Hacking Brand new R4 - Not booting in DS?

[GammaRay]

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.

 

[Wii_DS.]

Try cleaning the contacts of both the DS and the R4.

 

[Urza]

The R4 should autoboot regardless of whether or not you have the DS set to do so.

 

[maxpowersin]

The problem must be in the contacts....

clean it with alcohol or something..

 

[Urza]

Ummm.........
maybe u are not supposed to hide the files....

Hiding the files is fine.

 

[maxpowersin]

yaa
sorry abt that...

 

[GammaRay]

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.

 

[smallkidd]

yea r4 can do that somethings goooooood job

 

[Wii_DS.]

Good stuff, glad you got it working.

 

[shinji257]

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.

 

[GammaRay]

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]

ppl on gbatemp are amazing intelligent like wii_DS first guess and he got it right

 

[Wii_DS.]

ppl on gbatemp are amazing intelligent like wii_DS first guess and he got it right

Sorry, are you being sarcastic?

it was just a random guess, since this is a known problem.

 

[Zombie_Mario]

ppl on gbatemp are amazing intelligent like wii_DS first guess and he got it right

That wink looks suspicious.... BAN HIM.



>_____>

 

[DarkAura]

ppl on gbatemp are amazing intelligent like wii_DS first guess and he got it right

That wink looks suspicious.... BAN HIM.



>_____>

Over reaction. But LAWL!!!

 

[GammaRay]

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.

 

[undoggy]

thanx PEOPLE MY DS WORKS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!