Hacking R4i Ultra, upgraded DSiXL and old DSPhat

[Fallingwater]

I acquired from two separate sources a DSiXL 25th Anniversary Edition and three R4i Ultra cards for free.

The DSiXL has firmware 1.4.5E, which won't load the stock R4i Ultras.

A friend lent me a standard DS Phat which does load them.

I'm trying to use the Phat to upgrade the R4is to a firmware that'll let them work in my DSiXL, but so far I'm failing. I've tried two firmware upgrades from here, then I tried others under the assumption that ruining one of the cards wouldn't be much of a loss since I have the others, but while the cards keep on loading in the Phat, showing various different names/icons for the cart as I try various upgrades and actually loading .nds games, all they ever cause in the DSiXL is a "An error occurred" message and the only thing I can do is reboot the system.

Is there a way out of this situation that doesn't involve buying another flashcart? I'm aware the Ultra isn't the best cart on the market and has been out of production for a while, but I'd be perfectly happy with it if I could only get it to run.

I imagine all I'd need is a firmware compatible with the 1.4.5E firmware on the DSiXL, then I could tinker with kernels and cart software at leisure, but I can't seem to find any such firmware upgrader. The site stamped on the carts (r4ultra.com) is no longer active and I can't find direct mirrors.

 

[nxwing]

IIRC, that cart was blocked in DSi FW 1.4.3.

 

[Fallingwater]

Completely? As in, can't be upgraded further than that?

 

[nxwing]

Completely? As in, can't be upgraded further than that?

Yes. Although that may work on a 3DS with CFW

 

[endoverend]

Did you try the latest Wood R4 firmware? You can find it here. It's not meant for your cart but it's worth a shot.

 

[Fallingwater]

Did you try the latest Wood R4 firmware? You can find it here. It's not meant for your cart but it's worth a shot.

I can try, but how does this particular firmware work? There doesn't seem to be an upgrader .nds, and just putting it in the root of the microSD causes it to get stuck at "Loading..."

Do I need something else on the card, and then to copy the Wood firmware on top?

Apologies if it's a stupid question, I'm still learning my first steps here.

 

[endoverend]

I can try, but how does this particular firmware work? There doesn't seem to be an upgrader .nds, and just putting it in the root of the microSD causes it to get stuck at "Loading..."

Do I need something else on the card, and then to copy the Wood firmware on top?

Apologies if it's a stupid question, I'm still learning my first steps here.

You did the right thing by copying it to the root of the SD. When it gets stuck at loading it just means that your cart isn't compatible since it's an off-brand clone. Unless you can find an official FW update from the people that made the cart there's nothing you can do.

 

[gnmmarechal]

I acquired from two separate sources a DSiXL 25th Anniversary Edition and three R4i Ultra cards for free.

The DSiXL has firmware 1.4.5E, which won't load the stock R4i Ultras.

A friend lent me a standard DS Phat which does load them.

I'm trying to use the Phat to upgrade the R4is to a firmware that'll let them work in my DSiXL, but so far I'm failing. I've tried two firmware upgrades from here, then I tried others under the assumption that ruining one of the cards wouldn't be much of a loss since I have the others, but while the cards keep on loading in the Phat, showing various different names/icons for the cart as I try various upgrades and actually loading .nds games, all they ever cause in the DSiXL is a "An error occurred" message and the only thing I can do is reboot the system.

Is there a way out of this situation that doesn't involve buying another flashcart? I'm aware the Ultra isn't the best cart on the market and has been out of production for a while, but I'd be perfectly happy with it if I could only get it to run.

I imagine all I'd need is a firmware compatible with the 1.4.5E firmware on the DSiXL, then I could tinker with kernels and cart software at leisure, but I can't seem to find any such firmware upgrader. The site stamped on the carts (r4ultra.com) is no longer active and I can't find direct mirrors.

r4wood.com only has a 1.4.3 firmware afaik. Check r4wood.com.

I also recommend you use AKAIO instead, it's on R4wood.com, it looks much better.

 

[Fallingwater]

r4wood.com only has a 1.4.3 firmware afaik. Check r4wood.com.

Did you write this as you meant to, or is the second one supposed to be a different link to check where they might have later firmwares?

 

[gnmmarechal]

Did you write this as you meant to, or is the second one supposed to be a different link to check where they might have later firmwares?

No, I just meant I think it only has a 1.4.3 patch, but I'm not entirely sure.

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