How to fix an 8GB DS Fire Card formatted in Windows XP

Hello everyone,

Mysteriously the games the I currently had available on my 8GB DS Fire Card began erroring out when I tried to play them... I believe it was a write error or save error.

One of the new ROM games had put on and tried and written multiple .sav files so i figured it became corrupt. I tried to delete the game in question and all the 15 or so .sav files associated with it but 3 of the .sav files would not remove, making me think it corrupted even more.

I decided to start from scratch and deleted everything on the card and formatted it in Windows XP to rid it from the stubborn files.... oops. I should have joined this site first and read up on it instead of going on my own.

Anyway, How can fix this card now? I'm sure I am not the first person to do this, nor will I be the last.

Thanks,
I didn't realize I was not supposed

 

Dont panic.
Put the firecard into your DS, turn it ON, then immediately hold down START & SELECT. A menu will pop up. Select 'quick format'.
After it's formatted, put the XMENU back in. This will create the system folders again. Then you can put the games back in.
.
The game you mentioned which created the multiple save files, DONT put this game back into the card, or the same thing will happen again.
I found that the games Bratz4, Dogz, Dogz2, Catz, Catz2 will corrupt this card, menaing a reformat is needed. Bisicly i now stay away from any game ending with a 'Z' when using a firecard/N-card/F-card.
Which game was it, by the way?

 

Hi thanks for your reply! First the game in question was Shrek3, I bought my unit off ebay and the Fire Card was pre-loaded with a bunch of games. It had Dogz and Catz but they never worked. I just recently figured out how easy it was to use this Fire Card and Link system to add and remove games.... Dogz, Xatz and Shrek are now scratched!

As for the formatting. I have tried your technique but it doesn't seem to recognize that there is a card. The menu that pops up is the setup menu for time, date, user name etc... I do not see the option to format. maybe I am holding the key combo too long? Or maybe not long enough?

 

hmm...ok. try this.
turn on the DS without a card in it.
go into 'options'(down the bottom of the screen).
click on the wee spanner, then click on the one with the arrow point at a rectangle(at the top)
Select AUTO MODE...Confirm, then turn off DS
.
Try the reformatting thing again with the card inside the DS....hold down 'start & select' after turning on the DS.
the screen should turn BLACK with white text.
.
try this & let me know how you get on.

 

Thanks Brother! I appreciate your help. I will try this a bit later and let you know how is turns out. You've been a great help!

 

Tried this and still no luck. When I boot in and press A to access the card i get "Error:Open xmenu.dat error!"

 

I can now get the black screen with the white writing. I now get prompted with the USB or MENU options and when I select MENU I am getting white screens with Error: Data is not align 16K!

 

Problem solved! This is the link that got things working:

http://www.consoleplus.co.uk/product_info.php?pName=ds-fire-link-slot-1-for-ds-and-ds-lite-16gbit

To format DS Fire Card:

Thanks for your help Regg

 

well done, mate.
.
"Error:Open xmenu.dat error!" - - means there is no XMENU in the card yet.
.
"Error: Data is not align 16K!" - - means it has been formatted in windows(needs to be formatted while in the DS)
.
These cards are quite good, but it will probabaly need reformatted every 2-3 months(mine do).
Next time it will be a piece of cake for you.
take care.

 

Hi everyone,

I have the same problem w/ my Fire Card. I can follow the instruction on trying to format the Fire Card. My only question is what is the D-Pad for me to perform? Thanks much!

"Hold DOWN on the D-Pad"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Low Level Format:

Insert the DS Fire Card and the DS Fire Link and connect the USB to a fre USB port, switch on your DS/DS Lite. Hold down (with your left hand) Left Trigger and DOWN on the D-Pad, and (with your right hand) Right Trigger, A and B - hold these buttons until the writing is displayed on the DS Screen - then Release all the buttons and press A and B together one more time - the DS screen should then report the Format - when your PC picks up the device and shows an empty explorer window this will confirm the format is complete.

Now just copy your files back to the card as normal.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

i also have the same problem but i have the 16g card is there a fix for this id apreciate any help thanks

 

My Fire Card is 2GB, so it's 16G. I believe both 8G and 16G should be the same, other than the double capacity.

I have found another method that is very simple to do. The only missing steps that I found necessary for any newbie to follow:

Below are my steps with the missing steps:

1. Push and hold "Start" + "Select", turn on DS. Do not let go the two buttons.
2. While pushing the above two buttons, tab "F-Card" button.
3. The Format Menu will show up on the top screen.
4. Do Full Format. Scroll down w/ the "down arrow," then push "A" to select.
5. It will start formatting. Full formatting takes a while to finish.
6. Once it's done, you can drag and drop the xmenu and all your favorite ROM files into the "removable disk."
7. Enjoy!




************************************************************
To Format, hold down SELECT+START when turning DS on

u will get three options:

CANCEL = cancelled, do not be formatted
QUICK FORMAT = rapid format
FULL FORMAT = fully formatted

select full format.

important >>> let it finished formating before u do anything else.

now connect everything to the PC :

(just incase u dont know)
-firecard into DS slot 1
-adapter in DS slot 2
-USB cable from adapter to USB port on PC
-turn on DS
-option should apear saying 'usb mode' or 'game mode'
-select USB mode
-listen for sound as your PC recognises the firecard.
-firecard is now a removable drive in 'my computer'.

copy the xmenu.dat and fire_eng_1_45.nds onto the ds firecard root directory.

 

thats great thankyou
now for another stupid question where do i get and download the updated xmenu etc files from
thanks

 

DSLinker XMENU 2.55
http://www.dslinker.cn/soft/
.
download it//unzip it//insert it.
happily works with your firecard

 

Hi, I've just bought a DS Fire Link Card and I have put some games onto it which went OK, but then I wanted to take them off and it says it 'Cannot find the file specified, make sure you specify the correct path and file' Clearly the file is there but won't delete.

Can anyone help?

 

yes...
.
copy the file names 'xmenu.dat' to somewhere on your PC.(you'll need it again later)
.now format the card using this method....
put it in the DS, turn on, then hold down 'select & start' while the card is booting.
then select 'quick format' from the menu.
.
after format is complete, send the xmenu back to the f-card.
.
put games in
play
smile.

 

Does anyone know if the Fire Card can be set up to play online games?

Thanks in advance.

 

yes..it can.
my kids use the nintendo USB wi-fi connector dongle to play online with their firecards.
.
if you dont have a 'dongle' then you can still play multiplayer wifi games with friends in the same house who have ds flash-cards.
.
also, the firecards support download play. meaning that DS players who have no flashcard and no game can still play on their DS if they link to your DS & firecard.
(ps. in my experiences, some firecards dont seem to work with this download play. although most do.)

 

I presume this is the dongle you are referring to:

http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2007/11/14/nintendo-wi-fi-usb-dongle-discontinued/

I also wonder how the discontinuing of this product will affect its use, particularly in future software support.

Thanks,

 

I've managed to format the card, but now it says need udisk 1.45. I updated the firmware 1.45 then I get the xmenu.dat error and I have updated with that too and then it foes back to the udisk 1.45 error message. I feel I am going round in circles and not getting very far........this is starting to stress me OUT!! Can anyone pls help?