Hacking Help with Flash advance on Windows 7?

[calebsw]

Ok, so as best as I can figure, I have the flash advance linker (not the extreme one), and a flash advance card. The photo below is just for clarification to help you help me.

https://i.imgur.com/O9OxuIi.jpg

So, I don't have a computer with a LPT printer port anymore, and as you can see, I bought a M/M gender changer and a DB25 to USB cable hoping that it would let me use this flash linker again. Unfortunately, I get some DriverLinx error which is preventing me from progressing. I searched the forums a bit and didn't see anything of much use. I tried a few things but I kept failing. Does the fact that this card was meant for a printer port make it more difficult to emulate? Like, when I use Flash Advance Writer, the only ports available in options are LPT ports. But since I have a parallel to usb cable, could I just use a flash linker extreme linker program?

So I feel like my google-fu has failed me, and I'm hoping anyone in here can help me get my flash cart working again on Windows 7 (or on a virtual machine, if that's the route I must take). I really don't want to shell out for a new card, although if all else fails, I may consider it. Everything about this is great, except for its compatablitiy with modern systems. Plus, the build quality is good (I've seen some complaints about the build quality of the EZ Flash iv, which is another reason I don't want to just buy a new card).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can't tell you how grateful I would be to get this thing working again.

 

[DanTheManMS]

Man, I don't really know what to suggest. All the stuff I'd normally suggest, you've already tried. Though I believe you will have better success with a Virtual Machine, if this thread is any indication.

Do you happen to own a Nintendo DS and a slot-1 DS flash cart? To solve the "computers don't have LPT ports anymore" problem, a program called FAS1 was created that lets you flash *.gba files to that cart through the DS. It's one option, at least.

 

[calebsw]

Hey, thanks for responding.

I feel like I would have trouble with that first link, since my flash linker is meant for an LPT port. So when I use a LPT to USB, the drivers automatically install in VirtualBox for some generic usb device... I was thinking I could make the VM think that the usb was an LPT port, but I ended up going down a rabbit hole with that.

Then I thought maybe I could get a PCI card with a parallel port on it, and I was taking that as a serious option until I read your post.

I do have a DS with a slot 1 flash cart! I knew I kept that old DS lite for a reason. and my DS cart is a SuperCard two. So this FlashAdvance cart, the Supercard, and the DS Lite are all good to do this? I never in a million years considered this to be an option, but that's outstanding. I think I will investigate this option, it seems like a much more reasonable solution.

 

[WigWrm]

The USB to DB25 cable is for using legacy printers. The device will not be mapped to a LPT port. The only way to have this work is to have a PCI card that has a DB25 parallel port that works with legacy ISA addresses (278h, 378h, and 3BCh, the lower case h stands for hex).

http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapt...-Adapter-Card-with-Re-mappable-Address~PCI1PM is one example of a card that will allow you to use your linker. Can be found cheaper on amazon.

 

[calebsw]

Ah, that explains the problems I was having, then. Yeah, I saw a PCI card on monoprice for under $9 here, one of the features says it can remap to legacy addresses, which is why I was considering it. I also saw one on newegg for $13 or something like that. I figured if I could keep the cost significantly lower than $40, then it was worth it to try. Otherwise, I'd just give up and get an EZ Flash IV. But that was really going to be my last resort.

 

[calebsw]

OK, so FAS1 only can flash one rom, meaning I have to use Pogoshell if I want a multirom setup. Is there any way for me to send game saves for pogoshell to use? I tried both Pogoshell 1.2.h1 which did allow me to bundle my saves (in a folder named .saves), but when I tried with Pogoshell 2.0 beta 4, I see no way to do the same thing. So, am I missing something here? And, since all the faqs for Pogoshell say to use your flash linker to backup your saves from the cart to your PC, I guess this means that whatever game saves I create for myself will be irretrievable for backing up?

 

[purupuru]

I picked up an old pentium 4 laptop from a free classified. You can find stuff like that for free on a pretty regular basis and it's not a bad idea to have a legacy laptop kicking around

 

[XC-3730C]

If you have to use parallel port, I recommend Windows 98. Flash Advance carts ( I have three F2A 256mb carts) can also be written via a special USB cable connected to your GBA. I may actually have an extra one somewhere...