Hacking Writting to EZ-IV/4 NOR via Slot-1 Card

[suppow]

edit: dont write to EZ-Flash IV via SLOT-1 card.
i was lucky, but you might not be.

(thanks to the info posted here i avoided fully bricking it)

ok, so i dont have my mini-micro sd adapter around,
and i was wondering, if there is a program so that i could write a game from Slot-1
to the EZ-Flash IV NOR while it is in Slot-2

sorta like how 3-in-1 i think works.

something like a slot-2 browser idk.
is it possible?

 

[deshayzilla]

It sound like it should be possible. Try to see if the GBA exploader works with it.

 

[suppow]

It sound like it should be possible. Try to see if the GBA exploader works with it.

thanks, i just tried it a few times,
it seems to find the roms and the cart just fine, and it seems to write them,
but then it soft-resets (i guess), and then i just see the "Gameboy" boot screen, and it just hangs =(
If i boot the cart i get "disk not found"

also, i'm screwed since it says "R to change mode" and my R button doesnt seem to work, i dont know why these people dont use R and L

 

[Geren]

When a slot 1 cart writes to the nor of the ez4, it overwrites the ez4 bootloader since the slot 1 doesn't know it's there.

You may have possibly bricked your ez4. It's not recommended to use a slot 1 to write to slot 2 as demonstrated here: http://ezflash.sosuk...hp?f=12&t=17744

In this very link I posted, fast6191 provides some tools to try to restore the bootloader to your ez4. It might work or not, you just have to give it a try.

If your cart is bricked, you effectibly have a ez flash 2in1 (meaning that you can only use it for nds, not gba), in this case you may be able to use the nor and psram functions with this tool for slot 1 carts: http://filetrip.net/...-02-f25160.html

finally, you can read a similar case to ours if you are interested
http://gbatemp.net/t...my-ez-flash-iv/

 

[suppow]

When a slot 1 cart writes to the nor of the ez4, it overwrites the ez4 bootloader since the slot 1 doesn't know it's there.

You may have possibly bricked your ez4. It's not recommended to use a slot 1 to write to slot 2 as demonstrated here: http://ezflash.sosuk...hp?f=12&t=17744

In this very link I posted, fast6191 provides some tools to try to restore the bootloader to your ez4. It might work or not, you just have to give it a try.

If your cart is bricked, you effectibly have a ez flash 2in1 (meaning that you can only use it for nds, not gba), in this case you may be able to use the nor and psram functions with this tool for slot 1 carts: http://filetrip.net/...-02-f25160.html

finally, you can read a similar case to ours if you are interested
http://gbatemp.net/t...my-ez-flash-iv/

oh crap. thanks for the info Geren.
now, i'm not sure if i should try the dump in EZ4 OS Tools 1.0 or EZ4 Bootstrap Collection 1.0 - do you have any clue?
the EZ OS tools says this:

fullrestore: expects a 4MiB file (exactly - be warned there is no error handling) called "ez4.bin" to bin the root of your slot1 card,
it erases the entire chip, then writes the contents to the OS NOR chip

which made me uneasy, is that possible of further brickage?

or maybe i should wait till i get a miniSD, to do the boot+R trick instead of via NDS (ez4_fullrestore.nds)

 

[deshayzilla]

I would wait till you get a mini SD to see if you're actually bricked or not. No use in trying to a fix something that may not be broken. I guess didn't realize realize the impact that writing to the NOR could have. I tried to use that method to load games to my Supercard SD and it didn't end up bricking it.

 

[suppow]

actually, i'm not 100% sure, but i think it was in PSRAM mode, since when GBA Exploader loads up it says "PSRAM MODE" and "R to change mode" but i never pressed R, so i'm not sure if it wrote to NOR or instead tried to write to PSRAM

i'm gonna try to get the adapter and see if it boots with an SD

edit:
actually (i'm still not 100% sure) but this might just be the case, since the EZ4 phat seems to have 16MB of PSRAM, and the ROM i was trying to load was 8MB

 

[deshayzilla]

You should look into fixing your R button. A lot of times it can be as simple as blowing into it. You'd be amazing at what can get stuck up in there. Search for videos on youtube for it. I had a very similar problem with my DS lite and now it works perfectly.

 

[suppow]

You should look into fixing your R button. A lot of times it can be as simple as blowing into it. You'd be amazing at what can get stuck up in there. Search for videos on youtube for it. I had a very similar problem with my DS lite and now it works perfectly.

unfortunately it doesnt seem to be so simple, the solder points seem to not be making contact, so i'd have to retouch them. plust my solder doesnt work anymore, and i dont where i could get a soldering pen with a tip small enough for the DSL board. :/
i couldnt find any on ebay, only pen-tips, of which i have.

i'm not as lucky as you it seems

 

[deshayzilla]

i'm not as lucky as you it seems

Most People arent !

Have you looked at places like Dealextreme? They seem to have stuff like that.

I wish I could solder, I have very unsteady hands and I get way to nervous that i'm going to screw up something. So I guess I'm not so lucky.

 

[suppow]

well, good news (for me)
i got the adapter, and at first the EZ4 wouldnt see the .gba roms, but i flashed ezfla_up.bin to the cart when booting+R,
and then it loaded just fine, and plays just fine, even saves games to NOR (i'm surprised how long that takes btw),
so fortunately i didnt brick it. sadly the adapter got stuck in the EZ4 right away.

lesson learned: dont write to EZ4 via SLOT-1 card.


note: i'm still curious about the 2in1 tool, couldnt find much about it, and didnt dare to try it (seems to only write to PSRAN, and not NOR).

I wish I could solder, I have very unsteady hands and I get way to nervous that i'm going to screw up something. So I guess I'm not so lucky.

the more nervous you are the more likely you'll mess up, just chill out. and good lighting ^^