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DS Flash Equipment > To clear up some "Bricked DSL at Flashme 1%" thing

#84886 - nexxyz - Thu May 25, 2006 10:50 am

Hi!

I've read through various forums and various threads here, and noticed that some people in some threads know about a certain development and rescue method, and others don't.


First of all: What is a "Bricked DSL at 1%"?

With the 3rd wave of DSLs, there is a certain issue when bridging the contact for installing Flashme. That is, there is a little piece of metal to the left of the hole (when positioning the DS so that the the battery ia on top). If you touch that, your DSL will turn off. Additionally, the contact is quite hard to short in this case, so the following problem arises:

As long as you don't short it, it stays at 0%, so nothing happens, everything is safe. But once you short it and it moves upwards to 1%, meaning that you placed something conducting in the hole, chances are that you touch the metal on the side and turn off your DSL that way.


Possible ways to successfully flash your DS Lite
One workaround is to use something that only has exposed areas of conducting material at the bottom, like a screwdriver wrapped in sticky tape or put a paper roll in the hole and then use a toothpick wrapped in plastic. Or you have a very steady hand.

Another workaround is to open up your DSL and short it when it's open (taping the battery to the board for that time), since you don't run into any real danger of touching the little piece of metal then. But you need a three-wing screwdriver for that. (And don't forget the screws under the little rubber pads!)


Rescue method 1: When Flashme recovery works

For many people, even when they turned off their DSL at 1%, the standard Flashme recovery (SEL+START+A+B) still worked, in the case of supercard (and maybe other similar products) you won't see anything on the screen though, so it might be best to put only the flashme rom on your card, then start the DSL with the recovery buttons pressed, press the button(s) you would when starting the only rom on your card. Then press start (just to be safe, in case Flashme doesn't recognize your firmware), XBXB. After that you should actually see the percent counter.

Short the contact...repeat until you get it right.


Rescue method 2: When Flashme recovery doesn't work
For some people the standard recovery did not work. Like for me. But your DSL can still be saved!

Get access to another (working!) DSL, one that works (Flashme or no Flashme, no matter if you have access to a superpass or similar). Open up both DSLs (three-wing-screwdriver needed, and watch those screws under the little rubber pads).

In the upper left you will see a socketed chip with a cable running to it. Disconnect the cable (just pull it upwards or tilt if with a screwdriver, it will unplug quite easily). Take out the chip from both DSLs. A bit of sticky rubber foam will either stay on the board or stay on the chip. No matter, just make sure you put it back afterwards.

Now, put the chip from the working DSL into the broken DSL and connect the cable. Tape the battery to the board (where it should connect), start the broken DSL. Start the Flashme installer (using the Superpass if the working DSL doesn't have Flashme). Take it to the point where it asks for "XBXB" to be entered.

Now, while leaving the unit running, take out the chip again (don't forget the cable!) and put back in the broken chip. Press "XBXB", short the contacts. Tweezers worked for me, everything else did not.

When you're done, put both DSLs back togehter, and you will have two happy DSLs. If you search around, you can even find some pictures which indicate which chip is the firmware chip you would be looking for. But it is really, really easy to identify.
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Last edited by nexxyz on Thu May 25, 2006 9:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

#84908 - hahaha - Thu May 25, 2006 4:12 pm

I bricked my ds lite at about 9% and i have a supercard sd. I tried the first method, but it didnt seem to work so i want to try the method where i switch the chips. The problem is that i dont have another ds lite that i can use. Can i use the chip from my regular Nintendo DS? it's already been flashme'd. thanks for your help.

#84910 - JaJa - Thu May 25, 2006 4:19 pm

What if someone only has 1 DSLite?
Someone could set up shop and sell:
Pre-FlashMeed firmware chips, just request the old one from the person who's buying it, and then you will have enough chips.
OR
A simple programmer built onto a piece of stripboard with a parallel connection/serial connection/USB connection(not likely?) and bundle it with some simple software to flash the chip. Or just release the schematics of such a board for people to build.
OR
People will just have to start buying a MAX Media Launcher and not flashing their DSs.

Edit: @hahaha I don't think so as the old DS firmware chips aren't socketed. Maybe Nintendo know about this flashing problem and so when they refurb DSs they will just stick in a chip with the latest firmware?
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#84961 - OrR - Fri May 26, 2006 2:18 am

Using the MML is NOT a good idea because you might get your DS infected with the Bricker...

#84965 - Lynx - Fri May 26, 2006 3:21 am

Bricker isn't a virus, it's a trojan.. it doesn't infect.. But, it's the same point I ended my MML review with.. Sure, newer DSs might have 98% of the firmware secure, but there are a heck of a lot of DSs that sold prior to it being changed. Also, MML won't let you WiFiMe down the homebrew you are developing so that you don't have to write it to a flash cart 8,000 times.

We just need to change the name from "FlashMe" to "Operation DSL, The Wacky Flashing game."..

#84981 - tepples - Fri May 26, 2006 6:08 am

JaJa wrote:
Someone could set up shop and sell:
Pre-FlashMeed firmware chips

Illegal as any Xbox modchip. FlashMe is a derivative work of Nintendo firmware.

Quote:
A simple programmer built onto a piece of stripboard with a parallel connection/serial connection/USB connection(not likely?) and bundle it with some simple software to flash the chip. Or just release the schematics of such a board for people to build.

In other words, PPFlash Lite.
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#84997 - JaJa - Fri May 26, 2006 9:12 am

Did you write PPFlash Lite before or after I posted it?
And yeah, I forgot about the whole Xbox Modchip style stuff, well PPFlash Lite would appear to be the best option (or buy another DS Lite).
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#85018 - HyperHacker - Fri May 26, 2006 1:03 pm

Didn't someone mention that in another thread, and it was brought up that selling the chips with FWNITRO or other homebrew firmware would be legal?
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#85024 - Ilomoga - Fri May 26, 2006 1:54 pm

Selling DS' with Flashme would be illegal because it's a modified version of Nintendos firmware, but FWNitro isn't, so it should be legal.
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#85025 - JaJa - Fri May 26, 2006 2:29 pm

Yes, while it may be more legal than selling a derivitive of a Nintendo work, it's still no good if people _want_ FlashMe.
At the moment FWNitro doesn't contain some features that people want (no, I am not talking about graphics).
The best solution is to sell a standalone flasher, because then people can put whatever they want on their chip.
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#85030 - Ilomoga - Fri May 26, 2006 4:06 pm

Maybe selling DS Lite's with pre-flashed FWNitro isn't a solution for everyone, but for people who don't need WMB it is one (if the pre-flashed DS Lite's touchscreen is calibrated correctly ;) )
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#85041 - tepples - Fri May 26, 2006 6:33 pm

Particularly, my cousins need PictoChat and DS Download Play, neither of which the latest version of FWNITRO can do.
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#85057 - Ilomoga - Fri May 26, 2006 9:04 pm

Ah, I forgot Pictochat.

Yeah, for them that's no solution, but I already mentioned - it's not a solution for everyone but for those, who don't need this features.
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#85347 - HyperHacker - Mon May 29, 2006 6:52 am

Well the thing is once you have FWNITRO, you can install FlashMe from there. Since you have to open the DSL to put the chip in, shorting SL1 while you're in there shouldn't be a problem.
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#85350 - nexxyz - Mon May 29, 2006 7:50 am

Doesn't soldering it make it really easy for malware to brick your DS?
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#85354 - bug - Mon May 29, 2006 8:52 am

nexxyz wrote:
Doesn't soldering it make it really easy for malware to brick your DS?


If you solder SL1 and leave it soldered, then yes your DS is more vulnerable. However, you could easily solder SL1, flash the DS, then remove the solder from SL1. It doesn't have to be permanent and it's probably the best connection you can make between the two halves of SL1. If it wasn't such a huge hassle, I bet more people would do it.

#85355 - cory1492 - Mon May 29, 2006 9:02 am

How about the obvious: chips with the flashme recovery code installed but no firmware at all... although, you wont keep your MAC address with a replacement chip I'd guess.

#85375 - zzo38computer - Mon May 29, 2006 4:20 pm

tepples wrote:
Particularly, my cousins need PictoChat and DS Download Play, neither of which the latest version of FWNITRO can do.


Eventually DS Download Play and calibration will be built-in to FWNITRO, once I find a way to do that. PictoChat probably won't be built-in to FWNITRO, but if DS Download Play works, it shouldn't be too hard to make a external program for PictoChat to put in CF card and run, and still make it compatible to the Nintendo official PictoChat software.
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#85417 - HyperHacker - Tue May 30, 2006 2:28 am

cory1492 wrote:
How about the obvious: chips with the flashme recovery code installed but no firmware at all... although, you wont keep your MAC address with a replacement chip I'd guess.

Hm, a good point here. Buying a pre-flashed firmware chip means you'd lose your MAC address. It'd pretty much have to be a dump-and-modify system. Maybe it could use hotswapping? You boot up with the new chip which just contains a flashing program. Switch to the original firmware chip; it copies the MAC and user config into memory, then switch back and it writes a new firmware with this info to the new chip (or just copies all of the original firmware, patches it FlashMe-style, and writes it). Again it'd require SL1 to be shorted, but from what I hear the big problem is people shorting it against the case, and when the DS is open (to install the chip) that shouldn't be a big problem.

Selling chips flashed with only the FlashMe recovery code is a nice idea (especially if the MAC isn't in that sector), but you'd still have to short SL1 to install the rest of FlashMe unless the entire first 64K were provided, in which case you still have 1/4 of Nintendo's firmware which is probably still illegal.
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#85427 - zzo38computer - Tue May 30, 2006 4:35 am

You could do the new firmware chip the first time it start it ask for MAC address, which you have to copy from what it was before. If the DS is sold with the new chip inside already, that step can be done by the manufacture.
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#85511 - HyperHacker - Wed May 31, 2006 3:58 am

But how do you get the old MAC address?
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#85515 - tepples - Wed May 31, 2006 4:28 am

HyperHacker wrote:
But how do you get the old MAC address?

Tetris DS > Wi-Fi > Wi-Fi Settings > Options > System Information
will display a number like 00-09-BF-FB-90-00.
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#85674 - HyperHacker - Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:52 pm

Ah, cool. Looks like that's built into the standard WFC menu. (Mario Kart has it too.)
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#86205 - Critical_Impact - Mon Jun 05, 2006 1:06 pm

I have a couple of questions, theoratically should you be able to turn your DS Lite off before starting to flash by shorting SL1. I.E. in a menu. I ask this mainly because i've tried and tried but I cant seem to get my DS Lite to shut off by sticking a screwdriver in and poking it around.

Second question, i have a really small screwdriver that looks like it will bridge SL1 pretty well and i have a steady enough hand not to touch the sides on SL1, will something like this work fine when shorting SL1?

#86227 - tepples - Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:20 pm

Critical_Impact wrote:
i have a really small screwdriver that looks like it will bridge SL1 pretty well and i have a steady enough hand not to touch the sides on SL1, will something like this work fine when shorting SL1?

It should. I'd recommend some electrical tape as a precaution.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
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-- I think he moved to Tilwick.