Supercard <-> Nintendo DS - The truth...

GBAFreak · April 12, 2005, 03:52:07 PM

Just read the Nintendo DS topic, and I think I can bring some light into the darkness. I know that I should post this reply on the original topic, but I think it's important enough to set it on top so that everybody can benefit of this info.

A week ago I have bought a DS, and same as a lot of you, problems with my CF-cards.

The benefit on my side is that I am actually selling these things, so I had a few supercards lying around here.

Tested with several CF-cards, and about 8 supercards. Only one CF-card (canon 32MB) worked on all supercards, but my Ultra II sandisk cards only work on one of the 8 supercards.

My advice, don't buy supercards for your DS when you can't test your DS<->supercard/CF-card first!

I'll keep you informed about my contacts with romman, because I really think the solution to this is (i hope) firmware or (i fear) supercard-hardware related.

Regards, Jimmy

BTW, good work on the forum diablo!

ghod · April 12, 2005, 04:16:29 PM

Thank you very much for this post. It is great to get some acknowledgement that infact my DS or my SuperCard is not broken and there is a definite compatability issue between the 2 components. Now if only we can get romman to acknowledge the issue :x

NT · April 12, 2005, 05:04:35 PM

Quote from: "ghod"Thank you very much for this post. It is great to get some acknowledgement that infact my DS or my SuperCard is not broken and there is a definite compatability issue between the 2 components. Now if only we can get romman to acknowledge the issue :x

It's probably gonna be tough. As far as I know he still has not acknowledged the slowdown problems.

Diablo · April 12, 2005, 05:06:28 PM

Great info. Thanks for the post, and hopefully the continued information in regards to this subject.

BTW, are all of the Supercards you used recent, or did you have one or two lying around that are a little older? I have a feeling Romman changed something in the recent batch of Supercards that has reduced compatibility with DS systems and CF cards...

Quote from: "GBAFreak"BTW, good work on the forum diablo!

Thanks. :evil:

GBAFreak · April 12, 2005, 05:42:18 PM

I share your feeling on this Diablo.

The cards however, are only a few weeks old.
I sell them since a few months now, and never had these problems until now. Seems that something has been changed, only what..

ghod · April 12, 2005, 05:56:12 PM

Quote from: "NTolerance"
Quote from: "ghod"Thank you very much for this post. It is great to get some acknowledgement that infact my DS or my SuperCard is not broken and there is a definite compatability issue between the 2 components. Now if only we can get romman to acknowledge the issue :x

It's probably gonna be tough. As far as I know he still has not acknowledged the slowdown problems.

What a waste of $60! With all the time and money I have spent on this piece of junk I now realize I should have just went out and bought a real flashcard + writer

Nyllet · April 14, 2005, 11:19:13 AM

Quote from: "GBAFreak"Just read the Nintendo DS topic, and I think I can bring some light into the darkness. I know that I should post this reply on the original topic, but I think it's important enough to set it on top so that everybody can benefit of this info.

A week ago I have bought a DS, and same as a lot of you, problems with my CF-cards.

The benefit on my side is that I am actually selling these things, so I had a few supercards lying around here.

Tested with several CF-cards, and about 8 supercards. Only one CF-card (canon 32MB) worked on all supercards, but my Ultra II sandisk cards only work on one of the 8 supercards.

My advice, don't buy supercards for your DS when you can't test your DS<->supercard/CF-card first!

I'll keep you informed about my contacts with romman, because I really think the solution to this is (i hope) firmware or (i fear) supercard-hardware related.

Regards, Jimmy

BTW, good work on the forum diablo!

Great help. I was just about to get a new SuperCard on my warranty, but it is a large chance that I'll have the same problem with the new supercard as well. Too bad that the SuperCard has brought nothing but trouble for me, it is a great thoght and seems to be a great product overall... but at the moment it feels like I've wasted my money, and even if I exchange the supercard for another product I've still "lost" my money on the CF card and CF card reader

Anyone have any idea on what they'll do in my situation. Change for another gba flash card and sell my CF and CF reader, hope for a firmware upgrade, or buy another CF card ?

PS: Do you have any possibility to try a couple of different supercards with different CF's (of different brand, model and size) and post a complability list ? DS:

GBAFreak · April 14, 2005, 12:44:33 PM

First thing is about the quality of the supercard. For the GBA (SP) the supercard is by far the best flashcard available atm in my opinion. The costs, realtime save, possibility to use several compactflash-cards are the great benefits of this card.

Second, I have the feeling that this problem will not be solved in a firmware upgrade hence, they don't even confirm this is a real problem.

Third, a compatibility list is very difficult, because not the brand/size of the CF is making the supercard work or not. I have reports of the Sandisk 512 Ultra 2 working, and my own Sandisk 512 Ultra 2 isn't, so that don't give any guarantee that Brand X, size Y will or won't work.

Diablo · April 14, 2005, 01:09:08 PM

Quote from: "GBAFreak"Third, a compatibility list is very difficult, because not the brand/size of the CF is making the supercard work or not. I have reports of the Sandisk 512 Ultra 2 working, and my own Sandisk 512 Ultra 2 isn't, so that don't give any guarantee that Brand X, size Y will or won't work.

If you just include those variables, then I agree completely with you.

However, given the fact that we have reason to believe that these compatibility problems are due to a recent, unannounced alteration to the newest Supercards that are being sold, if we include the wheres and whys about the Supercard (and perhaps even the DS, if there was a change in the new DS units), then we will surely be able to pinpoint which hardware combinations work successfully with which revisions.

Besides, we may not be able to identify hardware combinations that will definitely work, but we would be able to identify hardware combinations that definitely won't work.

comapro · April 15, 2005, 04:51:25 AM

Just wanted to say that my SanDisk Ultra II 1GB works fine, except I can't get the filmplay.bin to work on the newer (long file name) patch.

Nyllet · April 17, 2005, 05:47:45 AM

Btw, I thought I'd keep you posted. I got a reply two days ago from official SuperCard technical support when I asked them of my "not find the CF" problem.

Quotehi,
I find some problem on Nintendo DS ,if use high speed CF .
Please choose a normal speed CF.

Unfourtnetley my CF isn't a high speed CF, but it still doesn't work. I'm gonna borrow two other CF's today and test them tonight. Perhaps it's CF's with a multi-cell structure or something ? Anyway, I'll post tonight on the testing with the other two CF's.