Hacking Acekard 2i: Unable to load NDS roms

[Haggar]

I just tried the Acekard 2i for the first time and I can't find any of the NDS roms I put on my memory card. Here's some info:

I formatted my memory card using SD memory card formatter (quick format)

I then copy/pasted AKAIO.1.8.6a (I have the __aio folder and the akmenu4.nds file on the memory card)

The firmware on the DS is 1.4U

I bought the Acekard from dscartshop.com and they say they that their cards are shipped with 1.4.1 firmware.

I created a "games" folder" and copied about 12 roms into it. These roms have been tested on my PC using a DS emulator so I know they work. When I put the Acekard into the DS, a menu item that says, "Dorasu" with some Chinese writing appears. When I click it, I'm then taken to an icon that says MicroSD. I click that and nothing is in the directory.

When I check the properties, it shows the storage capacity of my memory card and it shows that there is about 800MB on it, so it sees the files but I can't access them. Do I have to change any settings in order to access these files? Is there something wrong with the Acekard?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[s4mid4re]

I don't know the problem here - never happened to me.

Have you tried moving your ROMs to the root of your micro SD card, instead of putting them inside a folder?

 

[Haggar]

Nevermind... I'm an idiot. I copied the games folder within the AIO folder. When I moved it to the root it worked!

Posts merged

I don't know the problem here - never happened to me.

Have you tried moving your ROMs to the root of your micro SD card, instead of putting them inside a folder?

I just read your reply... that's exactly what happened. Thanks.

 

[NES SNES V.B. N64 G.C. Wii WiiU]

Nevermind... I'm an idiot. I copied the games folder within the AIO folder. When I moved it to the root it worked!

Posts merged

I don't know the problem here - never happened to me.

Have you tried moving your ROMs to the root of your micro SD card, instead of putting them inside a folder?

I just read your reply... that's exactly what happened. Thanks.

I would recommend putting them in a 'games' folder though, when on the PC the files get messy with all the .sav files, cheat files, the rom, etc...

 

[doyama]

Nevermind... I'm an idiot. I copied the games folder within the AIO folder. When I moved it to the root it worked!

Posts merged

I don't know the problem here - never happened to me.

Have you tried moving your ROMs to the root of your micro SD card, instead of putting them inside a folder?

I just read your reply... that's exactly what happened. Thanks.

As long as you put the directory under the root you're ok. AKAIO hides the _aio directory and a few other things from the GUI by default. You can disable that if you really want to in the settings file. But it's not really necessary. Just create your /games/ folder in the root and you'll be set.

Also you might want to update your Acekard2i to the latest 1.4.2 compatible firmware. Why? You never know. Sure YOU will never update it, but maybe a sibling, cousin, friend, parent, pet, etc might by accident. That kind of story happens often enough that you might as well get your Acekard2i compatible with the current firmware version. Don't say we didn't warn you

 

[Haggar]

As long as you put the directory under the root you're ok. AKAIO hides the _aio directory and a few other things from the GUI by default. You can disable that if you really want to in the settings file. But it's not really necessary. Just create your /games/ folder in the root and you'll be set.

At first, I made the "games" directory in the __aio directory. I thought this was where it was supposed to be placed. I then moved it to the root of the memory card and then everything worked.


QUOTEAlso you might want to update your Acekard2i to the latest 1.4.2 compatible firmware. Why? You never know. Sure YOU will never update it, but maybe a sibling, cousin, friend, parent, pet, etc might by accident. That kind of story happens often enough that you might as well get your Acekard2i compatible with the current firmware version. Don't say we didn't warn you

I bought the Acekard for a friend. I'll mention this to her but I'll also have to read up on how to flash the firmware as I've never done this before. The 1.4.2 Acekard firmware is pretty new. Is it stable?

 

[Haggar]

I would recommend putting them in a 'games' folder though, when on the PC the files get messy with all the .sav files, cheat files, the rom, etc...

That's what I did. What I meant to say is that I moved the "games" folder from the __aio directory to the root of the memory card. Yeah, it's much more organized than to have the nds files scattered in the root directory.

 

[doyama]

As long as you put the directory under the root you're ok. AKAIO hides the _aio directory and a few other things from the GUI by default. You can disable that if you really want to in the settings file. But it's not really necessary. Just create your /games/ folder in the root and you'll be set.

At first, I made the "games" directory in the __aio directory. I thought this was where it was supposed to be placed. I then moved it to the root of the memory card and then everything worked.


QUOTEAlso you might want to update your Acekard2i to the latest 1.4.2 compatible firmware. Why? You never know. Sure YOU will never update it, but maybe a sibling, cousin, friend, parent, pet, etc might by accident. That kind of story happens often enough that you might as well get your Acekard2i compatible with the current firmware version. Don't say we didn't warn you

I bought the Acekard for a friend. I'll mention this to her but I'll also have to read up on how to flash the firmware as I've never done this before. The 1.4.2 Acekard firmware is pretty new. Is it stable?

Yeah definitely warn them that updating the Nintendo firmware will render the flashcart useless. There's still a 50% chance they'll do it anyways

But you can at least say 'I told you so'

 

[Evo.lve]

As long as you put the directory under the root you're ok. AKAIO hides the _aio directory and a few other things from the GUI by default. You can disable that if you really want to in the settings file. But it's not really necessary. Just create your /games/ folder in the root and you'll be set.

At first, I made the "games" directory in the __aio directory. I thought this was where it was supposed to be placed. I then moved it to the root of the memory card and then everything worked.


QUOTEAlso you might want to update your Acekard2i to the latest 1.4.2 compatible firmware. Why? You never know. Sure YOU will never update it, but maybe a sibling, cousin, friend, parent, pet, etc might by accident. That kind of story happens often enough that you might as well get your Acekard2i compatible with the current firmware version. Don't say we didn't warn you

I bought the Acekard for a friend. I'll mention this to her but I'll also have to read up on how to flash the firmware as I've never done this before. The 1.4.2 Acekard firmware is pretty new. Is it stable?

You're either technically knowledgeable, or just very very very paranoid.

The firmware does not affect the operation of the cart, as you would see it.

The firmware flashes the bootloader so that it can run (in this case, on DSi 1.4.2)

The flashing process is very simple - put the .nds file on the cart and then run it and follow the instructions (relax they're simple, like "Press B" or "Eject cart")

 

[Haggar]

You're either technically knowledgeable, or just very very very paranoid.

The firmware does not affect the operation of the cart, as you would see it.

The firmware flashes the bootloader so that it can run (in this case, on DSi 1.4.2)

The flashing process is very simple - put the .nds file on the cart and then run it and follow the instructions (relax they're simple, like "Press B" or "Eject cart")

I read a few threads on this forum about problems occurring after upgrading to new firmware. A few people mentioned that they had to downgrade to an older version of AKAIO before flashing. I'm fairly tech savvy but I'm not technically knowledgeable when it comes to flash carts, I just know that sometimes there are minor bugs or issues with new releases.

Maybe I'm being too paranoid. If it was mine, then I'd experiment but I don't want to mess up my friend's Acekard especially since it's working fine now. But you're right, it's definitely a good idea to upgrade. I'll probably do this next time I see her.

 

[jurassicplayer]

I read a few threads on this forum about problems occurring after upgrading to new firmware. A few people mentioned that they had to downgrade to an older version of AKAIO before flashing. I'm fairly tech savvy but I'm not technically knowledgeable when it comes to flash carts, I just know that sometimes there are minor bugs or issues with new releases.

Maybe I'm being too paranoid. If it was mine, then I'd experiment but I don't want to mess up my friend's Acekard especially since it's working fine now. But you're right, it's definitely a good idea to upgrade. I'll probably do this next time I see her.

For the most part, all firmware updates are stable, though there sometimes are small regressions (like how currently the HW44 ones can't softreset) and there was that one update that ended up bricking a number of HW44 AK2is (only time I've ever heard that happen before). As long as you have a newer AK2i (HW81), you definitely don't have to worry about anything. If you have an older one, then maybe check a thread or two before updating, but really there shouldn't be many problems anyways.