EverDrive 64

[Yuuretsu]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here and i am sorry it has to be bad news.

About 10 days ago i ordered and Everdrive 64 board (no CIC) from StoneAgeGamer and i received it this morning, simply put, it doesnt seem to work.

I transplanted a 7101 CIC chip from 'World Hockey 98' onto the everdrive, that should be right because i have a PAL system and placed that in the leftover casing.

Then i got myself a no-intro rom set and put it on a 4GB SD card, i put the whole deal in my N64 and upon switching the power on i simply got nothing, just the blank screen from the TV's AV channel.

At first i thought it might be the solderings, so i checked and re-checked them 3 times and they should be good. I checked my system for dust, cleaned it out and proceeded to test every game i owned, they all worked, but the Everdrive did not.

Now i'm kind of at a loss as what to do, does anybody have any idea what might be the problem here and how to fix it?

[KRIKzz]

well, i noticed that a lot of people who install cic chip manually have a problems, and there is a lot of various reasons. when i got those carts i can see dead fpga or sdram, probably was killed by static, from not grounded solder iron, sometimes cic is soldered by wrong side, lol, but it is true, sometimes pcb can be damaged by not carefull soldering, but sometimes it my fault, cuz i can't check if non cic board will work with soldered cic, because i use modified n64, which have cic chip inside, for test carts which don't have cic chip, so if some wire which used by cic is broken, i will not detect it while testing.

you should send cart to me for repair or exchange, address in PM

[kaput]

So, finally I found the time to set up my ED64 and try it out. The OS loads just fine, and there's no problem loading the roms. However, the only game that boots after loading is the US version of Super Mario 64, and it freezes either when I press start on the title screen, or when selecting a save slot. Everything else gives me a black screen after loading the rom. No leds lit on the ED64.

I've tried a few of what I thought was safe bets; the PAL and US NTSC versions of Super Mario 64, Mario kart 64 and Zelda - OOT. Also tried a few random games without any success.

My specs:

* PAL N64
* CIC 7101 from EU Waverace 64
* ED64 FW 1.15
* ED64 OS 1.13

Any ideas? :)

[KRIKzz]

try to use another sd cart if you can, also i wonder if you have same result if you reload mario few times? mario may not load at all (back screen)?

[kaput]

try to use another sd cart if you can, also i wonder if you have same result if you reload mario few times? mario may not load at all (back screen)?

Changing the SD card did the trick! Now all the aforementioned games boots just fine :)

The SD card was actually just about the only thing I ruled out as a problem source, as the games seemed to load as they should. Tried to swap AV cables, resolder the CIC chip, putting washers between the PCB and the plastic shell, compensating for the removed RF shield, to get the positioning of the PCB right, and so on. Should have tried another SD card first. Ah well, it's easy to be wise afterwards I guess.

[KRIKzz]

guys, do not remove metal shields. better to modify shields and leave them in shell. it is pretty easy

[kaput]

guys, do not remove metal shields. better to modify shields and leave them in shell. it is pretty easy

Ah, that was easy enough. Silly of me to not think of that possibility before :)

A little advice though; when straightening out the shields, try to avoid getting a protrusion where the fold was, it will make it hard to put the casing together.

It's still too early here to go about flattening the bump out with a hammer, so I just bent the sheet metal back a bit, which lessened the bump to a degree where it was possible to close the casing without any mechanical strain.

[StoneAgeGamer]

If you have tin snips, I found it much easier to just cut them off.

[kaput]

If you have tin snips, I found it much easier to just cut them off.

Could probably do it with a pair of regular scissors too, that tin isn't all that thick. Got a nibbler at work too, if that doesn't work :)

[yuenadan]

Hi everyone, I recently got an Everdrive 64 and I have a strange problem with it. The majority of the time, it won't boot up. When it does boot, it works GREAT (no freezing or anything, even after playing >1 hour) but getting it to come up is a pain. Most of the time the TV doesn't get a signal. Here are my notes:

1. I turned the N64 on 50 times. Out of those times, the Everdrive only came up 4 times (46 other times the TV had no signal). So only 8% of the time, the machine boots up.

2. Removing the SD card has no effect on boot success ratio.

3. Regular cartridge boots fine (I have a Pokémon Stadium GS Cart)

4. Removing expansion pak and N64 controllers has no effect.

5. It's a Japanese N64 (100V) but I live in Taiwan (110V). I've shopped around for a voltage transformer, just to make sure it's not a voltage problem, but all the electronics shops around here tell me they don't sell such a transformer and that it's not necessary, because Japanese electronics all work fine in Taiwan without a transformer.

6. When the Everdrive doesn't boot up, I don't reseat the cartridge or anything, I simply turn the N64 off and back on again. If I do it enough times, the Everdrive will eventually come boot up and everything works fine from that point.

7. The reset button NEVER works, always resets to a black screen.

8. I have a Super Famicom with an Everdrive for it as well, and it has no problems at all.

If anyone has any tips or suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!

[KRIKzz]

what is your firmware version ?

[yuenadan]

OS v. 1.13
FW v. 1.12

I see on the site there's a v. 1.15 firmware, but AFAIK I can't easily update the firmware, is that correct?

[KRIKzz]

update process is easy, but need jtag adapter.
firm v12 may not work correctly on some carts

[yuenadan]

KRIKzz - thanks for your speedy replies, I appreciate it. So if I am reading you correctly:

1. The reason for the troubles MAY be because of the 1.12 firmware (although we can't say 100% for sure).

2. To update the firmware a JTAG adapter is required (I watched your YouTube video).

I guess my next question (to you or anyone else reading this) is where could I buy such a JTAG adapter and how much do they cost? I found this one online (http://www.buyaltera.com/scripts/par...me=544-1775-ND) but it's $300 USD, which is prohibitively expensive for me. Especially since there's no guarantee it will solve the problem. I'd be better off to just wait for the V2 Everdrive 64 and buy the whole thing over again.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Actually these $10 ones work fine I hear:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Altera-...ht_1815wt_1163

[aleomark]

I've used those ones cheap (10usd) worked fine

[yuenadan]

Stone Age Gamer & aleomark - Nice! And I like that they're shipped from Shanghai, it's fairly close to me (globally speaking).

OK I'll give it a shot and see what happens. I'll try and post my results back here.

[justice99]

Hello everybody,

I am very disappointed because I bought an EverDrive64 on emere.es more than one month ago and I still did not receive anything.
They sent me a tracking number which says that the ED64 arrived the 20 September.
I live in France.
I told them that I did not received anything, and they said they will ask the post office a proof of the signature: it was 3 weeks ago.

It's really bad because it cost me 89€.
I would like to know if people had the same problem and what can I do?

Best regards.

[5432]

Hello everybody,

I am very disappointed because I bought an EverDrive64 on emere.es more than one month ago and I still did not receive anything.
They sent me a tracking number which says that the ED64 arrived the 20 September.
I live in France.
I told them that I did not received anything, and they said they will ask the post office a proof of the signature: it was 3 weeks ago.

It's really bad because it cost me 89€.
I would like to know if people had the same problem and what can I do?

Best regards.

I don´t know, but EMERE it´s a serious seller. Lot of people has bought everdrives and no problem. By post, taken from their wharehouse...
I hope you find it soon.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Yeah I doubt they ripped you off, they are good store. Most likely package was lost, delivered to wrong address, or stolen. Either way they should replace it or refund you in full.

Honestly proof of signature it pretty useless, especially for international shipments. Anyone can sign anything. If they insured the package it they will get their money back anyways.

This is why I insure anything over $75 total internationally.