Status none might mean the R4 didn't respond to card init at all so there was no header for it to parse. At least during the bootloader phase. What kind of R4 is it? OG R4 with no SDHC support or one of the SDHC clones?
Classic OG R4, which doesn't support SDHC afaik.
Running on 2DS XL.
What system are you trying to use it on? DSi? 3DS? If it's OG R4 and you are trying this on 3DS, does white icon show up in Home Menu for your R4? If not it's not getting a connection with the pins due to thin PCB. (white icon with no text is normal for OG R4 as this card did not have a proper banner so on 3DS it should show a white icon if it's being detected properly by the console) This issue might impact DSi too. (though on DSi system menu won't show an icon for it regardless).
I do remember getting a white icon before, from placing paper and tape on the front, and booted it with a Wood R4 cia on the home menu one or two years ago.
Since then I cleaned the R4 card (and opening it back up, I found three thin pieces of paper taped down where the connecters are lol, and cleaned up my 2DSs, including apps I didn't use.
Taking the R4 shell apart and putting some paper between the PCB and the label side plastic then putting it back together should resolve the contact issues. That's assuming this is an OG R4 we are talking about. No idea if this issue is present in any of the R4 SDHC clones. I have not heard about any of those having that issue.
After putting two thicker pieces of paper between the PCB and label side, and cutting it bit smaller as it bloated the cart and made it unreadable on the 2DS XL, not sure if it would have been read on the DS Lite, but it was a very tight fit, it fit a lot better though after trimming it.
Needless to say it works now! I tried finding tutorials for the paper on/in the R4 card and couldn't find anything, and decided against doing it again from memory just in case.
The only thing I dislike is how tough it is to pull it out, and push it in, for any DS, the card has been kicking for over a decade so I should get a liable flash card, but I could fiddle a bit by taking one of the two papers out to see if it becomes easier slotting the cartridge, while working on the 2DS XL.
(EDIT: it's actually not as bad as I thought it, definitely not as tight as it was with the paper and tape on the outside.)
Weird how the old R4 only works when pressed in the slot, must be the shorter pins it has so I hear.
But thank you so much! I always swapped between DS generations for the classic DS games, and I appreciate the help.