[USB GDROM] Troubleshooting & Firmware updates

[Xiden]

Hey all. I just joined the USB GDROM club yesterday. Thanks to some links in the forums, I've downloaded a bunch of GDI images and got them on a thumb drive. I've only tested a couple but they all seem to work.

But one thing that always bothers me is when I'm not running the latest firmware or OS on my devices. I'm feeling like a dolt when it comes to the firmware for this thing. I downloaded the BIN file, put it on my thumb drive, put the thumb drive in the Dreamcast and turn it on. Great so far. Then I select the firmware (from 9/5, the device is running firmware from I think August of 17? can't tell the way the date is formatted, but I think so). The Dreamcast reboots and then it mounts it like an audio disk with two tracks. Obviously that's not right. Can anybody point out what I'm doing wrong?

Its been awhile since I've updated firmware on my USB-GDrom drive. When you boot into the Menu the date should be 2017/09/05 - Sept 5th 2017.

You put the firmware in the root folder right? Basically it needs to be in the root drive then execute it then it should say its updating.

[Xiden]

Hey, so MNEMO isn't responding; wondering if anyone here can help?

I've had my USB GDR for about a year now and it's been great.

However, last night, my game randomly froze. Upon restarting, and selecting the game from the boot menu, I get the error message, "firmware is obsolete".

I've had this happen once before. I replaced the firmware, selected it, it installed, and everything was fine then.

This time however, it's simply not working. I've put the newest firmware "USB-GDROM_fw_17-09-05.bin" on the USB in the root folder, went to boot it up, and the error message "firmware is obsolete" happens again.

Things I've tried to no avail:

- Redownloaded the new firmware and repeated the process above.
- reformatted the USB stick (fat32, 64k cluster)
- took out and cleaned PSU
- took out and put USB GDR back in
- tried 2 different USB sticks
- Put in old GDR, played a disc and it played fine (attempt to rule out the system)

I recommend going to this thread https://assemblergames.com/threads/usb- ... ead.56946/ And posting a video of the issue. A few people have encountered the same issue there and could send you a firmware that could fix it. It seems the person who was sharing the firmware took it offline but im certain someone else has it. If they get the firmware back up please let us know so we can add it to our downloads section for future help (FYI I think it was a 2016 firmware that fixes it)

FYI Mnemo is very slow at replying to emails. You could try to skype him - mnemo3do
He goes on trips a lot so it could take a bit for him to reply - [email protected] Thats his email.

To expedite the process I recommend sending him a video of your problem to him as well so he can properly diagnose the issue. He does notoriously take a long time to reply sadly though

[Xiden]

Looks like you can use the power of the internet time machine to get some old firmware

https://web.archive.org/web/20170622214 ... roller.htm
You could try one of those and see if that helps.

[victoryrhoads]

I forgot to mention I had thought of using old firmware- but couldn’t find any to download! I can’t wait to try this when I get home. Thanks so much!

[victoryrhoads]

Looks like you can use the power of the internet time machine to get some old firmware

https://web.archive.org/web/20170622214 ... roller.htm
You could try one of those and see if that helps.

Seems like I'm unable to download them?

[Xiden]

Looks like you can use the power of the internet time machine to get some old firmware

https://web.archive.org/web/20170622214 ... roller.htm
You could try one of those and see if that helps.

Seems like I'm unable to download them?

ill see if im able to once im home. If not ill ask around on assembler and see if someone cant get me some older.firmware

[victoryrhoads]

Thanks!

[victoryrhoads]

MNEMO got back to me, he sent me this link; https://yadi.sk/d/4_38jLb23U9aGg

The background is different now. All black, with green(i'm colorblind) text it looks like.

I highly suggest people keep older firmware versions on file from here on in.

[Xiden]

MNEMO got back to me, he sent me this link; https://yadi.sk/d/4_38jLb23U9aGg

The background is different now. All black, with green(i'm colorblind) text it looks like.

I highly suggest people keep older firmware versions on file from here on in.

Did it fix the issue though im guessing? I'm glad he finally got back to you.

I'll send a PM to the OP to see if we can get an archive going of the firmware

[victoryrhoads]

Yes, issue is fixed.