Hacking Brand new R4 - Not booting in DS?

G

GammaRay

Member
OP
Newcomer
Level 2
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
7
Trophies
0
XP
115
Country
United States
So, I'm a total newb, but I've been reading about the R4/M3 for a while. I just got mine today from Gameyeeeah (got here quick!).

I promptly popped my 2 GB Kingston MicroSD card into the adapter that came with it, and stuffed it in my laptop. I would have used the USB adapter from the R4, but it's so tight that it scratched the hell out of the contacts immediately. Anyway, I formatted it to FAT(16) and gave it the label R4DS.

Extracted the new 1.11 English files from the R4 site and put the System/Moonshell folders and .dat/.nds into the root of my MicroSD. I set them to hidden so they wouldn't clutter the screen in the future.

Tossed the SD into my R4 (didn't click -- the new ones don't have springs, I hear). Slipped it into my DS, and fired it up...no DS or GBA card inserted, according to my DS menu screen. Okay, I figured maybe I should check with Tetris. Tossed that in, it worked fine. So, maybe it's because I have the DS go to the menu instead of auto-select the GBA or DS slot? I changed it to auto-detect mode, fired it up with the R4...no go.

So, I think I've done everything per instruction on the MicroSD card. It's formatted and the two files and folders are in the root directory.

I'm hoping that the R4 isn't just a dud. I've been itching for this thing for a while, and I have a feeling that returning it will be a raging pain.

Please tell me I did something stupid and newbish. >_>

Thanks.
 
G

GammaRay

Member
OP
Newcomer
Level 2
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
7
Trophies
0
XP
115
Country
United States
Huzzah! I cleaned the contacts, popped it open (just to make sure it didn't have any strange burnouts on the board), put it together...and it lives!

Took my straight to the boot screen. I'm surprised that the contacts on either would have been dirty enough to inhibit things, given how they're both spanky new.

Ah well, I'll play around with it now...see if I can have some fun. 8)


Thank you everyone! You've made a newbie very happy.
 
shinji257

shinji257

Well-Known Member
Member
Level 3
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
328
Trophies
1
Age
41
Website
www.elite-systems.org
XP
356
Country
United States
I should mention that the alcohol helps to improve electrical conductivity. It may of been that the contact had some sort of film on it from the factory and wasn't properly cleaned before packaging.
 
G

GammaRay

Member
OP
Newcomer
Level 2
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
7
Trophies
0
XP
115
Country
United States
I used some high-test denatured alcohol to do the cleaning (yay for having solvents at work). Considering that I didn't see any type of typical residue come up when the contacts were cleaned, I can only imagine that you're right about it being some very thin film left over from the factory.

Thanks all. I'm loading DSOrganize on it right now. 8)
 
shakirmoledina

shakirmoledina

Legend
Member
Level 6
Joined
Oct 23, 2004
Messages
6,613
Trophies
0
Age
34
Location
Dar es Salaam
Website
vfootball.co.nf
XP
830
Country
Tanzania
ppl on gbatemp are amazing intelligent like wii_DS first guess and he got it right
wink.gif
 
G

GammaRay

Member
OP
Newcomer
Level 2
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
7
Trophies
0
XP
115
Country
United States
I really should have known better anyway. I work with electronics and computer parts regularly, but I would have assaulted it with tools before I thought of the contacts. XD

You'd think all those years of cleaning NES/SNES/Genesis carts would have taught me Rule 1# of cart-based systems:
If it doesn't work, clean the contacts!

I'm very pleased, though. I just need to get a new MicroSD USB adapter for my main PC (don't feel like using the laptop with the SD slot all the time). I don't trust the one that came with the R4...it's so tight I feel like it's going to snap, and it doesn't like to go in straight either.
 

Site & Scene News

Go to forum More news

Popular threads in this forum

Emulation  Tomodachi Collection Cheat Codes (For Delta)

Hardware Misc Others Project  3D Printing DS cart shells?

EZ-Flash Parallel doesn't works on DSi XL

So what IS the best DS Flashcart?

DS ML Shell

What's the battery in the DSOne SDHC?

Will I not get my flashcart from aliexpress?

EZ-Falsh Parallel Sleep mode???

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    I wonder if that was the point of game streaming
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    But it's a dead end
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @Psionic Roshambo, people who cant download it can still play the game
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    If your internet speeds are fast enough. Streaming 4k takes alot. I used to only have 20mb sec, and 4k struggled. Now I have 300mb sec and 4k plays fine.
     +1
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @BigOnYa, i only have like 1 or 2 mb sec
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Did you feed the hamster in your internet router? It prob died and is running slow now.
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @BigOnYa, why did you start saying my pc has a hamster in the first place?
     +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Its actua!ly just a old joke, meaning its slow. Was just kidding around with you.
     +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    I bet @AncientBoi has some hamsters hidden somewhere tho....
     +2
  • AncientBoi @ AncientBoi:
    🍳 them
     +2
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    I think Game streaming should work like this.... Local Hardware able the run the game fine, game engine and common assets stored locally, all FMV and music and textures could be streaming
     +1
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    Some temporary storage
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    also @BigOnYa im making some progress on my gdevelop project, implemented various mechanics
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    They went all in on streaming, should have been more of a hybrid approach
     +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Or free government supplied high speed internet be nice also. Like Obama care. Xdqwerty that's cool, its time consuming but rewarding once done or playable, to see what you've made from scratch. Animations take forever, but worth it.
     +1
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @BigOnYa, although the bullets are a bit buggy
     +1
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    Not to mention this would be a massive pain to pirate
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @BigOnYa,
    and the visual aspect of the game is quite crude (the sprite that looks best is that of the protagonist just because he is a stickman with sunglasses)
     +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    There is a bullets behaviour you assign to your character, that makes the code easier, under "behaviours"
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @BigOnYa, ik
     +1
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    i meant that when the character is pointing to the right, the bullets spawn where they should, but when he is on the right, they move to the right but the spawn point is incorrect
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Itch.io has lots of free assets also. Under the bullets behavior tab, there is a "rotate bullets" option, can try that. Or in the code can try
    - fire bullet Player.X(PlayerDirection)
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    im taking a break for today anyway
     +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    YEa gotta after a while, looking at code for long periods will bug your eyes.
     +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    That's cool tho, I'm proud of you going back to it, not giving up. It is difficult at first to learn, but fun once you get the hang of it. I think I've watched every tutorial video there is, but I still struggle sometimes to get stuff to work right. But gotta keep trying dif things, and eventually you will get it right.
     +1
    BigOnYa @ BigOnYa: That's cool tho, I'm proud of you going back to it, not giving up. It is difficult at first to... +1