ToToTEK.COM

[Jeff-20]

After serving me faithfully for 1 year with numerous games loaded, my flash cart has died.

The computer still recognizes it; however, it can no longer hold a game image. When I burn a rom to flash cart, the process seems normal until it hits "verify" mode. I immediately get a verification error and the transfer is stopped.

The cart can no longer play. NOthing unusual happened to the cart. Do they just "wear out" after a while? Is it the battery? I get a black screen on my gen no matter how small the rom.

Any suggestions? I just want to warn others because I cannot afford a $100 replacement.

[Suppafly]

hmm mine is over a year too, and i have never had problems with it.

Have u tried on a different computer? that solves most of the problems sometimes

[fonzie]

I built my hown flash cartridge so i know some things about flashs.

A military flash can have a cell written +-100 000 times.
A gray market flash only +-1000.
If tototek used bad quality flash (-+500), maybe your flashs are dead (some cells aren't writtable anymore).
But for that you need to download lots lots lots of games.

[Memblers]

I've seen some that claim 10,000 cycles also. Depends on who made them I guess, you could try looking up the datasheet for that part or checking the maker's website.

[Jeff-20]

I wish I had known that earlier! I would have burned my favorite games and left it alone!

I used mine many times. I didn't think I was close to the limit as my MP3 player with flash has been faithful for far more transfers.

I used the same computer I have always used. I don't see why it would suddenly make a difference. Is there any fix or do I need a whole new card?

[segabob]

Did you run the MD Flash Diagnostic that comes with dreamwriter.
That properly erashes the card and test it.

[Jeff-20]

The daignostic shows a string of errors too long to post here. It seems the entire memory is now faulty.

After going through all the combinations (changing cables, changing modes, etc) I now know it is just the cart.

Be warned: your flash cart probably has an unknown expiration date!

[SamIAm]

This may be a stupid question, but have you cleaned all your equipment? My flash writing base gets pretty dirty pretty fast, and so does the cart with all the use it sees. Perhaps the cart was damaged when it was written to while it was dirty?

Also, what brand of flash ROM does your cart have? Mine is from Intel, as is written plainly on the chip and shows up in Dreamwriter. I have a hard time believing that Intel would make such low-grade crap, but maybe they sold a rejected batch to tototek for cheap or something.

[kyuusaku]

More likely than the flash dying, I would bet that your circuit is broken. If you have any soldering skills, you might want to touch up the points around the Xilinx/flash chips.

[timofonic]

Maybe that Leo can help you...

There are a lot used md pro flash carts in over a year and runs perfectly...

[Jeff-20]

I caught Tomy on messenger about a month ago. I talked with him briefly and he told me to send the cart back to him. He said he'd fix it for cost. I sent it, and I haven't heard from him yet.

[Suppafly]

He´s on holidays. hes a honest person, just too busy sometimes....

[segabob]

My flash cart only lasted 2 months.
I can still put games on it.
But the Verify errors out.
The MD dio errors out and it still frreezes up sometime while I flash a game.
None of the Shining forces save.

[Suppafly]

As far as i know the only sega genesis games that dotn save correctly on MDPRO are shining force and nba jam.

I have had mine for over a year and still works perefctly...sorry about your problems..

[segabob]