My Blu Won't Even Do 133? Am I Crazy?


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majick

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I just got my BLU from Lik-Sang a couple of hours ago. I spent a few minutes playing the pack-in game, Dungeon & Guarder, but I'm not really into Double Dragon games so I figured I'd get some emulators up and running.

I put a blank 128M SMC in my card reader, formatted it, created the \GPMM directory, and put a few FXE files in there, including the overclock tester. The results were pretty alarming:

The boot screen is OK. D&G plays fine. Nester ran OK but it was slow. I don't know if it runs at 66 or 133+.

EVERYTHING ELSE has a big fat white bar across the top portion of the screen as soon as the CPU switches to 133. It's not right at the top, like a border, but a big wide stripe with corrupted graphics around it about the size of my thumb. This happened on the startup screen of OS9X, the overclocking test at 133, everything. The results are a lot like this guy described, but it's white not grey. Unfortunately his post got some replies but nothing conclusive.

Even with the white bar there the games are still playing. The GP doesn't hang or crash or reset, which I guess is what happens if it won't OC to a certain speed.

Did I just get stuck with a really lame BLU that can't even go to 133? I get the impression from all the postings that there should be NO problem at 133 speed.

Should I try to get Lik-Sang to replace it, or is there some way I can fix the problem myself? I put USD$300 into buying the GP32 BLU bundle, a card reader, and blank cards.
 
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majick posted on Dec 4 2004 at 06:20 AM said:
I just got my BLU from Lik-Sang a couple of hours ago. I spent a few minutes playing the pack-in game, Dungeon & Guarder, but I'm not really into Double Dragon games so I figured I'd get some emulators up and running.

I put a blank 128M SMC in my card reader, formatted it, created the \GPMM directory, and put a few FXE files in there, including the overclock tester. The results were pretty alarming:

The boot screen is OK. D&G plays fine. Nester ran OK but it was slow. I don't know if it runs at 66 or 133+.

EVERYTHING ELSE has a big fat white bar across the top portion of the screen as soon as the CPU switches to 133. It's not right at the top, like a border, but a big wide stripe with corrupted graphics around it about the size of my thumb. This happened on the startup screen of OS9X, the overclocking test at 133, everything. The results are a lot like this guy described, but it's white not grey. Unfortunately his post got some replies but nothing conclusive.

Even with the white bar there the games are still playing. The GP doesn't hang or crash or reset, which I guess is what happens if it won't OC to a certain speed.

Did I just get stuck with a really lame BLU that can't even go to 133? I get the impression from all the postings that there should be NO problem at 133 speed.

Should I try to get Lik-Sang to replace it, or is there some way I can fix the problem myself? I put USD$300 into buying the GP32 BLU bundle, a card reader, and blank cards.

Well if it doesn't reset at 133 then that is not the problem. It could be a dodgy unit, just exchange it.
 
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majick posted on Dec 4 2004 at 06:20 AM said:
Did I just get stuck with a really lame BLU that can't even go to 133? I get the impression from all the postings that there should be NO problem at 133 speed.

lol unlucky, looks like you ended up with a worse unit than my FLU.. mine wont go much further past 146 before it messes up.

but not doing 133? it should do that no problem.. dodgy unit, tried new batteries?
 
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Shadow of Chaos posted on Dec 3 2004 at 10:33 PM said:
but not doing 133? it should do that no problem.. dodgy unit, tried new batteries?

I tried different sets of batteries including the Korean pack in batteries, and so far it's the same. No matter what I do, I have screen corruption at 133 (but not at 66). Is this a BLU thing? The dude in that other post just got his BLU and seems to have the same problem.
 
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maybe there was another bad batch of gp32's... it's happened before...I agree you should return it...you spent a lot of money to have to deal with a bad display at 133...
 
Yea, like Vic. says, get some NEW Duracells and try them

If that doesnt work, Contact them and send it back for a replacement :)
 
Hi,

I am the other peson that is suffering from the same problem. My GP will run at 156 no problem. I can run Frodo but I have the same bars as the guy above - it is really annoying. My unit was also from Li-sang - I have emailed them but have heard nothing (surprise, surprise). It is not a battery issue as I have used brand new ones. Also it is not an SMC issue as I have tried several. I just think it is having a hard time trying to run Frodo at a useable speed. I have contacted www.console-fix.co.uk to see if there speed upgrade may solve the issue - the cost is only a tenner would would be a lot cheaper than sending the unit back to HK. I am really pissed off as it plays most things OK apart from Frodo which was one of the main reasons for buying the unit.

I will let you know how I get on.

Dan
 
I have some reasonable confidence it isn't a power related problem, but I'll hook it up to a DC power source in the morning and verify that. Like funkyshaker, having even a partially working Frodo was a large part of the reason behind my GP purchase, and it's not at all usable in this state.

I regret having made this purchase through Lik-Sang, though I've had few problems with them in the past, but those other guys in the UK would have been mighty expensive at the current exchange rate. I guess expensive and working would be better than not working at all... sigh. Anybody else have ideas or is the general opinion coming down on the side of "dodgy unit?"
 
Just to add to this - I tried a different SNES emu and it works fine, so it could be a coding issue?!??!?
 
I hope this isn't a sign of things to come... i'm just waiting for the RF link, D&G + GP32blu packs to arrive from gamepark, i'll test out a load of them and see if its common.

-Craig

www.gbax.com
 
I just received the following note from Lik Sang. They are aware of the problem -- it's a bad batch -- and are accepting returns.

Dear valued customer,

We are aware of the "white bar" problem that is on the displays of the
recent shipments of the GP32. We have been able to reproduce the problem and
brought this matter to Gamepark's attention. We are currently waiting for
the results of their engineers' investigation and have suspended shipments.

Please rest assured that we will do whatever we can to get this issue solved
in a speedy manner. Unfortunately there is probably no other way than
returning your unit to Lik Sang in Hong Kong.

We will have a special arrangement with DHL or UPS to get your unit back on
our cost, and if you have already shipped your unit back, we will issue a
store credit in the amount of your shipping cost. Depending on your
location, you might even be able to return the unit to Lik Sang Europe, in
order to save time and shipping cost.

If you are affected by this problem, please let us know as soon as possible,
so that we can issue return instructions including shipment information.
Please understand that it will take a couple of days to get this information
ready for you, as we are not only speaking to DHL + UPS, but also to
GamePark in the meantime. Please bear with us until early/middle of next
week.

Please accept our apologies for the unfortunate bug in the GP32. We
understand that this bug hits you and us (and Gamepark!) at the worst
possible moment, in the middle of the Christmas rush. Murphy's law :/

Team Lik-Sang.com (from Malmö)
 
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