GBA Failed to flash GBA bootleg

[dysphoria]

I'm having problems trying to flash a Super Mario Bros 3 bootleg cart using GBABF. I have a batteryless patched rom named SUPER_MARIOD_AX4E01.gba, but every time it fails to flash it. GBABF shows me message "Failed to flash. Diff: Cart: FFFF, File FFFE. Difference in 0x0000000". According to the program, the cart is a MSP128 type.
I already tried all the deletion methods to blank the cartridge, but nothing seems to work. Any ideas?

 

[Jayro]

I'm having problems trying to flash a Super Mario Bros 3 bootleg cart using GBABF. I have a batteryless patched rom named SUPER_MARIOD_AX4E01.gba, but every time it fails to flash it. GBABF shows me message "Failed to flash. Diff: Cart: FFFF, File FFFE. Difference in 0x0000000". According to the program, the cart is a MSP128 type.
I already tried all the deletion methods to blank the cartridge, but nothing seems to work. Any ideas?

I DM'd you.

 

[Erre_bz]

Can you fix it?

 

[SylverReZ]

I'm having problems trying to flash a Super Mario Bros 3 bootleg cart using GBABF. I have a batteryless patched rom named SUPER_MARIOD_AX4E01.gba, but every time it fails to flash it. GBABF shows me message "Failed to flash. Diff: Cart: FFFF, File FFFE. Difference in 0x0000000". According to the program, the cart is a MSP128 type.
I already tried all the deletion methods to blank the cartridge, but nothing seems to work. Any ideas?

Try cleaning the cart's contacts, then flash the ROM again to see if it makes a difference. If not, then it's likely that your cart isn't compatible. To make sure if it is, do send pictures of the cartridge PCB, I could figure something out.

 

[dysphoria]

I tried to flash the patched ROM that Jayro sent it to me. According to the file name, it is Super Mario Advance 4 - Super Mario Bros. 3 (USA, Australia) (Rev 1) (VC Edition) (SRAM-patched).

I flashed it with Burn2Slot this time, and there weren't any error message. The game boots correctly, however, it doesn't save properly. If I save the game after finishing a level, exit to the title screen or reset the console, and try to load the save, it glitches with tilting the screen up and down. Some times it creates another save with the same issue.

According to Burn2Slot, the cartdridge info is: ID: 227E 8MB Spansion

This is the cart board.

 

[Kwyjor]

Since it's a bootleg cart, it is entirely possible it never saved properly to begin with.

I'm guessing you can try editing the header with a tool such as https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/542/ or https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/601/ .

(Are they actually writing "Nintendo" on bootleg carts now? I thought that was a big no-no.)

 

[dysphoria]

Since it's a bootleg cart, it is entirely possible it never saved properly to begin with.

I'm also considering that, maybe it's defective since I never had this problem with other bootegs I have. I was even able to flash other ROMs into a Emerald bootleg without issues.

Which part of the header should I modify?

 

[Kwyjor]

If it's a problem with saving the game, then you should probably change parts of the header relating to save RAM?

Sure would be nice to know what @Jayro did.

 

[Jayro]

I know that this particular ROM needs a cartridge with 1Mbit (128KB) of SRAM in order to save properly. And typically only this game and Pokemon gen 3 games have such SRAM in them. Usually when the screen bouncing happens, I can shut off the game and restart it and it will behave like normal for me after that.

 

[dysphoria]

I know that this particular ROM needs a cartridge with 1Mbit (128KB) of SRAM in order to save properly. And typically only this game and Pokemon gen 3 games have such SRAM in them. Usually when the screen bouncing happens, I can shut off the game and restart it and it will behave like normal for me after that.

So the tilting is normal? Sadly, mine doesn't go back to normal after reseting the console. Even if I delete the corrupted saves, they're still showing up. I'm suspecting is, indeed, defective.

Is your cart board the same or similar to the one I have?

 

[Janni9009]

I know that this particular ROM needs a cartridge with 1Mbit (128KB) of SRAM in order to save properly.

Flash1M*, SRAM needs a battery (and in Gen3 that's specifically only used for RTC, else all saves in those would've been dead for a decade plus by now).

@dysphoria That seems to be a batteryless SRAM1M cart, this will need some special workarounds.
First use bbsan2k's patcher to patch from Flash1M to SRAM1M, then use metroid-maniac's patcher to patch to batteryless. (for other games like EEPROM you can use GBATA instead of bbsan2k's patcher, and SRAM games only require metroid-maniac's patcher)

 

[Jayro]

Flash1M*, SRAM needs a battery (and in Gen3 that's specifically only used for RTC, else all saves in those would've been dead for a decade plus by now).

@dysphoria That seems to be a batteryless SRAM1M cart, this will need some special workarounds.
First use bbsan2k's patcher to patch from Flash1M to SRAM1M, then use metroid-maniac's patcher to patch to batteryless. (for other games like EEPROM you can use GBATA instead of bbsan2k's patcher, and SRAM games only require metroid-maniac's patcher)

Sorry, but I do know what I'm talking about.

I patch ROMs for batteryless saving all the time, and they all need SRAM patches applied in order to flash them to bootlegs and have the saving work properly. More and more bootlegs are being patched to be batteryless on AliExpress, so finding 32MB carts with a battery is getting more difficult. There's two YuGiOh games that can be used though, as their game ROMs are too large to internally fit a save file, and thus cannot be patched.

(And might I add that gimping Gen 3 Pokemon saving to 512K saves that fit on the Mother 3 bootleg carts with FLASH_512 save chips is not recommended.)

Some good news however, is there are now some new single-ROM 32MB flashcarts out there on AliExpress for about $40 USD that can run a clean Gen 3 Pokemon ROM with RTC and FLASH1M saving. They will handle any Gen 3 Pokemon ROMhack made with no problems, work with Pokemon BOX on Gamecube, etc.