Hacking Question about flashing my DS

[Arehexes]

I have two DS's (lite) and I'm thinking about flashing my DS. I was wondering is there any risk of bricking, and if so is there any way to fix said bricking?

 

[Narin]

I have two DS's (lite) and I'm thinking about flashing my DS. I was wondering is there any risk of bricking, and if so is there any way to fix said bricking?

Yes, theres a risk of bricking of the DS shorts out or shuts down while you are flashing the DS. If it gets bricked later in the flashing, theres a chance you can recover it otherwise it requires you to take apart the DS and replace some hardware within to get it working again. Also flashing the DS voids your warranty if you end up bricking it.

 

[Arehexes]

good to know, I think I'll pass on that one. Thanks for the info

 

[DanTheManMS]

Narin might have been exaggerating a bit. The only time that it's possible to brick is if the DS is turned off within the first 3% or so (and in fact I've heard of a couple stories of users recovering after the DS turned off at 1%). This is literally within the first second after you successfully short the SL-1 contact. After this mark, you will be able to recover if anything goes wrong, as the recovery code is the absolute first thing written to the firmware.

If the DS is bricked, you can use the BIOS swap method (which conveniently requires two DS Lites) though this would require you to open up the DS systems. With this, you start FlashMe on the good DS (no risk here since you don't press XBXB to continue yet), swap the bad BIOS into it, and then continue the FlashMe installation. Much easier than the method that requires soldering and cutting traces. Furthermore, if you don't feel like doing it yourself, you can contact bitblt on the SCDev forums, a reputable forumgoer who will recover your DS for you for a small fee plus shipping charges.

In essence, as long as you're safe and don't touch the wrong contacts, you should be fine. There is a small risk of bricking which you do have to be prepared to accept though.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

It's still not worth it though. I think the only point of flashing a DS is from someone that has done it alot/has experience.

 

[granville]

I'd recommend not flashing. The risk is pretty severe I think. Just get a slot-1 card and it can act as a pass-me for any slot-2 card you have. Much better than voiding your warranty or risking bricking your DS IMHO!

 

[DanTheManMS]

And I still assert that the risk is not nearly as severe as you all make it out to be. I've flashed 3 DS Phats (including my own) and a DS Lite and have never had any issues whatsoever.

To each his own I guess. I still love not having the health and safety warning screen and not having to use a NoPass.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

It's not a big issue for the Healh & Warning Screen if you consider the risk.

 

[CorruptJon]

You really have to be retarded to mess up a flashme install. Sorry for being so blunt but its true. Everyone who says its hard and that it isn't worth it, I guarantee have never done it.

 

[CheatingSoi]

Yeah, you would almost have to try to mess it up. Also if your using a DS Phat, I dont think its even possible to brick it.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

Everyone describes the risks so people kinda think its hard.

What does flashing even do beside get rid of your Warning - Health And Safety screen? Link ..

 

[CorruptJon]

Everyone describes the risks so people kinda think its hard.

What does flashing even do beside get rid of your Warning - Health And Safety screen? Link ..

It lets you go boot into NDS mode from a slot-2. That was the biggest selling point back when only slot-2 flashcarts existed. Now, it mostly is just installed to skip the warning screen.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

So pretty much its useless? That is if you have a Slot-1 card ?

 

[Seven]

If you feel that skipping the Health & Warnings is useless, then don't flash. Assuming this, it is pretty useless for Slot-1 carts.

 

[Narin]

So pretty much its useless? That is if you have a Slot-1 card ?

Pretty much unless you want to remove the Warning Screen.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

It's pretty useless. Although I wonder.
For my DSTT, it just skips the selection screen.
Warning Screen -> DSTT Menu
I don't know how it skips the selection screen because I set it to Manual Mode in the settings.
If this is possible, doesn't that make it possible for a Slot-1 to skip the Warning screen too? Just a thought.

 

[Seven]

The R4DS, M3 Simply, et al., have autoload as well. It is possible, but you're only wasting a second off your life. Is it that precious to you? It's not like someone's pointing the trigger to you if you don't boot up your DS within milliseconds.

 

[Minox]

The R4DS, M3 Simply, et al., have autoload as well. It is possible, but you're only wasting a second off your life. Is it that precious to you? It's not like someone's pointing the trigger to you if you don't boot up your DS within milliseconds.

One second spared every time you boot your DS is a whole lot of seconds after a while.

 

[IOwnAndPwnU]

I'm just saying that it would be a cool feature to implement into slot-1s (newer ones probably but not sure). Like I'm sure it would be desired.

 

[Seven]

The R4DS, M3 Simply, et al., have autoload as well. It is possible, but you're only wasting a second off your life. Is it that precious to you? It's not like someone's pointing the trigger to you if you don't boot up your DS within milliseconds.

One second spared every time you boot your DS is a whole lot of seconds after a while.

After a while yes, but how much time will you save? It really depends on how many times people turn on their DS. I for one, only turn it on about 5 times a day, to play some random game, or something, I usually have work before so I can't really can't use it.

I dunno about you, but within the DS' lifespan, I bet I'd save a half hour's worth. An extremely rough estimate, but hey, it opens some opportunities to think about what to do with that half hour of my life saved via autoboot.

Or maybe that's just me thinking too hard. I'll just stop there.