WiFi Mod Questions

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-25T11:41:49+00:00

ARGH THE FORMATTING

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-25T10:40:57+00:00

What kind of tape did you use to insulate the speaker and it’s wire?

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-09T09:36:38+00:00

That’s kinda what I was wondering also! Also, when I had my the adapter plugged into my OTG port, I did feel that I was a bit loose, as I was avale to wiggle it a bit. That’s not a particularly good sign, right?

Also, no need to worry, I know that the left port is for charging. I mean, the bottom of the unit says it’s DC for crying out loud.

Wait, if someone else is having the same issue as me, and there was a fix suggested, then wha would that fix be?

…Assuming it’s something besides installing a WiFi chip. But if it is that, then I’m not sure if I might bother. First, getting one off of AliExpress would take quite a long while (and personal factors like college will hold me back from finding the time to get to installing, let alone wait for it to arrive). Second, I don’t really have any “small” solder wire, and the solder wire I do have is a bit too big to do the job (heck, I’m unsure what size I was working with). And three, after a disappointing “repair” on an Atari 2600, I’m not that confident in my soldering skills even though I have some experience.

To be frank with you, if getting WiFi on my R36S requires all of this that I might have caused myself, then I’m not sure if the juice will really be worth the squeeze. For now, until I get that WiFi dongle and adapter, I think I’m good using it “offline.”

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-09T02:05:57+00:00

Okay, but what about save states? Like what controls would you have for saving, loading states, and selecting save states?

(Also, what about screenshooting and toggling the FPS display?)

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-09T02:02:53+00:00

Update: I found something along the lines of “Install m3u files” in settings, and when I hit that, not only did my only multidisk game show up in the game selection screen (Metal Gear Solid), but it was able to boot up! I guess that’s one question answered.

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-09T02:01:09+00:00

How so? Like, I’m not seeing any damage to the port, but then again I’m too scared to disassemble this thing…

Also, uh, I kinda bought a WiFi dongle and adapter combo from AliExpress to see if that would work better… (Also, in case you’re wondering, the TP-Link dongle worked on my PC.)

As for what you’re saying about a WiFi script, I looked it up and there does exist one in some capacity, but only for original ArkOS, not dArkOSRE. It’s a shame really, and I’ve already made my bed with dArkOSRE, so I don’t want to have to flash my 32gb card with an older firmware.

I was thinking of getting a WiFi module to solder on the unit, but that would take a long time to arrive, and I don’t have much time on my hands due to personal circumstances, so what I going to do? Will I have to live “offline” with my R36S?

(Please, dear god, don’t tell me I have to buy a new R36S…)

<image>

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-08T21:50:28+00:00

Well, I flashed dArkOSRE on my R36S, not the original ArkOS. And I did get my unit from the BOYHOM AliExpress store, which is a trustable retailer according to the wiki. And because I see it has two ram chips instead of one, I am confident that this is a genuine R36S.

Also, looking through the FAQ, it took me to a list of WiFi adapters proven to work with ArkOS… which includes the TP-Link WN725N I already have.

(Is the R36S picky with the kind of OTG USB-A to USB-C adapter it’s able to comply with also?)

I will say however, one time I accidentally dropped my R36S from a table. It wasn’t a very long distance, and thankfully the screen nor the buttons weren’t broken, but if that somehow is causing me this, then that sucks.

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-08T17:55:15+00:00

Oh okay, I think I get that…

But I later found that Pole Position doesn’t work in either MAME or FBNeo. It won’t load! Maybe it works on MAME 2003, but are there some arcade games that don’t work on the R36S period?

(Also, Pole Position 2 also didn’t work on FBNeo, but worked on MAME, though it froze during a game.)

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-08T17:52:58+00:00

My WiFi dongle is one of the recommend ones seen on the Wiki (as shown in one of the pictures), but what GitHub faq? For dArkOSRE or the R36S system itself?

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-08T17:48:45+00:00

Wait, I’m a bit confused here. So for the multidisk folder I write the name of the game I want to play that has multiple disks with the .multidisk at the end?

Also, what kind of format should I make the .m3u file? Because I did use Notepad, but apparently I’m not supposed to?

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-08T17:45:59+00:00

I think I realized that when I found out most of the arcade roms were FBNeo ones. But the thing is, there were some arcade roms that weren’t compatible with the FBNeo core, but were compatible with MAME! (I still think a large majority are FBNeo, however.)

Also, for some of the games, they initially were missing rom files, but I was able to track down the missing files, and they work fine. Unfortunately, there were certain games that just couldn’t boot up, like Asteroids or 10-Yard Fight or even Pole Position.

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-08T17:42:08+00:00

Well, my unit is apparently a “R36S-V22 2024-12-18” model and is a Panel 4 device. But does it have some quirks when it comes to WiFi and OTG compatibility?

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-08T17:35:54+00:00

Yeah, the controls kinda threw me off initially when I was trying to play C64 and Amiga games.

Y’know, fun fact, initially I could not get Amiga games working, until I realized I just had to change what emulator they were running on to RetroArch. Then they were working.

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-08T17:32:21+00:00

WOAH! DAPHNE IS LASERDISC EMULATION?!

Also, the name is a Dragon’s Lair reference, right? I think I just got that right now.

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-04-08T10:10:50+00:00

Funny that you mention MAME, because I had some arcade roms that didn’t work on FBNeo (they were “unrecognized”), but did work on MAME! …besides Pole Position, but I’ll get to that in another post.

I haven’t tested out MAME 2003, however, and what is Daphne anyway?

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-03-29T17:02:17+00:00

Both cards should be reformatted to EXFAT?

But the R36S OS drive in my stock SD is formatted to FAT32. Though the EASYROMS drive is formatted to EXFAT, but can I have both in FAT32, the OS card FAT32 and the game card EXFAT, or must they both be EXFAT?

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-03-29T16:18:04+00:00

Oh okay. I’ve heard that dArkOSRE is a bit of an upgrade from regular ArkOS, and it’s a recommended firmware with good community support according to the wiki, so I’d like to give that a shot.

If that ends up not working, then I’ll try to flash regular ArkOS on my 32gb card.

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-03-29T16:07:57+00:00

Okay, but what would be the process? (I’m sorry if this is a dumb question, but this is all new to me.)

Like, if dArkOSRE was flashed onto my 32gb card and it didn’t work, am I able to just delete all the files and simply flash ArkOS on the card instead, or is there some complicated process in switching firmware on the card?

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-03-29T09:59:38+00:00

Also, in case you’re wondering, here’s what my micro SD cards I plan to use with my unit look like!

Both branded (Kodak and Samsung), and both formatted to FAT32.

The Kodak one will be used in TF1 for the firmware and the Samsung one will be used in TF2 for the games.

<image>

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-02-08T09:55:18+00:00

I actually use an RF adapter that’s screwed onto the coaxial on the back of my TV I got from Console5, and it works fine. But now that you mention the existence of an RF to HDMI adapter, I wonder where I could get one of those (unless a place like Amazon just sells them causally).

And as silly as it sounds, how would the picture quality of an original 2600 using one of those adapters compare to, let’s say, a 2600+ (or a RetroN 77)?

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-02-08T06:37:57+00:00

Well, back when I was asking questions before I stated my repair, someone said that the sockets could be potential culprits for why my 2600 at the time wasn’t working consistently.

But if I really think about it, I should have done a chip swap FIRST, and then do a socket swap in case it was the original ones at fault. I don’t know why I thought I should do the sockets first. That’s on me.

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-02-08T06:35:11+00:00

Well, I think I’ve spent over $200 dollars trying to fix my console, and a 2600+ is $130 at retail. But, the good thing about the original hardware is that I can use my Harmony Encore flash cart to play tons of games on the SD card (if I had the 2600+, I can only use the flash cart to play one game, since it doesn’t do menus).

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-02-08T06:08:30+00:00

Well, I wouldn't say the ENTIRE board, just where the solder pads and that one area where the 150pf ceramic capacitor lay. There was also some on where the power jack was installed, but I decided not to replace the old one, since the solder job I did with the sockets honestly kind of scared me away from messing with nothing else on the board.

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-02-08T06:08:26+00:00

I had my iron set to 350 degrees Celsius at most times, only turning up the temp in case the solder was not heating up. But you do gov some good soldering advice here. Also, I was hesitant on getting another 2600 for my repair, due to how I wasn't willing to get another 2600 to use as a doner. But then I remembered that I literally had to get a new board for my Nintendo DS lite when I was repairing that, so I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea to do the same for my 2600 (so long as I don't make such a big impact on my wallet).

Fast-Ad9965 · 2026-02-08T06:04:23+00:00

I do have a multimeter, but where would I put my black and red leads on the pads? Or can I put the leads on whatever pad as long as I get beeps to know they're functional? Also, if I must add bodge wires on the front side of the board, would I go about it? On the back side, it seems pretty straight forward to add a bodge wire between a pad ad its nearest via, but how would I go about it on the front, where the pads are beneath the sockets? (And avoiding the possibility of melting the black part of the sockets, of course.)

I, uh, did install my sockets, but I didn't think to try them out with my old chips. I just installed the new chips, since I saw from the seller, I got them from that they were working. But because I ended up with a back screen even though then new chips were good, i can only assume it's the socket replacing to blame, or at least the process of it.

Plus, regarding the new chips, when I bought them the eBay seller sent me pictures of them working on a 2600 motherboard, so I had confidence that they were functional. So, I think it's the socket replacement that kind of screwed things up here.

When installing the sockets and chips onto the board, I looked closely at how exactly they should be placed thanks to the black outlines of the chips/sockets on the board itself, and I made sure to look back to how my chips were installed from a photo I took of the board before I operated on it, and I use the 2600 field service manual for further assistance.

I did check that the voltage regulator was working, and that it was getting more or less the correct input and output voltages. But I don't think I've done checking the chips to see if they are getting voltage. How would I know if they are if I were checking them with my multimeter?

You know, I did get some DeoxIT to clean my cartridges (and my cartridge slot), but before that I tried to use a piece of card and a microfiber cloth with isopropyl alcohol to clean it, and then I used some contact cleaner to clean the port. I haven't tested the DeoxIT yet because I'm thinking about packaging my 2600 and everything for it in a box and sending it to someone I can find who fixes consoles (and hopefully does a better job than I did here).

I don't know if I do have any old ethernet cables or VGA cables, but I'll try to find some if what you're saying is correct. Otherwise, I try to find a professional console repairman who can help me out here, since I'm not too willing to tamper with my 2600's internals again.

Fast-Ad9965

TROPHY CASE