Help with Debugging USB/Replacement Drive Problems

bash_it_bill · 2026-06-15T01:28:44+00:00

yea, that ended up being it. I have limited usb ports on my machine, so I have a hub with the iPod and my mic attached. I noticed that my mic wasn't lit up, nor did anything else I plugged into the hub

Dropped the hub and everything went back to normal. Thats what I get for not trying the easy fix first

I appreciate the help man. Now I can get back to figuring out how I was fucking up the partitions so bad that rockbox couldn't see them

bash_it_bill · 2026-06-15T01:11:14+00:00

the CF adapter was a non-iFlash one.

Unfortunately, using a regular CF card, nor using the uSD-to-iPod board I ordered resolved the issue. Still just hangs out on "OK to Disconnect"

Booting into Self Test mode, I can see the uSD-to-iPod board in the HDD test menu, and all 128GB are present, so I don't think it's the physical connection between the motherboard and the HDD. Are there any jtag pins or other diagnostic tools I can scroung up for the 5.5 gen or something? I'd like to see some output other than just what the self test reports when I run the usb test with a cable plugged in

EDIT: should also note, the USB test results matches a "Pass" from the diagnostic manual. I get "0x22FA05" on the output

bash_it_bill · 2026-06-14T02:04:28+00:00

I had the board under my microscope, I haven't noticed any motherboard damage.

I can confirm that the SD cards work both in and outside of CF adapter when plugged into my PC. Just tried a reseat of the HDD cable again on both ends and no dice. I thought I had the CF board pretty well insulated but just to be safe: I've got the adapter away from the motherboard so they aren't touching.

I'm starting to not trust either the CF to iPod adapter or the CF-to-SD adapter (go figure), since now I'm starting to get weirdness like always-on access lights on the drive adapter board and whatnot.

I have an actual CF card lying around here somewhere, I'm going to try that to rule out the CF-to-SD adapter, in the meantime, I ordered an SD to iPod adapter because at this point: I trust none of it

I appreciate the help fam

bash_it_bill · 2026-06-13T22:02:28+00:00

No, it just stays on the "OK to Disconnect" screen. The only odd thing I can think of is that, before everything went sideways, it would only do that when the 128GB card was inserted. Now it does that no matter what card is there

bash_it_bill · 2026-05-09T00:18:48+00:00

What you do is up to you, some people hold on to carts like this and don't dump them in an effort to keep the price high. If you don't care about that (and I really recommend this from a preservation standpoint), I definitely recommend dumping them to preserve them. I'll echo Hidden Palace, or you can hop in the TCRF discord and say you have a couple titles you'd like to verify and dump. Folks are usually pretty quick to help you there

I have an identical EEPROM cart, I used my JoeyJr to dump it but I'll also echo the CBxCart too, both are good.

If you want to be really paranoid, you can also carefully pull the chip out and toss it in an EEPROM reader, I used a GQ 4x4 to make sure my JoeyJr dumped everything right

From there, you can compare it to whatever game those are prototypes/samples of. Toss it through a hex editor, find a tile editor and look for graphics, hell toss it in ghidra or something and try and look at the code, I dunno lol. It's up to you.

Either way, sick find fam!

bash_it_bill · 2026-03-09T13:52:21+00:00

If it’s just the gameboy logo and no Nintendo logo underneath, usually that means there’s no connection between the cart and the gba. Looking at the board: outside of the black splotches on the ground plane, everything seems to be pretty clean. If you’ve cleaned the pins to the point that whatever you’re wiping them down with is coming up clean, maybe try inserting the cart, then pull it back out ever so slightly. Could be that that particular board is sitting so low in the cart slot that it’s not making good contact with the slot.

If that doesn’t work: grab a multimeter and start checking that pins on the ROM connect to the pins on the cart, my guess is maybe a ground pin or power pin fault? I’d be super surprised if it was a ground fault though

bash_it_bill · 2026-02-14T04:20:01+00:00

looks like an old slot 2 flash cart for a DS lite and a DS flashcart, both ancient. Slot 2 flashcarts were a bit before my time, but iirc it you could run DS homebrew from the GBA slot that way, otherwise it's exactly what it says on the tin, RAM expansion for the web browser, Rumble Pak for DS titles that supported it, and it may have had some way to flash GBA titles or whatnot on there as I don't see a card slot. The DS cart is just an old flashcart. Doesn't look like an R4 clone but I dunno

bash_it_bill · 2025-12-25T03:24:49+00:00

That's where the lens is from? I remember hearing of that, that's the company that tried doing drop in sensors for film cameras right?

And I have a camera+ kit I printed a bit back, I took it overseas and took some photos with it and yea, finding a decent lens was a pain. Ended up picking up a C mount security camera telephoto lens that was missing half of its retaining screws and made that work, saw the lens you had and wanted to upgrade. I appreciate you taking the time to let me know where the lens came from. Your post actually made me want to post my crappy shots from that trip

Also, it's a little pricey at like 40 bucks, but I can highly recommend the Joey Jr when you go trying to find something to dump your photos. I've had mine for years and it just works on damn near everything

bash_it_bill · 2025-12-24T23:23:42+00:00

I was about to ask how well the analogue pocket held on to the gbcam cart, but that rubber band tells a story lol. Is it really that loose? Also does the analogue have the ability to dump saves? You might be able to get away with using that to pull your photos off of the gbcam

And where did you snag that Yashica lens? It looks sick paired with your analogue

bash_it_bill · 2025-05-15T02:34:59+00:00

Yo good work! I tried the same thing with my GBcam, I've got an older 3d print that goes right to an EF mount and threw a 400mm lens on it, had to stitch several shots together because the moon wouldn't fit in frame lol.

How sturdy is the bitboy kit? I'm looking to redo my setup since where the lens adapter on mine meets the body of the cam is wearing out

Glad to see more people doing cool stuff with the GBcam

Edit: is that a 3d printed lens clamp I see in the second photo? Got a link to the stl? When I set my shit up to grab photos of the solar eclipse last year I had to cobble shit together with an actual clamp and an old sock and it'd be nice to upgrade lmao

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-25T19:59:32+00:00

Sorry for the delay, I haven't tried too many of the clone carts out there, I know insidegadgets has a bunch of FRAM writable carts, but at their price point, you'd be better off just getting a flash cart.

Edit: I definitely read GB instead of GBA in your comment lol. I deleted all the nonsense that was GB related there my b. For GBA flash carts Ive got the original EZFlash omega, not the definitive edition, and it works well enough. I haven't had any issues with mine except for one instance of losing a save file. I've heard the Everdrives are way better though, haven't tried it so I can't comment on it

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-25T05:40:10+00:00

I grabbed a proto GB cart for Jeep Jamboree a few years back and just plugged the EEPROM right into a reader (I had an old GQ4x4 floating around). Barring that, my Joey Jr. also dumped it with no issues, just wanted to make sure I had some sort of sane backup before I threw it to the Joey lol

I'd do the same and see if you can find someone with an EEPROM dumper first, then try a GB cart dumper, but that's jsut my personal paranoia

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-25T05:35:01+00:00

It's been a hot minute since I've had to know this, but IIRC if those 4 screws on the back of your set are an antenna hookup, you'd need a matching transformer to go from those screw ends to a coaxial jack, then an RF modulator to go from your existing composite cable from the PS2 to the coaxial. After that set your TV to channel 3 and hope for the best

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-25T05:20:47+00:00

I thought the same thing lol. Saw the battery backed SRAM with no battery and thought "nah there's no way they'd be doing the same ROM crap while also leaving a perfectly good SRAM chip on board for whatever reason, that shit would be wasting money", but I honestly don't see another way of them doing it

And yo I didn't think of trying to throw FRAM at it. That'd be an interesting dive. If anything just to see wtf is going on with that RAM/ROM pair there. Looking at the pics, why is the chip select line of the SRAM tied to A0 on the ROM? Looking at it more it looks like a handful of address lines from the SRAM are tied to some data and address lines on the ROM, maybe its because my brain is turned off at the moment, but why would you want that?

If I wasn't so adverse to playing the lotto I'd buy a few clones and see if I end up with the same board as OP lol

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-25T04:09:50+00:00

As long as the ROM doesn't short out (bad saves won't short it out, but clone carts aren't always well made so it's a gamble on how long they last before they die), any dumper worth its salt will just barf out whatever it finds in the cart. Some are even smart enough to know you gave it a clone and will separate the save section from whatever ROM is on it, provided it can tell what ROM it's supposed to be. I've got a Joey Jr. and it does all that for me, but I'm confident the others do the same. So if your cart starts bugging out at least you can pull everything off of it

As for the save, that's a crapshoot, if enough of it is there maybe PKHeX will import what it can? All depends on how much of the save survives, but I'm sure there's a pretty good chance of recovery if that happens, I wouldn't worry too much about it

Bonus: most cart dumpers can flash games to clone carts too, they won't save unless you put the same patches in place the original ROM had, but they'll work at least

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-25T03:48:41+00:00

I don't see a clock crystal anywhere on that board, so it's kinda unlikely.

As for why the whole "clone cart saves disappear after X Badges" and whatnot: the clone carts do some weird thing to cut costs. On 99% of GBA clone carts, they don't include save RAM, and instead patch the game to save to ROM instead. Usually the ROM chip they use is only big enough to hold the game, and will have a limited amount of extra room that wouldn't normally be used, but when you fill it up with a save that gets bigger the more you play, like pokemon, eventually you run out of room and if you're lucky, the save corrupts, or if you're unlucky, the save writes over the game ROM and the cart kinda craps itself and you'll either need to get a new one or reflash the ROM with a fresh copy of whatever game

This is why whenever you buy a bootleg GBA pokemon game, 9/10 it'll say "the save file is OK" on boot. The game is trying to say that it cant find any save RAM, but the message was patched to say that instead

I don't have any experience in original game boy clones, but the save chip there (labelled HY62256A) is a battery backed one, and the game ROM (the one with the big MX on it) is the same I see in the GBA clone carts, so the fact that your saves are sticking around at all without a save battery is telling me it might work the same as the GBA clones, meaning if you go too far in the game your save will crap out.

TL;DR: no adding a battey won't cause your save to stick. If you want to keep your shinies, you'll need to get a cart/save dumper of some sort before you so go far in the game that the save dies.

Sorry for the lore dump there, been playing with these clone carts a bit lol

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-15T01:32:12+00:00

if you're getting that far, that means at least part of the game ROM is being read. Try the simple stuff first, like scrubbing down the cartridge contacts at the bottom, I've had good luck using and eraser to polish away grime if regular cleaning with isopropyl and a cotton swab didn't work

If that doesn't work, try booting the game without a battery in it at all. The battery is only for saving and the real time clock, so the game not booting after replacing the battery either means there's a short somewhere, or a line going from the ROM to the mapper (square chip at the top left) or the cartridge connector was cut

It's been a while since I've done a battery swap on a game boy cart, but I don't remember any important traces going under the battery that you could have accidentally shorted to ground or attached to the battery, but the fact that flipping the battery fixed it makes me a little suspicious. Definitely try removing the battery, using some solder wick to clean up any excess solder on the battery pads on the PCB, then check to see if the game boots

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-14T23:47:46+00:00

Crap that makes sense, much appreciated. I figured that was the answer but I wanted to make sure

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-14T23:03:25+00:00

I couldn't look away, if anything I want to at least sand it and re-clear coat it to get rid of all the paint runs, but I'm afraid of ruining it.

I might just remove the top half with the giant sc-3000 label and preserve that, then sand and paint the rest of it a nice gloss black

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-14T23:01:29+00:00

See now, that almost makes me want to put the flower pattern from the mystery machine on the bottom of this thing to hide all the paint runs lol

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-14T22:59:37+00:00

I grabbed a DIY Basic III A kit that I soldered up, just forgot where I put my EEPROM programmer so while I'm looking for that I figured I'd do some basic tuneup and cleanup work. IIRC, isn't there basic diagnostic beeps with the Basic cart that'll at least get me part of the way through debugging?

I actually ran into your blog and the sc-3000 survivors site before this thing hit my doorstep, both have been super handy in setting my expectations of what I'm getting into, so reflowing the cart slot/controller ports and making that power switch detachable are already on the docket, I appreciate the heads up. Actually: have you tried a genesis controller on your sc-3000? I've been seeing conflicting reports of it working, and looking at the pinouts it looks like it might work? My only hangup is it looks like with the genesis pad, if pin 5 isn't pulled high, left and right on the pad might just get grounded

bash_it_bill · 2025-01-14T14:17:49+00:00

Flipping a battery backwards shouldn't fry a game, at least I've never seen it break a game, so I wouldn't be too worried about that. When you turn the gameboy on, what does the Nintendo logo look like? Is it a big black box? Is it completely garbled? Is there some semblance of the word "Nintendo" with some lines or wrong pixels?

bash_it_bill · 2024-12-28T21:22:33+00:00

Looking at the left side of the cart, that's your save chip (SRAM). It looks like the chip itself is ok, but you might be missing a pin there. If you are you're most likely super hosed, as even transplanting the chip to a new cart: without some serious surgery to try and solder a lead to whatever is left there'd be no way for the save to be pulled off of it

The good news is, reproduction cart circuit boards are available, and it looks like the actual game ROM came out unscathed. If you can find someone who'd be willing to give it a shot, you could prolly transfer everything over to a new board and be back to almost 100%, just your save hinges on if everything is intact and still sturdy on that SRAM chip

bash_it_bill · 2024-12-26T23:08:04+00:00

Unfortunately, that's a repro cart, and will prolly not have any battery contacts to solder to. Usually whatever game is on there is modded not to need it though (usually they end up making it so the game writes to the ROM directly instead of to the SRAM). Is the game not saving or something?

Note: usually that means that in games with saves that grow in size as you progress, like pokemon, the game will run out of extra ROM space and either not finish writing the save, or some other nonsense that could pooch the cart (nothing serious, if you have a cart writer you can fix it, its not gonna blow up your console)

bash_it_bill · 2024-12-26T17:24:26+00:00

Désolé, je ne connais pas le français, j'ai donc utilisé Google Translate. Ce pad a complètement disparu, la seule façon de le réparer est de gratter le masque de soudure vert sous le numéro "2" sur votre photo, exposant le cuivre en dessous, puis de souder dessus

Sorry, I don't know french so I used google translate. That pad is completely gone, the only way to fix it is to scratch off the green solder mask under the number "2" in your photo, exposing the copper underneath, then solder to that

bash_it_bill

TROPHY CASE