Hacking Acekard 2i microSD reader - WTF???!?!?!?

[delt]

This is really weird..... i was working on refining a theme's backgrounds, buttons etc (made an improved version of the "Elemental Blue" theme from ndsthemes.com) so in the past hour or 2, i found myself swapping a microSD card several times between the PC and the acekard.

So few minutes ago i inserted the SD card into the acekard's (NON-springloaded) SD reader, and booted the DS Lite. There was an error reading reading the card - it displayed as empty, no files or directories. So i took out the acekard and noticed the SD card in the reader seemed loose, so i tried to push it a bit further. The SD card somehow bounced out of the acekard and landed under my desk, like 2 meters away. I took a flashlight, found the card, picked it up, and tried to re-insert it into the acekard, but the SD reader seemed broken, there was something blocking it inside or i don't know what.

I know this was probably a bad idea, but anyway... i pried apart the acekard with an exacto knife, took out the PCB with the sd card reader, hoping i could examine the SD reader to see what was wrong. I tried the card into it and.... wtf??? it seems fine but it's spring-loaded now????? Anyway, i reassembled the acekard the best i could with some tape and tested it in the DS. It works fine!!!

... so, right now the acekard is in my DS lite, working absolutely fine, there seems to be no problem with it. But for some reason, now it magically has a spring-loaded SD card reader. It's also held together with scotch tape for the time being :3 :3 .....weird!!!

 

[Rydian]

My Ak2i's spring-loaded too, they should be that way.

However you can take the MicroSD out by simply pulling it since the spring-load mechanism doesn't actually lock it in.

 

[Another World]

it has been a long time since i read about someone discovering that their acekard was actually spring loaded. some ship from the factory with the spring engaged, so you would never know it was even there. there were a run of acekards that didn't have springs, but that didn't last for very long.

i've also fired a msd card or two across the room. haha.

-another world

 

[Deleted User]

wtf is the acekard spring loaded.... wtf im gonna test

 

[delt]

haha, thanks for the reply guys =) anyway i think i had read a few places that the ak2i wasn't supposed to be springloaded, hence my confusion.

Anyway, it works fine now, except sometimes it will display the card as completely empty, in which case i have to reboot the DS. I might have to do what i did to my ezflash4's miniSD reader, that is take a dremel with a cutting disk and cut out the whole top metal sheet off the reader (leaving a small area on the sides to hold the card in) so that i can fix the contact pins.

 

[Another World]

usually that's an issue with the card contacts not the msd. the ak2i is prone to contact issues.

-another world

 

[delt]

You mean the contacts between the cartridge and the DS?

Yeah, i've seen some threads on here about that, i'll check them out.

 

[3bbb7]

I never knew my ak2i was springloaded for like a year but I found out one time and I was like wow cool. I never use it though. It works fine without using the springs