Question about a GBA Flash Cart

[Anthony1]

I have a EZ Flash II 512mb flash cart. I bought it off somebody on these forums about a year or so ago. It's worked fine until recently when it started to get kinda sketchy on me. I figured I just needed to clean the contacts with a Q-Tip and some rubbing alcohol, but that didn't do the trick. So I thought maybe I needed to reformat the cart or something.

So I went ahead and reformatted it, only one problem.... I no longer have the program that allows me to put multiple things on the cart. I completely forgot to save that before reformatting it. How do I go about getting the program back that will allow me to have multiple things on there with a menu and that I can select them from?

 

[marsteam]

ez flash client software... here you go (scroll to the bottom):
http://www.jandaman.com/Merchant2/m...VGA&screen=PROD&product_code=gbaezflashII1gig
or
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?dlcategory=45
by 'acting' up'... do you mean you are losing saves? it might be acting up if the rechargeable battery has been drained too long. you might be able to recondition it by charging it and running it on AC power. if not, you might have to get a replacement battery and solder that in.

 

[duo_r]

My batter went out and had to solder a new one in. This was 2 years ago, so no surprise if yours is bad. It has been fine since then.

 

[zxtec]

My batter went out and had to solder a new one in. This was 2 years ago, so no surprise if yours is bad. It has been fine since then.

Do you remember what battery type/model or volts you used for a replacement? I have a ez flash 1 with the original battery since 2003 and im sure I will have to replace it soon. I didn't see any markings or type written on the battery. Thanks

 

[duo_r]

I don't , I will try to find the guide. i guess the newer ones have a rechargeable battery. I believe mine was like the 2032 type but not for certain. i don't want to open mine up and risk disconnecting / killing my saves. But if I can see it through the transparent case I will let u know. U sure it isn't market? Try removing and looking underneath.

 

[Anthony1]

Damn, no matter what I do, I can't seem to get this cart to work again. When I first got it, everything worked just fine. But in the last several months, it's given me nothing but problems. I'll try to describe how things happened so that maybe somebody could recommend a solution for me.


Ok, starting a couple of months ago, I would turn on my GBA SP and try to select a game, and I would see the list of games on the cart, highlight a particular game and press A, but the screen would just go white. Nothing would happen other than the screen going white. Then I would turn off the GBA SP, and turn it back on. Then I would go to the list and choose a different game. Highlight it and press A. It would appear to be working for a couple of seconds, but then it would make a strange noise and freeze up. So I would turn off the GBA SP again, turn it back on again, and try another game. Every once in awhile, a certain game would work perfectly fine, like nothing was wrong. This made me think that something was corrupted in the software or something, and I needed to erase everything and start over.

So, I was using one of the EZ CLient software things (not sure which version), and one of the options was to reformat the cart. I figured that would be a good idea, because it would give me a fresh start. Maybe it would solve all the problems. So I refreshed the cart. Only problem was, it erased everything, and when I tried to use the EZ Client thing again, for some reason I could only put a single game on the cart.

The strange thing about this, is that although I could only put 1 game on the cart, it would normally work. I would say out of 10 times attempting to get it to work, it would work 6 out of the 10 times. Of course, it was kinda of a waste to be using a 512mb cart for only one game, but at least it would seem to work more often than not.

So, after awhile, I thought that I have to get it back where I can put multiple games and have the menu and everything. So I did the original post for this thread. I then went and downloaded EZ Client 3.26 (which seemed extremely similar to the previous one I was using). I tried messing around with it, and was able to get multiple games on the cart again. So I tested it out, and put like 6 different games on the cart. When I turned on the GBA SP, it gave me the EZ FLash screen, then I pressed start, and then I got the menu with the 6 games listed. Each time I tried one of the games by highlighting and pressing A, I would just get a white screen. I tried it a bunch of different times. Erased all those roms and put different roms on there. Didn't seem to matter.

So, I basically decided that this cart is broken in some way, and my best bet (other than throwing it away and taking a total loss on it), is just to try to get it back to where I could only put a single game on it, but at least the single game would work 60 percent of the time.

Unfortunately, I don't know how I got it to only use a single game, because I can't seem to get that to work again. I tried doing it with EZ Client 3.26, but everytime I put just one rom on there, I still get the menu. It would be the menu with only 1 game listed, but it would still have the menu. Before, when I had the one game working 60 percent of the time, when I turned on my GBA SP, there wouldn't be any menu whatsoever. It was like it was just the game itself, and the game would immediately start up or it wouldn't. (normally it would work about 60 percent of the time).

So now, I'm basically stuck like chuck, cause I can't seem to get it back to that single game mode, and for whatever reason, any time I have the blue EZ FLASH screen with yellowish-orange lettering come up when I first turn on my GBA SP, I know that it isn't going to work. No matter what I do, when I select a game, I just get a blank white screen.

Any ideas?

 

[duo_r]

I know the exact problem you are talking about. The issue is the EZ flash cart is a little thinner plastic than a normal GBA game. Have you noticed it is pretty loose in the SP? Compare that to a standard GBA game. Do you have an original GBA system? Have you noticed that it plays just fine in that? One thing you can do is put a little black electrical tape on the back of the GBA flash cart. This will help with the thin cartridge issue. I have other ideas I will post up later. But I know exactly what u are talking about.

Damn, no matter what I do, I can't seem to get this cart to work again. When I first got it, everything worked just fine. But in the last several months, it's given me nothing but problems. I'll try to describe how things happened so that maybe somebody could recommend a solution for me.


Ok, starting a couple of months ago, I would turn on my GBA SP and try to select a game, and I would see the list of games on the cart, highlight a particular game and press A, but the screen would just go white. Nothing would happen other than the screen going white. Then I would turn off the GBA SP, and turn it back on. Then I would go to the list and choose a different game. Highlight it and press A. It would appear to be working for a couple of seconds, but then it would make a strange noise and freeze up. So I would turn off the GBA SP again, turn it back on again, and try another game. Every once in awhile, a certain game would work perfectly fine, like nothing was wrong. This made me think that something was corrupted in the software or something, and I needed to erase everything and start over.

So, I was using one of the EZ CLient software things (not sure which version), and one of the options was to reformat the cart. I figured that would be a good idea, because it would give me a fresh start. Maybe it would solve all the problems. So I refreshed the cart. Only problem was, it erased everything, and when I tried to use the EZ Client thing again, for some reason I could only put a single game on the cart.

The strange thing about this, is that although I could only put 1 game on the cart, it would normally work. I would say out of 10 times attempting to get it to work, it would work 6 out of the 10 times. Of course, it was kinda of a waste to be using a 512mb cart for only one game, but at least it would seem to work more often than not.

So, after awhile, I thought that I have to get it back where I can put multiple games and have the menu and everything. So I did the original post for this thread. I then went and downloaded EZ Client 3.26 (which seemed extremely similar to the previous one I was using). I tried messing around with it, and was able to get multiple games on the cart again. So I tested it out, and put like 6 different games on the cart. When I turned on the GBA SP, it gave me the EZ FLash screen, then I pressed start, and then I got the menu with the 6 games listed. Each time I tried one of the games by highlighting and pressing A, I would just get a white screen. I tried it a bunch of different times. Erased all those roms and put different roms on there. Didn't seem to matter.

So, I basically decided that this cart is broken in some way, and my best bet (other than throwing it away and taking a total loss on it), is just to try to get it back to where I could only put a single game on it, but at least the single game would work 60 percent of the time.

Unfortunately, I don't know how I got it to only use a single game, because I can't seem to get that to work again. I tried doing it with EZ Client 3.26, but everytime I put just one rom on there, I still get the menu. It would be the menu with only 1 game listed, but it would still have the menu. Before, when I had the one game working 60 percent of the time, when I turned on my GBA SP, there wouldn't be any menu whatsoever. It was like it was just the game itself, and the game would immediately start up or it wouldn't. (normally it would work about 60 percent of the time).

So now, I'm basically stuck like chuck, cause I can't seem to get it back to that single game mode, and for whatever reason, any time I have the blue EZ FLASH screen with yellowish-orange lettering come up when I first turn on my GBA SP, I know that it isn't going to work. No matter what I do, when I select a game, I just get a blank white screen.

Any ideas?

 

[Anthony1]

I know the exact problem you are talking about. The issue is the EZ flash cart is a little thinner plastic than a normal GBA game. Have you noticed it is pretty loose in the SP? Compare that to a standard GBA game. Do you have an original GBA system? Have you noticed that it plays just fine in that? One thing you can do is put a little black electrical tape on the back of the GBA flash cart. This will help with the thin cartridge issue. I have other ideas I will post up later. But I know exactly what u are talking about.

Hmmm. That's interesting. But if that's the case, then why was the cart working perfectly up until a couple of months ago? To be honest, I bought this cart almost 2 years ago now, and actually didn't use it all that much during the first year and a half, but everytime I used it, it worked with no problems whatsoever. Only in the last 3 or 4 months have I been having problems with it. I would think that if what you are describing was the case, that it would have been doing that since the very beginning.


I don't have a normal GBA, so I unfortunately can't test it with that, but I'll try to find somebody locally that has one and see if I can test it on theirs. I have tried this cart in several other GBA SP's, and the result was exactly the same.

 

[duo_r]

try the tape idea, guarantee it fixes. Yes i also noticed it with other SP systems.

 

[duo_r]

I know what you are saying, my opinion not the highest quality design as far as the casing. My theory is this was designed for the original GBA (it came out when the original model was out). The new SP is a hair wider cart opening, for normal GBA games this wasn't noticeable or an issue. But for this EZ flash cart, while it worked fine on the original GBA, it is very loose in SP.

Now I hear ya, mine worked fine on my normal SP for like 6 months, then one day I started having these problems. I actually put a little "sticker" on the back of my GBA cart (come to think electrical tape might be TOO thick) and that was just enough to stop the problems. What I ended up doing was using the GBA movie player (which has a cart slot) and that works without stickers or anything. My theory - after using the cart for a while maybe the plastic housing and pins get a little worn just enough for them not to make good contact. Trust me, that is the problem. Also - the SP your fingers tend to float where the cart is, I would notice that the slightest touch and this cart would go bonkers. Funny thing is I dealt with this issue this morning, I popped in my GBA without using the movie player adapter, and it wouldnt load a game. I used my finger to bend the cart back, it worked fine. It is a POS design when used with SP.

But if that's the case, then why was the cart working perfectly up until a couple of months ago?

 

[Anthony1]

I tried putting tape on the back but it didn't seem to change anything. Is there anyway you can show me a pic of the tape you put on the back of yours? I'm interested in seeing how much tape you used and where exactly did you put the tape on the back of the cart.


Also, any idea if it would be possible to open up a regular retail GBA cart, remove the innards, and swap with the innards of the Flash cart? I have no idea if this would actually be possible, because I don't have the correct kind of screwdriver to open up a GBA cart or the flash cart. I need to get one of those little screwdriver things.

 

[duo_r]

I put a PS1 memory card sticker on the back of my GBA flashcart. I don't think I cut it, it was just the right amount of thickness. I took it off tho once I started using the Movie player to dock my GBA flash cart. I dont think a normal GBA case would work, because I think i tried that once. Something about it not fitting (can't remember). I did try my GBA flash on a DS, no problems there.

I tried putting tape on the back but it didn't seem to change anything. Is there anyway you can show me a pic of the tape you put on the back of yours? I'm interested in seeing how much tape you used and where exactly did you put the tape on the back of the cart.


Also, any idea if it would be possible to open up a regular retail GBA cart, remove the innards, and swap with the innards of the Flash cart? I have no idea if this would actually be possible, because I don't have the correct kind of screwdriver to open up a GBA cart or the flash cart. I need to get one of those little screwdriver things.

 

[Anthony1]

I still can't seem to get this flash cart to work. For awhile I could get one game to work, but now it doesn't want to load up anymore. I either get an all white screen, or an all black screen. Everyonce in awhile a game will appear to be loading up like normal, but then I will hear some strange sounds, like a sound effect in the game that keeps skipping like a CD skipping or something.

I tried the tape thing, and I also heard about people putting a thin piece of paper behind the contacts (on the cart). I tried that as well, but nothing seems to be working.

I'm guessing I'll just have to look for a new flash cart. Does anybody have any recommendations for a particular flash cart that seems to work consistently with the GBA SP?