PS1/2 Free MCboot help please

[Foxi4]

I gave them to you.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000

tl;dr Right-click on My Computer, Manage, Disk Manager, find the USB stick, Right-Click on the USB stick's Volume, Delete Volume, Right-Click on Unallocated space, New Simple Volume

The rest is pretty straightforward.

As for the brief explaination, a smaller USB stick has better chances of "making friends" with legacy hardware. I've never had any problems with this personally, but so I heard. It has to do with allocating the addresses of the USB stick's "disk" in the console's memory.

 

[Michael J Mortimore]

I gave them to you.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000

tl;dr Right-click on My Computer, Manage, Disk Manager, find the USB stick, Right-Click on the USB stick's Volume, Delete Volume, Right-Click on Unallocated space, New Simple Volume

The rest is pretty straightforward.

As for the brief explaination, a smaller USB stick has better chances of "making friends" with legacy hardware. I've never had any problems with this personally, but so I heard. It has to do with allocating the addresses of the USB stick's "disk" in the console's memory.

Problem: it wont let me Delete Volume

 

[Foxi4]

Problem: it wont let me Delete Volume

How odd. The feature may be locked out by your USB stick's manufacturer though, some manufacturers release specific tools for their sticks.

Do you have any other stick you could use? Blank discs?

 

[Michael J Mortimore]

i have all sorts of dvd-r and cd-r i have another flash drive but i constantly get and error saying insert disk into drive E:/ so i dont really mess with it

 

[Foxi4]

i have all sorts of dvd-r and cd-r i have another flash drive but i constantly get and error saying insert disk into drive E:/ so i dont really mess with it

Right. In that case, I can advise two possible courses of action. I take it that the USB stick is now formatted, so this is how you should progress:

• Solution 1:
  
  Put the contents of the Newbie Package on a freshly formatted stick and attempt to boot the FMCB installer again. If ARMax will once again choose to recognize the INSTALL folder as the ROOT for whatever reason, place an ELF file of uLaunchELF in there and try booting it. If the manager boots, you can use it to properly boot the FMCB installer from the root of the USB stick (will appear as mass: ). If you won't know how to proceed, just post here and I'll guide you through it.
  
• Solution 2:
  
  Burn an FMCB installation CD-R according to these instructions. ARMax should detect the installer if you swap the discs.

 

[Michael J Mortimore]

Right. In that case, I can advise two possible courses of action. I take it that the USB stick is now formatted, so this is how you should progress:

• Solution 1:
  
  Put the contents of the Newbie Package on a freshly formatted stick and attempt to boot the FMCB installer again. If ARMax will once again choose to recognize the INSTALL folder as the ROOT for whatever reason, place an ELF file of uLaunchELF in there and try booting it. If the manager boots, you can use it to properly boot the FMCB installer from the root of the USB stick (will appear as mass: ). If you won't know how to proceed, just post here and I'll guide you through it.
• Solution 2:
  
  Burn an FMCB installation CD-R according to these instructions. ARMax should detect the installer if you swap the discs.

Solution 1

The PlayStation recognizes the MCBOOT.ELF file on the root of the memory stick, but when I play it is when my PlayStation goes to a black screen and becomes unresponsive

Solution 2

I have the exact disk because i tried that install method but i could not grasp the "swap" with the ar

 

[Foxi4]

Did you try booting from another USB slot?

If the Noobie Package is giving you such a hard time, download the standard FMCB 1.8b package and copy it to the USB stick as-is, no name-changing or moving files. Attempt booting "FREE_MCBOOT.ELF" from this one.

 

[Michael J Mortimore]

Okay just extract that to my USB?

Burned to a Memorex CD-R 700mb awaiting further instructions

 

[Foxi4]

Yes, extract that to a blank USB stick. If you see a black screen again, put the BOOT.ELF file from this archive into the INSTALL folder on the USB stick and tell me if the ARMax can see it in its Media Player. If so, try to boot it, it should take to to a file manager. You can browse the files by using the Next Song button.

 

[Michael J Mortimore]

Yes, extract that to a blank USB stick. If you see a black screen again, put the BOOT.ELF file from this archive into the INSTALL folder on the USB stick and tell me if the ARMax can see it in its Media Player. If so, try to boot it, it should take to to a file manager. You can browse the files by using the Next Song button.

once i press play: black screen and everything becomes unresponsive i have that iso burned to a cd-r i just need explanation on how to properly procede with that method

 

[Foxi4]

once i press play: black screen and everything becomes unresponsive i have that iso burned to a cd-r i just need explanation on how to properly procede with that method

I understand. In that case, you will need a SwapMagic ELF file which I can't provide you with since it's licensed, ergo posting it here would be against the rules.

What I can say is that if you Google "Swapmagic 3.8 Coder .elf" (in quotation marks) it will be in the search results. Once you have that .ELF file, create a new folder on your USB stick and name it "SWAPMAGIC", put the forementioned "BOOT.ELF" file from the uLaunchELF package into that folder and rename it to "SWAPMAGIC.ELF".

Once you've done that, copy the newly-downloaded "SWAPMAGIC3.8.ELF" onto the ROOT of the USB stick and re-name it to something you'll easily recognize, the name doesn't really matter.

Restart the PS2 with the USB stick inserted, start ARMax's Media Player and try booting "SWAPMAGIC3.8.ELF" or however you named it. A splash screen should appear and after it, you should be taken to the uLaunchELF browser menu. If you are not taken to it and instead see the SwapMagic menu, remove the ARMax disc, put in your prepared installer disc into the drive and try booting it (Normal boot).

 

[Michael J Mortimore]

I understand. In that case, you will need a SwapMagic ELF file which I can't provide you with since it's licensed, ergo posting it here would be against the rules.

What I can say is that if you Google "Swapmagic 3.8 Coder .elf" (in quotation marks) it will be in the search results. Once you have that .ELF file, create a new folder on your USB stick and name it "SWAPMAGIC", put the forementioned "BOOT.ELF" file from the uLaunchELF package into that folder and rename it to "SWAPMAGIC.ELF".

Once you've done that, copy the newly-downloaded "SWAPMAGIC3.8.ELF" onto the ROOT of the USB stick and re-name it to something you'll easily recognize, the name doesn't really matter.

Restart the PS2 with the USB stick inserted, start ARMax's Media Player and try booting "SWAPMAGIC3.8.ELF" or however you named it. A splash screen should appear and after it, you should be taken to the uLaunchELF browser menu. If you are not taken to it and instead see the SwapMagic menu, remove the ARMax disc, put in your prepared installer disc into the drive and try booting it (Normal boot).

now i get the message "no media on pendrive"

 

[Foxi4]

now i get the message "no media on pendrive"

That's... weird.

I really have no better explaination for you other than "ARMax hates this pendrive with a passion" - such blackscreens are documented on the FMCB page when using ARMax and really, the only two possible solutions is A) Trying to boot SwapMagic and B) Trying to boot some kind of a file manager which has better drivers but since neither option works for you, all I can recommend is trying a different USB stick.

I suppose you could continue experimenting by putting the "SWAPMAGIC3.8.ELF" file into the INSTALL folder of the Noobie Package since the Media Player apparently read ELF's from that location, but I have a weird feeling that it'll result in another blackscreen.

 

[Michael J Mortimore]

ah but it reads, FREE MCBOOT.elf from the root of the usb with the non noobie package but once i play it with the media player i get a black screen

 

[Foxi4]

ah but it reads, FREE MCBOOT.elf from the root of the usb with the non noobie package but once i play it with the media player i get a black screen

Oh, okay, well, that's progress. I take it that if you put "BOOT.ELF" from the uLaunchELF package on the root of the USB Stick it goes to a black screen as well (you don't have to format the stick each and every time, just leave the stick as-is)?

 

[Michael J Mortimore]

Oh, okay, well, that's progress. I take it that if you put "BOOT.ELF" from the uLaunchELF package on the root of the USB Stick it goes to a black screen as well (you don't have to format the stick each and every time, just leave the stick as-is)?

false, i just extracted the install file and the mcboot.elf onto it and it picked it up just that when i press play it goes to a black screen when it should go to the install

 

[Foxi4]

Well, here's the thing - you can't directly boot the installer for whatever reason and ARMax is unable to boot any of the programs I can think of that'd help matters from this particular sticks... you're sort of between a rock and a hard place here.

You could try emptying the stick and putting just uLaunchELF or just SwapMagic on it to attempt booting them and then hot swap the stick when you finally launch something, but my recommendation is borrowing or buying a different stick entirely. I booted the FreeMCBoot installer a number of times and I've never had to hop through so many hoops to get it to work, and according to the developers behind FMCB the only problem is ARMax's USB recognition drivers (which are super-outdated for obvious reasons).

 

[Michael J Mortimore]

Well, here's the thing - you can't directly boot the installer for whatever reason and ARMax is unable to boot any of the programs I can think of that'd help matters from this particular sticks... you're sort of between a rock and a hard place here.

You could try emptying the stick and putting just uLaunchELF or just SwapMagic on it to attempt booting them and then hot swap the stick when you finally launch something, but my recommendation is borrowing or buying a different stick entirely. I booted the FreeMCBoot installer a number of times and I've never had to hop through so many hoops to get it to work, and according to the developers behind FMCB the only problem is ARMax's USB recognition drivers (which are super-outdated for obvious reasons).

well I get payed Wednesday, and i will pick up a flash drive most likely Sandisk

 

[Foxi4]

Well, I wish you good luck and I'm really sorry that I couldn't help you any further. According to the resources I've read, the blackscreen issue is recurring with ARMax, so you're not the only one out there suffering through this.

GBATemp is running a FreeMCBoot Installation Service where you can hook up with users near your location who will more than gladly install FreeMCBoot on your Memory Card using their already modded systems - this is also an option for you. Chances are that you'll find someone who either lives near you or accepts posted memory cards and will be able to help.

 

[Michael J Mortimore]

second option seems more than welcoming, so thank you for the link and you were great help thanks a million