DS Firmware Revisions

[xprism]

(Original post contents below)

There are multiple posts online showing how to check the DS's firmware revision:

1. Power off the DS and insert a game cartridge.
2. Power on the DS.
3. Launch Pictochat.
4. Enter a chat room.
5. Eject the game cartridge and observe what happens.

• Firmware v1: Pictochat will freeze.
• Firmware v2: Greyish-blue screen will appear.
• Firmware v3: Dark green screen will appear.
• Firmware v4: Golden yellow screen will appear.
• Firmware v5: Magenta screen will appear.
• Firmware v6: Dark blue screen will appear.
• Firmware v7: Nothing happens, Pictochat functions as normal.

My question is, does anyone own, or have seen a DS phat/lite exibiting the described behaviour of firmware v6 or v7? Out of the many people I have asked I have yet to see a v6/v7, if they exist they seem to be more rare than the v1/v5 phats.

Update: I don't think firmwares exibiting the "dark blue screen" and "pictochat continuing to work" behaviour exist; the firmware with the latest build date still has a magenta screen. Also, it would be better to differentiate firmwares by their build date (offset 0x18-0x1C in the dump), rather than "v", as there are multiple different firmwares that show magenta.

For more information, check out the TCRF page.

I have since added all known retail DS firmwares into the No-Intro DS database:

• [BIOS] iQue DS Firmware (China) (En,Fr,De,Es,It,Zh) (2005-06-09)
• [BIOS] iQue DS Lite Firmware (China) (En,Fr,De,Es,It,Zh) (2006-04-26)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2004-10-05)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2004-11-26)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2005-02-28)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2005-06-06)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2005-12-07)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Lite Firmware (Korea) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,Ko) (2006-11-09)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Lite Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2006-02-05)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Lite Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2006-03-08)

If you are planning to use the No-Intro-matching DS firmwares in an emulator, please do the following steps first:

• Dump the firmware from your DS, or obtain a dump elsewhere and make sure offset 0x2A-0x1FF is not filled with FF
• Copy 0x2A-0x1FF over to the No-Intro-matching firmware

The No-Intro firmwares have 0x2A-0x1FF FF-filled in order to make dumps match each other; however if used as-is, wireless functions will break as 0x2A-0x1FF contains wifi calibration data which is needed for wireless stuff.

 

[FriendlyPolygon]

I have two v5

 

[malekmaroc7]

Are there any advantages or "visible" changes in these firmware revisions?

 

[xprism]

Are there any advantages or "visible" changes in these firmware revisions?

There's no "visible" changes other than the color when a game card is ejected in Pictochat. Internally, for the earlier firmware versions, it was possible to run DS code from (a flashcart inserted into) the GBA slot.

 

[DanTheManMS]

Are there any advantages or "visible" changes in these firmware revisions?

Not much, to my knowledge. The main notable thing is that firmware v5 marks the point in time when Nintendo switched the LCD hardware in preparation for the DS Lite being released. Phat units with v5 or later actually have the multi-brightness hardware of the Lite, and you can enable it by installing FlashMe. Battery life will be poor on the higher brightness settings, as the Phat's battery was never designed to handle it.

Sadly my DS is v4 so I never got the chance to play around with that.

 

[sgv458]

(Original post contents below)


Update: I don't think firmwares exibiting the "dark blue screen" and "pictochat continuing to work" behaviour exist; the firmware with the latest build date still has a magenta screen. Also, it would be better to differentiate firmwares by their build date (offset 0x18-0x1C in the dump), rather than "v", as there are multiple different firmwares that show magenta.

For more information, check out the TCRF page.

I have since added all known retail DS firmwares into the No-Intro DS database:

• [BIOS] iQue DS Firmware (China) (En,Fr,De,Es,It,Zh) (2005-06-09)
• [BIOS] iQue DS Lite Firmware (China) (En,Fr,De,Es,It,Zh) (2006-04-26)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2004-10-05)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2004-11-26)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2005-02-28)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2005-06-06)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2005-12-07)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Lite Firmware (Korea) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,Ko) (2006-11-09)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Lite Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2006-02-05)
• [BIOS] Nintendo DS Lite Firmware (World) (En,Ja,Fr,De,Es,It) (2006-03-08)

If you are planning to use the No-Intro-matching DS firmwares in an emulator, please do the following steps first:

• Dump the firmware from your DS, or obtain a dump elsewhere and make sure offset 0x2A-0x1FF is not filled with FF
• Copy 0x2A-0x1FF over to the No-Intro-matching firmware

The No-Intro firmwares have 0x2A-0x1FF FF-filled in order to make dumps match each other; however if used as-is, wireless functions will break as 0x2A-0x1FF contains wifi calibration data which is needed for wireless stuff.

If every region except for China and Korea share firmware versions, then why do the default languages differ between regions?

 

[xprism]

If every region except for China and Korea share firmware versions, then why do the default languages differ between regions?

The non-China/Korea (Worldwide) firmware has support for English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese. I believe the default language is set at the factory, depending on where the console would have been sold.