Hacking Acekard2i-problem unbricking

[meekolai]

I am having problems unbricking an acekard2i.

Problem: I bought an acekard 2i for a friend. I preflashed it with the 1.4.3 update and tested a few games out on my dsl. Worked fine.
He has a DSi. He said he played it for a bit, turned off the dsi and when he tried to play it again, it said no card was inserted.

I got the card back, put it in my dsl, and it said no card inserted.

I figured it was a contact issue at first. I have tried the paper trick, using varying thicknesses, and still cannot get my dsl
to see it.

I have also tried using a DSTT and DSTwo to start the dsl firmware update, put in the acekard2i, but i cannot get past
the press B to continue message.

I am thinking there is damage to a critical component of the cart and it is toast.

I'm looking for any more suggestions/ideas/tips.

The biggest issue is that I don't know exactly what happened when he had the cart. He could be omitting information
that would make this a lot easier, but he isn't a very techno-savvy individual.

tl;dr - Acekard2i worked, played on dsi, worked at first, now doesn't show up on dsi or dsl. Not a contact issue, Can't update firmware.

 

[mechadylan]

Have you tried contact cleaner on the AK2i?

 

[Another World]

when inserted in the dsl, in the dsl firwmare where you launch games, what icon do you see?

-another world

 

[meekolai]

@mechadylan
I have tried cleaning the contacts. No difference.

@Another World
The dsl acts like no cart is present. Just sits at the main screen same as a contact issue. I am quite certain it is not a contact issue.
I have done the paper trick and re-aligned the PCB contacts.

Does the DSi 1.4 firmware have the ability to brick flash carts? Or would this be a hardware fault on the cart?

 

[Another World]

no, the dsi can not brick a flash kit.

just to double check, your friend was using akaio 1.8.8?

so when you are in the dsl firwmare menu, where you can pick slot-1, pictochat, or slot-2, you see a blank icon? if this is the case then there is something wrong with the acekard bootloader.

there isn't anything in akaio which would overwrite the bootloader. some users have reported this same behavior and we aren't sure what might be causing it. it appears to be hardware related. until this happens to the beta testing team we really can't hope to debug it. please try to get as much information from your friend as you can. what was he playing, what was he doing, what options where turned (soft-reset, cheats, etc), etc, and report back.

try reflashing the bootloader again using another flash kit and the dsl file. when it prompts you to insert a flash kit just eject the kit that ran the update file and put in the ak2i.

-another world