Hacking Acekard 2.1 freezes when writing .sav file

[tk_saturn]

Is my chance of getting a faulty cart much less with a Acekard 2i? I've done only a little research to be honest with you but I thought they were having a problem too? Is it safe to order one of those from DX or would you recommend another site?

It's been said many times, the Acekard 2i doesn't suffer from this problem and works fine with the DSLite. DX are fine for ordering AK2i from, i've ordered 3 from them myself. Ask them for a credit and tell them you're going to get the AK2i instead.

 

[Galerians]

What have i to do to make the sav from AceKard_2_v4.07a15 compatible with Akaio 1.5.1?

 

[Galerians]

it's impossible?

 

[The_Office_owns]

So after reading through this topic, there is nothing that can be done except loading old 4.07 firmware?

Any idea if a newer firmware might fix this?

 

[tk_saturn]

So after reading through this topic, there is nothing that can be done except loading old 4.07 firmware?

Any idea if a newer firmware might fix this?

As it works on the old firmware yes.

QUOTE(Canker @ Jan 20 2010, 03:49 AM) In the AceKard release notes, the version after 4.07 (4.08) says, "A brand new engine of saving and reading card for Acekard2. Faster and more stable. Castlevania should be never lag on any TF cards.
Press "a" to use new engine and long press "a" for old engine.
If there's any black or white screen please disable all special functions first.
Merged all main features from bliss's firmware. Thanks to bliss. And thanks to Smiths, Normmatt and gelu too."

Presumably the new engine is DMA mode, so if disabled will lower framerates in some games.

Of course if you use AKAIO 1.5.1 you can already disable DMA mode by holding down (A) while loading a game (Will display Loading in Blue) or holding down (X) will use the old DMA mode (Will display Loading in Red) so in theory one of those modes should work with these problem carts.

You can also copy ak4menu.nds from the 4.07 official firmware and into [SD_CARD] _aio\ak2loader\ and use this with the older games which work fine with the older official firmware. Then use AKAIO loaders with (A) or (X) with the newer games.

Of course if it worked I imagine people would already be doing that which they aren't.

P

 

[The_Office_owns]

^Oh shite, I'm gonna try that later tonight. I'll see how it works.

 

[Chaosruler]

I just got to see page 3, I bought my acekard long before today, even a year... I bought several stuff from DealExtreme, One of them being defective, I sent them the defective one back, paid from my own wallet and got it stright to PP back (I paid to DX by using PP) the exact amount I wasted, so no worries, DX know how to do their job, however my question is did anyone try to use the actual offical firmware rather then the alternative firmware AKAIO?

 

[tk_saturn]

my question is did anyone try to use the actual offical firmware rather then the alternative firmware AKAIO?
Try reading the thread, second line of the first post.

QUOTE(By PoLOr @ Jan 5 2010, 06:44 AM) My new Acekard 2.1 seems to have some issues. I have a Ds Lite, I'm kinda new to this and wanted to consolidate all the games I own. I'm pretty sure I set it up correctly. I tried the official firmware ver. 4.21 and the Akaio 1.5.1. It loads up fine with either, and backup games are all present. However any time I attempt to write a save file it usually freezes up.

 

[Terrulin]

You can also copy ak4menu.nds from the 4.07 official firmware and into [SD_CARD] _aio\ak2loader\ and use this with the older games which work fine with the older official firmware. Then use AKAIO loaders with (A) or (X) with the newer games.

Of course if it worked I imagine people would already be doing that which they aren't.

P

Thats actually the solution Ive been using to get mine to work. I just press Y twice on the particular game, and change the "AK2 Loader" from akaio to the 4.07 one. And that works for each game that is compatible with the 4.07 loader.

But as far as games that dont work with that loader I have found nothing to make something like that work (Holding A or X does nothing, using old or new official firmware, using AKAIO 1.5.1, AKAIO 1.5.1 w/ 4.07 loader, AKAIO 1.2, AKAIO 1.2 w/ updated AKAIO loader (freezes before game loads) or AKAIO 1.2 w/ 4.07 (although this combination will see a save created by 1.5.1, but game freezes once the save info is displayed) (Bowser's Inside Story)

It seems difficult to know what will and will not work. Zelda: Spirit Tracks works, but Bowser's Inside Story which is technically older, does not.

 

[kpxny2sk]

So do you know if anybody's working on this problem? Or, should I give up on waiting and go purchase another flashcard?

 

[Canker]

If AceKard won't make a statement about the save problems with these AceKard 2.1, why would you give them repeat business?

If I bought cheap rubber boots which leaked if they went over the ankle, but I was promised actual water proof boots, I wouldn't buy a higher priced pair of boots from the same company in the hopes of getting what I had already paid for. In fact, I would want to kick one of those boots far up their ass.

Why do people love AceKard so much? They're as bad as the boobs with Infectus and their horrendous support of the Argon. AceKard haven't said a word about this whole issue, which tells me they have nothing to say, they're probably just waiting for all of us suckers stuck with these duds to go away, and a while later they'll probably release ACEKARD 3.1, NEW AND IMPROVED WITH AN ARRAY OF SHINEY LEDS!!!111 And their "no hassle" lifetime warranty.

I can't help but notice Normatt isn't saying much about this entire matter. I private messaged him here about a month ago offering to send money, or anything which can help resolve this and did not get a reply. Norm, if you or your anyone associated with you read this thread, PLEASE HELP US with any information you have! Without AKAIO the AceKard is just another crappy cart, and everyone knows it.

For everyone else, some earlier versions of AKAIO seem to work as well as the 407 firmware on these carts. I found and tried the 1.2 version of AKAIO and it works as solid as the official 407 version, if this helps anyone.

You don't want a replacement Acekard 2.1, all the replacements they have are from the same batch. Ask them for a credit and put that towards an Acekard 2i.

Is my chance of getting a faulty cart much less with a Acekard 2i? I've done only a little research to be honest with you but I thought they were having a problem too? Is it safe to order one of those from DX or would you recommend another site?

 

[bykou]

I had the same problem with all of you DS Acekard2 from dealexrteam ordered 07th December 2009 recieved 21 Ianuary 2010
I solved it like that


1. take this firm ``[7168]AKAIO.1.5.rar`` open it and then to the sd card
2. the same with this file`` akmenu4.nds``
3. Put this file also for DS ``ak2ifw_update_14_DSL_new.nds`` and this for`` DSi ak2ifw_update_14_DSi_new.nds``
then run it, its going to say to take out and put again the flashcard
then press B , it make nothing but its ok the update of Nintendo had done
(with little search will find them)
Now can play the most of the games.

 

[darkpenguoin]

Is the new firmware fix this issue ?
Cannot test sadly

 

[Cybermage]

nope still freezes on save

 

[Canker]

I wish we could have this entire thread made sticky for now. In the meantime...

 

[11gardre]

NO NO NO!!!

This problem has nothing what so ever to do with the hardware. Acekard 2.1 with HW 80 has an issue with the firmware!

After many many hours of working on this I finally saw a post somewhere by this guy creamsoda which revealed this problem has been going on ever since firmware 4.08. I tested each firmware from 4.07 up to the one just released Feb 1, 2010 and they all have the same problem with the loading of game saves. The only one that works is 4.07. The new 4.21 has even more issues in that games that were loading before now give a white screen. I have posted elsewhere on the web and have written to Acekard telling them their programming and testing are sloppy at best. There simply is no need to have all this going on and I admonished them that their retailers are getting pretty annoyed with all the returns when the cards are in fact fine, yet are being returned or simply not ordered because of THEIR FIRMWARE.

The end result is really the same. Does it really matter if the card hardware or its firmware are the issues? In the end...the damn thing is not working correctly and that is the bottom line.

Good Luck to all!

This makes much more sense. It is much more likely that the firmware is the problem than that every acekard everywhere is faulty. Someone with an older version of the acekard please test to confirm.

 

[ZeroPaladn]

JUST purchased an Acekard 2.1 from MyGamingMart.com (received in the mail today) and I'm a first time user. Should have read up on it more, considering the problems I've had with it today.

But all is not lost, I will confirm that my purchased AceKard 2.1 ONLY works with the 4.07 firmware. the new 4.15 freeze during saves and even then newest AKIDO firmware package has even more problems. I'm using a 4GB microSD Kingston card. Apart from the slow write speeds, it's A-OK.

**EDIT**
If you purchased an AceKard from mygamingmart.com, please check the package it came in. Just looked at mine (and feeling slightly embarrassed) to see written in felt tip pen "FW 4.07 ONLY". God I'm retarded. I'd take a picture to show you guys but I'm lazy ATM. Hope everything helps here!

 

[Canker]

Really? That's totally crooked of mygamingmart.com to do that. It means they know there is a problem, but they sold it to you anyway with a sharpy disclaimer.

JUST purchased an Acekard 2.1 from MyGamingMart.com (received in the mail today) and I'm a first time user. Should have read up on it more, considering the problems I've had with it today.

But all is not lost, I will confirm that my purchased AceKard 2.1 ONLY works with the 4.07 firmware. the new 4.15 freeze during saves and even then newest AKIDO firmware package has even more problems. I'm using a 4GB microSD Kingston card. Apart from the slow write speeds, it's A-OK.

**EDIT**
If you purchased an AceKard from mygamingmart.com, please check the package it came in. Just looked at mine (and feeling slightly embarrassed) to see written in felt tip pen "FW 4.07 ONLY". God I'm retarded. I'd take a picture to show you guys but I'm lazy ATM. Hope everything helps here!

 

[tk_saturn]

Really? That's totally crooked of mygamingmart.com to do that. It means they know there is a problem, but they sold it to you anyway with a sharpy disclaimer.

You're right, but pretty much all the retailers should be aware of it by now as it been going on for 2 months. They are would have had 'bad batch' carts sent back from them and most are still selling them.

Because these arrive at retailers 'stickerless' all they have to do is send out AK2i's with AK2.1 stickers on and put the price up $2-$3, then send the bad carts back to Acekard or their supplier. Problem solved!

Most people are still buying 2.1's because they aren't aware of teh problem or think the 2i won't work on a DSL.

 

[masbass]

Does the AKAIO v.1.6 RC1 fix this? Can't test it right now here...

http://www.normmatt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=302&f=8