Hacking Possible (Probable) AceKard Clone. Should I worry?

[skorpien]

Hi all,

I recently purchased two AceKard 2i carts from a Canadian based website (GamerSection) and am worried I bought fake cards.

The Anti-Counterfeit codes on the back of the cards have been checked 12 and 19 times, dating as far back as 2008 and 2009.

I wrote GamerSection and they assured me they received their stock straight from the manufacturers. So I wrote AceKard and they told me they do not sell to GamerSection and that all of their codes should be unique. So, back to GamerSection I went, and they told me that since the original AceKard team had split up and due to the internal politics at that company, they have been having issues with their Anti-Counterfeit codes. They also said that they purchased from them under the name of their parent company as they operate many different websites and storefronts.

Now this seems a plausible explanation, albeit a tad fishy. Should I be worried? My card runs AKAIO just fine and I was even able to update the firmware straight off of the acekard.com site itself. Does that mean I have authentic cards? And if not, will this prove a problem later on? Thanks all for your input.

 

[s4mid4re]

If it can run akaio and is able to update the bootstrap to the latest one (meaning that it has a HWID of 84), I don't see a problem with it. I doubt it's going to be a problem in the future.

 

[skorpien]

Thanks for the replies. I'm running AKAIO v1.8.8 and the HWID is 81. If 84 is the latest HWID, I assume that just means mine is older stock?

 

[Another World]

if the code has been checked more than once (once by the people who shipped it, hopefully), its a clone. this is a fact. i spoken at great lengths with team acekard about this.

what you risk by running a clone is that it may not be updatable at some point in the future, and that it is made from cheaper parts. don't forget that it will not be covered under the acekard 1 year warranty.

so far the clones appear to be 1:1 hardware copies which run akaio and software just fine. there are other clones which had issues in regards to the anti-ap patching, which is always a possibility on these cards as well.

when you buy a flash kit and you knowingly did not purchase a clone, yet the reseller shipped you one, then you got ripped off.

-another world

 

[skorpien]

Thanks. I figured as much but was hoping it wasn't so. I'm just going to stick with it and hope for the best. A return would just be too much hassle at this point, especially since the only other cart I have (M3i Zero non GMP-Z003) won't even work on my DSi anymore. I guess I'll just have to find another reseller for future purchases. Thanks all!

 

[Themanhunt]

My 2i is apparently fake with their anti-clone tool, but everything is latest HW version and latest AKAIO etc works fine on it.

 

[gibberish]

it's worth bearing in mind that the line between genuine and fake when it comes to chinese electronics is often a blurred one.
it's highly possible that whichever factory make the official carts for the acekard team are simply continuing manufacture after hours without permission from the acekard team. This would account for the identical hardware, they're using the exact same hardware as they would during normal manufacture. It would also account for the recycled serial numbers, the factory have to reuse them because they cannot get new ones from acekard for their dubious extra curricular activities. It may also explain why your store believes they are getting genuine products, because they're coming from the same factory that supply the genuine article.

this theory isn't just pulled out my arse either, its a well documented fact that these kind of shenanigans take place, especially within the memory card market. This could be the issue, or it could simply be a fake cart. You'll probably never know for certain.

 

[eggsample]

Who said that ak's latest hwid is 84? Did I missed something?
I'm sure that latest is 81, correct me if i'm wrong.