Another gameshark thread.

[Dragonsfire666]

Hello all long time lerker first time poster.
i dunno if this has ben touched on or not i couldnt find anything related in search.

Any who i picked up a gameshark psx v1.6c but wasnt loaded with any codes and cant update it.
Cant find a cable to hook to modern pc eather.though i have spme old pc stuff wuth printer ports if i need

Any ways i guess a few questions .ive tried xflash ect but eprom is unknown.
Now could i say unsolder the flash chip and say steal one from a old pc what has a larger capacity and then install something to it weather it be caetl or ahoy or even zippy?

Or is their a way to update it through using pc software?

Seeing as its gs v1.6c theirs next to no compatibility for any games that are good lol
And back in the day you would send off your pre version 2 to interact and they would send you one back.
Any help would be great

[TriMesh]

If it really is a V1.x Gameshark then it has the old style Datel communications port - these were not compatible with parallel ports and connected only to a special "comms link card". These are (somewhat amazingly) still available from certain sources (like EMS in Hong Kong), but you most likely don't have the necessary ISA slot on your PC to plug it into.

You can swap the flash, but you would need to use a device out of the (fairly short) list of chips that are supported by the code or you won't be able to save anything . I'm quite surprised that xflash isn't working for you, since that does normally support all the chips used in the original carts - which is sounds like yours is.

Can you take some photos of the PCB so we can get an idea what we are dealing with?

[Dragonsfire666]

https://imgur.com/a/RCgxo

[TriMesh]

OK, that looks like an original Datel PCB for sure - I don't think I've ever seen a gameshark with an AMD flash chip in it, though. See if you can find one of the chips that were used in the Datel carts - my original Datel carts have Atmel AT29C010 chips in them, and they definitely work .

[Dragonsfire666]

Yea its an oldie alright.i put a socket on the board so if i screwed up i could swap it out lol.

So i tried using krackens xflash overburn mod it dectected it and i rried flashing it.but it wrote to eeprom and when the
Progress bar finished screen went black and nothong....
Ii dunno if the disci burnt didnt burn right cause sometimes it loads sometimes you have to reset it
3-6 times before it loads and runs right.but now the cart freezes the psx when i plug it in.but sometimes it dosent...

[rama3]

What did you try to flash? Not every ROM works on all carts. Xploder FX for example won't run Caetla 0.35 or above.

[Dragonsfire666]

I tried flashing another gs rom to it. Or seeing as its an oldie should i try a par rom?

And i apologise for bad grammer im useing a cell phone and sometimes my fat fingers hit the wrong button

[Dragonsfire666]

So i was searching for a diagram for my gs in case i screwed up
And came across this site http://hitmen.c02.at/html/psx_hardware.html
The 2 rom ar one uses the same chip as in my gs (amd am29***)
So i found the data sheet for mine and was woundering if maybe
When it was made if one of the chip pins (22) is what was preventing
Me from flashing the cart....
Any insight on this?.....
I can also get it to flash but it eather stops 3/4s of the way or it comes up unsuccessful

[kHn]

gameshark psx v1.6c

Dat oldie .

I tried flashing another gs rom to it. Or seeing as its an oldie should i try a par rom?

Well, the AR v1.x ROMs in the X-Flash ROMFILE can fit your 1M EEPROM, but the AR changelog sounds like v1.98 and higher expect two 1M EEPROMs to be installed. I'm not familiar with v1 cartridges, so I can't tell if 2M is mandatory or you're free to update up to v1.99.
Also I vaguely remember of important video issues and freezes with v1.xx firmwares mismatching the console region (ie GS on PAL console, AR on US console).


As for your flashing problems, try this :
- Boot X-Flash Overburn Mod without the cartridge;
- Once it's booted, hotplug your cartridge;
- Select "Caetla Hacks/Blahblah/Blahblah/Other";
- Select the option just below "Run The Unaltered Program";
- You're in X-Flash, press start to access the ROM list;
- Choose Wipe EEPROM (128k);
There if you get the infamous "not successful" error, your AMD chip is surely not supported by X-Flash due to its write cycle timing or page-write command sequence. If you did not, let's continue :
- Choose the 1M ROM file you want, Ahoy, Zippy, whatever...
- After it's reflashed, power off, then power on.
If the ROM menu does not show up, or it's stuck to a black screen, try this :
- Turn the console off, put a legit PlayStation disc in it, remove the cartridge
- Turn the console on, and right when the black PlayStation screen with the PS logo appears, hotplug your cartridge.
I can't explain how this pure fking magic trick works, but it helps sometimes ...


Last but not least, if X-Flash cannot rescue your card, try the no$psx v2.0 flasher.