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Naomi Net DIMM CD-R 4.03 firmware hack

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mathieulh

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Hello everyone, I just patched the 4.02 Net Dimm firmware to read CD-R from the GD-ROM (patches are based on the leaked hacked 3.17 version), I made 2 versions, one is still 4.02 (for testing purposes so you may reflash the regular hacked 4.02 back) and one as 4.03 (so that it may become the new mainstream version once sufficiently tested). I cannot test these myself as I don't have the means to reflash the dimm with hardware should anything go wrong, obviously the firmware will have all the CF support that comes with 4.02.

Keep in mind that those updates are currently untested (but should work), I do not know what's the policy about sharing those here so before doing so, I am asking admins or moderators if that's ok for me to share these here, if that's fine I will proceed, otherwise feel free to close this thread.

Since the firmware has now been successfully tested it is now time for an official release!

Here it goes, this is firmware 4.03, it does everything 4.02 does and adds CD-R support.


I still personally think netboot or CF is better/more convenient than this, but cd-r are cheap and perhaps this will be useful to some people.



UPDATE : I posted the whole release directly on github, this will make tracking changes and whatnot easier, it's also cleaner than some mega.nz link.

https://github.com/mathieulh/SEGA_DIMM_CD-R
 
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Don't the games have media checks? I think I had heard that the "leaked hacked firmware", was just simply never released because the in game media checks fails.
 
Niko said:
Don't the games have media checks? I think I had heard that the "leaked hacked firmware", was just simply never released because the in game media checks fails.
Click to expand...
There is a media/Security key check that occurs every hour. I also made a test firmware that might have removed this check, then again, I can't test it myself so I don't know if it works.
 
Well, since @Darksoft gave me the go ahead, here is the share containing the hacked firmwares; make sure you read the readme. Again they are currently untested (mostly because I can't safely test any of them).
As per the usual disclaimer, I won't be hold accountable if you DIMM board suddenly catches on fire.

UPDATE: Please use the proper release link here: https://mega.nz/file/Nx83gKpR#J-PhRFJLe0PhFCske6Z6ZFE-vOJu3NJ5RilBqvp4U_g
 
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This is a port of the 3.17 CD-R Dimm firmware patched originally done by ElSemi to the version 4.02
Click to expand...
if its just a port of Elsemi's patch then worth to point out - it require specially baked CD / images, where actual data session will start at LBA 45000, same as original GD-ROMs HD area.
 
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MetalliC said:
This is a port of the 3.17 CD-R Dimm firmware patched originally done by ElSemi to the version 4.02
Click to expand...
if its just a port of Elsemi's patch then worth to point out - it require specially baked CD / images, where actual data session will start at LBA 45000, same as original GD-ROMs HD area.
Click to expand...
Indeed, I reused his patches (which remove the media checks), so you'd need to use the same tools that were leaked to craft a proper CD image.
 
mathieulh said:
Has anyone eventually tested this?
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Surprised nobody has bitten, if only out of curiosity rather than practical need!

I’m tempted to say ‘screw it’ and just try it, but I have no interest in attempting to de-solder, reprogram, and re-solder the flash chip to recover it if it goes tits up. I don’t have a back-up DIMM either. ||
 
Hi there.

Should this process work only with netdimm or could it also work with dimm
I have a dimm that I want to update to 4.02 to use a cf kit and I already bought the M29W160EB70N6E to do the process, I'm just waiting for the component arrive to start the update.
Anyway, I will need to unsolder, reprogram and solder the flash chip so I am willing to test this way w/ my gd-rom drive because I find it simpler than the process
of unsoldering, programming, resolding the flash chip.
If it goes wrong I do the conventional process and recover the dimm.
 
GarouSP said:
Hi there.

Should this process work only with netdimm or could it also work with dimm
I have a dimm that I want to update to 4.02 to use a cf kit and I already bought the M29W160EB70N6E to do the process, I'm just waiting for the component arrive to start the update.
Anyway, I will need to unsolder, reprogram and solder the flash chip so I am willing to test this way w/ my gd-rom drive because I find it simpler than the process
of unsoldering, programming, resolding the flash chip.
If it goes wrong I do the conventional process and recover the dimm.
Click to expand...
This firmware would run on all DIMM boards, not just net dimm.
 
It appears that to burn de cd, there is a unique method, not just put on the drive and burn, do you know what I should do or point to some instructions?
 
I flashed my net DIMM with 4.03 with CD-R support, and then 4.03 with CD-R support and ‘possible’ media check time bomb fix.

The good news is my net DIMM didn’t brick!

I’ve had some success; only with loading and running a game from a CD-R containing an encrypted game binary using original PIC with the key for that game.

While the game loaded and ran, I chose not to test the one-hour media check time bomb fix at this point as I wanted to attempt to get decrypted games loading from CD-R.

As it stands, I’ve not yet managed to load a game from a CD-R containing a decrypted game binary with a zero-key PIC (Error 21).

I’ve shared my findings so far with mathieulh. I’ll try and get some more testing done over the weekend if time allows.
 
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