Help with installing a mod chip on a VA2.1 board.

Its the same as VA1, just the /WE point from the flash chip is in a different location (its the via between the 2 chips that I soldered the wire to)

 

Just to let everyone know... got my DC back up and running. After the BIOS chip change, it can in fact now read backups. A dream come true.

I remember in high school my friend was burning discs for his DC and he told me he "just burns them" and they work. Well, they never worked on mine... not once. Also the gameshark I bought never worked either (now i wish I never threw it out)! After all these years, finally, I know why. And now it's "fixed".

Later today I'll take a picture of the sticker on the bottom of my DC and post it up here with the pics of the board, just in case anyone needs any of it for reference.

My only complaint is the boot up animation... I don't like it, I think stock is better :rolleyes-new:

 

You can reflash the bios with a region free retail bios, rather than the dev startup.

Just be aware that if you flash a bad/broken bios - you wont be able to boot the dc and would require the chip reprogramming again.

But I dont see why you couldnt flash a new bios that is known working

 

If you need a confirmed working hacked retail BIOS PM me and I will pass it along. I hacked it myself as I am not a fan of the Katana boot animation either. The only reason i tried it was to test GD-R disc but was unsuccessful. It is a USA BIOS hacked but will not really matter as the swirl color isn't determined by the BIOS you flash but the flash ROM.

 

I have one too, but I am not skilled in the ways of DC iso creation - as you will need to put it on the dreamshell disc to flash it.

 

Dreamshell includes many bioses in its latest release, including region-free retail and development. IIRC it's deep into a folder tree but it's there.

FG

 

the flashing app actually starts in that folder - no need to browse.

But I was never sure if thats region free retail or the link83 one. The link83 isnt a dev bios, its a retail one with the dev intro hacked into it. So technically the link83 bios is retail - hence not being sure.

 

I meant retail/dev animation. Afaik no real dev bio works on retail boards.

I always starts flashing by clicking on the bios file, maybe that's why I had hard time finding the bios folder!

 

in that case, should be easy enough for the op then

 

Added those pics to post 1.

Thanks for the info guys. I may or may not play around with that tomorrow... my DC works, I don't want to risk a bad flash and ruin everything. I'll sleep on it.

I'll check to see if FamilyGuy is right, if not, I'll PM Atreyu for his.

 

Well you can just add the BIOS to an SD card if you actually have the reader itself and flash the BIOS from there.

 

Turns out the file I though was region free, "1_011_01_hacked.bios" is in fact a hacked dev bios to work on retail (probably retail bios with devkit intro, but not region free).

You could try swapping the cd for one with the right bios after loading the bios flasher. Otherwise you'd have to create your own dreamshell cd, shouldn't be too hard, but it can be frustrating when you're not used to it. I don't have the time to do this right now, but atreyu could do it in a flash!

DC-Swat should really add the region-free retail bios to their next releases.

Cheers!

FG

 

If you do not get this sorted out I will gladly build you 1 with that BIOS on Tuesday

 

Actually I'm going to order one of these soon http://item.fromtaobao.com/item.htm?id=7818275499

Alright, go ahead... whenever you have the time.
I think we have the same version DC as both of ours had a non-mil bios. I'm confident your bios will work just fine on my DC. :encouragement: (though not that it matters, I suppose)

 

Lol I have sixteen DC's and the BIOS works on all variants even my PAL and Japanese model.

 

wow! Just looked through your Sega Stuff thread... really impressive.

 

There is only like 4 bios variants and they are all interchangeable.

 

The only difference in the non-mil cd variant is the kabuto has been changed totally eliminate backups but I have even hacked that with another BIOS to make it not only region free but added mil-cd compatibility back to the BIOS. I messed up on it at first but luckily I flashed it to a system that had already been mil-cd compliant so fixing it was a snap.

 

x

 

okay so i too have a katana main va2.1 MF motherboard and i am looking for a piggyback install guide for this motherboard, i have 2 other dreamcasts with the 1 on the bottom of the case so im guessing they are the va1 mobos, can anyone take some pics of their install on the va2.1 mobo so i can get an idea on where i need to solder the wires? thanks in advance guys, also any tips on the matter would be awesome