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deadscreem · Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 16

I just got my MD-PRO tuesday. It worked like a charm when I first got it. But now I have troubles flashing. Sometimes when I try to flash the cart, the progress bar goes a little bit then whole program (dreamwriter) freezes. Other times when it does flash right, It seems to flash slower than normal. The progress bar moves a little bit then stops for a second. Then moves a little more than stops.. It keeps doing this till the end.

I tried it on another computer and the same thing happens.

Also, with 32X games, sometimes the whole screen graphics flicker and have glitchy grphics. Turning off the Genesis then Turning back on seems to fix it. But this never happens with my real 32X games.

I dont think its bad printer cable because the card detects fine. and I bought printer cable from tototek with my order.

deadscreem · Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 16

I tried 1.6 and 2.1. I havnt tried uCON64 because it was working fine the first few days I had it no problems, but I did use it heavily during the those couple days. Maybe like 30 or so reflashes.
Now All of a sudden sometimes the flash fails, it just stops and Dreamwriter freezes. After I end task Dreamwriter and try again it sometimes works. Sometimes I have to restart and try again several times. It gets frustrating.

And then sometimes 32X games glitch up when playing. Turning off the console then back on fixes it. This didnt happen the first few days when it was working fine. And it doesnt happen with my real 32X carts.

Also, is it normal that when it is flashing it stops flashing for a split second after every 1 megabit it writes? after it flashes 1 megabit of the ROM it stops for like half a second then continues the next. Then stops after the next megabit and so on and so forth. I cant remember if it did this when It was working properly or not... I have a bad memory.

deadscreem · Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 16

just tried using uCON64 and I get the same bullshit. Either the flash fails completely (stuck at 0%) or it gets somewhere around 10 or 20% then completely stops. Only after several (over 20) times restarting UCON64 can the flash work.

Btw, even tho I said it worked fine when I first got it, it didnt. When I first got it, I tested it with the dreamwriter flash diag program first. programing the flash would freeze the program after few seconds of flashing. So I gave that up and tried to flash a ROM and it worked. So I ignored it. But now Flashing a ROM will sometimes not work. Like I explained. This is really starting to piss me off. What good is this thing if it only works when it feels like it? Sometimes It works without any problem. But Like today it took me a half hour of restarting Dreamwriter and trying again to make it work.... ugh.

deadscreem · Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 16

OK it seems that this only happens on a fresh startup/restart of my computer.
Once I get the card working it works till I restart the computer. If I restart my computer then flash fails. And I have to restart uCON64 or Dreamwriter several times to make it work.
I tried restarting the computer fresh with card+programmer not connected but connect while computer is on. And still it fails flashing. Same thing happens if card/programmer left connected. However, Reading the card always seems to work fine.

Now that I think about it, with Mask of Destiny's cable I have problems sending data to the genesis (after a few tries sending it becomes fine) but reading (dumping) always works fine. Hmmm..

I know this isnt a problem with my computer, because I tried it on my sisters laptop and the same thing happens. Could this be a problem with XPSP2? Is there any fix for this? Please help.

deadscreem · Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 16

Yes I have uCON64 configured correctly. It flashes right too.
However On a fresh startup of teh computer the flash fails (stops completely) for 5 or so tries then it works everytime after that. Same thing happens with Dreamwriter. Im using a desktop in EPP mode. Also tried with a laptop with EPP mode and same thing happens. The desktop is running XPProSP2, the laptop running XPHomeSP2.
I got in contact with Mask of Destiny becasue this problem happens for me with his transfer cable as well, he had a similar probelm with XPSP1 where Windows would try to communicate with the device on the parallel port and fuck up the actual ROM transfer. He used a registry key to fix it but he cant remember what it was. Well see what happens.

deadscreem · Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 16

add what hardware??

Buying a seperate PCI parallel port card is out of the question anyway. I have no free slots and my Parallel port is built in to the mother board.

And im using a desktop not a laptop. I only tried it on a laptop once and it acts the same as my desktop.

rbudrick · Joined: 26 Mar 2004 Posts: 373

Some small form factor desktops use the same controller as laptop boards, I believe (could be wrong). What kind of PC do you have? Is it a standard sized desktop , or is it a SFF PC?

-Rob

deadscreem · Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 16

No it never worked right I just didnt notice it right away.

Anyway, I think I got it fixed. I had to set a registry key to stop Windows XP from writing to the Parallel port periodically to check for printers. With that registry key set everything seems fine now.

goldparalax · Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 7 Location: New York

deadscreem... could you explain how you set the registry key to stop checking for printers periodically?

deadscreem · Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 16