Hey guys, I’m having trouble running M3 on my EZ Flash IV. I followed the walkthrough thread on starmen.net,Starment.net Forums, trying the firmware update(the one that had the M3 skin) and trying to get the Patched rom to boot in Nor. I’ve two errors thus far, both very frustrating. Firstly, I cannot update the firmware. I hold R with the .bin file in the main folder while the GBA is booting, and nothing. no matter how long or how short I hold it, it doesnt do a thing differently. Secondly, if i simply try to boot a 32 MB game, patched M3 or not, it reads “Nor space is not enough.”
I can't be bothered to read that tutorial, but Mother 3 w/ the v1.1 fan translation patch works just fine on my EZ4 from both PSRAM and NOR (I have a EZ4 lite Deluxe, BTW).
The “NOR space is not enough.” error suggests one of two things: you have an EZ4 lite Compact or something already burned to NOR. If when you first start the file manager you see nothing but the EZ-Disk folder, you probably have a Compact (I believe it should be labeled as such) and should give up, it will not work on a Compact. If you see the EZ-Disk folder and a game, you already have a game burned to NOR and you need to erase that game (highlight the game and press select then A) before you burn M3 to it.
Again, I can't be bothered to download the firmware w/ the M3 skin to see what it's problem is, but it sounds like they renamed the file. Update files for the EZ4 must be named ezfla_up.bin. If it is not named that change the name to ezfla_up.bin, then boot the GBA while holding the R trigger like you've been doing. You should get a black screen that tells you it's updating and progress digits as it erases and writes.
My quick and dirty tutorial:
Format your SD to FAT. If it is already formatted to FAT or FAT16 you don't need to reformat.
Download the EZ4 software from the EZFlash web site.
Place the ezfla_up.bin file from the download on your SD in the root directory.
Update the EZ4 by booting it and holding the R trigger, this will insure that your firmware and EZ4 Client are compatible.
Start EZ4 client (the one from the download from above) and use it to send the M3 ROM to your SD.
Boot the EZ4 in your GBA.
If you have an EZ4 lite Deluxe (it will say that on it's sticker), then start the file manager and boot the game. If this is the case, quit reading unless you want to burn the game to NOR to reduce load times.
If you have any other EZ4, make sure your NOR is empty (see second paragraph in this post). Burn the ROM to NOR (highlight the game in the file manager and then press select and then A). Wait... And wait... Till it hits 256Mb (twice)... Then it will go back to the file manager.
Press the B button.
Highlight the game and press A.
If that doesn't work, and you don't have a Compact, your ROM is bad and you need to try a different one.
The “NOR space is not enough.” error suggests one of two things: you have an EZ4 lite Compact or something already burned to NOR. If when you first start the file manager you see nothing but the EZ-Disk folder, you probably have a Compact (I believe it should be labeled as such) and should give up, it will not work on a Compact. If you see the EZ-Disk folder and a game, you already have a game burned to NOR and you need to erase that game (highlight the game and press select then A) before you burn M3 to it.
Again, I can't be bothered to download the firmware w/ the M3 skin to see what it's problem is, but it sounds like they renamed the file. Update files for the EZ4 must be named ezfla_up.bin. If it is not named that change the name to ezfla_up.bin, then boot the GBA while holding the R trigger like you've been doing. You should get a black screen that tells you it's updating and progress digits as it erases and writes.
My quick and dirty tutorial:
Format your SD to FAT. If it is already formatted to FAT or FAT16 you don't need to reformat.
Download the EZ4 software from the EZFlash web site.
Place the ezfla_up.bin file from the download on your SD in the root directory.
Update the EZ4 by booting it and holding the R trigger, this will insure that your firmware and EZ4 Client are compatible.
Start EZ4 client (the one from the download from above) and use it to send the M3 ROM to your SD.
Boot the EZ4 in your GBA.
If you have an EZ4 lite Deluxe (it will say that on it's sticker), then start the file manager and boot the game. If this is the case, quit reading unless you want to burn the game to NOR to reduce load times.
If you have any other EZ4, make sure your NOR is empty (see second paragraph in this post). Burn the ROM to NOR (highlight the game in the file manager and then press select and then A). Wait... And wait... Till it hits 256Mb (twice)... Then it will go back to the file manager.
Press the B button.
Highlight the game and press A.
If that doesn't work, and you don't have a Compact, your ROM is bad and you need to try a different one.
Just thought I might add I have had mother 3 work on an EZ4 and EZ4 lite but I have seen it not work on EZ4s before. I had speculated it might be to do with mother using it right to the 32 meg limit where most other games stopped a few hundred kilobytes from the end at worst as I could never figure it out otherwise (some people had it working fine despite the same methods of patching (other vanishing games had other reasons but I have seen this when files get too big). This however does look like operator error.
@Bree500 KidIce was moderator of the old EZFlash boards back when EZFlash hosted their own (active) boards. I doubt there is anybody that frequents the 'temp that knows more of classic EZ gear.
@Bree500 KidIce was moderator of the old EZFlash boards back when EZFlash hosted their own (active) boards. I doubt there is anybody that frequents the 'temp that knows more of classic EZ gear.
Thanks for the detailed info, but the cart still wont update. I have the normal, GBA sized flashcart. I downloaded the software from EZ Flash, copied the ezfla_up.bin into the rom, and im still not being prompted to update anything.
D
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Hasmarth said:
Doesn't matter the model, they all update the same. There was never another way to update it that I can recall, the oldest update files I still have are from 2006 and operate in the same way. I seriously doubt your EZ4 predates 2006 as that was the year it was released. Not trying to be nasty in anyway, mind, but your problem w/ updating confounds me.
What do you mean by the bold text? The ezfla_up.bin file goes straight on to the root of your SD. Do not try to process it w/ EZ4 Client or anything else, do not stick it any folder on your SD, etc. While your GBA is off, and the SD w/ the updater file is in your EZ4 and your EZ4 is in your GBA, start holding the right trigger (the shoulder button, not right on the D-pad) down before you even power up the GBA, do not let go of that button until you get the updating screen or the EZ4's menu.
I know for a fact that THIS file works. Try that one... Sorry if you don't like the super awesome Dreamcast skin. :-)
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I had to press "Select" on the rom to write it to the NORFlash. Played through it without any problems. Great game, you're in for a treat.
KidIce, thanks for the input. The part you highlighted was simply a brainfart, I meant to say something along the lines of the Ez Flash instead of the rom. Trying out that updater as we speak, and I don't think i'll mind it if it actually works!
Good news and bad news. The good news is I updated successfully, new skin and everything. Used the EZ flash client to send it, that all worked out. Take it out, put it back in and same thing, Nor space is not enough. This is after a fresh format, so i'm not sure what's written to Nor or how to unwrite it.
If you have the GBA sized EZ4 you can not have a compact (they were only released in the lite size).
As I said before, if when you first start the disk manager you see nothing but the EZ-Disk folder (the folder you open to acces your SD), then there is nothing burned to your NOR. If there is a file there, highlight it and press the select button then press A at the erase prompt... Actually, let's go all the way: Go to the file manager. Do not open the EZ-Disk folder, just stay on the first screen. Press start, then A. You just formatted your NOR.
If there is nothing there and you're still getting the error when trying to burn, your patched ROM has exceeded the size of the NOR (256Mb) in your EZ4. Did you patch this ROM yourself, or did it come patched? Do you have the unpatched Japanese version? The unpatched Japanese version should be 33,554,432 bytes (on your PC right click on the ROM and then select properties), this should fit in NOR as it is, this is the proper size of a fully dumped 256Mb game. The Fan Translation v1.1 version should be 33,554,432 bytes (the same as the Japanese version), if the version your are using is larger than that, that is why you are getting that error.
If you do not have the Japanese version, get it and patch it w/ patch from the M3 Fan Translation page. After patching the ROM go back to my earlier post and start at Using EZ4 Client to send the ROM to your SD step.
As I said before, if when you first start the disk manager you see nothing but the EZ-Disk folder (the folder you open to acces your SD), then there is nothing burned to your NOR. If there is a file there, highlight it and press the select button then press A at the erase prompt... Actually, let's go all the way: Go to the file manager. Do not open the EZ-Disk folder, just stay on the first screen. Press start, then A. You just formatted your NOR.
If there is nothing there and you're still getting the error when trying to burn, your patched ROM has exceeded the size of the NOR (256Mb) in your EZ4. Did you patch this ROM yourself, or did it come patched? Do you have the unpatched Japanese version? The unpatched Japanese version should be 33,554,432 bytes (on your PC right click on the ROM and then select properties), this should fit in NOR as it is, this is the proper size of a fully dumped 256Mb game. The Fan Translation v1.1 version should be 33,554,432 bytes (the same as the Japanese version), if the version your are using is larger than that, that is why you are getting that error.
If you do not have the Japanese version, get it and patch it w/ patch from the M3 Fan Translation page. After patching the ROM go back to my earlier post and start at Using EZ4 Client to send the ROM to your SD step.
Okay, formatting the nor seemed to work. However, after trying to write M3 to nor, it Erases all the way, then only writes up to 39MB. It's stuck. I dunno if it's frozen or what. Trying it again yields the same issue.
Burning a 256Mb game to NOR takes 7-9 minutes including the erase cycle. The speed at which the counter climbs isn't always consistent, sometimes skipping or hanging on numbers... But it shouldn't hang for more than a couple of seconds.
There is a chance your NOR is bad. If that's the case, there really isn't anything you can do to fix it beyond continuing to try to burn things to it (I have seen a "bad" cart suddenly start working after multiple attempts) or replacing it.
There is a chance your NOR is bad. If that's the case, there really isn't anything you can do to fix it beyond continuing to try to burn things to it (I have seen a "bad" cart suddenly start working after multiple attempts) or replacing it.
Yeah, i've left the thing on for hours and that 39MB just stares me in the face. I'll keep trying for a while but replacing this thing isn't too tall of a task. Thank you for all your help man, I can tell you're a big part of this community.
how does the NOR burning end? does the system reset? go to the menu?
Edit: i answered my own question by NORing a smaller game.
I am having a similar problem as the OP. Except I don't even get to the "NOR space is not enough." I get stuck at the deleting part. it just stays at 128Mb. ??? Bad cart? Contacted 0shippingzone (place i ordered from) and haven't heard back yet.
Edit: i answered my own question by NORing a smaller game.
I am having a similar problem as the OP. Except I don't even get to the "NOR space is not enough." I get stuck at the deleting part. it just stays at 128Mb. ??? Bad cart? Contacted 0shippingzone (place i ordered from) and haven't heard back yet.
My M3 burns to NOR and when I try to boot it up, it will go to a"gameboy" screen, then white screen with a low pitched sound. Nothing loads after, what would be the problem? I've tried multiple roms all under the limit, still nothing. I have Version 1.74...
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