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DS Flash Equipment > FlashMe recovery mode to the rescue!!!

#153632 - SevenString - Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:59 am

I have to hand it to the guys who developed FlashMe, I was only saved from disaster tonight because the recovery mode part of the firmware gets installed by the FIRST ONE PERCENT!!!

I have a couple of old GBAMP CF players sitting around, and my 12yo daughter wanted to play some homebrew on her DS. I figured I'd give her one of the GBAMPs, a CF card loaded with games, and flash her DS with the latest FlashMe.

Since I have successfully flashed a handful of DS machines before, I figured I was safe. Nope, not this time. Even though I wrapped tape around the little homemade foil jumper, apparently I lost this round of "Operation".

While running the FlashMe util, the DS went dark at the 1% mark, and wouldn't turn on again. At all.

I was upset, my kid was upset, but she was being totally nice about it, which made me feel even worse. :(

So I remembered there was a method for recovering some supposedly bricked DS units if enough of the new firmware had been flashed. I didn't think that 1% was enough, but it was worth a shot. After following the instructions and yanking the passme, I got my kid to help press all those buttons and turn the DS back on. Then the miracle occured: the FlashMe utility was running again and waiting for an X B X B at 1%.

I made it through the rest of the firmware install, and now my kid has her homebrew on a NON bricked DS.

Whoever did the recovery mode, color me happy and thanks!
_________________
"Artificial Intelligence is no match for natural stupidity."

#154666 - Alphanoob - Sun Apr 20, 2008 2:41 am

I second that motion, as when I first tried to do that I think I bumped the little screw by it in my lite. Read a little note under the guide on ndshb.com that talked bout recovery mode... I was freaken out at first, but that saved my hide too. I would have been so ticked, it was like an hour after I opened my first homebrew equipement ever (superkey/supercard lite combo =))

#154751 - ixmush - Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:00 am

hello yes I'm new here because I just bricked my DSL while trying to flash it.
I couldn't find where these questions might be answered but if you're trying to short out that screw head at SL1 what are you trying to short it out to?
Mine stopped at 1% and I eventually shut it off. Now I get the green light and the black screens of course. So far booting with A+B+Start+Select hasn't worked.
Is there anything else I can do before putting it out by the screen door?
Is swapping out the physical bios a realistic option?
Thanks for your tolerance and any help at all would be appreciated.

#154819 - Alphanoob - Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:37 pm

dunno, A+B+START+SELECT was all that it took for me. Ask around ndshb.com and here and you will find out. Also make sure you are doing it right, like if you aren't holding it long enough or something. ABSS should work though... well, ndshb has a guide on flashing your DS with stuff on the bottom about it. Good luck!

#154883 - pepsiman - Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:05 am

Which version did you try to install?

v8a can tell you if the failsafe was installed: http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?p=127213#127213

#154915 - ixmush - Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:56 pm

It was Flashme V8, trying to install over V7.
It shows the green LED but nothing on the screen.
Tried booting with no cart or with only the Flashme.nds in the cart and the combination of buttons but got nothing on the screen.

#155117 - Sektor - Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:02 am

olimar wrote:
Ok, another update (v8a).

The recovery code can boot both slot1 and slot2 (it tries slot1 first, then slot2 if it can't find a card). I changed the recovery key combo to START+SELECT. If you're not sure if even the failsafe got flashed, power it up with start+select and no cards inserted. The power LED should blink if it's working.

The no-autoboot version now boots from slot-2 when SELECT is held (instead of A+B+X+Y).

_________________
GTAMP.com/DS

#155131 - pepsiman - Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:11 am

The other recovery method is ppflash.

#155396 - dantheman - Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:47 am

You can also use the "BIOS swap trick" for DS Lites only. From my understanding, you start up FlashMe on a good DS Lite, leave it there at the "press B X B X to continue" screen, swap out the BIOS for the bricked one, and then continue the flashing process to recover the bricked firmware. I have never done this so the details may be incorrect, but that's the basic idea at least.