Everything was working fine, then suddenly the cartridge couldn't find the menu. I connected the microSD to my computer, and it told me I needed to format my SD card. So, regrettably, I lost most of my data (I had backups from about a week ago) but I did so anyway. But this was only the beginning of my problems. I go to www.m3adaptes.com where I got the firmware before, and it seems their site has been down since February. I looked around for another place to download the latest firmware/system menu for my M3... and I tried at least 4 or 5 different downloads with NO success. My M3 just does the same thing every time - red picture of the SD card and the message: "Menu?". I just don't know what the problem is here, my only guess is I'm getting the wrong firmware, so I'll describe my cart in greater detail: It looks just like the one here: http://m3adapter.com/SLOT-1_Series_M3DS-R.htm But the site for it is apparently m3adaptes, not adapter... and the upper right corner has a little box that says 'MA Sakura'. Is the cartridge simply dead now or is there no firmware that will work on this anymore?
You dont have an M3Real. The adaptes version is a cheap bootleg. I had previously heard that it ran the same firmware as the actual M3, but if you cant get any of the current firmwares to run properly then either I heard wrong or the newer firmwares block the bootleg cart. You can try to find an old version of the firmware and see if that works, but even if it does you'll find that you won't be able to run most of the more recent games.
Yeah... I kinda figured it was a knockoff... I actually found the old firmware I used still in my download folder, and it doesn't work. But I might be getting a DSi soon so I guess I'll get an R4i... a legit one at that.
There exists no such thing as a legit R4i. ALL flashcarts using the R4 name are knockoffs and clones of varying quality. Some are fairly good, others are very bad. Unfortunately, it is hard to tell what you're getting before buying because there are so many and they are all using the same name. You should go with an Acekard2i or an M3iZero. Those are currently the best flashcarts for the DSi.
