my gp32 exploded

[nihil-00]

uhm... had a .... unwanted experience here...
i tried using the gp32 with both batteries and dc powered....
ok, this gives no problem...
tried, with the gp32 still turned on, to put off the dc link...
it's still turned on!
ok, now, let's try putting the dc back in.....
uhm...
the gp32 reboots.
ok, it didn't work...
well, let's upload ultima6 for this castaway, i have to play, now!
on the pclink, it tells me that an error occured in gp32 during operation.
ok.
i try formatting the smc (with the pclink)...
but... everything i try, it gives me a timeout error, the gp32 seems not to respond to the program...
so, there could be 3 cases (or maybe a combination of them?)...
the usb port is fucked up
the smc is fucked up
the gp somehow can't read/write to smc anymore.
however, the gp32 still works, i mean, i can turn it on, view the animation, etc

how can i debug this situation?
(i have the original firmware)

if i discover the problem (or in case i don't, but want to solve it), do i have a warranty, since i bought from lik-sang?

uhm!
help!
and, remember, never put the dc back into the gp32 while batteries are pumping electrons into it!

 

[JDUK]

Sounds stupid, but it happened to me, the rubber foot on the GP side of the USB(Edit: i was tired ok) cable makes it hard to se if its plugged in all the way. use your hand and keep it held into your GP then launch the link up software?

 

[Tobriand]

USB you mean - and you could just as easily remove the foot altogether... there's no advantage to having it on...

 

[Duddyroar]

Sounds to me like nothing is wrong at all.

I get errors on PC Link up all the time, and timeouts too. Either the cable is crap or the software is crap. Could be both. As JDUK says, the rubber cover on the GP32 end of the USB cable makes it very hard to see if it's connected fully. I had a problem where Windows would stop recognising the GP32 after a few connections, so I put the USB cable into the second port on the back of the PC and it works fine now. Every now and then it seems to start showing errors so I simply unplug the cable from the back of the PC and plug it in again, firmly. This seems to do the trick. If you moving your GP32 around lot whist it's connected to the PC, it might loosen the cable at the back of the PC.

 

[skab]

i try formatting the smc (with the pclink)...
but... everything i try, it gives me a timeout error, the gp32 seems not to respond to the program...

Had the same problem some time ago, the problem is probably with the SMC. I didn't get it back into working condition even with my cardreader and formatting it on 2 different OS's. Only way to revive the SMC was formatting it with the GP32 by sending a format command with the maclink command line tool, since all other ways (using PC-Link) stumbled over a "get smc size" routine, which apparently is the cause of the whole problem.

Either get another SMC, try to erase it with a card reader, or try any command line tools you have access to to format the thing. Weird and rare error, but quite scaring. I hope it's just that and not a problem with the GP itself.

 

[nihil-00]

uh, i forgot to say:
the gp32 does not recognize the smc anymore, in any case...
i mean, in the mp3 menu it says an error occured and doesn't show anything.
in the game menu it doesn't show anything, and says that maybe the smc isn't there.
ok.
an smc or a gp32 problem.
now, the fact that the gp32 does not seem to understand the pclink instructions is another problem...
the pclink KNOWS the gp32 is in transfer mode, and it tries to read the smc, but it gives a timeout error reading, not tryng to connect to the gp32, since the connection already exists.
a strange thing happens when you close the pclink software, cause the gp32 does not reset to the main menu, like it is used to, but remains in transfer mode.
uhmmm....

 

[skab]

Sounds to me like nothing is wrong at all.

Please listen closer, there is something wrong. I know, because I had the same problem and I already thought I had blown up my GP32 SMC port or something.

 

[Demonix]

Have you tried a new SMC or cleaned the gold connections on the one you have?

 

[rlyeh]

My advice: turn off your computer, unplug your DC/USB GP cables, and start again.

Greetings

 

[bizt]

if its simply trouble reading/writing to the smc, then you could buy a seperate smc card reader device instead of writing to the gp32 using the pclink software.

im sure ive read about a few people doing that because they cant be fucked with problems of the pclink software.

bizt

 

[Shrike]

heh your SMC is fudged, get a new one

 

[Mofokubik]

I really have no clue, maybe too much power went to the smc and overloaded it or something, or the the reader/writer in the gp32 got junked up. In any case, if there is a prob with his gp32 what good would a seperate reader/writer do if his gp32 cant even read anything. But it would never hurt to try.

And if it stays in transfer mode, that almost has me convinced that there is something wrong with your usb connection.

 

[Flack]

My advice: turn off your computer, unplug your DC/USB GP cables, and start again.

Greetings

Nicer than my advice to half of these people.

My advice: turn off your computer, unplug your DC/USB GP cables, sell both at the next garage sale.

 

[Mofokubik]

My advice, Dont give advice.

 

[johnno15]

Well hello Mr fancy pants i got news for you Flack your heads to far up your own arse people need help thats what this forums for you tool :angry:

 

[rcx21000]

Flash to mutiFW and use PC-Link (you prolly can't do this because nothing will copy), if you can't transfer w/ mutiFW, format w/ pacrom. Even though you prolly can't do this, you prolly can w/ a friend's SMC thingy. Also, it isn't my fault if this messes up the GP32 even more.

 

[thebluenewt]

That is well harsh. This guy has a genuine and seemingly serious problem.

 

[skab]

That is well harsh. This guy has a genuine and seemingly serious problem.

Indeed. Just follow the hints I gave in a previous post, formatting with maclink helped in my case. Since you probably have a PC, there's a DOS commandline tool as well somewhere out there, and as long as this will send the format command without checking the SMC before, this could revive your SMC. This was the only thing that worked, even formatting in a card reader didn't solve the problem the GP had with the SMC, so suggesting getting a card reader (which is a good idea however) doesn't help here.

Most painless suggestion, though, seems to be to simply buy another SMC. It doesn't hurt to have a spare one anyway, even if you manage to resurrect the 1st one some day...

 

[nihil-00]

ok, i got rid of the problem.
even though it could seem a gp32 problem, it wasn't.
i let a few hours pass, then i repeated the same actions as before (turn on the gp32, enter in pclink mode, open the pclink software), but had a different response... the pclink software saying once more that an error occured in gp32 during operation.. the gp32, on the other hand, got aware of the fact that the smc got an error.. it foun 1 error, and solved it.
next time i repeated the process, same problem: this time, the gp32 did not find any other errors on the smc, this means it did really recover the smc.
so, i tried with pclink 1.2, instead of the new 1.3..
and.. voila!
it DID format my smc.
now everything is OK.

 

[Duddyroar]

Please listen closer

I've tried, but all I get is the sound of my PC fan.