Hacking Trouble with AK2.1 and EZ4/EZIV combo (AKAIO)

[doz592]

I just got my AK2 today. I had read that it works as a Passme, so I was hoping to couple it with my EZ4 Deluxe to make my DS "well rounded". After fooling around A LOT with AKAIO, I could not find out why, from the AKAIO root menu I could not boot my EZ4 either way - as a regular GBA cart or as a Passme cart. It would tell me there was nothing in Slot-2, and L+A would only lead to a blank screen. Any suggestions?

Side note - GBA EXPloader isn't working either. Related to problem above?

 

[Another World]

i'm not familiar with ez cards, which one is the ez 4 deluxe?

i use akaio on my rpg, ak2, and ak2.1 as a passme all the time with the 3in1 and my m3 lite. it works perfectly. this problem is probably with the ez product, but as i am unfamiliar with it i can't really comment. you might want to double post this problem in the ez section of the forum as well, or on the ez flash official forum.

-another world

 

[doz592]

Well I don't think it's defective - it works perfectly in GBA mode and with the Passme I've used for years (2 lol).

EDIT: EZ4 is the last GBA flashcart they made. Came in 3 versions - the original GBA version, the gimped Light version, then the last versions - the EZ4Deluxe (NDS+GBA compatibility, and the EZ4Lite (NO GBA compatibility, only NDS).

 

[Another World]

this is one of those things that norm can't really debug without having the kit. you might want to drop by #acekard on the gbatemp irc network and speak to norm about it. make sure you have fully debugged it. you tried to run it in nds mode from the kit (if it has its own firmware) and you tried the passme button combination for stuff in a nor like environment. i'm sure neither of those help you, again i wish i has the kit to test with.

-another world

 

[doz592]

BUMP!

 

[Another World]

1 word posts are against forum rules and we frown upon bumping.

-another world

 

[doz592]

Hm... However, I feel that it is an important issue, as scattered around the site are similar issues that have been ignored.

 

[Another World]

yet 1 word posts are against forum rules and we do not like bumping. you are advised to post and wait. if no one has a clue what to do then you should be looking to other sources of info. try the ez sub section of gbatemp, try the official ez forums.

everyone has been where you are and we all understand that you want a solution as soon as possible. breaking the rules of this forum is not a good way to go about it.

i also recommended that you join #acekard and ask normmatt directly. i've yet to see you do that.

-another world

 

[Cermage]

i had this problem as well. i just ended up flashing my lite. norm said that since he doesn't have one, he doesn't know what exactly is causing it. so he cant really help on that.

 

[doz592]

Did a little bit of more looking into it and I found that...

1. Lets say I turn on the DS, both of them are in their respective slots. If I try to load a GBA ROM in the AKAIO menu, it will actually flash the ROM to NOR... and work. Passme mode will NOT work (blank screens)

2. Lets say I turn on the DS, both carts are in their respective slots. Should I remove the EZ4, then reinsert it, it will
a)boot into the GBA mode without actually going into the EZ4 menu (GB logo, no Nintendo)
b)boot it with L+A for Passme mode, it will go through

Hopes this helps somehow

 

[cory1492]

AIO should never flash EZ4 NOR, it has an older/different NOR part ID so it should never detect the same as a 3in1. Me and smiths worked through this already in AIO 1.2 or so, I can say my own EZ4 deluxe is working perfectly. It starts in DS mode EZ4 menu when I select the GBA cart in AIO's main menu and press L+A, and starts in EZ4 GBA mode menu when I just press A.

The problem is actually quite simple, for some reason your EZ4 is being detected as a EZ3in1. Are you using the latest 1.41+updated loaders from yesterday AKAIO? (as I said, this was corrected a couple versions ago around AIO 1.2 or so, anything older will display similar issues to those you describe, no idea how official firmware will react.) How long ago did you get your EZ4 (if it was manufactured very close to when the first 3in1 came out there is a slight chance they shared the NOR part until EZ4 was discontinued, my own deluxe was supplied by EZ team when they initially started selling.)

If you dig around for some of my old stuff on sosuke you should be able to find a series of small nds homebrew in the EZ4 section called "EZReset" which will take you to GBA mode without reinsert, and possible "EZResetDS" though that one never had the proper command to fully switch back to OS NOR and doesn't appear to work with the current AIO (white screens.) I may revisit these homebrew if your issue isn't an outdated AIO, just let me know and I will do what I can to make them compatible with latest AIO.

The solution itself is simple though, at the end of 3in1 check if 3in1 is not found (the check cannot be vague, it should check the NOR ID against known chip list) there should be a
SetRomPage(0x8000);
Make an ini option that forces this to be done regardless of the 3in1 check, and people with the issue could use the ini option. What is currently happening is, if it misdetects as 3in1 and doesn't execute this page set then AIO sees the NOR memory instead of the OS/menu memory. If someone digs back, I also gave a secondary check that can be performed directly before the 3in1 check that requires only reading a few bytes off GBA bus to see if EZ3/4 OS is there prior to doing any page sets for 3in1 check.

 

[Tokiopop]

And I can't even get my 3-in-1 to work, everytime I flash something to the NOR and load it I just get a white screen. And the expansion pack wont work. Oh well.

 

[doz592]

In response to Cory1492

WOWOMG! Sounds like a mouthful, but I get it. Will have to try later (and might I say I am honored by your presence!)

Edit - Ok, I have been using the latest (the 1.4.1 repack proper version). I updated the loader, same deal. My EZ4 was the Deluxe bundle version (Black, with matching EZPass3) that I got off of Winsunx of the later half of 2007). Out of curiosity, after reading the changelogs I went to try out 1.2 - it worked, but broke (for me) after that (1.3, 1.4, etc)

Edit2 - What ini? Globalini? How?

 

[doz592]

Edit - Found the sauce! After digging a bit, found the command to stop the 3in1 check (like you said). For future reference

To fix EZ4 not working in AKAIO, add this to your Globalsetting.ini

EZ3in1startupcheck = 0

 

[cory1492]

EZs1chipId_v1
Give that a run and let me know it's output, here is what I have so far with my own units (as-is it should be able to identify all 3in1 versions and EZ4 hardware that matches my own):

3in1 V1
ID 0x227e2218
0: 0x007f
1: 0xbc01
2: 0xea00
3: 0x4700
4: 0x227e
5: 0x227e
6: 0x2218
7: 0x2218

EZ4 deluxe
ID: 0x227e2220
0: 0x007f
1: 0xbc01
2: 0xea00
3: 0x4700
4: 0x227e
5: 0x227e
6: 0x2220
7: 0x2220

And yeah, this data actually does mean something (ie: 0x227e is the manufacturer ID code of the NOR part in both the 3in1s and deluxe I have here, 0x2220 and 0x2218 are different parts of that manufacturer's - 0-4 is used to ident the new chip being used by 3in1plus.) My EZ3 actually comes up with the same chip ident for the NOR part as my EZ3in1.

 

[doz592]

Well, I got the EZ3in1 ID with:

id0: 0xfff
id1: 0xfff
id2: 0xfff
id3: 0xfff
id4: 0x227e
id5: 0x227e
id6: 0x2218
id7: 0x2218

So, what's the prognosis?

 

[cory1492]

Looks like they did wind up sharing the same NOR part across some models

So long as the ini option is (still, wasn't sure if it had been removed entirely or not) working for you, then I guess it's not that big of a deal (though it should probably get put back in the wiki.) I'll look into other ident options as well (ie: ident the OS chip), but the more complicated it gets the more problems it could cause with other slot1 cards.

 

[doz592]

Right ahead of you! Put it in the wiki! Thank you very much for your help.

 

[doz592]

Just a question - AKAIO 1.5 - whats going on? I heard there was some internal turmoil within the team.

 

[cory1492]

No problem. As to 1.5, I'll say what I'll always say... can't tell the future, what will be will be, comes when it comes, etc. - the loaders have been getting updated regularly, beyond that I'm not sure what one could possibly want?