Hacking AGS-101 + SuperCard incompatible!?

[SILENT_Pavel]

Hi, i have two GBA SP: AGS-101 and AGS-001 plus "SuperCard" flash cartridge, here you can see scans all of this and gba motherboards:

Short video without comments about this trouble:
(i will show that AGS-101 is allright to play normal games, but SuperCard shows failure every time on startup, no matter what to do)



SuperCard:


AGS-101 (bright screen, seems like original console, i guess?):


AGS-001 (old as Mammoth, still working with broken native LCD screen, 100% original model, screen is dark):


Can i do something with it by myself? I don't want buy another GBA just for this (also i can't find AGS-001 in the store, plus model, that works with SC have dark screen). I mean, i can solder something on the motherboard if needed, but what should i do exactly for good running of SC on AGS-101 GBA SP? If there is somebody, who own AGS-101, tell me, SuperCard works for you? Maybe mine version is just china clone or something? Thanks.

p.s. i also tryed to replace LCD from one to another, but...
http://www.assemblergames.com/forum...creen-with-a-new-AGS-101-one-Doesn-t-light-up

 

[Cartmanuk]

You have the iQue Game Boy SP version maybe that makes the difference?

 

[SILENT_Pavel]

You have the Chinese official iQue version maybe that makes the difference?

Okay then, can i see any compatibility table of SuperCard (with GBA motherboards/models) or something like this? Will be cool. Because i don't see any info anywhere, that "ique gba" is incompatible with SC at all and never will?

 

[Cartmanuk]

Its likely that your SC is a fake if you purchased it recently. The iQue is slightly different to normal SP but I cant see why it wouldn't play SC.

 

[Deleted-236924]

That "failure screen" is what happens when a GBC game is inserted.
If you look inside the cartridge slot, you should have this pin:

Spoiler

When you insert a GBA game, that stays where it is because of the grooves on the bottom of the GBA cartridge.
On a GB/C cartridge, there are no such grooves on the bottom. When you insert a GB/C cartridge, it pushes that pin down, which tells the GBA that a GB/C game has been inserted.

If you take a look at this:

Spoiler

You can see that my EZ-Flash IV is slightly larger than a retail cartridge. Fortunately for me it doesn't get stuck on the pin and works properly, but you should compare your SuperCard with a retail cartridge, because that most likely is the reason you are having that problem.

 

[SILENT_Pavel]

When you insert a GB/C cartridge, it pushes that pin down, which tells the GBA that a GB/C game has been inserted.

Oh, man, you are absolutely right! Thank you very much for extremely useful info about this! SuperCard is too big and fat (like Cartmanuk says - i have bad copy of SC with random amount of plastic and gnarled assembly of the device).

I have done pretty idiotic decision (because i don't care about this old gba plastic case anyway, also i will use SC in nintendo DS) but it works perfect right now, thanks to you! Attached some pics. So i tryed to turn back GBC switch with screwdriver manually and do new hole in the plastic case - works.

 

[thaddius]

That's a drastic solution, but I'm glad it worked.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

Yeah I was just about to say, that's the GBC boot up... Your Card was pressing the trigger to go into GBC mode.

 

[Yoko99]

I'm glad I found this thread as I have the exact same problem.

The grooves on the cartridge really don't seem to be any smaller than on the EF4 or the original cartridge though, so I'm still kinda wondering if that's all there is to it.
My guess is that the plastic which is indeed poorly put together tends to spread open once inserted, more so than on the EZ4. That might explain it. It is hardly held together and you can easily kinda pry it open. I wonder if a drop of glue might help or if I should rework the case itself.

Also I've got a NES edition 001 model which also has that switch, and yet the SC works in that one. This strikes me as even more strange and makes me think maybe there's more to it than just the physical switch, that there really was some kind of anti piracy revision thrown in there. I'm not prepared to punch holes in my SP though, so I'll open it up and run some tests that way.
EDIT : Nevermind, I removed of of the SC's shell and it worked fine after that. I guess my 001 has a smaller switch or wider slot or something. Looks like the insides aren't as thick, it's just the plastic parts that needs some filing.

Also, I don't know about fakes or clones or whatever, but it is interesting to note that I received the SC in the exact same white package as Pavel did.
But when I bought a supercard back in 2005 (the closest thing there was to a slot-1 device back then was the Passme), the package was orange and with much different graphics.
Because that new package looks very generic and pretty similar to the packages I received my 3-in-1 and my EF4 in, I'm wondering how many manufacturers are left for this kind of things.