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DS Flash Equipment > Nintendo Wifi and Flashme

#64459 - brucesinner - Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:59 pm

Hi folks,

Sorry if this was already answered but i looked the forum and didn't find my answer.

If I flashme my DS I will still be able to connect to the Nintendo WiFi network after it ?

I will be able to play games like Mario Kart, Animal Crossing,...


thanks ppl

#64464 - tepples - Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:34 pm

brucesinner wrote:
If I flashme my DS I will still be able to connect to the Nintendo WiFi network after it ?

Yes. Unlike Microsoft, Nintendo currently isn't banning modded machines.
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#64465 - brucesinner - Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:38 pm

hmm perhaps your answer sentence would be better written this way:

"unlike microsoft, nintendo STILL isn't banning modded machines"

i think i will not mess with my ds...any way to backup original firmware and reinstall it ?

#64478 - MaHe - Thu Dec 22, 2005 7:54 pm

Yeah. If you're really afraid, go to darkfader.net and download FWDumper. It'll allow you to dump your firmware exactly as it was.

And you can UNflash DS with no problems.

#64480 - brucesinner - Thu Dec 22, 2005 7:58 pm

can you point me how to unflash?

which tools to use?

thanks

#64486 - josath - Thu Dec 22, 2005 8:51 pm

brucesinner wrote:
can you point me how to unflash?

which tools to use?

thanks


it's on the very same page as the flashme install file? it's the blue underlined 'uninstall' that you want to click on. http://ds.gcdev.com/dsfirmware/

#64488 - brucesinner - Thu Dec 22, 2005 9:05 pm

thanks, I missed it.

#64503 - philip - Fri Dec 23, 2005 12:12 am

Can someone give me some help with a flashing problem? I flashed my DS a few months ago and all went well. But now I want to flash the new firmware so I can play Mario Kart online. I downloaded the new Flashme.nds file from http://ds.gcdev.com/dsfirmware/ and tried to run it, but all I get are two white screens. The old utility will still launch fine when I try it.

I'm using a Flash2Advance flash cart, and programming it with a Game Wallet on a GBA. I don't know what my current FlashME version is exactly, because the install utility doesn't say, but I downloaded it on the 5th of July. The problem only seems to be that I can't run the new utility.

BTW, when I get it running, will I need to short the contact in the battery compartment again?

#64508 - brucesinner - Fri Dec 23, 2005 2:36 am

I'm not 100% sure but probably you'll need to short the contact again.

I think it is necessary so the firmware enters the "write" mode to be flashed.

correct me if I'm wrong.

#64585 - Abcd1234 - Fri Dec 23, 2005 8:05 pm

That's correct. v5 needs to rewrite the first bit of flash, again, because the firmware was moved around to fix MK:DS. In addition, make sure you prepend a loader to the firmware image (there's one available on the firmware site, IIRC).

#64587 - philip - Fri Dec 23, 2005 8:17 pm

Abcd1234 wrote:
In addition, make sure you prepend a loader to the firmware image (there's one available on the firmware site, IIRC).

Unfortunately that site's down at the moment, but do you mean "ndsloader.bin"? The site says that it already has one built-in!

How can I prepend this loader using Linux? Is it just a matter of joining the files together (using "cat", probably)?

#64592 - tepples - Fri Dec 23, 2005 9:39 pm

.nds files built with newer versions of devkitARM, such as newer versions of FlashMe, have a built-in .nds loader that sits inside the GBA header (first 192 bytes). However, some GBA flash cart writing programs insist on repairing the GBA header, which breaks the loader. For these, you're going to have to prepend ndsloader.bin or ndsmall.bin or something similar.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#64600 - philip - Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:56 pm

tepples wrote:
However, some GBA flash cart writing programs insist on repairing the GBA header, which breaks the loader. For these, you're going to have to prepend ndsloader.bin or ndsmall.bin or something similar.

I hear what you're saying Tepples, but GameWallet doesn't seem to have this problem; it worked fine with the old version of FlashMe, the Transformer demo, and a couple of NeHe demos (ie. everything else I've tried it with!). It just doesn't work with the latest (NDS-FW-V5) Flashme. That would imply that something has changed between this version and my currently installed version.

#64622 - Ilomoga - Sat Dec 24, 2005 11:04 am

philip wrote:
How can I prepend this loader using Linux? Is it just a matter of joining the files together (using "cat", probably)?


To prepend the loader using Linux use "cat ndsloader.bin flashme.nds > flashme.ds.gba".
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#64670 - philip - Sat Dec 24, 2005 10:06 pm

Ilomoga wrote:

To prepend the loader using Linux use "cat ndsloader.bin flashme.nds > flashme.ds.gba".

Thanks, that works nicely! I've now successfully upgraded.

I don't know if this has been mentioned here before, but it appears that ANY playing of Mario Kart will corrupt the old firmware! I was just playing a friend on download play (no card of my own), and later found that my system wouldn't start. I fixed this with a START + SELECT + A + B restore.

So, if any of you think you can get away with not upgrading just because you aren't going to play online, think again! Don't play MKDS until you've upgraded!