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Flash Masta Issues
#1
Hello. New member. I recently received my Flash Masta which I've been very excited about using.

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble with it. Whenever I turn my NGPC on, I get the normal startup and when it should go to play the selected ROM, it just shuts off. This shut down also causes my clock and calendar to reset because if I turn the NGPC back on, I have to re-enter that information. I do not get these issues when I play a regular game cart. I replaced my batteries just to make sure they were not too weak. So far, I'm just trying to use the game ROMs that were already loaded on the Flash Masta when I received it, so I don't believe it's the quality of the ROMs itself.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you.
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#2
Make sure you've tried the cart with the switch both ways. This should help tell if it's possibly one of the 2 ROMs loaded improperly. Load up the FlashMasta app on your computer and be sure that there's a game showing on each slot. Also, don't be afraid to try loading another ROM over one of the slots, just in case there was a problem with the data.

There are 2 major causes of this.

1) The NGPC and/or the cart has dirty contacts. The simple "fix" is the blow trick on both the cart and the console. If that doesn't work, you can get more involved by cleaning the contacts with isopropyl alcohol. If you have something you can swab on the cart, rub it back and forth, then insert/remove the cart from the console a couple times, that would be good.


Now, since you said that normal carts work fine, I'm leaning toward cause #2. BUT, try #1 if you can. It can't hurt.

2) Something went wrong between when we shipped the cart and when you received it. In very rare cases, I've seen carts that had a problem once the user received it. We do test each unit in an actual NGPC before we ship them, but, my engineering brain can come up with scenarios where they would pass our test and then have the temperature swings of being shipped on a plane expose a problem.

I will also send you a direct email, in case we want to do some more testing. That way we can go back and forth a bit easier.

We'll try to get to the bottom of the issue, and, if need be, we'll get you a replacement.

Thanks for your patience, TDIRunner!
Card Fighters' Clash 2 English Translation ( http://cfc2english.blogspot.com/ )
Neo Geo Pocket Flash Cart and Linker Project ( http://www.flashmasta.com/ )
Avatar art thanks to Trev-Mun ( http://trevmun.deviantart.com/ )
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#3
Thank you for the quick reply. I saw your personal email message as well. When I get home, I will try those suggestions and get back to you. I appreciate your eagerness to help out. Having issues out of the box is unfortunate, but in no way makes me unhappy with the product. I understand that not everything can be perfect and it's more about how sellers handles issues like these.

Thanks again. Hopefully it turns out to be a simple and easy fix.
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#4
Hi,
on my main unit, it's a "common" issue.
I have it often with bung/flashmasta unit, even sometimes with regular game cartridge.
I have other units that work fine and never have this issue.

Most of the time, I skip the full bios animation, an when the unit shuts down, I remove the cartridge, reinsert it and retry. This way, I rarely reach the setting menu.

Loïc.
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#5
TDIRunner, if you don't know, the Bung unit is a very old flash cart for the NGPC that is now pretty rare, as it hasn't been made for 15 years or so.

For anyone that ever has any questions/problems, I put up a new CLI version of the software at http://www.flashmasta.com/software-downloads/

I would recommend that you normally use the nicer software at the top of that page, but if you need more diagnostic info, the CLI software (further down the page) can provide more data.
Card Fighters' Clash 2 English Translation ( http://cfc2english.blogspot.com/ )
Neo Geo Pocket Flash Cart and Linker Project ( http://www.flashmasta.com/ )
Avatar art thanks to Trev-Mun ( http://trevmun.deviantart.com/ )
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#6
Thanks all for the replies. I'm going to go through the suggestions that were provided through email either tonight or this weekend and get back with an update. I'm sure we will have it figured out soon. Smile
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#7
I get kicked to the pocket menu and cant play anything
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#8
(05-12-2017, 05:57 PM)Dadoodler Wrote: I get kicked to the pocket menu and cant play anything

Hello Dadoodler...

Can you be more... precise ? polite ? add some explanations of what you're doing/what's wrong ?

Cheers,
Loïc
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#9
(05-12-2017, 05:57 PM)Dadoodler Wrote: I get kicked to the pocket menu and cant play anything

I also got an email from you. I will respond more there.

This can happen if the cart is malfunctioning, but it will also happen if the ROM is bad. Did you try the cart before you flashed it, by any chance? Did you try both positions of the switch? Let's debug this via email.
Card Fighters' Clash 2 English Translation ( http://cfc2english.blogspot.com/ )
Neo Geo Pocket Flash Cart and Linker Project ( http://www.flashmasta.com/ )
Avatar art thanks to Trev-Mun ( http://trevmun.deviantart.com/ )
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#10
(05-12-2017, 10:36 PM)Flavor Wrote:
(05-12-2017, 05:57 PM)Dadoodler Wrote: I get kicked to the pocket menu and cant play anything

I also got an email from you. I will respond more there.

This can happen if the cart is malfunctioning, but it will also happen if the ROM is bad. Did you try the cart before you flashed it, by any chance? Did you try both positions of the switch? Let's debug this via email.

Ed, if he's talking about the the NGPC falling back to bios setup after booting with a game, it could also be that the handheld cartridge port is failing (rusty or stuff like that). Does it works with official game ?
My gold old main unit sometimes fails this way with either bung/flashmasta/original. I need to remove and reinsert the cartridge multiple times before it's ok
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