Hacking Frozen Acekard 2

[sumpm1]

Hey guys, my son has had an Acekard 2 for 6-8 months. It has never really left his DS cause I will just remove the Microsd card while the flash card is still inserted in the DS.

Well I come home yesterday and my son says his card isn't working. So I look at it and it is freezing up when loading the Nintendo DS boot screen. The freezing occurs with AND without the microsd inserted into the flash cart. Also I have confirmed that this happens on all 3 of my DS machines. Here is a youtube video of what is happening. Anyone can help?

Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PmMOp7osRE

 

[damnesiac]

Does the DS still freeze without the cart at all? Change the settings from Auto to Manual boot and see what happens then.

 

[BlueStar]

Have you tried taking the card out and putting it in again a few times, or cleaning the metal contacts on the card? Usually I'd suggest formatting your microSD but if you get the freeze without the microSD card in rather than getting the AKs "FAT Error" message then I doubt that will help.

 

[sumpm1]

First of all, thanks for the replies. Sometimes I have a hard time getting replies here at GBATemp! The DS DOES boot without any cartridge in it, and does boot standard games. I talked to my son again and he said he was getting the "FAT Error" intermittently and STILL ran some games (I told him he'd probably still have a working AK2 if he HADN'T tried the AK2 1000 times with errors and instead waited for me to get home to look at it). I was able to get the cart to boot ONCE without the microsd and I got the "FAT Error." For all that is worth. I tried cleaning the cart contacts, changing to manual boot mode, to no avail, still freezing. I assume it is dead until I hear someone who has had this happen before.

Thanks

 

[JOCKz]

If i remember correctly that "fat error" is because either the ak or ds is set to autoboot slot-2 devices. delete the acekard system files on the sd card and replace them.

http://www.acekard.com/download.php

 

[xSaeros]

Make a new folder on your desktop and backup all the data on the MicroSD and copy the files.

Format the SD card with "Panasonic SDFormatter 2.0".

Find the latest AK2/AKAIO firmware and upload to the card. TEST IT.

Re-add all your games in your backup folder you made, to your MicroSD.

 

[sumpm1]

Make a new folder on your desktop and backup all the data on the MicroSD and copy the files.

Format the SD card with "Panasonic SDFormatter 2.0".

Find the latest AK2/AKAIO firmware and upload to the card. TEST IT.

Re-add all your games in your backup folder you made, to your MicroSD.

You understand that the cart freezes in this way with NO MICROSD in the cart correct?

 

[darnoc]

try rerformating the sd card if that doesnt work contact the acekard team because acekards have a 1 year warrenty and they will send you a new one for free but you gotta prove them that the acekard isnt working which that youtube vid will be used for

 

[BlueStar]

Guess it's worth a try formatting the card, can't hurt - but it does seems like a hardware failure. If you've had it for about 8 months it's probably a 2.0 card like mine, which have been known to crap out (hence the release of the more reliable 2.1 redesign). This is probably the least helpful advice but it might be just a matter of biting the bullet and buying another. What did you clean the contacts with by the way? I found lighter fuel on a cotton bud worked best for bringing my old R4 back from the dead to fully working.

 

[sumpm1]

What did you clean the contacts with by the way? I found lighter fuel on a cotton bud worked best for bringing my old R4 back from the dead to fully working.

I used alcohol on q-tip. I am skeptical that would be the problem though. I was afraid if I tried anything stronger it might take the contacts off of the pcb! Perhaps nail polish remover? Also, I would be surprised if a flash cart was supported under warranty.

 

[damnesiac]

What did you clean the contacts with by the way? I found lighter fuel on a cotton bud worked best for bringing my old R4 back from the dead to fully working.

I used alcohol on q-tip. I am skeptical that would be the problem though. I was afraid if I tried anything stronger it might take the contacts off of the pcb! Perhaps nail polish remover? Also, I would be surprised if a flash cart was supported under warranty.

They are supported under warranty, I know the Cyclo is for sure and you just return it to your supplier. Not sure how the warranty works on Acekards though.

 

[ShAdOwFuRi]

There's a one year warranty on the Acekard 2, talk to your supplier about it.

 

[Another World]

freezing is one of the issues with the bad batch of the aks. if he had a FAT error and it freezes it is starting to die out on him. formatting the msd, adding firmware back on, etc will not help. that kit is dead. its not his fault so let him know that. as stated all acekard products carry a "spoken" 1 yr warranty. on top of that every retailer knows about the bad batch issue. it started about June/July which seems to work with your estimations of 6 months. your retailer should replace it. first contact them and ask for a replacement. if they will not do it, forward their reply to [email protected] and ask the team for a solution.

you said it has a FAT error without the msd inside, that is because the File Allocation Table (FAT) is missing as the msd is missing. this is normal behavior. if it is doing this with the msd in the slot, and freezing, won't boot, other issues -- than this is abnormal behavior.

goodluck,
-another world

 

[ShAdOwFuRi]

If it is normal to freeze without the Micro SD in and it is freezing with the Micro SD card in can we not conclude that it is a contact problem? and that the contacts of the Micro SD card are not properly pressed against the flash cart?

@sumpm1: try put 1-2 small pieces of paper behind the micro sd card and insert them with the Micro SD card into the cart. See what you come up with.

 

[sumpm1]

@sumpm1: try put 1-2 small pieces of paper behind the micro sd card and insert them with the Micro SD card into the cart. See what you come up with.

I did try your paper trick to no avail. I don't know why you would think the problem was with the microsd at all considering the cart still freezes with no microsd at all. Well, to let everyone know, I sent Acekard support an email about this problem and they have said that they will replace the card no problem... Color me impressed!

 

[MistahJelly]

I got a FAT error once, then it froze on the start screen, then it went fine after

 

[Another World]

If it is normal to freeze without the Micro SD in and it is freezing with the Micro SD card in can we not conclude that it is a contact problem? and that the contacts of the Micro SD card are not properly pressed against the flash cart?

@sumpm1: try put 1-2 small pieces of paper behind the micro sd card and insert them with the Micro SD card into the cart. See what you come up with.

no, not at all. it will freeze to a FAT error without the msd because the controller chip is trying to boot the msd. since it can't find it you will get a File Allocation Table (FAT) error. this is perfectly normal and expected behavior. if it is freezing with the msd in the slot, the msd is correctly formatted, the firmware is where it should be and so on... then you have a number of possible issues.

1) the msd is bad
*try another msd in that kit
2) the msd slot on the kit or the spring and causing it to not make proper contact. cleaning the msd will not change this
3) the ds slot1 needs to be cleaned of dust.
*if the kit works on another ds this could be the issue
4) you indeed might have an ak2 gone bad

the paper idea in the msd slot is a very bad one. the msd draws power on boot up, if you cause a short you will blow the fuse in your nds and brick the mobo. the n5 suffers from too much power draw on boot up, and it has been known make a brick. the paper solution is for contacts of the pcb to the contacts inside of slot1. sometimes the pcb needs a mm of boost to reach them adequately.

-another world

 

[koola2]

I have this problem after months of the card running fine. It is not the NDS or microSD card as I have switched both using a different NDS and AceKard and then everything works fine so it is the defective AceKard.

What I have noticed (that might help find a solution) is that it will boot every now and again and when it does it will stick on the loading screen (RED) with backup cartiridges but run homebrew fine (3-in-1 application)

 

[DSAndi]

Got a new AK2i in the mail today. Has the same issue as shown in the vid.
The microsd cant be the issue because with an other AK2.1 and ak2i it works fine.
Looks like the card itself is faulty.

 

[Another World]

What I have noticed (that might help find a solution) is that it will boot every now and again and when it does it will stick on the loading screen (RED) with backup cartiridges but run homebrew fine (3-in-1 application)

that is a problem with the firmware or a corrupt file somewhere, and not the flash kit. when the ak goes it goes... it won't boot one thing but not another. did you try a full format using the panasonic formatter. also i recommend using akaio 1.4.1 proper over the official firmware.

@DSAndi: a common problem with the ak2i is the msd slot. make sure the card is pushed all the way in.

-another world