EZ-Flash Junior update questions for noob

[Reshiban]

Hello, I'm new on the EZ-Flash Junior and want to understand things about UPDATES

I know the actual stable version is K1.04e FW4, and a beta K1.05e FW5 is available here:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ez-flash-junior-testflight.558875/page-55#post-9638149


But many people warn about installing this FW5 if we are noob or can survive without RTC

So why is this update not recommended for common users ?
What are the risks when you update it, and is it possible to recover/downgrade the flashcard in case of brick/instability ?


Thanks to people who will take the time to explain things !

 

[DrunkenMonk]

Hello, I'm new on the EZ-Flash Junior and want to understand things about UPDATES

I know the actual stable version is K1.04e FW4, and a beta K1.05e FW5 is available here:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ez-flash-junior-testflight.558875/page-55#post-9638149


But many people warn about installing this FW5 if we are noob or can survive without RTC

So why is this update not recommended for common users ?
What are the risks when you update it, and is it possible to recover/downgrade the flashcard in case of brick/instability ?


Thanks to people who will take the time to explain things !

The beta FW5 you linked is mostly RC worthy, it's possible to recover if you dump your chips FW before flashing. Originally EZ-Flash would help recover a bricked card if you had the skills to do so, but I'm pretty sure they aren't interested in doing that anymore lol. As long as you're using a decent SD card that runs everything fine, there's no real reason why the update would break anything, just if you have an aftermarket screen, make sure the brightness is low as you're flashing just in the off chance the drain is too much for the card to write the fw nice and stable.

But in short; FW4 works alright for most things, FW5 has improved RTC but it's still problematic anyway, FW5 does also work better on the pocket I believe(?) but if you want RTC, you're really just best off buying a separate cheap modified gold/silver cart that you can write those roms to.

 

[Reshiban]

The beta FW5 you linked is mostly RC worthy, it's possible to recover if you dump your chips FW before flashing. Originally EZ-Flash would help recover a bricked card if you had the skills to do so, but I'm pretty sure they aren't interested in doing that anymore lol. As long as you're using a decent SD card that runs everything fine, there's no real reason why the update would break anything, just if you have an aftermarket screen, make sure the brightness is low as you're flashing just in the off chance the drain is too much for the card to write the fw nice and stable.

But in short; FW4 works alright for most things, FW5 has improved RTC but it's still problematic anyway, FW5 does also work better on the pocket I believe(?) but if you want RTC, you're really just best off buying a separate cheap modified gold/silver cart that you can write those roms to.

So if the update happen correctly, it can only be benefic if I understand

Also, does the chip FW dump needs soldering, or a software solution exist to dump it ?
(like with a DS Lite and R4)

 

[DrunkenMonk]

So if the update happen correctly, it can only be benefic if I understand

Also, does the chip FW dump needs soldering, or a software solution exist to dump it ?
(like with a DS Lite and R4)

fw dump would require desoldering the chip (won't read correctly in-circuit). But yeah essentially if the update works it should be only beneficial, just be very careful about flashing, low battery, poor SD performance can both lead to corrupt fw that can just progressively get worse

 

[Reshiban]

fw dump would require desoldering the chip (won't read correctly in-circuit). But yeah essentially if the update works it should be only beneficial, just be very careful about flashing, low battery, poor SD performance can both lead to corrupt fw that can just progressively get worse

Hey @DrunkenMonk that's me again !

Thanks for the answers last time, after reflexion I would ask two more things:
-isn't fw the same inside all EZ-Flash JR ? (flashing the same than someone else wouldn't work in case of brick ?)
-and isn't there a recovery mode in the case you've bricked the flashcard ? (indicated on the website)

Thanks again, I'll probably proceed or not to FW upgrade depending of the answere

 

[DrunkenMonk]

Hey @DrunkenMonk that's me again !

Thanks for the answers last time, after reflexion I would ask two more things:
-isn't fw the same inside all EZ-Flash JR ? (flashing the same than someone else wouldn't work in case of brick ?)
-and isn't there a recovery mode in the case you've bricked the flashcard ? (indicated on the website)
View attachment 353904

Thanks again, I'll probably proceed or not to FW upgrade depending of the answere

I had bricked mine before using one of the earlier FW4 test firmwares (isn't available anywhere anymore) and it was bad enough that the header was entirely corrupt and I couldn't boot the cart to any kind of state to allow recovery, but I'm fairly certain that brick recovery feature was implemented later and there is a chance it's now not possible to brick in the method I had before? It's a toss-up,

What I will say though is from my experience, the latest test-flight firmware does seem relatively stable and even reflashing the firmware multiple times I've not encountered a brick. Can only go over my experiences though and upgrading is always going to come with a warning when it's a test flight firmware. Even if EZ-Flash themselves have gone dark for over a year, who really knows if we'd get something anyone is comfortable saying is 100% safe.

 

[Reshiban]

Re !

Now that all was clear, I've decided to do the update.
Thankfully, everything went good and the flashcard is now FW5 K1.05

Here are the obvious steps to update since I can't find them online:
Download the archive on the first link all above -> copy-past the two files from archive to the SD Card (replace if prompted) -> launch the updater ROM -> pray for everything good

Here is the SD Card I've used to update in case others people are interested

Sorry that I can't provide an example of the recovery mod, but I don't want to intentionnaly brick the flash card to check that xD

Anyway many thanks, I hope your answers will help others people to do the right choice too

 

[ciaomao]

Maybe Ill do the upgrade to FW5 too. I still have the issue with Wario —> https://gbatemp.net/threads/wario-land-super-mario-land-3-ez-flash-jr.621760/
On the other side it would be pretty bad to turn the card into a very light paper weight, just because one game. also i haven’t seen any notice, that fw5 tackles my issue. I guess there is a decision to be made here.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hello, I'm new on the EZ-Flash Junior and want to understand things about UPDATES

I know the actual stable version is K1.04e FW4, and a beta K1.05e FW5 is available here:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/ez-flash-junior-testflight.558875/page-55#post-9638149


But many people warn about installing this FW5 if we are noob or can survive without RTC

So why is this update not recommended for common users ?
What are the risks when you update it, and is it possible to recover/downgrade the flashcard in case of brick/instability ?


Thanks to people who will take the time to explain things !

FW5 used to be on the official download page but apparently some people had issues and the link was removed because people wouldn't RTFM the warnings that it was a RC and may have issues.
I've been running that version since I first got my Ezflash Jr's and the only issue I noticed is that the soft reset button on the cart doesn't work right. It'll reboot into the menu and hang on loading. So I have to power cycle the GB when I want to change games.
It looks like the version in that thread is newer, maybe it fixes the issue I had. I was not aware of any newer versions.
I wish they were supporting the cart actively. 3 years without any official releases on their download page is a long time when the latest release available there still has issues with RTC. And the last "unofficial" beta release is still nearly 1.5 years old.

 

[Reshiban]

Maybe Ill do the upgrade to FW5 too. I still have the issue with Wario —> https://gbatemp.net/threads/wario-land-super-mario-land-3-ez-flash-jr.621760/
On the other side it would be pretty bad to turn the card into a very light paper weight, just because one game. also i haven’t seen any notice, that fw5 tackles my issue. I guess there is a decision to be made here.

Hi, did you tried with an other GameBoy than GameBoy Pocket ?

I can launch your exact game on GBA SP EZFlash JR FW5 K1.05 without problem
(I didn't tested on the FW4 btw, but the problem could come from your GB, guys just got problems with the GB Pocket and this flashcard)

 

[ciaomao]

Hi, did you tried with an other GameBoy than GameBoy Pocket ?

I can launch your exact game on GBA SP EZFlash JR FW5 K1.05 without problem
(I didn't tested on the FW4 btw, but the problem could come from your GB, guys just got problems with the GB Pocket and this flashcard)

no. the pocket is my only gb device. what difference between the classic and the pocket can cause incompatibility? i don’t think its the power consumption. also with the min. brightness it freezes.

 

[Reshiban]

no. the pocket is my only gb device. what difference between the classic and the pocket can cause incompatibility? i don’t think its the power consumption. also with the min. brightness it freezes.

Idk, but it could be due to the console since someone else has problems to launch the EZFlash Junior itself with his GB Pocket (and works with a classical GameBoy)

Btw the guy got problems after upgrading to FW4, so idk which FW you run, but be careful since it could even break more things in your case

Post automatically merged: Feb 22, 2023

FW5 used to be on the official download page but apparently some people had issues and the link was removed because people wouldn't RTFM the warnings that it was a RC and may have issues.
I've been running that version since I first got my Ezflash Jr's and the only issue I noticed is that the soft reset button on the cart doesn't work right. It'll reboot into the menu and hang on loading. So I have to power cycle the GB when I want to change games.
It looks like the version in that thread is newer, maybe it fixes the issue I had. I was not aware of any newer versions.
I wish they were supporting the cart actively. 3 years without any official releases on their download page is a long time when the latest release available there still has issues with RTC. And the last "unofficial" beta release is still nearly 1.5 years old.

I've personally installed the latest beta version linked above (you're right they've released some versions of the FW5 beta), and the reset button works very well

It seems to fix more RTC issues etc... so I think you should do the upgrade too

 

[ciaomao]

Idk, but it could be due to the console since someone else has problems to launch the EZFlash Junior itself with his GB Pocket (and works with a classical GameBoy)

Btw the guy got problems after upgrading to FW4, so idk which FW you run, but be careful since it could even break more things in your case

Post automatically merged: Feb 22, 2023

I've personally installed the latest beta version linked above (you're right they've released some versions of the FW5 beta), and the reset button works very well

It seems to fix more RTC issues etc... so I think you should do the upgrade too

my ez is on fw4, other than not running that particular game, it works great. but i've never tested any rtc games either. i'm torn. ser inner compulsion to act against all reason is growing.

 

[Reshiban]

my ez is on fw4, other than not running that particular game, it works great. but i've never tested any rtc games either. i'm torn. ser inner compulsion to act against all reason is growing.

I've tested RTC on FW4 and that's totally broken (particularly for Pokemon Prism) but almost everything is fixed in FW5 (even if I heard it's still having few RTC bugs, it should be minor)

About Wario Land, I don't know enough the console to identifie the cause of the problem, but according to this table (from neverpresspause website) your gameboy has some differences with the classical GB to work, like the screen and the batteries.

But others games boot correctly as I understand, so that's shouldn't the cause.

In your case, I would first find someone else with a trusted GB, so you could:
-test you linker and this game to check if it wouldn't come from the EZ-Flash itself
-perform FW5 update (if you want to) with a trusted console (since performing an update with your console could lead to the same result than Wario Land, but while the FW is writing)

 

[ciaomao]

I've tested RTC on FW4 and that's totally broken (particularly for Pokemon Prism) but almost everything is fixed in FW5 (even if I heard it's still having few RTC bugs, it should be minor)

About Wario Land, I don't know enough the console to identifie the cause of the problem, but according to this table (from neverpresspause website) your gameboy has some differences with the classical GB to work, like the screen and the batteries.
View attachment 354920

But others games boot correctly as I understand, so that's shouldn't the cause.

In your case, I would first find someone else with a trusted GB, so you could:
-test you linker and this game to check if it wouldn't come from the EZ-Flash itself
-perform FW5 update (if you want to) with a trusted console (since performing an update with your console could lead to the same result than Wario Land, but while the FW is writing)

Did the update and it fixed Wario thx