old Interact N64 gameshark

[overkill]

I have three of Interact's N64 gamesharks, two working ones and one broken one. The need arose to fix the broken one, so I decided to see if I could find any ways of troubleshooting it on the net. I've discovered that MadCatz is now running the show and all of Interact's "intelectual property" is now completely gone. I've never gotten the chance to see it because I did not have a computer back then. I'm trying to find two things: some forums where I might be able to get some help, though the gs is probably dead for good, and also the software to make use of this paralell port on the back of he gs, if it even exists, I really have no idea.

 

[Knuckles]

dead for good?

www.gscentral.com

there are still updates on any consoles, just register to their forums and ask question there, it's one of the most active place for Gameshark/game genie/ Action Replay from old to recent consoles

about the program , I can send it to you, but it is on GScentral too (there is also a special hack for smth but I won't talk about that here)

 

[overkill]

Oh, duh, I even have that bookmarked, just didn't think to try there. Thanks.

 

[Quvack]

usually when a GS 'dies' a reflashing will fix it, ya do this by plugging one of your working Gamesharks into the N64, the broken one above that and a game to boot them with above that. With the parallel cable plugged into working Gameshark, then you get the upgrade tools (ya can find them on gscentral.com as knux said), and you can reflash them with them which might help. Sometimes they are just dead though, however its fixed all of my ones minus one

 

[IceWarm]

I too have a broken N64 Gameshark. Is there any other way to re-flash it without having to use a working Gameshark?

 

[Quvack]

Nope, well there is but it'd be tricky and require soldering and an eeprom burner.

 

[overkill]

ah, reflashing sounds right, but I may not need to try that afterall. I took my broken one into school and resoldered everything and cleaned all of the contacts. Now it display's an "8." instead of a jumbled mess. That soldering in that thing was horible. If I can only remember what an eight means if anything.

oh, and the other thing I was trying to figure out is what version the thing is. The sticker is gone, so I have the chips and the metalic-looking plasic to rely on.

 

[HyperHacker]

I also have a dead GS and no working one. (Actually, several dead ones.) Will MadCatz do the reflashing? Or is there anyone willing to do it if I were to mail it to you?
BTW, with the piggyback method: Don't start the game with both in at once, it'll fry them. >_<

Overkill: They generally display an 8 if the hardware is OK, but they can't start up due to software problems, bad keycode, or just being dumb. The normal boot process starts with an 8, then the loading screen appears and it counts down to 1 before shutting off completely. During the game, it displays a dot if the trainer (Code Generator) is off, or a 'rotating' line whose speed depends on the CPU usage if on. If you shut it down during the countdown, it displays certain garbage depending what number it was on.

 

[IceWarm]

Well mine is not entirely broken, it loads up fine and I can select codes and all that but when I go to start the game with codes it freezes. If I choose to play without codes the games load fine though. Ain't no thang really since I don't play my N64 that much anyway.

 

[Quvack]

I also have a dead GS and no working one. (Actually, several dead ones.) Will MadCatz do the reflashing? Or is there anyone willing to do it if I were to mail it to you?

I emailed Datel/MadCatz a while ago and they said they wouldnt anymore as its phased out of support and all that crap. I can reflash if you want but I'm in Australia so its a bit of a distance

 

[overkill]

I live in Georgia, but I'm still trying to get my hands on a cable...

 

[Quvack]

I live in Georgia, but I'm still trying to get my hands on a cable...

The cable really shouldnt be difficult to track down, all it is, is a standard printer type cable.

 

[overkill]

I have three of them. Naturally they're all made to work with printers because the printers are too good for a normal 25-pin connecter. If I can't find one today I'll just buy one on my way home tommorow.

 

[overkill]

ok, I finally got my hands on a male to female cable. Interects software claims that it does not get a response from the gameshark. Does any one know the potential problem?

 

[Quvack]

Have you got it piggybacked on the back of a working gameshark? it wont recognise the gameshark unless its plugged into one which can reach the menu.

 

[Knuckles]

The weird thing right now for me is that I bought a new GS 3.3 some "weeks" ago , I have the cable (the one I bought some years ago) that was with the program on a CD, and the prog isn't detecting it! nor any other progs on the net, tried multiple cables, OSes , LPT ports settings ,etc. none of them! I will have to buy another one (but a 3.2 from ebay) and flash it to 3.3. Hope it will work.

 

[overkill]

Yes, I am trying this with a working gameshark and using the correct software. It just isn't working for me. I'm glad I didn't buy this cable.

Also, I've been told to use PortTalk, UserPort or GiveIO with windows NT or 2000 to give the software rights to use the ports or something like that.

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

Major bump but useful information.

Not ment to start a discussion but for clarification.
Dead gamesharks are able to be reflashed using modern hardware with very high success rate.
The days of soldering are over and gscc is not required nor is top/bottom gameshark method.

I personally have flashed multiple pro and non pros, and non pro versions to pro and vice versa. Putting it simply a pro version may infect be used on a non pro cart and the code generator works.

At the time of this post the only way to add mass code to the cheat text is gscc and parallel port.
Perhaps a system will be developed to inject the code directly into the firmware.

The standard firmware is 256kb. However, I have removed 56kb of text code directly from the firmware using hdx. The menu and code generator operates with the file being 200kb in size flashed back to a gameshark 3.2 pro.

Quick logic 3.3 pro carts firmware with non working ports may break the information bridge between hardware and gscc. I have had to reinstall windows to restore port access. Be careful in this area.