Hacking EFA Linker Help

[CSampson]

Okay where to start...

Saw a good deal for a Gameboy Micro so I picked one up. I had a GBA and GBA SP back in the day and loved it immensely, so I figured why not get back into some portable game loving. I did a bit of research and ended up buying the EFA Linker because it was fitting of the needs I had in a cart (multiple games on it being the big one). So I ordered on online and for the last 4 days have been trying to get it to work. It's been nothing but frustration, but I really don't wanna pay for another one, and would rather try and get it to work then return it. Of course, I got the EFA Simple, which wasn't what was advertised and that really pissed me off. Getting the drivers for that was a pain in itself.

Anyways, my problem. Finally got to the point where I would write the games successfully. I would load it up on my Gameboy and get the EFA menu. But everytime I select a game, I get a white screen and the POS just freezes up. This is of course on top of the initial problems of even getting games to successfully write over in the first place. I've tried it on a bunch of computers cause I know it doesn't work on Nvidia chipsets btw. I checked google religiously and read all the threads on here. The only thing I saw mentioned of my problem is that it said games might need to be patched to work on this cart? Which would be bullshit btw if it was true. Anyways, any help?

BTW, any prospective people looking to buy, stay away!

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

you can call it what you want. your most likely trying to load a game that doesn't work with the save state it supports or trying to run pokemon on it, that would be the only reason you get a white screen. otherwise you can start to learn how to patch your games to work.

 

[martin88]

Mine worked fine with a GBA SP. Don't know what your problem is.

 

[CSampson]

Mine worked fine with a GBA SP. Don't know what your problem is.

Neither do I, thus the reason I posted. Crazy, I know.

QUOTE(how_do_i_do_that @ Nov 23 2008, 09:43 PM) you can call it what you want. your most likely trying to load a game that doesn't work with the save state it supports or trying to run pokemon on it, that would be the only reason you get a white screen. otherwise you can start to learn how to patch your games to work.

What do you mean by save state? And no, I'm not trying to run Pokemon. FF6, Super Mario Advance 2 and 4 and Castlevania (first one released on the gba). And if no else has to patch the games, why would I? What does patching them do?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

because it doesn't support every game. boot loader is version 1.0, has more bugs than you can shake a stick at. DUH.

Since you DON'T understand what patch is for, go read some posts on getting Mother 3 working on other slot2 carts.

 

[CSampson]

because it doesn't support every game. boot loader is version 1.0, has more bugs than you can shake a stick at. DUH.

Since you DON'T understand what patch is for, go read some posts on getting Mother 3 working on other slot2 carts.

Okay, but patching was never mentioned in any instructions or posts I've read on solutions to these things, so why would I have to go and patch games to make them work? I shouldn't have to. The games ALL write over perfectly, and not one of them works. So I would have to patch each one, which is dumb. Talk about waste of money. I'll get a refund on this POS.

 

[CSampson]

Can you at least tell me if the games I listed need to be patched? Cause if I have to do it, I'm sure everyone should have to right? If it's a yes I'll go ahead and figure it out but wow, what a pain in the ass. R4 has spoiled me.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

This is how I find out if I gotta patch a game for a slot2 cart I need.

1. I look up the save states the cart supports. Since we are on the EFA crap cart, we can use this as the example. After looking it up on lost recesses of the internet we find that it supports these save types:

Eeprom v_122
Eeprom v_124

Flash v_126
Flash 512 v_130
Flash 512 v_131
Flash 1M v_102

SRAM v_112
SRAM v_113
SRAM F v_103

2. Now we need something that can identify the game save states. Use something like GBATA which can read the rom's header information and tell you what the save state it uses.

you can dowload GBATA here: http://gbatemp.net/index.php?download=224

3. pick a game that you want to load to the flash cart, run it through GBATA first to see the save state it uses. We can take metroid zero mission (US) for example. The save state for M:ZM says it uses SRAM_V113 (256Kbit). In this case we do not require patching since it is one of the save states listed above.

4. If a rom's save state doesn't match any of the above you can use the patch function in GBATA to patch it so it will use SRAM before putting it onto the flash cart.


I basically keep an spreadsheet of all flash carts I got and what save states it supports so I can see what games I can put on it without patching and patch any if I need to.

 

[raulpica]

FF6, Castlevania CotM and others worked magnifically on my EFA without any additional patching.

It just sounds like a defective cart.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

also read my sig, it covers all the problems like PICKING THE GBA LOADER NOT THE NDS LOADER.

he said he could write to it so it is not a defective cart.

 

[raulpica]

also read my sig, it covers all the problems like PICKING THE GBA LOADER NOT THE NDS LOADER.

he said he could write to it so it is not a defective cart.

Yeah, but everything he throwed at it white-screen'd. That could mean the NOR is fine, but something else is screwed.

BTW, I just remembered something.

@OP
Are you using the EFA Simple software? Or the normal EFA one?

 

[CSampson]

also read my sig, it covers all the problems like PICKING THE GBA LOADER NOT THE NDS LOADER.

he said he could write to it so it is not a defective cart.

Yeah, but everything he throwed at it white-screen'd. That could mean the NOR is fine, but something else is screwed.

BTW, I just remembered something.

@OP
Are you using the EFA Simple software? Or the normal EFA one?

The Simple one. I'm almost 100% positive I'm doing everything right on my end. Anyways I'm not even using this for a slot 2 card. I just wanted something for my gba...I'm attempting to get a refund from this. I've tried a ton of games and they all wrote over fine and white screened.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

thats all your suppose to use it for anyways, a gba cart.

 

[CSampson]

thats all your suppose to use it for anyways, a gba cart.

Yeah I've been testing it on my GBA SP. Also I have GBA Loader checked, not NDS loader, to answer your earlier question.

 

[foob]

The Simple one. I'm almost 100% positive I'm doing everything right on my end. Anyways I'm not even using this for a slot 2 card. I just wanted something for my gba...I'm attempting to get a refund from this. I've tried a ton of games and they all wrote over fine and white screened.

As raulpica stated, my money's on defective cart.
It shouldn't be giving you this much grief. Good luck with the return.

 

[ganonize]

thats all your suppose to use it for anyways, a gba cart.

Yeah I've been testing it on my GBA SP. Also I have GBA Loader checked, not NDS loader, to answer your earlier question.

i'm pretty sure you've got your efa linker from dealextreme...this is where i got mine too-and it doenst work either : the games may run, but most games' saves are deleted after turning the gba off and on... (http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=112043&st=0&p=1496323&#entry1496323).
i was pissed off when i realized that it's actually a SIMPLE version of the efa linker, too..
i'm going to buy a ez-flash IV these days, which is cheap and seems to work nearly pefectly on gba games-and i sent a message do dealextreme, wanting to retun the efa linker, but they tell me to send the card back to hong kong, take pictures of it, describe the problem, find the cheapest way for returning the card and make evidence pictures of the postage-this is crazy

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

it is cheaper for you to keep it for spare parts than return it.

 

[ganonize]

it is cheaper for you to keep it for spare parts than return it.

yeah

though they maybe would return me the sipping-costs too...but too much effort..
funny that i'm going to buy the ez4 from dealextreme too

 

[foob]

i'm pretty sure you've got your efa linker from dealextreme...this is where i got mine too-and it doenst work either : the games may run, but most games' saves are deleted after turning the gba off and on... (http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=112043&st=0&p=1496323&#entry1496323).
i was pissed off when i realized that it's actually a SIMPLE version of the efa linker, too..

out of interest, did you guys buy this one:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14792 known fake, not really EFA II
or this one?
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10447 love mine

Alternative (without spending for EZ-Flash IV):
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10369

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

first one is a 1Gb version of the second one, not a true EFA II. The chances of you having driver installation and detection issues with the first 2 are over 50%. The last one has better drivers, though they might give you problems if you got windows service pack 3 installed reguardless of the 3 carts you get. They all have a rechargable battery, so you need to charge for 8 hours, or you will be recharging it every month rather than every 3 months.

they all work well if you use it for just GBA stuff, some patching required depending on the game.