Hacking Need Help with updating firmware on r4isdhc.com cart

[tgsos]

I had been thinking of getting a DS for a while now, so I recently bought one on an auction in eBay. I also recently got a flash cart from someone who didn't seem to know what it was. Problem here is that I have no idea if it has been updated to work on a DSi with 1.4.4 firmware. From a cursory glance, I am convinced it hasn't been. In addition, the DSi I bought hasn't actually arrived yet, and I have no idea which firmware it's running. Knowing my luck, it'll be fully updated and the flash cart won't work right away. I can probably update the cart with a friend's DS Lite or something, but first I need the right files.

This is where things get a bit weird for me.

This is what the cart looks like (photo I took; not GIS):

Closest thing I can find to that (on the website printed on the label) is this:
http://www.r4isdhc.com/rtsjieshaov2/

As you can see, the cart's label says 1.41 upgrade, and the webpage says that the cart is compatible with 1.4.4. So a firmware update should fix any problem, right?

Well, on the same page, clicking the "Firmware Download" button leads you to a file clearly labeled V1.42_UPGRADE. Looking inside the archive shows no file being modified after May 21, 2011. The 1.4.2 update came out on May 11, 2011; so I am reasonably sure that it is an upgrade TO 1.4.2, rather than from/for it. So that link is useless.

Going to the forums leads to different results. There's an "R4i SDHC V2.0" section there, and the only topics there lead to cart updates. Here's the one for the supposed 1.4.4 update:
http://bbs.r4isdhc.c...iewthread&tid=2
Not a member? No problem! The link hidden behind the "REGISTER AND SAY THANKS TO SEE LINK" thing leads to:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/vjljwu
A dead link. Oh, joy. This is what leads me to ask for help here.

Does anyone else own this cart? Do any you guys have that firmware update? Are the thing I found on the website and what I have in my possession completely different things? Does this thing run ROMs in DSi mode, or just DS mode? Is this a clone of another, more popular flash cart, and if so, does that mean I can get the firmware updates from the original and stick it in here? And if all else fails, is there some way to downgrade the console firmware without doing some ungodly JTAG crap? Honestly, I bought the DSi because I want to play Pokemon romhacks and translated JP games. I'm selling my PSP to make up for what I spent on it. Is this fixable, or must I sink $25 on something that works?

Thanks to whoever can give any advice.

 

[Rydian]

That looks like the same cart, but unfortunately from your story it sounds like that team dropped that cart and just made a newer one (or just vanished entirely). This isn't unheard of, teams will often push out carts with the minimum upgrade space they can get away with, and a few updates later when there's no more room, they just make a new cart with the new minimum to keep getting sales.

The only cart that runs things in DSi mode is the iEvo, but that's buggy/broken (no Wifi, etc.) and is considered dead to the total lack of support.

Most flash cart makers have their firmware do checks before applying, so updates for one cart almost never work on another.

There's no way to downgrade a DSi or mess with the firmware, period. Since flash carts are so cheap and they work fine (assuming you get one with proper support) nobody's bothered with other sorts of hacks.

If nobody else has a solution, here's the current carts with support.
http://gbatemp.net/t290097-which-flash-cart-should-i-get

 

[tgsos]

Thanks for replying, Rydian. I just received my DSi 4 hours ago. There was no need to worry. The DSi came with 1.4.3 on it, and the flash cart hadn't been blocked by that update. In addition, it turns out that the cart really hasn't been discontinued. They only changed the label in those pictures. They reuploaded the firmware update on the forum, and now everything is as up-to-date as possible on my end.

Thanks for the list, though. It's still useful, even if I don't need it right this second.