#122622 - Mushu - Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:21 pm
I recently gave in and purchased a SC Lite and started playing around with it. I've been trying to get Moonshell (1.71) to not whitescreen for the past couple hours, and think I unintentionally bricked the SC Lite by backpatching the firmware.
I had installed v1.7a (as reported by its firmware), which is Chism's patched version. I attempted to install firmware v1.63 on it, which is the oldest version Supercard has on their site.
The patching process appeared to work; when the progress bar hit 100% it reloaded the boot menu, but was completely garbled. I then powered down the unit, and it now only whitescreens when attempting to load the SC firmware (with or without a MicroSD card).
When the SCLT is removed, FlashMe (v7) boots the proprietary firmware: sadly the fixable part didn't get damaged.
Holding L+R to get to the SCLT test menu, the only erronous message is during the SD/MMC test:
| Quote: |
Test SD/MMC
SD/MMC ok!
not find test file |
When the microSD card is removed, it returns error code 3, which I'd assume means "there is no microSD card in the slot".
The SCLT firmware current reports v1.63.
At this point, I have no idea what action to take. Any thoughts?
Further note: I have no SLOT-1 media with which to run stuff. That probably would have made for an easy fix, but alas.
!!!
I managed to get back to the garbled screen. I remember with version 1.7, holding down L/R when the unit boots causes the system to hang until the button is released; probably has to do with the L+R check. In any case, using this method I've managed to get back to the garbled screen. Now let's see if it's just trash data, or if I can actually run something (ie, firmware patch).
Okay, it's definitely not just garbage - I can see some changes happening on the top screen when I press the D-pad buttons. Let's see if I can reinstall a newer version of the firmware...
Hrm. mirco_eng_170.bin whitescreens, but I'm able to see the firmware loading it into memory. Let's try some other versions...
Last edited by Mushu on Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
#122625 - Lick - Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:33 pm
remove everything from your disk, and put a supercard firmware in the root directory. then boot that without needing to see any menu.
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#122626 - Mushu - Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:36 pm
| Lick wrote: |
| remove everything from your disk, and put a supercard firmware in the root directory. then boot that without needing to see any menu. |
Yep, that's the first thing I did. The v1.7 version loads, but then whitescreens. Let me try pressing START after the whitescreen; I've no idea if the whitescreen indicates the program isn't running, or if it just isn't rendering to the screen.
Also, hi Rick. Long time no see ;)
Okay, pressing START and waiting for awhile appears to do nothing - upon restarting the system the firmware still reports v1.63. Going to try a couple other versions to see if they work, starting with the one after v1.63. Because that would make sense.
lol, so the only firmware versions are v1.63 and v1.7. Interesting. If I put v1.63's UPGRADE.scu onto the card, I can reinstall that version, though it doesn't fix the garble problem. Let me try renaming v1.7's micro_eng_170.bin to UPGRADE.scu.
Ughhhh.
Okay, it picked that up. The output is as follows:
| Quote: |
find upgrade file:upgrade.scu
Old :Ver 1.63
Now :Ver i !
Are you sure upgrade?
START--YES B--NO |
It would appear that *.scu is a special fileformat, and I probably don't want to attempt to load this, lest I make the problem worse. Hurr.
Using a *.gba extension doesn't appear to have any effect on the whitescreen'edness of the patch file. Chism's v1.7a whitescreens as well (which makes sense, since it uses the same wrapper as the v1.7 patcher).
So... any other ideas?
#122639 - Lick - Tue Mar 20, 2007 10:18 pm
WOW! It's MUSHU! I didn't notice your name earlier..
Have you tried going into GBA mode by holding Start on boot? Maybe you should blow in the cartridge. Also, I think the SCU file will act the same as when it's called bin/gba.
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#122641 - Mushu - Tue Mar 20, 2007 10:34 pm
:D
Yeah, the SCU file is definitely different. When I pressed "START" it simply prints, "It isn't accurate upgrade file. Please turn off GBA." Blowing into the cartridge didn't have any effect, and every combination of START and L (to make it boot gibberish instead of a whitescreen) hasn't seemed to have any effect on the loading behavior of either a bin or a gba file.
#122645 - Lick - Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:19 pm
| Mushu wrote: |
| Okay, pressing START and waiting for awhile appears to do nothing - upon restarting the system the firmware still reports v1.63. |
Did you try pressing A? Just in case.
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#122646 - Mushu - Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:26 pm
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did. I'll have to try it a couple of more times when I get back from this meeting. I know I did START at least twice, and I think I did A.
I have a feeling I'm going to end up buying a new one; I can't find any other instances of this situation. Won't be able to afford one until my new job starts, and they haven't told me when they're starting me (it's been a week without contact now). Bleehhhhhh.
Also, DSLiveWeather and LMP are awesome. Thankfully I had the hardware a couple of days before I managed to rip its software to pieces :(
#122658 - dantheman - Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:55 am
As far as I know, upgrades in .bin format are full binaries, while .scu files are merely upgrades that do not contain the entire firmware. I don't think there are any 1.63 .bin files for the SC Lite, meaning that you either did an uncomplete downgrade or you attempted to downgrade with the 1.63 file for the SD or MiniSD versions. Doing any of these is going to cause problems.
If you go to the SCDev forums, a mod there named Bitblt performs free Supercard firmware recovery services as long as you pay the shipping. I'd recommend that, as I haven't heard any negative feedback about it at all.
#122661 - Mushu - Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:14 am
Hurr, so I did an incomplete downgrade. For reference purposes, I got the files from the Supercard site:
http://eng.supercard.cn/soft_scl.htm
And they were listed as the SCLT firmware files. Ah, well. I guess I'll have to review shipping costs then. Thanks for the help :)
#122666 - RVK - Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:00 am
This happened to me a while back. If you make sure you boot into GBA mode, you should be able to see the 1.7 .bin and update yourself back to normal.
#122668 - Mushu - Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:15 am
Well, the trick is figuring out how to boot in GBA mode. It's kind of weird to explain, most descriptive way I can think of right now is to enumerate it -
No buttons pressed during boot: White screen of death.
L held during boot: White screen of death until L is released, after which garbled menu appears. If any other buttons were held down, menu doesn't appear until all buttons are released.
Any other buttons held during boot without L: White screen of death.
So I've been trying various button presses, and the menu only shows up if L was depressed during the boot, and only after all buttons are released. I haven't figured out when to press the start button, but so far I haven't been able to get it to boot in GBA mode.
(Why does holding L down during boot make it not whitescreen, anyway? I don't remember reading about L doing anything special.)
(EDIT: Actually, when I do it without the microSD card in the slot, the message reads "etc... Please turn off GBA", which suggests to me that L toggles the GBA mode, which conflicts with Lick's advice. Blah, silly firmware :3)
(EDIT2: Renaming micro_eng_170.bin to *.nds doesn't remove it from the file list in the booter, so it doesn't look like the L-thing boots it in GBA mode. IIRC, in GBA mode the list only shows *.gba (and *.bin) files.)
From what I've read, it doesn't sound like the SC firmware whitescreens at boot. Was this the case with yours?
#122669 - dantheman - Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:28 am
To boot into GBA mode, either remove the Superkey if you're using one or hold B or Start while you power on the DS if you're using FlashMe. You could also try getting to the DS main menu and launch the GBA cartridge from there. With the standard FlashMe installation, you do this by holding Start+Select upon bootup.
However, you said this doesn't work, so I'm not sure what the issue is. Regardless, it will always say "please power off GBA" no matter what mode you're in (they just didn't update the message), so don't let that distract you.
I believe the L button only has significance in the hacked Supercard firmware. With an unaltered Supercard firmware, it does nothing. Well actually, holding it shows me the Supercard logo on the bottom screen and the SC menu without any files on the top screen, but letting go of L immediatley reveals my files.
#122670 - Mushu - Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:37 am
| dantheman wrote: |
| I believe the L button only has significance in the hacked Supercard firmware. With an unaltered Supercard firmware, it does nothing. Well actually, holding it shows me the Supercard logo on the bottom screen and the SC menu without any files on the top screen, but letting go of L immediatley reveals my files. |
Weeeird.
I had the hacked firmware installed before I overwrote it with the old SCU update.
Haayyyyy! START+SELECT made it to the DS menu! And from there I was able to boot in GBA mode. Thanks a million!
lol, and now I know how to load the DS firmware when the flashcart is still in (was searching for that forever the other day). *cheers*
#122697 - Lick - Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:09 am
I think SELECT is enough to make FlashMe boot to the original firmware. Anyway, nice to see it's fixed! Are you planning to stay a user or will you get into devving? :D
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#122708 - dantheman - Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:43 am
Select boots slot-1 instead of slot-2, while Start boots slot-2 in GBA mode. Start+Select boots the original firmware.
#122712 - tyraen - Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:26 pm
Not for me dantheman. If I hold select, I get to firmware. I've never tried START+SELECT. *tries it* START+SELECT also boots firmware.
#122714 - tepples - Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:37 pm
It depends on your DS settings.
Settings > Options > Startup set to Manual Mode
No buttons: Look for PASS/DSBooter, then show firmware menu.
Select: Skip "look for PASS/DSBooter".
Settings > Options > Startup set to Auto Mode
No buttons: Look for PASS/DSBooter, then look for DS Game Card, then look for GBA Game Pak, then show firmware menu.
B: Look for GBA Game Pak before DS Game Card.
Start: Skip "look for DS Game Card" and "look for GBA Game Pak".
Select: Skip "look for PASS/DSBooter".
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#122733 - tyraen - Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:17 pm
Wow, I didn't even know that existed. Awesome. :)
#122736 - Mushu - Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:39 pm
| Lick wrote: |
| I think SELECT is enough to make FlashMe boot to the original firmware. Anyway, nice to see it's fixed! Are you planning to stay a user or will you get into devving? :D |
Probably just a user for now, simply because I have a bajillion other projects going on (lolol, and I have artists on one of the teams! Hooray!). I do want to start tinkering with it though, I'll probably try to get a blackscreen/hello world app working this weekend.
What I do want to implement/clone though is the tank game from WiiPlay. From what I've read, it doesn't seem like anyone's figured out how to get the multiplayer download play working quite yet, which takes away from the awesomeness of blowing the crap out of your friends. Ah, well.
| tepples wrote: |
| It depends on your DS settings. |
Heh, that table is actually really good to know; now I understand why you have to press START and SELECT with the SCLT to prevent it from loading its firmware.