GBA EZ Flash Omega DE: Graphical Glitches and Freezes

[Rebusmind]

UPDATE: This was a firmware issue with Rev B editions, which has been fixed in Firmware 6.
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Hi, I got my first EZ Flash (Definitive Edition) cart yesterday, updated it to the newest kernel/firmware and filled my SD card with games, but sadly most games I've tried had glitches or froze at some point.
Here's my setup:

• A modded GBA SP (new shell and IPS screen) with an aftermarket battery (haven't bought it myself, so I don't know where it is from)
• Tested with a SanDisk Ultra 64gb and with a Sandisk 8gb, both had the same issues
• My games are saved in the root folder of the SD cart

So far I've tried:

• updating the kernel again
• formatting the SD card differently
• playing while plugged in
• up to four different versions of Mario & Luigi (hacked and clean)
• playing with and without addons
• saving the games to the norflash
• testing the cart in the safe mode menu (no issues)
• running the AGB_CHECKER_TCHK10 test rom for over an hour (without any crashes)

But nothing changes.

I've read that having an IPS screen and using a flash cart could use too much energy, but playing while plugged in should prevent this from happening, right?
Normal (repro) carts work just fine.

Has anyone encountered similar issues and knows a way to get it to work? If it was just one or two games, fine, but from all the games I've tested, only one or two didn't have glitches.

Thanks for reading.

 

[metroid maniac]

Could be bad PSRAM.
What happens if you try to play a game from NOR memory? If games work happily that way, that would indicate the PSRAM is bad.
You can also use the DS homebrew memtestARM to test the Omega DE's PSRAM, if the Omega DE is set to function as a RAM expansion.

 

[Rebusmind]

Could be bad PSRAM.
What happens if you try to play a game from NOR memory?

It's the same when I play through nor memory. Same glitches and freezes, which makes it seem as if the rom is bad, but I've tried many roms, checked some hashes, which were fine, so it can't really be that either.

I just ordered a DS Lite, so I can see if it works on that next week.

 

[ghjfdtg]

You can try my test ROM attached to this post if you want: https://gbatemp.net/threads/ez-flash-omega-de-rtc-not-working-randomly.604513/post-9704785

Test it with both PSRAM and NOR (without "add ons"). The hash it calculates should match the one in the file name.

 

[Rebusmind]

Test it with both PSRAM and NOR (without "add ons"). The hash it calculates should match the one in the file name.

Thanks for sharing this.
I did the test both on PSRAM (clean start) and NOR (direct start from the menu) and the hash I got in both cases was 2FF7978FDAD0C3E969C63C5A1924D859C4A5E0, which contains exactly two differences to the hash in the file name. Does that mean that both are faulty?

 

[metroid maniac]

Are the in-game glitches reproducible and occurring in the same place every time, or is it more or less random?

 

[ghjfdtg]

@Rebusmind
The odds of you getting a hash that matches everywhere but in few places is extremely low. I think what happened here is that the test ROM glitched out displaying wrong characters in these places. This makes me believe it's either the GBA SP (broken RAM?) or a power issue.

 

[Rebusmind]

Are the in-game glitches reproducible and occurring in the same place every time, or is it more or less random?

Yes, they seem to be always the same.

@Rebusmind
The odds of you getting a hash that matches everywhere but in few places is extremely low. I think what happened here is that the test ROM glitched out displaying wrong characters in these places. This makes me believe it's either the GBA SP (broken RAM?) or a power issue.

Broken RAM would be bad. I'll see next week if the new battery or the DS Lite will help with finding out what's happening. I'll post an update then.

 

[LFT]

I have exactly the same glitches on my 2 EZ-FLASH ODE carts.
It appeared after I installed the firmware 5.0.
Is it possible to downgrade the firmware?

 

[Rebusmind]

I got the new battery and the DS LIte today and both didn't change anything, so I'm pretty sure it's not an energy problem. So, that leaves me with a software or a hardware problem with the card itself.
The question now is if I should wait for a kernel/FW update or return it as long as I'm still able to.

 

[ghjfdtg]

Interesting. What if you format the microSD in exFAT? I doubt it's the problem but worth a shot. My ODE runs fine on latest kernel + firmware (apart from the power issues with my GBA SP's). I use a 64 GB microSD formatted in exFAT.

 

[Rebusmind]

Interesting. What if you format the microSD in exFAT? I doubt it's the problem but worth a shot. My ODE runs fine on latest kernel + firmware (apart from the power issues with my GBA SP's). I use a 64 GB microSD formatted in exFAT.

I tried both an SD card with 8GB (FAT32) and a 64GB card (exFAT) and the issues were the same.

 

[LFT]

The glitches I see are exactly the same as your screenshots for Mario & Luigi and Pokemon Pinball (same pixels).
Other games with issues :
Final Fantasy 6 (EUR) (White screen)
Magical Quest 3 (EUR) (Graphical glitches)
Tales of Phantasia (EUR) (Black screen)

I'm not sure about the fact this happened after the firmware update because both carts are brand new and I didn't test them much before updating.

 

[Rebusmind]

The glitches I see are exactly the same as your screenshots for Mario & Luigi and Pokemon Pinball (same pixels).
Other games with issues :
Final Fantasy 6 (EUR) (White screen)
Magical Quest 3 (EUR) (Graphical glitches)
Tales of Phantasia (EUR) (Black screen)

I'm not sure about the fact this happened after the firmware update because both carts are brand new and I didn't test them much before updating.

Yeah, FF6 also didn't work for me. Are your cards RevA or B? Also, did these games work before you updated?

 

[LFT]

Both are REV B.
Actually, the only game I tried before updating was Magical Quest 3 and I didn't see any glitch.

 

[ghjfdtg]

Must be a rev B issue then. I have rev A.

 

[Rebusmind]

I also have RevB, so that might be the case.

 

[EZ-Flash2]

Issue confirmed. it can be fixed with a firmware update. soon!

Rev.B with firmware 5 is affected.

 

[Rebusmind]

Issue confirmed. it can be fixed with a firmware update. soon!

Rev.B with firmware 5 is affected.

Awesome, thanks for the reply!

 

[LFT]

Great!
Thanks!