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!!Information on repairing old gamesharks!!

 
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Vorde
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 PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:46 pm    Post subject: !!Information on repairing old gamesharks!! Reply with quote Back to top

Hello,
I was looking through the forums when I realized that a lot of people here were told that they're gamesharks were toast.
Well there's quite an easy way to save them.
It requires Windows98 (u can put it onto a usb stick), a printer cable (male - female), official gameshark v3.3 utilities, a broken gameshark, and a working gameshark (plus a game ofcourse).
This is a quote btw:
"After you seat the working GameShark in the N64 console you will seat the defective GameShark into the working GameShark and then the game into the defective GameShark. Connect the Shark link cable into the bottom (working) GameShark. (Caution! You should use a working GameShark that is of the same version you are going to reflash the defective GameShark as this procedure will flash both GameShark BIOS to same version. You can choose to NOT overwrite your code list in the GameSharks if you don't want to loose your current codes in the working GameShark. We suggest you backup your codelist at any rate for safekeeping. Once you have everything ready proceed to flash the BIOS by going to the upgrade screen and choosing the upgrade option. Once the operation is complete, you will have repaired the defective GameShark and both GameSharks will be the same version. Turn off the N64 and remove the GameSharks from one another and if desired plug the Shark link cable into the former defective GameShark and reload the code list."
A lot of people I don't think know this. I just used it on my GameShark and it worked! My old GS that's been dead for 2 years works once more!
BTW, here's a link to the N64 utilities:
Code:
http://www.goldeneyeforever.com/downloads/n64gameshark_pro_v3_3.zip

Enjoy! Wink
 
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JustinX32
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 PostPosted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Thanks, I read it.
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Erevan
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 PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

I tried this link and when I am in this utils it quits suddenly. There is a message meaning you can send this problem to Microsoft. Will the problem fix.
 
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SnoopKatt
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 PostPosted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

I'm trying this in Virtual PC 2007 with Windows 98 SE and it cannot detect my GS. I set up the ports so the serial port would be seen in Virtual PC. However, GSCC works in XP (of course the Datel utilities don't work in XP) , but nothing works in the virtual PC. What should I do to get this working?

EDIT: I used the XP fix from zoinkity and now my GS is alive! Thanks for that zoinkity!
 
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link1s
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 PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:45 pm    Post subject: sharklink Reply with quote Back to top

does it work on win 7
does it work on win 7 in the v.pc xp
please upload the fixes

upload the fixxes


Last edited by link1s on Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:14 pm; edited 2 times in total
 
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EternallyAries
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 PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 4:16 am    Post subject: Re: sharklink Reply with quote Back to top

link1s wrote:
does it work on win 7
does it work on win 7 in the v.pc xp
please upload the fixes


Welcome to the forums link1s.

I know your a new user and all but. At least put more then just somethings into a post. And why not just make a new topic instead of bringing up a 4 year old topic.

Anyway chances are this will work on Windows 7. Never had a chance to try it out since I don't got a male or female port.
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link1s
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 PostPosted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:23 pm    Post subject: Re: sharklink Reply with quote Back to top

EternallyAries wrote:
link1s wrote:
does it work on win 7
does it work on win 7 in the v.pc xp
please upload the fixes


Welcome to the forums link1s.

I know your a new user and all but. At least put more then just somethings into a post. And why not just make a new topic instead of bringing up a 5 year old topic.

Anyway chances are this will work on Windows 7. Never had a chance to try it out since I don't got a male or female port.

well if its so old delete it and may be the question i have for that topic would die too
and why can i post on a dead thread
still on that thread """ win7/xp can be uploaded right,
all the software is online but the fixes aren't so upload the fixes"""

java chat not working


Last edited by link1s on Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
 
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EternallyAries
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 PostPosted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:46 pm    Post subject: Re: sharklink Reply with quote Back to top

link1s wrote:
EternallyAries wrote:
link1s wrote:
does it work on win 7
does it work on win 7 in the v.pc xp
please upload the fixes


Welcome to the forums link1s.

I know your a new user and all but. At least put more then just somethings into a post. And why not just make a new topic instead of bringing up a 5 year old topic.

Anyway chances are this will work on Windows 7. Never had a chance to try it out since I don't got a male or female port.

well if its so old delete it and may be the question i have for that topic would die too
and why can i post on a dead thread
still on that thread win7/xp can be uploaded right,
all the software is online but the fixes aren't so upload the fixes

java chat not working


Why delete an old topic that has great information?

And bring up an older topic is fine and all. But adding more into a post is way better then putting something small and stuff. Trust me doing a very\ small post and trying to bring up a 4 year old topic fails.

Anyway I say try out the program and see if it even works. And if it don't try making it run as administrater that's the best idea i can come up with. To make old programs run.
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goldeneye106
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 PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Hello all,

I realize that I am bumping an old post, but would love some help if anyone has suggestions.

I own two gameshark pros. One is v3.2 and the other is v.3.3.

When I try to boot either device with goldeneye 64, their countdown values sit at just one value ('9' or an '8', something like that). I may be wrong, but it appears the devices simply suffer from corrupted ROMS and not a physical hardware issue.

Most of the fixes I have seen online use the piggyback method with a printer cable. This requires inserting a bad gameshark on top of a working gameshark unfortunately.

Since I do not own a working gameshark does a printer cable method exist for saving either gamehark on its own? If not, I will just have to suck it up and buy a working online online for $30 since they are harder to find.

Thanks to the OP for posting!
 
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zoinkity
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 PostPosted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 8:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Do you get any kind of video output? If you do, is it the splash screen or a black screen with several lines of differently colored text?

I wouldn't rule out corruption, but they don't typically corrupt out of the blue. The few instances I've had of them doing so was right after code entry or cycling power too quickly when changing keycodes.
Codelist corruption usually won't prevent a boot; there's only two bytes that will prevent a boot, and that's at a later part of the boot cycle. Bad checksum recalcs are the most common if you're stuck at 9.

The most common problem is dirt. They didn't coat the connectors like other carts, so they're prone to filth and tarnish--top and bottom. You'd be surprised how many Sharks come to life after scrubbing the snot out of the connectors until they're bristling shiny. Rubbing alcohol usually works as well as those pricey connection cleaners, though do follow all the usual cautions.

If you've ever changed keycodes or didn't know if they're changed, you might want to try carts using different keycodes just to make sure it wasn't swapped.

Otherwise, a reflash without a working Shark is going to be a little tricky. The things piggyback themselves into the boot cycle, probably because their boot address is related to the PIFrom boot address. A working Shark is the cheapest solution.
A gangwriter or eeprom writer would work, supposing you're certain about it's non-standard CRC scheme. A flashcart would let you upload a ROM to overwrite it's BIOS, but the issue is you've have to hotswap the thing to avoid it hooking during boot. I'm not 100% certain a scheme like that would work at all, and tests were never successful. For that matter, if you worked out the address for a GS when attached to a V64jr pretty sure you can boot with it attached and it doesn't hook, and that would probably be the safest bet short of using an eeprom writer.

IceMario from RareWitchProject might have other ideas.
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MultiplayerX
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 PostPosted: Mon Dec 30, 2013 4:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

Erevan wrote:
I tried this link and when I am in this utils it quits suddenly. There is a message meaning you can send this problem to Microsoft. Will the problem fix.


That's most likely a Windows Vista error. Not sure if Wreck made a fix for that OR if this utility will even work properly on windows 7 or 8. They changed a SLEW of security protocols on them. Crying or Very sad
 
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MultiplayerX
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 PostPosted: Mon Dec 30, 2013 4:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

goldeneye106 wrote:
Hello all,

I realize that I am bumping an old post, but would love some help if anyone has suggestions.

I own two gameshark pros. One is v3.2 and the other is v.3.3.

When I try to boot either device with goldeneye 64, their countdown values sit at just one value ('9' or an '8', something like that). I may be wrong, but it appears the devices simply suffer from corrupted ROMS and not a physical hardware issue.

Most of the fixes I have seen online use the piggyback method with a printer cable. This requires inserting a bad gameshark on top of a working gameshark unfortunately.

Since I do not own a working gameshark does a printer cable method exist for saving either gamehark on its own? If not, I will just have to suck it up and buy a working online online for $30 since they are harder to find.

Thanks to the OP for posting!


uuuugggghhhhhh I'm having a flashback YES you are one of the lucky thousands of people hit with the crap working pc port. The company that bought the gameshark developers (whoever-irrelevant) released cheaper versions of the original. I believe this is why if you see some gamesharks on amazon for like $200 ?? .......it's because they are most likely the original device and not a cheaper REMAKE.

HOWEVER: Your pc config has to be PERFECT too. And I mean PERFECT. Windows XP has a FIX for this. Go here and try my tool archives. I am unsure if this beast works on windows 7 though.

http://codelegends.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=n64&action=display&thread=53
 
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zoinkity
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 PostPosted: Mon Dec 30, 2013 8:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Back to top

From Windows 2000 onward you can only access the parallel port through a software driver. Patched utilities have been hacked to permit this, and there's hacks for GSCC2k and the official Datel ones. This was to circumvent some nasty exploits hackers were using, and it wasn't just the parallel port. All direct hardware port access has been nerfed.

The issue here is there's latency between the software and hardware drivers, so you can only get short packets to the GS before you run the risk of either the port locking or the data corrupting. That's only a problem if you're trying to dump a cart, upload a lot of data, dump a load of data, or do a million and one little read/write operations with full initializations between them.

Modern PCs don't typically have parallel ports. I don't know if it was in Vista or 7, but at least since win7 the parallel port driver is no longer provided in Windows installs. Virtual console virtualizes hardware, so the host OS would both have to handle the requests and have a driver to pipe output to the port. That route requires a bit of magic.

If you have a port but can't communicate through it, you'll also want to check what mode it's set to communicate in through the PC BIOS.


It was Datel that decided to drop the ports and LCDs from the late model 3.3s. They weren't bought out. You can upgrade any of the 3.x series into a 3.3 (though I'd love to get dumps of the earlier BIOS first). Nobody made a knockoff GS, and honestly I sort of wish somebody would.

People on Amazon are silly and post crap at ludicrous prices. Good example: new books that are listed as ultra rare at 5x list value. Then you get crap like this.

Solid state electronics don't fail easily. There was never a case of the board overheating due to parallel port use, mostly because there's no cause for it to do so. So far, the dead Sharks people have unloaded on me have just been dirty or were keycode locked. The worst thing I've ever done with one required a codelist reformat.
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