Hacking Working save function with a dead battery possible?

WiiUBricker

News Police
OP
Banned
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
7,827
Trophies
0
Location
Espresso
XP
7,485
Country
Argentina
Lucky how I am, my EZflash 3in1 was shipped with a half dead battery. It's been long since my battery died so saving GBA games does not work anymore. Is it somehow possible to use the save function without having a working battery? I don't want to replace my battery (I tried it once, but I broke the tabs). Perhaps a patch is available that let roms save in NOR memory?

Edit: How is that some GBA cartridges don't have a battery inside? I just opened up FF5 and no battery there. Does it use flash memory?
 

AceWarhead

"Must Construct Additional Pylons"
Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2011
Messages
1,277
Trophies
0
XP
601
Country
United States
In response to your GBA battery, most games on the GBA don't have a battery, only some games use it for real time clock, like Pokemon R/S/E. Yes, it uses flash memory.

Unfortunately, There is no patch like that ( I think ), since the battery holds the save then transfers it to the SRAM the next time you turn it on.
 

WiiUBricker

News Police
OP
Banned
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
7,827
Trophies
0
Location
Espresso
XP
7,485
Country
Argentina
3DSIXL said:
In response to your GBA battery, most games on the GBA don't have a battery, only some games use it for real time clock, like Pokemon R/S/E. Yes, it uses flash memory.

Unfortunately, There is no patch like that ( I think ), since the battery holds the save then transfers it to the SRAM the next time you turn it on.

Thanks, I just did some research and it seems only GBA game clones have batteries, official GBA cards don't have batteries unless as you said they are using real time clock.

So if GBA games don't have batteries, why does the EZ Flash 3in1 has one? I would think that the EZ team deliberately put a battery in there because they wanted that people buy another cart if the battery dies. A new EZ Flash with no battery would be good.
 

AceWarhead

"Must Construct Additional Pylons"
Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2011
Messages
1,277
Trophies
0
XP
601
Country
United States
3DSIXL said:
Unfortunately, There is no patch like that ( I think ), since the battery holds the save then transfers it to the SRAM the next time you turn it on.

It says right there. If you want such a thing, go get a DS Flash Card that can play GBA games. If you don't have a DS, well, all GBA flash cards have batteries...
 

Mbmax

Homebrew addicted
Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2006
Messages
2,274
Trophies
0
Website
Visit site
XP
401
Country
3DSIXL said:
In response to your GBA battery, most games on the GBA don't have a battery, only some games use it for real time clock, like Pokemon R/S/E. Yes, it uses flash memory.

Unfortunately, There is no patch like that ( I think ), since the battery holds the save then transfers it to the SRAM the next time you turn it on.
What ?

the battery holds the save stored in the ez3in1's SRAM and the slot 1 kernel backup it in different way to the microSD according to the flashcart used.
On ez5i it backup the content of the sram once you switch to another game.

@WiiBricker : what is your slot 1 flashcart ?
 

WiiUBricker

News Police
OP
Banned
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
7,827
Trophies
0
Location
Espresso
XP
7,485
Country
Argentina
Mbmax said:
@WiiBricker : what is your slot 1 flashcart ?

I'm using EZFlash 3in1 with a CycloDS. I know it can write saves from SRAM to its Micro SD card, but only if I turn off and turn on my DS, but then the save is lost as my batterie is dead. Actually I can't save at all, since an error message appears while attempting to save.
 

Mbmax

Homebrew addicted
Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2006
Messages
2,274
Trophies
0
Website
Visit site
XP
401
Country
WiiBricker said:
Mbmax said:
@WiiBricker : what is your slot 1 flashcart ?

I'm using EZFlash 3in1 with a CycloDS. I know it can write saves from SRAM to its Micro SD card, but only if I turn off and turn on my DS, but then the save is lost as my batterie is dead. Actually I can't save at all, since an error message appears while attempting to save.
Ok. You have 2 solutions :
- change the battery
- find a way to softreset from the gba game. Maybe not faisable.
 
D

Deleted-236924

Guest
If you did a QPC (Quick Power Cycle) it might work.
You have to turn your DS off and on fast enough so that you don't let the SRAM lose it's data.
 

Nathanaël

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2011
Messages
274
Trophies
0
Website
Visit site
XP
3
Country
Nauru
If someone would make a simple GBA cart that would work without a battery - just as a $2 R4 - that guy could become rich very soon. Go go go, guys! Thake our money!
 
D

Deleted-236924

Guest
Nathanaël said:
If someone would make a simple GBA cart that would work without a battery - just as a $2 R4 - that guy could become rich very soon. Go go go, guys! Thake our money!
That is, if they can find the right chips for cheap.
Else they wouldn't be able to sell them for $2 without losing heaps of money.
 

Nathanaël

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2011
Messages
274
Trophies
0
Website
Visit site
XP
3
Country
Nauru
Pingouin7 said:
Nathanaël said:
If someone would make a simple GBA cart that would work without a battery - just as a $2 R4 - that guy could become rich very soon. Go go go, guys! Thake our money!
That is, if they can find the right chips for cheap.
Else they wouldn't be able to sell them for $2 without losing heaps of money.

They can sell it for $30-50 of course. If it works well. The 3-in-1 costs $20. Go go go guys. Our money is waiting for you.
 
D

Deleted-236924

Guest
But the problem is that the GBA scene is pretty much dead.
They wouldn't make a new flashcart for GBA if they know they would get more money from making a DS card.
 

tomrev

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
365
Trophies
0
Website
www.buycheapipodshop.com
XP
323
Country
United States
I have 2 broken 3-in-1 battery taps that SRAM never be detected at all. So, I concluded that 3-in-1 use button battery for operate and hold data for SRAM chip!!! That's mean no battery = no sram detected at all. Soft reset and save method will not work for 3-in-1. If only they design SRAM chip to operate from System power, soft reset and save method would be possibly work. WTF! Someone may seen the evil intention of EZFlash 3-in-1 designing. Previous EZFlash products at least have rechargeable battery. I hate what the Ezflash 3-in-1 is now.
 
D

Deleted-236924

Guest
tomrev said:
So, I concluded that 3-in-1 use button battery for operate and hold data for SRAM chip!!!
Great.
Next time, you'll find out PSRAM gets cleared when you turn off.
 

tomrev

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
365
Trophies
0
Website
www.buycheapipodshop.com
XP
323
Country
United States
Pingouin7 said:
tomrev said:
So, I concluded that 3-in-1 use button battery for operate and hold data for SRAM chip!!!
Great.
Next time, you'll find out PSRAM gets cleared when you turn off.

??? I don't get it. I have a little knowledge in electronic but I'm not idiot like not know PSRAM would be reset when power off. SRAM chip on 3-in-1 is Mitsubishi M6MGB. It needs a very little power to maintain data while system power off. I read the datasheet that have Vcc for Flash and Vcc for SRAM. Reading and writing on SRAM look like not operate from system power but from button battery because when there is no battery, the games won't detect SRAM at all (couldn't read or write).

Some previous EZflash cards have capability to charge the rechargeable button battery that at least if the SRAM chip is drain power from button battery, it could be recharged and provide power to SRAM chip while system power is on.

Edit: Pingouin7, I want to ask you that from your suggestion me about EZFlash 4, are you sure that patch rom with soft reset and save will work when battery dry. I thought that if games couldn't detect SRAM like EZFlash 3-in-1, the soft reset method would be useless.
 
D

Deleted-236924

Guest
It doesn't need a battery to have data in SRAM.
It merely needs to have power.

The battery is only there so that the data in SRAM stays here when the power is off.
If you soft reset to the menu, the system stays on, so the data in SRAM cannot be lost.
 

WiiUBricker

News Police
OP
Banned
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
7,827
Trophies
0
Location
Espresso
XP
7,485
Country
Argentina
Pingouin7 said:
It doesn't need a battery to have data in SRAM.
It merely needs to have power.

The battery is only there so that the data in SRAM stays here when the power is off.
If you soft reset to the menu, the system stays on, so the data in SRAM cannot be lost.
Wrong, I removed the battery and every game I tried refuse to write a save, saying that save process failed.
 
D

Deleted-236924

Guest
WiiBricker said:
Pingouin7 said:
It doesn't need a battery to have data in SRAM.
It merely needs to have power.

The battery is only there so that the data in SRAM stays here when the power is off.
If you soft reset to the menu, the system stays on, so the data in SRAM cannot be lost.
Wrong, I removed the battery and every game I tried refuse to write a save, saying that save process failed.
Well removing the battery probably cut off the power the SRAM was receiving while the system was on.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    The fuuuuu---
  • Veho @ Veho:
    I thought it was an actual xBox at that price.
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    I wanna grab a 360 Slim and a 360 E one of these days. Missed the boat of getting them at their lowest though, once they were discontinued. Could've got them for cheap back when I was a broke 20 something working at Target, but then again, I was a broke 20 something working at Target
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Being broke is no fun.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    @Sicklyboy, $150 isn't that bad for a jtag slim on ebay
  • Veho @ Veho:
    I only wish it was actually playable.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    There's a guy on the Tube of You that makes playable mechanical arcade games out of Lego. This could work on the same principle.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Just a couple of guys taking their manatee out for some fresh air, why you have to molest them?
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Stupid Chinese shop switched their shipping company and this one is slooooooow.
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    STOP BUYING CHINESE CRAP THEN
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    SUPPORT LOCAL PRODUCTS, MAKE REVOLUTION
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    THEY KEEP REMOVING LOCAL SHIt AND REPLACING WItH INFERIOR CHINESE CRAP
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    THATS WHY MY PARTNER CANT GET A GOOTWEAR HIS SIZE ANYMORE
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    HE HAS BIG FOOT AND BIG DUCK
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    d*ck i mean*
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    lol
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Mkay.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    I just ordered another package from China just to spite you.
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    Communism lol
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    OUR products
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    @LeoTCK actually good quality products are dying out because they can't compete with dropshipped chinese crap
    +1
    The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye: @LeoTCK actually good quality products are dying out because they can't compete with dropshipped... +1