Hacking can't get EFA Linker II to work

[PizzaPasta]

Make sure that you are checking GBA loader BEFORE you add any ROMs. IF you already have a ROM in the list it will flash to NOR by default.

 

[nutZkcas]

Hey guys,

How do you get this cart to do its magic ? I tried downloading the drivers and clients, but I still can't get it to identify itself to my computer as Flash disk ... Can anyone help me out here ?

edit : Since I bought this from DX, I think it is the Simple version that doesn't have the RTC inside right ? How is it possible to play Pokemon Ruby without RTC ?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

pokemon requires a RTC patch. people wanted to play pokemon on the 3in1, this caused someone to go and make a patch to deal with it.

To get the UDisk mode to work you will need to dig up XP SP2 compatible UMS drivers to detect it. XP SP3 screws your access to it.

It is not FAKE, it is because you got computer hardware that is TOO NEW. These carts have been sitting in some wearhouse/storage like forever like the EFA Linker Simple version had.

The reason you can't put more than 1 game on there is because you have USB controllers that are not compatible.

 

[dodoecchi]

Hello, my name is Dorian
and I'm a newcomer in the flash linkers world

I bought a EFA II linker here (refered as EFA-LINKER II Slot-2 Direct-USB Flash Cart for GBA/SP/NDS (1G))
I finally received my card yesterday after 2 weeks
But it doesn't work properly :

• The card is not recognized as a USB drive, as shown here on the review
• So I had to install the driver manually, but there is NO driver the the second version
  
  , so I used the driver from "efa2.83-DS" archive file
• No UDisk mode, I had to use (again), an older software to write roms to my card : a program called Long card client 1.02, which is the only one that works quite good
• I even tried to downgrade one of my XP SP3 computers to SP2, still nothing. (as how_do_i_do_that suggested with the UMS driver thing)
• No RTC : I got a message in pokémon games.
• Strangely, my card is different from your review. Take a close look at this photo and compare with this one (from the review). Same thing with the USB cables : I have to plug the two of them [photo]
• Finally, today, it stopped working.... the client doesn't recognize the card anymore, even if the led is green; my GBA SP acts like there is no card inserted... great. I played with it.... for 1 week. last thing I did : format to delete unneeded roms + re-write all roms... then it worked a last time and goodbye.

I wanted to ask for help, but that is not needed anymore since my card is dead
But why my card worked like a EFA linker One??

now, I ask to you the experts,
is there a good card I can buy, that is not outdated and does work more than a week, and support RTC?
or is GBA too old and I have to buy a DS?

 

[raulpica]

Hello, my name is Dorian
and I'm a newcomer in the flash linkers world

I bought a EFA II linker here (refered as EFA-LINKER II Slot-2 Direct-USB Flash Cart for GBA/SP/NDS (1G))
I finally received my card yesterday after 2 weeks
But it doesn't work properly :

• The card is not recognized as a USB drive, as shown here on the review
• So I had to install the driver manually, but there is NO driver the the second version
  
  , so I used the driver from "efa2.83-DS" archive file
• No UDisk mode, I had to use (again), an older software to write roms to my card : a program called Long card client 1.02, which is the only one that works quite good
• I even tried to downgrade one of my XP SP3 computers to SP2, still nothing. (as how_do_i_do_that suggested with the UMS driver thing)
• No RTC : I got a message in pokémon games.
• Strangely, my card is different from your review. Take a close look at this photo and compare with this one (from the review). Same thing with the USB cables : I have to plug the two of them [photo]
• Finally, today, it stopped working.... the client doesn't recognize the card anymore, even if the led is green; my GBA SP acts like there is no card inserted... great. I played with it.... for 1 week. last thing I did : format to delete unneeded roms + re-write all roms... then it worked a last time and goodbye.

I wanted to ask for help, but that is not needed anymore since my card is dead
But why my card worked like a EFA linker One??

now, I ask to you the experts,
is there a good card I can buy, that is not outdated and does work more than a week, and support RTC?
or is GBA too old and I have to buy a DS?

Try using this client.

Thanks for that photo! I can now confirm that the EFA II which DX sells are fake, they're just EFA I Simple in a different case (and 1G, instead of only 512M).
They have the SAME board inside.

By the way, do you have a SiS chipset? My EFA I has problems (like not getting recognized anymore) on my PC with a SiS chipset. Try on another PC.

Good luck!


EDIT: EFA Simple 1.0 Client seems to be Longcard Client 1.02 renamed. :/
Well, there's not a single GBA flashcard with RTC still being sold out there. If you find an EZ-II or an EZ-III still in stock somewhere, consider yourself lucky

Other good GBA cards (without RTC) might be EZ-Flash IV and Elink. Both have been reviewed here on GBAtemp. Give them a look

 

[dodoecchi]

thank you for your quick answer ^^

Try using this client.
I already tried everything I could

Thanks for that photo! I can now confirm that the EFA II which DX sells are fake, they're just EFA I Simple in a different case (and 1G, instead of only 512M).
They have the SAME board inside.
really???? wow that's the first time I've been had

By the way, do you have a SiS chipset? My EFA I has problems (like not getting recognized anymore) on my PC with a SiS chipset. Try on another PC.

just tried on the other PC, same thing
A SiS chipset?? where could I find that?

QUOTE

Other good GBA cards (without RTC) might be EZ-Flash IV and Elink. Both have been reviewed here on GBAtemp. Give them a look smile.gif

yes, I think I'll buy a EZ-IV, seems good, even if no RTC
do you know if this site is good??

if you want me to take more photos, ask me

Dorian

 

[raulpica]

just tried on the other PC, same thing
A SiS chipset?? where could I find that?

A SiS Chipset is the chipset on your motherboard, use some app like Everest or CPUz to find out what chipset you do have.

QUOTE(dodoecchi @ Oct 7 2008, 06:12 PM) yes, I think I'll buy a EZ-IV, seems good, even if no RTC
do you know if this site is good??

if you want me to take more photos, ask me

Dorian

Yeah, a lot of people say it's good and doesn't give problems. I can't recommend you any good shop, sadly, as I haven't bought from any of them

You should ask somwhere else on this forum, or wait for some other comments.

I think that photo should suffice. Thanks again

 

[spectral]

Are you guys sure its EFAII and not the first EFA card? I have had an EFAII for years and it doesn't need its own drivers, its supposed to just be detected as a removable storage device like a USB pen drive is. It is true that it doesn't natively support eeprom saves so some games need to be added to the card using the EFAII software. The EFAII has 2 sets of memory. 1Gbit for storage and 256Mbit(I think) to run the games from. On the PC you copy roms to the 1Gbit area. You use the GBA to copy the games from there to the smaller area where the games run from. Which writing software are you using? The software from the original EFA will not work correctly with the EFAII.

Edit: Ahh so they're fakes of the original EFA with the EFAII name on?

 

[raulpica]

Are you guys sure its EFAII and not the first EFA card? I have had an EFAII for years and it doesn't need its own drivers, its supposed to just be detected as a removable storage device like a USB pen drive is. It is true that it doesn't natively support eeprom saves so some games need to be added to the card using the EFAII software. The EFAII has 2 sets of memory. 1Gbit for storage and 256Mbit(I think) to run the games from. On the PC you copy roms to the 1Gbit area. You use the GBA to copy the games from there to the smaller area where the games run from. Which writing software are you using? The software from the original EFA will not work correctly with the EFAII.

The confusion generates from the fact that they're being sold on DX labeled as "EFAII". But the motherboard clearly says LC512/1G (LC stands for LongCard, which seems to be the card they cloned/used for EFA I Simple), so they're not. Real EFAII do not require drivers, as you say.

This so-called "EFAII" requires the EFA I Simple drivers, because is, in fact, an EFA I Simple

 

[spectral]

Well if they are clones of the EFA another thing people should be aware of is that they had serious problems with Nforce chipsets. I originally had a 512Mbit EFA which simply would refuse to work on any PC with an Nforce chipset. It was a problem achknowleged by the EFA team and they swapped my EFA for an EFAII. Obviously this was all years ago when they were still active but it was a problem they never fixed.

 

[raulpica]

Well if they are clones of the EFA another thing people should be aware of is that they had serious problems with Nforce chipsets. I originally had a 512Mbit EFA which simply would refuse to work on any PC with an Nforce chipset. It was a problem achknowleged by the EFA team and they swapped my EFA for an EFAII. Obviously this was all years ago when they were still active but it was a problem they never fixed.

I got the same problem with my SiS chipset. But seeing that the Team isn't active anymore, and that the "new" EFAII is only a larger EFAI, they won't probably solve my problem, so I'm stuck using my EFAI on my old pc :/

 

[trixtyle]

I've tried everything above, too, and it's still not working for me. None of those seem to be the right drivers.

Anyone get one of these to work on Mac OS X?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

drivers are windows only.