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Darksoft Neo Multi Help thread

That BIOS is fine.

In the Darksoft Multi menu, you can change the region of the motherboard and even flag it into AES (console) mode (two very useful features).

A big majority of people use Unibios (http://unibios.free.fr). Personally I find it crashes a lot with multis and causes more issues than it's worth as I'm really only interested in loading the games and getting on with playing.

I'll send one in the mail to you with your stuff if I have a spare chip, if your BIOS isn't socketed, you'll have to desolder the BIOS and put a socket in, or just solder the Unibios in.

re: Windjammers, try a different region, just in case. Or another motherboard also to isolate the issue. It might also be worth refreshing your backups, or trying another SD card also.
 
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Had this working for years with no issue but decided to run the updates mostly to try out Golden Axe on MVS, just looks cool.

Updated firmware, no problem.
Tried to update the menu , turned on with no cart, cleared RAM, insert cart, let it boot get this screen after checking file system:

1782251315466.png



It just sits there forever. If I hit the select game button (its 1 slot mobo in a 2 slot cabinet) then it has text in the box that says "checking games" which sits there forever instead.

Ideas?
 
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What happens if you delete the BUFF file from the SD card?
 
Got this:

1782251257138.png



rebooted and now its stuck on "initializing file system"

EDIT: left it on for a few then went back down to a black screen. Hit game select button again, goes to checking games then black screen. Did the game folder names change or something?

Assuming next step is format card then copy the roms over again?
 
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Yes, as a next step I would try to format the card.
 
Yes reformat or try a new card. One day we will realize how shitty microSD cards actually are as a storage medium. They fail constantly for no reason. I dont know how many cards I have that suddenly become read-only and cant be fixed....
 
Reformat yielded the same results but I stood there waiting and saw the screen flash up "file system not ready" before getting stuck on checking for games. I just formatted a fresh card and Im copying some roms over, and the update/menu folder. Doing the menu update because I dont know how that works with a card full of just roms and no games/menu. I'll update this post when I get a breathe to run down to the basement with the new card. I'm remembering now why I left the setup alone for years :)

Appreciate the help.

Just to be sure, when you hit ABC together ont he RAM clear screen, its supposed to go to the calendar setup screen when you release the buttons, right? This is the only part that I might be borking so I figured I'd ask.

EDIT: Same results, stuck at scanning games. Im reverting back 1 menu revision to test even though I really wanted to try out xevious

EDIT #2 : tried another card (the last SDHC I have) fresh format went back 1 revision with the menu. Card is being read because the update folder is being emptied. Still stuck at "checking games"

LeFuck :(
 
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Malenko said:
Reformat yielded the same results but I stood there waiting and saw the screen flash up "file system not ready" before getting stuck on checking for games. I just formatted a fresh card and Im copying some roms over, and the update/menu folder. Doing the menu update because I dont know how that works with a card full of just roms and no games/menu. I'll update this post when I get a breathe to run down to the basement with the new card. I'm remembering now why I left the setup alone for years :)

Appreciate the help.

Just to be sure, when you hit ABC together ont he RAM clear screen, its supposed to go to the calendar setup screen when you release the buttons, right? This is the only part that I might be borking so I figured I'd ask.

EDIT: Same results, stuck at scanning games. Im reverting back 1 menu revision to test even though I really wanted to try out xevious

EDIT #2 : tried another card (the last SDHC I have) fresh format went back 1 revision with the menu. Card is being read because the update folder is being emptied. Still stuck at "checking games"

LeFuck :(
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This looks to me clearly as a memory card problem or microSD slot, but if it makes the update then that part is good. I still think that your microSD is not good. Can you send me a picture of it? Is it SDHC? Thanks.
 
The 8 GB is the one thats been in there for years. The 16GB was in a pi4 ; both worked after testing in the MVS back in the pi. Tolerances might be better or something?
1782426690779.png



Lucky for me its prime day/week, so I ordered up these:
1782426756748.png


I'll edit this post after I have a chance to test, they literally just got delivered.


EDIT: Same as before. Put menu update files in the update/menu folder , card gets processed (update folder is emptied) , stuck at checking games.
brand new card, FAT32 with only 1 game on it , 3countb with this in the folder
1782427684711.png
 
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That should rule out the microSD as source of problem. When you updated firmware. Did you put all 3 files? flash.img, top and cpld? Did all get deleted?
When did you buy the cart?
 
I recently bought USB drives:
- smallish capacity 16GB (not those crazy "1 TB for £20" obvious scams)
- known brand (Verbatim)
- from "official store" on Amazon
- came in official looking packaging

I originally intended them for Gotek/Flash Floppy use, but I needed to reinstall Windows on a laptop and had nothing but problems. Validrive ( https://www.grc.com/validrive.htm ) detected most storage missing on ALL of them:
1782464736928.png

This is in a Windows 10 machines, so that should be supported without problems. Thankfully Verbatim replaced them for me, but it took a while. Amazon has only something like 14 days return window for storage media, so if you get scammed you are usually #@%$'ed. The replaced drives came out all green.

Apparently the scam works by just having a tiny amount of flash to store the file system and a few files, once you are above the limit it reuses blocks and destroys previous files. Scammers send their stock to Amazon with the same UPC code as the official product, so it gets mixed in with original stock.

What I mean is: Even if you buy storage with the right performance rating, from a known brand, at a reasonable price, from an official store, you may still get junk that breaks in your application.
 
Darksoft said:
That should rule out the microSD as source of problem. When you updated firmware. Did you put all 3 files? flash.img, top and cpld? Did all get deleted?
When did you buy the cart?
Click to expand...
Yes, those 3 files all deleted after the update. When it was complete I then tried to update the menu right after.

Very first run of carts. Should I try to reflash the update?
 
How good are you with the iron? Can you replace one or two smd chips?
 
Hi everyone, long time user of the DS cart, no issues so far, however I am not sure how to use those new game roms that we are getting (Knight's Chance rom, Looptris, hyperloop, Captain Barrel, etc.). Do we only have 4 homebrew directories and that's it? or how can I manage them to use them in the cart? ado they have specific directories that we can use? Thanks for the help.
 
Darksoft said:
I must apologize but I will everything I can to release a new version of the menu before November.
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No worries man, thanks for all you have done. The cart is still very good, just that minor detail is different from all other multicarts I have. I will use homebrew directories for now.
 
How does one run homebrew games? The instructions aren't clear. I'd like to be able to try Golden Axe on the Neo Geo, for one.
 
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