Hacking R4SDHC CORRUPTION TECHNICAL QUESTIONS

[MENTALDOMINANCE]

R4SDHC CORRUPTION ISSUES
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Greetings Earthlings!
MENTALDOMINANCE here. I am a new member to GBATEMP although I've
visited this place for quite some time and like it alot.
I am not new to the WII/DS community though, I was responsible for
the V.I.C.E. Commodore 64 port to the WII under Linux among other
things. (HTTP://WWW.HBCAPPS.COM for V.I.C.E. information!)
I recently purchased an R4SDHC for my DS and am having all the
usual problems with it I've seen people discussing.
I initially owned a real R4 but the 2 GIG limit wasn't enough so I
bought a 16 GIG micro SD card and the R4SDHC.
I don't understand how they can continue selling a product that they
know doesn't work but they do! I've tried to email them (The R4SDHC
company) but of course to no avail so I decided last night to start
analysing the issues to see if a possible fix for the problem could
be found.

Please note that this post is not for people who just want to see
themself post but have no serious answers so if you're one of them
please refrain from posting so that serious experts can help get to
the bottom of this frustrating issue. Thank you!

I am in the process of attempting to discover exactly where the
corruption occurs and if it is a 100% replicatable issue.
I also have a few ideas for a workaround/fix if the issue is
size related and not sector related. If a small amount of data (less
than 4 GIGS) is put onto the card, it seems to work fine so I ask
the question, is this because it can't read more than 4 GIGS or is
it because it can't read beyond a certain sector on the micro SD?
If it's because of the size alone then creating multiple 4 GIG
partitions should fix the problem as long as they can be mounted
on the DS with software somehow. Last night I was messing around
with DSLinux trying to do this but couldn't get anywhere... I can't
even find FDISK or an equivelent for DSLinux even though there is
a build of it that is supposed to run off of an EXT2 partition.
I created an EXT2 partition on my micro SD card and copied the Linux
directories there while putting the boot (dslinux.nds) file on the
small FAT32 partition. The DS loaded up into the normal OS and I was
able to select the boot file but it didn't seem to find the EXT2
partition and I can find no documentation anywhere on how we're
supposed to set up the EXT2 partition. If anyone knows anything about
this please let me know because it would greatly help if I could get
different partitions mounted under DSLinux! If the R4SDHC issue is
size related alone then one fix that should work right now with the
software we already have would be to make 4 GIG partitions, put
DSLinux and the OS on the first one, boot into DSLinux and mount the
other partitions. I'm sure a simple executable loader for DSLinux
exists, that's all that would be needed at that point - you just go
to the partition that has the stuff on it you want and run the file.
If the problem is sector related then I have though about formatting
the card in different ways - is it a specific sector or anything
beyond a specific sector? If the former then it would be easy to
custom format it in a way that simply goes around the disliked sector.
As for the infamous "STUCK AT THE LOADING SCREEN" issue... I have
also run into this issue and have not quite figured out why it happens.
I have however figured out that it is not firmware related as far as
the firmware that is on the official site is concerned. Someone wrote
a post that 1.25 wouldn't work but 1.24 would and for a while, this
seemed to be the case until one time, all of a sudden 1.25 started
working on my system. I am pretty sure this is all related to the
seating of the microSD card like someone else said. Blow the inside
of the microSD socket out real good every time you insert it into
the R4SDHC and make sure you've formatted it properly and it should
work. I am also trying to figure out if the corrupt file thing is a
hardware or a software problem but I assume it's the hardware
because even when using YSMenu the 4 GIGS are read and anything
beyond 2 GIGS is SDHC.

Any help would be appreciated, especially on getting partitions
(EXT2 or FAT32 or ANY PARTITION actually!) mounted under DSLinux.

Thanks!!!

- MENTALDOMINANCE-
WWW.MENTALDOMINANCE.COM

 

[MENTALDOMINANCE]

I can't believe it but I recieved an email reply from the R4SDHC company and
basically they say I'm fucked and they admit it doesn't work.
What bullshit! So for ANYONE who wants to buy an R4SDHC...
DON'T FUCKIN' DO IT!!!

Here's the email!

This is the SECOND email I recieved:

From: r4sdhc ([email protected])
Sent: Fri 3/06/09 8:38 AM
First, I feel fairly sorry about what you and other customers encountered.To be honest I even myself don't know if the R4SDHC really support
the micro sd cards more than 4gb until I get more and more reactions of this problem.Perhaps the manufaturer think that 4gb has comfort to
SDHC standard,so they take it for granted and enlarge this feature.I don't think they are right,but I can't override them.
That's the condition of a employee in China.
But there is one thing I can confirm that this kind of problem must be fixed sooner or later,it's the trends.
I know how the customers' feel. But at present all I can do is to say sorry and sorry again.

THIS WAS MY REPLY TO THE FIRST EMAIL:

If it is not fixable then why are you still selling it and advertizing
that it works? The only reason I bought an R4SDHC is because
I own a real R4 and 2 GIGS was not large enough. Now I'm told
the R4SDHC does not really support large storage so what's the point?
How did it even get released like this? I don't see how you can
fix it as it is a hardware problem not a software problem unless
you are going to send us new cards.
Nevertheless I appreciate your reply and I hope you can fix it.
It would be nice because the word is all over that the R4SDHC
does not work and people will stop buying it. I heard it didn't
work before I bought it but I figured people saying this must
be wrong because I didn't think the company would say that
it supports SDHC if it really doesn't but they really did.

HERE'S THE FIRST EMAIL I RECIEVED:

Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 23:24:27 +0800
Subject: Re: Hello!!!
From: [email protected]

Hi,

Actually it does be not fixable at present. We are working hard to sort it out and I think it won't be much long.So please be patient.
We will not let customers down.Thank you very much for your attention and support to R4

Best Regards

Charles

HERE IS THE FIRST EMAIL I SENT:

Greetings! I just purchased an R4SDHC and am having problems.
I have a 16 gigabyte micro sd card. There is nothing wrong with the card,
I can use it in all other devices. When I put a large amount of data on the
card (Usually over or around 4 gigs) the data corrupts on the R4 even though
when I take the card out of the R4 and put it back into the PC, the files
are fine. The R4 is simply unable to read them. I have heard many people
saying that the R4SDHC does not really work with cards over 4 gigs.
I had one of the original R4s and I sold it and bought the new R4SDHC because
I wanted the extra storage. Please tell me if there is a fix for this problem.
I am using firmware 1.25.

Thanks!

- OBVIOUSLY most of this shit is in Engrish so I can't understand what "Charles"
means 100% but the jist of it is that he is an employee, he's aware of the problem,
and he even goes as far as to say he didn't think it was SDHC compatible and
that the company just put that on the advertisements without knowing!!!
Also, the first email says they're gonna fix the problem so just wait but then the
2nd one basically implies that it won't be fixed and all he can say is "SORRY".
THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT! Isn't there a way the company can be sued for
false advertising?!?!?

 

[Noitora]

You should have just bought an Acekard or a DSTT, you should have known well not to buy a R4 clone.

 

[twiztidsinz]

I recently purchased an R4SDHC for my DSThat was your first mistake...
QUOTE(MENTALDOMINANCE @ Mar 5 2009, 04:52 PM) and am having all the usual problems with it I've seen people discussing.

Your second mistake was buying a R4SDHC even after reading about the problems.

As Noitora said, grab an AceKard2 and don't bother with clones.
http://www.dealextreme.com/search.dx/search.acekard

 

[MENTALDOMINANCE]

I specifically asked for people to refrain from replying just to see themselves
type and yet the first two people who reply do exactly that.

 

[twiztidsinz]

Well...
You already have your answer in the first post.
And you further answer yourself in your second.

You're shit out of luck and the reason why is you bought an R4 Clone.