

sefon

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Another one?
yes i'm having the problem and the "solution" about voltage in the range of 2.2 to 2.8 at the moment to me looks like a fairy tales.
I'm using eneloop recharghable battery and tested charghing it at any value in the range : result always <<Micro SD initial error>>
 

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