Hacking EZ Flash IV, GBA Games Won't Save/Load

[Steejo]

I bought an EZ Flash IV last week and my Gameboy Advance SP came in the mail along with my 2GB microSD to miniSD adapter so I was finally able to use it. I did some research and figured out that I must use the EZ Flash client in order to SRAM patch my GBA games so that they'll save correctly.

While saves do work with the SRAM patching, it seems that sometimes when I shut off my GBA, the games don't save and everything I just played and "saved" is lost. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong (if anything) and what I could do to solve this. Somewhere said that it could be low power on the battery inside the cart, and somewhere else it said that it could be the microSD to miniSD converter, but I feel as if neither of these could be the issue since I just got the cart, and the miniSD adapter shouldn't be much different from a normal miniSD.

What I did just now to test is not hold "L" on start up and let it (what appears to be) writing a save, but then again I'm not quite sure what it is doing in this process. Upon loading the game I was playing (Rhythm Tengoku) the save appeared to have worked.

TL;DR: I SRAM patched all my games correctly with EZ Client, sometimes after restarting my games don't save, other times they do.

Does anyone have some sort of idea what I should do to make sure that this thing saves my games?

 

[FireSeel]

Iy is probably the micro to mini sd adapter. Try to find a mini sd. I also had this same problem, but getting a mini sd fixed it.

 

[Steejo]

Iy is probably the micro to mini sd adapter. Try to find a mini sd. I also had this same problem, but getting a mini sd fixed it.

I may have fixed it simply by not hitting "L" on startup, but if it happens again I'll definitely buy a memory card (although they're rather pricy because they're discontinued). I also bought a battery replacement for $1.20, better safe than sorry!

 

[migles]

i will steal this topic to ask my question, is the battery from ez iv the same one found on gba official\original carts? i am thinking in purchase the ez iv for my ds lite and later get a gba sp, and my pokemon cartridges need a new battery so i would like to purchase the batteries together

 

[Sicklyboy]

I may have fixed it simply by not hitting "L" on startup, but if it happens again I'll definitely buy a memory card (although they're rather pricy because they're discontinued). I also bought a battery replacement for $1.20, better safe than sorry!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-San...ory_Card_Readers_Adapters&hash=item33856a412e

They're not too expensive, honestly... I can't guarantee that's going to be a genuine card, and if not, if it's a good one, but $8 isn't too bad - I'd take that shot, personally.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

i will steal this topic to ask my question, is the battery from ez iv the same one found on gba official\original carts? i am thinking in purchase the ez iv for my ds lite and later get a gba sp, and my pokemon cartridges need a new battery so i would like to purchase the batteries together

nope, the retail games that use a battery are smaller than the EZ-IV.

 

[migles]

nope, the retail games that use a battery are smaller than the EZ-IV.

do you own the card?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

do you own the card?

Yes, I am correct in this matter.

 

[migles]

Yes, I am correct in this matter.

picture deleted in this quote for saving space

thank you very much for the comparation, btw, what is the battery type? the full name of the battery so i can get one if i decide to buy the card

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

Tabbed coin cell batteries. It doesn't really matter on the brand if you need to solder a new one.

Tabs are the metal strips on the battery.

Most online electronic shops like digikey sell all sizes, you have to know how to read the values to get the right one. The EZ-IV uses a CR2025, the 20 is the diameter size, CR just means it is lithium battery that can't be recharged.

 

[migles]

Tabbed coin cell batteries. It doesn't really matter on the brand if you need to solder a new one.

Tabs are the metal strips on the battery.

Most online electronic shops like digikey sell all sizes, you have to know how to read the values to get the right one. The EZ-IV uses a CR2025, the 20 is the diameter size, CR just means it is lithium battery that can't be recharged.

thank you very much for the explanation, didn't know the battery number was the size, how about that 25, what does it mean?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

the 25 means it is 2.5mm thick.

 

[migles]

the 25 means it is 2.5mm thick.

i had just noticed your links on the signature, and i found some information about what i was looking for, can i pm you and ask some questions to don't make this thread loong whit more offtopic?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

It is probably better to ask here, since everyone who has a gba flashcart for more than 5 years will run into a thing called maintenance sooner or later.

 

[migles]

so basically i was thinking in buy a ez iv flashcart, so i can use it later on a real hardware like gba sp, after reading your topic and other people told me, i start to think, gba rooms on a gba flashcart is not like the ds world....

what i mean is, other dude said i could flash directly the cart with 1 rom, he said something like that, my question now is, like a ds rom, i will be able to move my roms into the sd cart, and boot the rom from a menu like a ds flashcart?

and about the rtc, thre is a list of gba flashcarts with info about what they got like memory and rtc support?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

There is no RTC (Real Time Clock) on the EZ-IV. If you want to play games like pokemon or boktai without RTC patching the game you will want to get a M3 GEP. The M3 GEP has RTC and is a 32MB DDR RAM module. There isn't a known RTC patch for pokemon emerald so a M3 GEP makes this very playable. You will need to use GBA Exploader to use the M3 GEP if your slot1 isn't a M3. The M3 GEP is a slot1 dependent device.

Example of a M3 GEP for sale: clicky here

There are some games you can just put directly on the miniSD before you use. Examples are games with zero save size, most SRAM save types. The remaining game types have to be processed through the EZ-Client.

See EZ-IV guide on use: clicky here

The majority of games, you can transfer the rom saves to retail carts without modification. Exceptions here are EEPROM save types which require some bit flipping before transfers.

 

[migles]

There is no RTC (Real Time Clock) on the EZ-IV. If you want to play games like pokemon or boktai without RTC patching the game you will want to get a M3 GEP. The M3 GEP has RTC and is a 32MB DDR RAM module. There isn't a known RTC patch for pokemon emerald so a M3 GEP makes this very playable. You will need to use GBA Exploader to use the M3 GEP if your slot1 isn't a M3. The M3 GEP is a slot1 dependent device.

Example of a M3 GEP for sale: clicky here

There are some games you can just put directly on the miniSD before you use. Examples are games with zero save size, most SRAM save types. The remaining game types have to be processed through the EZ-Client.

See EZ-IV guide on use: clicky here

The majority of games, you can transfer the rom saves to retail carts without modification. Exceptions here are EEPROM save types which require some bit flipping before transfers.

thanks one more time, the m3 gep is useless for me, since i own the real pokemon gba games, and i wanted the flash cart for use on a gba