Hacking Reliability of Cyclo ds evolution

[cutterjohn]

the most common problem with 3rd batch evos can be fixed like this(the's what i did ith mine.
Hooray! For needing to open up and mod a product you bought to make it work!

Usually, just paying money for the device is enough to expect it to work but I guess that's not the case here. Team Cyclops, are you reading this? Batch 4 better have less than .9% defects. If all the other carts can do it why can't you?

w00t!!! F'ing party time! Do-it-yourself cart kits for c. $55!

That said, if all the "fix" will be is a different shell, I'd rather just have them dump a bunch of samples of empty shells in the mail, plus a couple new stickers(as I'm likely to destroy the current one), and I'd be perfectly capable of repackaging my PCB in a new shell. BUT, I'd ONLY do this, IF they could GUARANTEE that the replacement shells fixed the f'ing problem.

The shim trick working(and the other one involving disassembly, whose bonus is that you don't have to worry about adding your shim every time) tells me that electrically these cards are fine, but the shells are shit.

Another thing I noticed, I compared my Evo shell(via Mk. 1 eyeball) to two real carts and my Datel GnM.

The two real carts and the GnM appear to have the same dimensions, while the body portion of the Evo is thicker(obviously), and the two guides to either side of the edge connectors look to be about 3mm or so taller than the real carts.

Plastic on the Evo shell seems kind of crap as well.

(I'm hazarding a guess here that they just bought these as lots off of some producer who is making shells for all these DS flash carts.)

Has anyone tried sticking the Evo PCB into a different shell from another card that happens to have the chip sticking out in a location that would allow the Evo PCB to fit properly or modified another shell to work?

 

[OzModChips]

Getting about 4 to 5 cyclos a day back this week
its so depressing when you test the replacement, and it is also faulty.

Such a pity that they beautiful software is incased in the worst hardware

 

[h8uthemost]

Wow, this freakin' horrible. I didn't know this situation was this bad. If I was a retailer, I really don't know if I would stock these. On one hand, I would want to make some money. But on the other, I'm not sure if stocking them would be worth the headache. I would probably just wait until TC finally gets off their asses and gets this problem fixed. Hopefully they actually tried something different with batch 4.

That's a great trick ChotaZ posted(thank you for that). If my batch 1 ever becomes undetected, and it's been too long for me to get a replacement, then I will definitely do this trick.

 

[OzModChips]

Testing every single unit, and they are still coming back after 2 days of use. got about 30 back last week
Someone came to pick one up today, and i was showing it to him, and it died in front of him. How embarrassing.

0% of us stocking the new batch. Might get like 50 in max, to test, and if more than 1 is faulty, then they are all going back.

Sad sad times.
Its like having a ferrari engine, and then getting a retard to design the shell. There is no point in the product being good if it doesn't work!

 

[4saken]

That's true. They could solve the problem by perhaps trimming down on the chip to reduce thickness, but that might not be easy

 

[coops024]

W00t !

Got my Cyclo DS Evo Saturday and it all works straight out of the box !

It seems that only people who have a DoA unit post in threads like this ( and quite right too)

But just thought I'd add my experience into the mess

Its a f**king Fantastic peice of kit ! everything works like a charm !

only problem I did have was trying to run the infinate lives cheat on contra 4

Updated the cheat database selected the cheat ... then the game freezes just before you actually start to play !

but other than that ! perfect ! .. I got a Kingston 4GB Micro SDHC card too

 

[ganons]

W00t !

Got my Cyclo DS Evo Saturday and it all works straight out of the box !

It seems that only people who have a DoA unit post in threads like this ( and quite right too)

But just thought I'd add my experience into the mess

Its a f**king Fantastic peice of kit ! everything works like a charm !

only problem I did have was trying to run the infinate lives cheat on contra 4

Updated the cheat database selected the cheat ... then the game freezes just before you actually start to play !

but other than that ! perfect ! .. I got a Kingston 4GB Micro SDHC card tooÂ

where did u get if from and what was the price incl shipping?

 

[coops024]

W00t !

Got my Cyclo DS Evo Saturday and it all works straight out of the box !

It seems that only people who have a DoA unit post in threads like this ( and quite right too)

But just thought I'd add my experience into the mess

Its a f**king Fantastic peice of kit ! everything works like a charm !

only problem I did have was trying to run the infinate lives cheat on contra 4

Updated the cheat database selected the cheat ... then the game freezes just before you actually start to play !

but other than that ! perfect ! .. I got a Kingston 4GB Micro SDHC card too 

where did u get if from and what was the price incl shipping?

I got it from http://www.modchip-store.co.uk/

The price is on the site ! I also got my DS-X from these guys and never had a problem !

I ordered My 4GB Kingston Micro SDHC from Amazon and it works a treat !

 

[MadBob]

The shim trick working(and the other one involving disassembly, whose bonus is that you don't have to worry about adding your shim every time) tells me that electrically these cards are fine, but the shells are shit.

Another thing I noticed, I compared my Evo shell(via Mk. 1 eyeball) to two real carts and my Datel GnM.

The two real carts and the GnM appear to have the same dimensions, while the body portion of the Evo is thicker(obviously), and the two guides to either side of the edge connectors look to be about 3mm or so taller than the real carts.

Plastic on the Evo shell seems kind of crap as well.

(I'm hazarding a guess here that they just bought these as lots off of some producer who is making shells for all these DS flash carts.)

Has anyone tried sticking the Evo PCB into a different shell from another card that happens to have the chip sticking out in a location that would allow the Evo PCB to fit properly or modified another shell to work?

Not too sure that is the issue here, it looks more like the chip on to is coming unseated, the paper shim simply presses the legs down against the PCB, that's my guess anyway.

 

[jalaneme]

I got it from http://www.modchip-store.co.uk/

The price is on the site ! I also got my DS-X from these guys and never had a problem !

I ordered My 4GB Kingston Micro SDHC from Amazon and it works a treat !

god their prices are expensive, £34.99 and that's not including the shipping price! their 2gb micro sd cards are £22! i would rather buy it from america as the £ is more stronger so i will get it much cheaper.

 

[cutterjohn]

Not too sure that is the issue here, it looks more like the chip on to is coming unseated, the paper shim simply presses the legs down against the PCB, that's my guess anyway.

Could be. Are you the one that opened it up and saw that the Actel(?) chip sticking through was a BGA package soldered to the PCB?

As to thickness, now that I've got a SCDS1 SDHC as well, when I lie them flat and eyeball them they look to be both about the same dimensions, although the SC looks like both halves of the shell are the same thickness while the sticker side one of the Evo looks thinner... The SCDS1 also has one screw right in the middle above the edge connectors on the non-sticker side...

 

[GH0ST]

Your guess is wrong Madbob ... some DOA are even working on some NDS ( my batch 1 was so ) and not on others NDS. It was confirmed by my shop dealer. It is mostly a pure contact problem. I've got 2 working cycloDS evolution since six and four months with not a single failure.

I fixed a defective CDSE for a friend and also a passcard ( losing contacts ) wih the same problem. The only tool I use was a screwdriver ;-)

 

[locki]

I got 3 cyclods from batch3 and been using them for 4weeks already with constant use, and they work fine.

 

[coops024]

I got it from http://www.modchip-store.co.uk/

The price is on the site ! I also got my DS-X from these guys and never had a problem !

I ordered My 4GB Kingston Micro SDHC from Amazon and it works a treat !


god their prices are expensive, £34.99 and that's not including the shipping price! their 2gb micro sd cards are £22! i would rather buy it from america as the £ is more stronger so i will get it much cheaper.

True ... but I'd rather pay the extra and have a unit that works !

 

[MadBob]

Your guess is wrong Madbob ... some DOA are even working on some NDS ( my batch 1 was so ) and not on others NDS. It was confirmed by my shop dealer. It is mostly a pure contact problem. I've got 2 working cycloDS evolution since six and four months with not a single failure.

I fixed a defective CDSE for a friend and also a passcard ( losing contacts ) wih the same problem. The only tool I use was a screwdriver ;-)

I think there is more likely to be multiple faults here:

One where the PCB is not contacting the DS correctly, this can be solved by opening the cart and placing shim UNDER the PCB to push it against the DS contacts, and maybe a permanent fix. It is probably caused primarily by the Cart plastic casing being too variable in the molding process (polite way of saying crap). This could be solved by better production control and testing.

Another where the BGA solder cracks, this is temporarily solved by placing a shim OVER the chip to press the solder together, this is likely a short term fix with the problem resurfacing. This (if it is the cause) cannot be fixed, only a redesign of the Chip/PCB would resolve this type of issue.

For those who don't know what a BGA is check the Wiki look at Disadvantages and you will understand why this is happening.

 

[GH0ST]

Nice post madBob ;-)

i agree there is multiple causes ( including fracture of the microSD reader ).

The paper trick is not that good but from what i see in my cards the solder are not faulty.

It looks like they change the plastic box after the first batch and the second batch is stronger ... but the problem seems to remain according to a high rate of DOA.

To illustrate what you say i catch this ... dangerous " tip " in a previous thread :

Put your thumb in the middle of the sticker. Place the back of your evo against your middle finger and index finger and push slightly. THEN put it in your DS and power it on and you should see the cart in the DS now. Works for me every time. Only down side, for some almost every time I close my DS in game play to start playing again later on, the game will freeze.

I think this will cause at short term the solder joints to fracture ... ?!

 

[cutterjohn]

Hey, I've seen short term solutions for a SCDS1 SDHC card that wasn't being recognized given as doing something very similar, as well as grasping two oppposite corners and flexing the case a little, or try to use the paper shim.

It was over at scdev.org in the RHS sub-forum, but apparently the guy had bought his from RHS so they just replaced it for him. Doesn't seem to be anywhere near the faiilure rate of Evos though, as that was the only thread that I'd stumbled across to date in SC forums with that problem and those suggested solutions, although apparently, the R4DS' had a similar problem for a while...

 

[jalaneme]

True ... but I'd rather pay the extra and have a unit that works !

yeah, i've gone and ordered one anyway, other places are sold out it seems lol how long did it take for them to deliver it?

 

[cutterjohn]

True ... but I'd rather pay the extra and have a unit that works !


yeah, i've gone and ordered one anyway, other places are sold out it seems lol how long did it take for them to deliver it?

If it works, you'll LOVE it. If it doesn't you'll be righteously pissed, but I presume that since you from an English store that it's somewhere fairly close and that they will exchange from stock. And, at least, I see that you have other cards to use if your Evo is DOA while awaiting a replacement...

I, stupidly, ordered from mod-chip and it took mine 2w to get to the US, but since you ordered from the same country that you, apparently, live in, I'd hazard that as long as they have them in stock it should only take a few days, e.g. orddering in the US from Realhotstuff with USPS delivery every order I've made has taken 2d, same was true with newegg when they still ofered USPS shipping, and every other place that offered USPS shipping.

I just wish that mod-chip actually checked their Evolutions as they claimed to, but he was probably low on stock and din't want to mess around with handling defective units...

 

[coops024]

True ... but I'd rather pay the extra and have a unit that works !


yeah, i've gone and ordered one anyway, other places are sold out it seems lol how long did it take for them to deliver it?

It took about a week to arrive .. ( I had to wait longer as it was a birthday present :'( )

But yeah if it works you'll fall in love with it ! ... get yourself a good SDHC card to go with it tho !

Theres no point buying a soprts car and putting a 1000 cc engine in it !