Gamebuino forum

Sure we are going to find a solution to that issue.
When it says "don't turn off" but it shouldn't take more than 10s (usually is 2-3s). When it hangs it's usually a micro SD card incompatibility issue.
Do you have any micro SD card of 2GB or less you could format in fat 16 and put your hex files on it? Well that's getting out of topic, so for stuff related to micro SD card please head to Problems with SD. You might also want to take a look at Jonnection's experimental bootloader.

Hi, it seems my problem was not answered (maybe missed between other problems )
May someone help me how to reload the default program into Gamebuino !

couribel wrote:Hi, I've also a boot problem on one of my Gamebuinos.
I think I crash the loader by switching off just after pressing the C button to change game

So, I try different things like :
- reformat in FAT16 the SD card (and reload all HEX files downloaded from github)
- install the gamebuino context in gamebuino.exe to be able to load programs (as described here : http://gamebuino.com/wiki/index.php?tit ... hrough_USB)
- load one example and send to gamebuino ==> this game is loaded, and run correctly
- now I'd like to reload the default boot program, which will load loader.HEX from SD card
For this, I've tried the following code (from the 1st page) :

Code: Select all

    // this code demonstrates the use of load_game
    // upload it into gamebuino and then open the serial port monitor, you should see
    // the "Send a char to start..." message. send a character to it and it
    // will attempt to load and burn LOADER.HEX from the SD card

    #define load_game (*((void(*)(const char* filename))(0x7ffc/2)))

    void setup() {
      Serial.begin(9600);
      Serial.println("Send a char to start...");
    }

    void loop() {
      if (Serial.available()) {
        Serial.read();
        load_game("LOADER");
      }
    }


But it's not working as expected.
In the serial monitor, I see "send a char", but nothing appear on the Gamebuino screen after sending a char.
No Loader.HEX loaded.

What can I do ?
Regards,
Laurent

What happens if you flash the loader via USB? Are you able to successfully select a game to flash?

Hi Rodot,

I don't know if it's normal, but I've searched for a long time the source code for Loader (in wiki and in github) without success.

And now, I've found an example loader directly into the Arduino programming interface.
Is it the correct program you suggest me to load ?

If yes, I've already tried, and now the Gamebuino is not "broken" anymore, and I can see the Gamebuino logo and microSD loader.

But when I press C button, the screen is flashing quickly (I can see "Flashing Loader DON'T TURN OFF"), and I return to the same screen.
If I press A button, I can get the list of programs stored into the µSD card, but it's impossible to load anyone of them.

Do I have to reformat the SD card ? (even if I've already done this step in FAT16 some days ago, and copying the files from my second gamebuino)

Yeah the loader in on github in libraries/gamebuino/examples/Utilities/loader. When you install the Gamebuino library, you also install the examples, that's why they appear directly in the Arduino software.

It sounds like your SD card is faulty, could you try formatting it to FAT16 using a computer running a different operating system (sometimes compatibility issues are really weird). Do you have any micro SD card of 2GB or less to try? Do you have a programmer to burn Jonnection's experimental bootloader v2.0 ?

Good news, my gamebuino is working.

You were right, I've only to format again the µSD card in FAT.
The first time I've formatted it, it was on a computer with Win8.1 and I've done a really big mistake, because I've thought that in the format program, "FAT" mean "FAT16", but as it's a x64 OS, "FAT" mean "FAT32".
Oops
But the good news, as I have always a very old computer with Windows XP, I've been able to format again and copy all original files.

Maybe you can create a FAQ to summarize all these small problems that many people can encounter.
And a small resume about what is the bootloader and how Gamebuino works (loader.hex loaded into gamebuino and other programs stored into µSD due to the small memory of Gamebuino, and dynamically loaded into Gamebuino memory replacing the loader, ...).
I don't remember having read a similar information into WIKI or the forum.
Sorry if I missed something (I'm a newbie in Arduino and Gamebuino ).

I've also seen the topic about the alternative bootloader by Jonnection.
I'll read it and check if I'm able to load it

I consider my problem solved.
Thanks for the help.

I'm glad you solved your problem!

couribel wrote:Maybe you can create a FAQ to summarize all these small problems that many people can encounter.

That's one of the purposes of the getting started page, but many, many people don't event read the getting started page