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I just got one of these retrocircuits sms mini flash cartridges as well as the programmer. It took me some time to figure out how to add rom files after having trouble disabling indexing on the drive but now it seems to be working. I am able to add rom files and erase them without any issues and on that end everything seems to be working as I've seen demonstrated on YouTube.

The problem I am running into now is that the sms console is not reading the flash card. I'm not even getting the Sega boot screen. The screen flashes once and then remains black. I've tried numerous games and everything works fine as well as trying another console all together. I also tried different rom files and have erased and refreshed the card numerous times. Any ideas why my console won't read the flash card? I'm willing to go down a rabbit hole as long as it's the right one lol. Thanks in advance for your time.

Is the ROM image you are using one with a TMR SEGA header section with a matching checksum? Many console models won't start the game if that is not present. Also, is the game readable (with the same bytes you wrote) from the cartridge via the dumping interface after disconnecting and reconnecting the dumping interface?

Personally I never got it working correctly from macOS. From Linux it worked perfectly. Windows worked after some configuration to inhibit indexing.

The BIOS screen should show for a bad ROM. No screen at all implies something bad. Is the cartridge plugged in backwards?

bubinatorX wrote

The problem I am running into now is that the sms console is not reading the flash card. I'm not even getting the Sega boot screen. The screen flashes once and then remains black.

This likely means the Z80 is not executing any code, so it might be a short on some pin. BUSRQ maybe?

After you program a ROM, power cycle the programmer. Have you compared what appears on the programmer to what you believed you programmed?

Author	Message
bubinatorX Joined: 25 Feb 2023 Posts: 1	Retrocircuits SMS Mini Issue Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2023 7:32 pm
bubinatorX Joined: 25 Feb 2023 Posts: 1	I just got one of these retrocircuits sms mini flash cartridges as well as the programmer. It took me some time to figure out how to add rom files after having trouble disabling indexing on the drive but now it seems to be working. I am able to add rom files and erase them without any issues and on that end everything seems to be working as I've seen demonstrated on YouTube. The problem I am running into now is that the sms console is not reading the flash card. I'm not even getting the Sega boot screen. The screen flashes once and then remains black. I've tried numerous games and everything works fine as well as trying another console all together. I also tried different rom files and have erased and refreshed the card numerous times. Any ideas why my console won't read the flash card? I'm willing to go down a rabbit hole as long as it's the right one lol. Thanks in advance for your time.

bsittler Joined: 22 Apr 2018 Posts: 530	Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 4:57 pm
bsittler Joined: 22 Apr 2018 Posts: 530	Is the ROM image you are using one with a TMR SEGA header section with a matching checksum? Many console models won't start the game if that is not present. Also, is the game readable (with the same bytes you wrote) from the cartridge via the dumping interface after disconnecting and reconnecting the dumping interface? Personally I never got it working correctly from macOS. From Linux it worked perfectly. Windows worked after some configuration to inhibit indexing.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14732 Location: London	Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 8:35 pm
	The BIOS screen should show for a bad ROM. No screen at all implies something bad. Is the cartridge plugged in backwards?

sverx Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Posts: 3811 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 10:01 am
	bubinatorX wrote The problem I am running into now is that the sms console is not reading the flash card. I'm not even getting the Sega boot screen. The screen flashes once and then remains black. This likely means the Z80 is not executing any code, so it might be a short on some pin. BUSRQ maybe?

lidnariq Joined: 24 Mar 2021 Posts: 120	Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 6:00 pm
lidnariq Joined: 24 Mar 2021 Posts: 120	After you program a ROM, power cycle the programmer. Have you compared what appears on the programmer to what you believed you programmed?

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