Hacking Bricked my phat -_-

[popoffka]

I tried to flashme my ds.
I booted flashme installer, pressed xbxb as it said and bridged sl1 with screwdriver.
Then, I think screwdriver just slid out from sl1, and process stopped at 4%.
I've tried lots of tools, and noone could continue the process so i turned off my ds(yes, I know I'm idiot).
Now, when it boots it just turns on the LED, even screen is not working. If I boot it holding SELECT, it turns on screens too, but they are just white and nothing really happens.
Do I have some chance to recover? If it's needed, I can get a working ds phat or ds lite.

 

[Maikel Steneker]

Fortunately, FlashMe has some recovery code that should already be flashed if you got to 4%. What you need to do is get a Slot-2 card that you can launch FlashMe from. An EZ-Flash 3-in-1 is alright to, just rename flashme.nds to flashme.nds.gba and flash it on. Then insert it and turn your DS on while holding Select. It should boot FlashMe so you can try again.

 

[popoffka]

Can you recommend me some cheap slot-2 card that will work?
And also, what will i have to do when I'll get it? I've flashed noauto version, btw.
And isn't recovering from slot-1 card possible?

 

[Cyan]

Can't it work with slot-1 too, as the last flashme doesn't auto boot to slot2 anymore ? (@popoffka : just try it with slot1, you will see if it work)
I don't know if 4% is enough for safebrick though, I thought it was more like 10~12%, but it's old I may not remember well.

I've used G6 slot2 card for a long time, it worked well. (I don't know the current price). G6 is easy to manage as it's an USB drive on your computer. filename flashme.nds should work.

EZ-Flash 3-in-1 is useful to, you can play GBA with it and has rumble/additional ram, so it's a good deal. Check for GBA sized 3-in-1 (a lot of website only have DSlite's size card).
To transfer the flashme.nds.gba to the 3-in-1 (to NOR memory, right Maikel Steneker?) you need to use a slot-1 homebrew (either DSevo firmware can do it, or GBA Exploader) ... A working friend's DS is needed there

 

[popoffka]

As I've already said, I've tried both just turning it on and turning it on with SELECT hold(with EZVi inserted both times), and both don't work.
Does that mean that my ds is not recoverable now? ;_;

 

[Cyan]

I think V8 changed the button combination to recover the firmware.

Select was used on former version, when slot2 was always booting automatically, to bypass flashme and boot slot1.

Select is now used to bypass slot1 and boot slot2 game if there is one inserted, not the recovery mode. If you have a 3-in-1 with flashme in NOR it should run it automatically, with another hardware (like G6) you need to use the recovery combination to force booting the file named flashme.nds :
For recovery mode, I'll check what it is.


edit :
try with SELECT+START+A+B (should be old recovery code, V8 has a new one)(Edit again : Start+select ?)

see end of this page : http://www.dspassme.com/FlashMe.shtml
it says it boots GBA slot and try reading flashme.nds, so it doesn't work on slot1.

 

[popoffka]

Nothing -_-
Two white screens

But I'm trying slot-1 card, btw. I don't have slot-2 flashcard

 

[popoffka]

goddamit. is there any way to load slot1? ;_;

 

[Jakob95]

goddamit. is there any way to load slot1? ;_;

NO there isn't now stop asking.

 

[popoffka]

I still don't want to lose hope -_-
I can't find slot-2 G6 anywhere, and ez 3-in-1 is just too expensive for just using once -_-
Maybe there is some hardware way to boot slot-1?
Maybe it's possible by using some parts of working ds?

 

[DanTheManMS]

The emergency button combination is Start+Select. The issue is that only certain slot-1 cards will work with the emergency boot method. For instance, the R4 works although you have to use R4crypt to turn the FlashMe.nds file into some other file so that it's the first thing the card loads rather than the menu itself.

Actually, that's not a bad idea. Try to find a .nds file for your system's menu. I'm not familiar with the EZ-Vi so I don't know what it is, but it's likely to be on the root of your card. Copy this file to your computer, then rename FlashMe.nds to that filename and put it on the root of your card. Boot with Start+Select and see if it works.

If this doesn't work, then I'm not really sure what to suggest, other than finding some other device that's known to work with the emergency boot combination. Do any of your friends have DS homebrew devices?

 

[macgeek417]

Don't worry, it's not COMPLETELY bricked. By the time it gets to 2% the recovery code should be installed.

Posts merged

Don't worry, it's not COMPLETELY bricked. By the time it gets to 2% the recovery code should be installed.

 

[popoffka]

Actually, that's not a bad idea. Try to find a .nds file for your system's menu. I'm not familiar with the EZ-Vi so I don't know what it is, but it's likely to be on the root of your card. Copy this file to your computer, then rename FlashMe.nds to that filename and put it on the root of your card. Boot with Start+Select and see if it works.
As I understood, ezvi's system menu is ez5sys.bin, and I've tried renaming flashme.nds to ez5sys.bin, but still have blank screen -_-
I'll ask on EZ-Flash's official forum about this.
QUOTE(DanTheManMS @ Jan 24 2010, 01:30 AM) Do any of your friends have DS homebrew devices?

No, they don't have any sadly -_-

 

[popoffka]

Any1 can suggest me some shop with some cheap slot-2 card and int-l shipping?

 

[Krestent]

Any1 can suggest me some shop with some cheap slot-2 card and int-l shipping?

Dealextreme still has 3-in-1s

EDIT: This is pretty cheap and should work, if you have a friend with a GBA/SP: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25752

 

[Cyan]

the 3-in-1 GBA sized is available here
There are other NDS slot2 card on this site, but mostly for NDSlite.
you can also try GBA flashcards, but they are more expensive.

I already ordered on this website, shipping delay is good, but for payment use paypal (else it will be a bank website in Poland, working but not in english)

 

[fgghjjkll]

and what is a 3-1 gonna do? your best bet is to find a compatible cart. If desperate, get a 3 dollar r4ds

 

[popoffka]

EDIT: This is pretty cheap and should work, if you have a friend with a GBA/SP: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25752
Why must I have a friend with GBA to use this? Won't it just work with a DS?
Btw, I have one friend w/ SP, but just want to know.

QUOTE(fgghjjkll @ Jan 25 2010, 12:32 PM) your best bet is to find a compatible cart. If desperate, get a 3 dollar r4ds

It's slot-1 isn't it? Or you think it might also work?

EDIT: where've you seen R4DS for 3$? The minimal price I saw was 6$

ONE MORE EDIT: and what are chances to recover if i'll buy R4DS?

 

[DanTheManMS]

I don't get why people are recommending the 3in1. You can only flash the 3in1 using software that runs on the DS itself, and since popoffka can't run DS programs, it's useless to him.

If you get an official, original R4 (the non-SDHC kind), then you have a very high chance of being able to recover. As I mentioned before, you'd need to use R4crypt to encrypt the FlashMe.nds file so that the R4 loads it first thing upon bootup rather than the regular menu. Other slot-1 devices may work, but I honestly don't know which ones. I don't think anyone ever made a list of which ones work and which ones don't, probably because very few people with slot-1 devices install FlashMe.

 

[Cyan]

I can't certify slot-1 card are working with recovery combination (so, buying an R4 is not a good solution, because I'm almost sure he already own a slot-1 card, it will be the same)
But, recommending 3-in-1, as a slot-2 card makes more sense to me, even if not perfect (see bellow).
He said he can use a friend's DS if there's a need to transfer something to the slot-1 card, so we are good here.

Recovery code is said to "redirect to GBA slot" (see end of the page I gave on the previous page).


What I'm thinking is :
IF installing flashme.nds as a R4 firmware, using R4crypt etc., in order to boot it on DS power ON will work, it's only because of the R4 bypassing "press a button" screen functionality.
R4 or M3DS simply will do the job there.

There's still a chance the few % written on the protected area is not enough to run the slot1 boot code, being R4 or another card (his current card is not booting because the DS can't find the system menu with 'press a button' screen)

The redirecting code to GBA is certainly used because there's no need to have a DS system menu when booting a GBA game, only the GBA bios will run (here, I'm assuming GBA Bios is store on another part of the DS hardware and not on the DS firmware)
Then on a gba card, there's still a chance the recovery code will not work with the 3-in-1, because installing flashme.nds to NOR memory, it will bootonly if the DS runs the "Start gba bios" command, which is not working, because no DS system menu to do that.
What I understand (and I may be wrong, I would like Loopy's answer to clarify all of this), the recovery code doesn't run the GBA bios in the normal way, but read the flashme.nds file located on a slot2 at DS boot, so it needs to read a list of files present on the card to load the correct filename.

Result :
3-in-1 should not work (no filename is present to select the right filename, and recovery can't boot the current stored ROM, only load a file)
Only cards with file system should work (like G6, super card, M3 CF or SD or mini adapter, gba movie player, etc.)


What other people think about this ?
I tried to stay logic about the way the DS and flashme are working.