FMCB 1.7 - Black Screen

[gavatron]

Hi all! I'm a first time user of this and have tried searching extensively for an answer but I'm beginning to think it's just my problem.

I have a new slim ps2 79003 with swap magic 3.6. Now I followed the tutorial over in sksapps word for word and Free McBoot appears to install successfully from the USB drive. Great!

But once the install is completed and reset the console all I get is a black screen?

I've made sure all my file names are upper-case and configured FMCB to load from the memory card. I have also tried removing the USB drive when resetting. Still just a black screen.

I haven't placed any extra .ELFs in there other than the recommended apps in the root of the install folder and have not bothered with the DVDELF.

I'm starting to think it may be the memory card (which is a brand new sony card) as games like MGS3, Shadow of the Colossus and Killer 7 don't see the memory card when it's inserted? Yet the PS2 BIOS and Beyond Good & Evil does?

Any help or advice you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[windrider42]

Ok did you make sure to save CNF to mc0 after you configured it.

Its up too you but probably best if you do install the DVDELF.bin file. I could be wrong but think it is better.
http://www.psx-scene.com/forums/free...injection.html

or as you say it could be your mc, so if you have another mc then try it.

[gavatron]

Thanks Windrider.

I just now tried injecting DVDPLE (renamed to DVDBIN.ELF) and the install goes according to plan. I also configured to save .CNF to mc:0 once the install completed but unfortunately for me, I still receive the same black screen at start up.

I used swap magic to see what was saved on mc:0 and noticed that in mc:0/BEEXEC-SYSTEM there was a file named osdmain.elf (in lower caps). Is that correct? I tried to launch it but got an error saying it wasn't and ELF.

I can still run ERS and SMS off of mc:0 via the launcher on the usb so the mc isn't totally busted. I think? For some reason now SotC and MGS3 are seeing the mc. It seems just before I insert the game after using swap magic I insert the mc and it's noticed.

Would using an older revision of FMCB be any use?

[dlanor]

Originally Posted by gavatron

Thanks Windrider.

I just now tried injecting DVDPLE (renamed to DVDBIN.ELF) and the install goes according to plan. I also configured to save .CNF to mc:0 once the install completed but unfortunately for me, I still receive the same black screen at start up.

I have some MCs myself that will not work in slot 1 of one of my PStwo consoles, though they work perfectly in the other PS2s, and even in slot 2 of the affected PStwo. And other MCs work just fine in either slot of all my consoles (I have 3).

I've come to the conclusion that the PS2 MC slot design is a little too sensitive to inevitable physical variations. The precise fit of the connectors will always vary by some fraction of a millimeter, and when the console and the MC vary in opposite directions the resulting contact surface and contact pressure may be insufficient to provide reliable operation.

For such cases there really isn't much you can do, except to switch to another MC, or use the 'offending' MC in slot 2 instead (like I did in one case). But you will still need to get some MC that works well in slot 1, as some games never offer you a choice of which slot to use, assuming that slot 1 will always be used.

I used swap magic to see what was saved on mc:0 and noticed that in mc:0/BEEXEC-SYSTEM there was a file named osdmain.elf (in lower caps). Is that correct?

That is perfectly correct, and that file is the main FMCB boot file.

Edit:
If you use Multi-Version Install for FMCB, then there will be 22 files of that kind in the same folder.

I tried to launch it but got an error saying it wasn't and ELF.

It is not a normal ELF file, but is instead a so-called KELF (encrypted elf).
This can only be launched properly by the bootup routines of the PS2 bios.

I can still run ERS and SMS off of mc:0 via the launcher on the usb so the mc isn't totally busted. I think?

It probably isn't busted, but I do believe you have contact/connection issues similar to what I had with a few MC+Console combinations. At first I thought this had something to do with the fact that the MCs with problems were non-Sony 32 MB cards, but this theory doesn't hold water for two reasons.

1: On my 'problem' console the 'problem' MC worked perfectly in slot 2, having problems only in slot 1. This indicates a physical 'fitness' difference, since the electronic interfaces are identical. So if the problem was due to the non-Sony MC interface, it should have affected slot 2 identically to slot 1.

2: On my 'problem' console I now use even larger non-Sony MCs (64 MB) in slot 1 without having any problems at all.

For some reason now SotC and MGS3 are seeing the mc. It seems just before I insert the game after using swap magic I insert the mc and it's noticed.

Which programs do see the MC or not is probably partly due to luck, and partly due to how much or little of the MC functionality they rely on, and how frequently they access it.

Would using an older revision of FMCB be any use?

I don't see why that would help at all.

My only suggestions are to try with a different MC, and also to check if your current MC behaves the same way in both slots, or if there is any difference depending on which slot you use it in. (Quite likely if it is a matter of physical fit mismatch.)

Best regards: dlanor

[Neme]

I had this problem with my Sony MC that was made in China. The install was successfull but i got BSOD at booting. It was found later that it happened only when i was installing on an empty card. So i prefilled my card with a good amount of data (game saves and utils that took about 4 MB) and run the installation without formatting the card, and it booted fine.

[lujuris]

Used to have the same problem with my Chinese Sony MC. I finally discovered that the problem is that FMCB installer fails to get the correct MC Id -- as far as I've tested, that problem is true from FMCB 1.5 and 1.6 as well.

Try the following. It worked for me

a) Download l_oliveira's file, "embed13R1PLUS_v2.zip" (google it. you should find it easily in the "Support for other regions" thread in this site).

b) Follow the instructions in the "readme.txt" file to get the mcid.bin file for your MC in a USB flash drive and after all the steps finally obtain the osdmain.elf file in the B?EXEC-SYSTEM directory. Do not copy that directory to the MC yet!

c) Open the osdmain.elf file in your PC with an HEX editor (I use UltraEdit) and find among the first few bytes the sequence 38 E0 47 4A AC 51 25 1E

d) The 32 bytes that follow the aforementioned sequence are the MC Id. Copy them to a separate text file for future reference.

e) Install FMCB 1.7 in your MC as usual. Once finished, do not try to launch FMCB (you can try if you want. If it works, disregard everything I just said

f) Launch ULE by any means you can and copy the osbmain.elf from your MC (it should be in the B?EXEC-SYSTEM folder) to your USB flash drive.

e) Open this new osbmain.elf in your PC with your trusty HEX editor. Find the 38 E0 47 4A AC 51 25 1E sequence.

g) Replace the 32 bytes that follow with the ones you saved in step "d"

h) Save the file with the same name (osdmain.elf) in your USB flash drive.

i) If you installed the multi-version FMCB in your MC, make also copies of osdmain.elf with the names osd100.elf, osd110.elf, ..., osdsys.elf (etc. you should check the MC B?EXEC-SYSTEM folder in your MC to see what filenames you need.)

j) Back in your PS2, use ULE to copy the recently modified elf files (osdmain.elf, osd100.elf, etc.) from your USB flash drive to the MC, replacing the ones in the MC folder B?EXEC-SYSTEM.

h) Restart your PS2 and try it. Should work!

Regards.

[gavatron]

Thanks for all your responses so far, but I still haven't managed to have lady luck on my side Here's what's happened so far:

check if your current MC behaves the same way in both slots

Thanks for your response dlanor it gave me a much better understanding with what's going on. I didn't even think to try slot 2 but when I did again no such luck there. Maybe it could just be the card, but seeing as it's an official one I thought there's no way it could be, maybe I'm being naive?

I had this problem with my Sony MC that was made in China... So i prefilled my card with a good amount of data (game saves and utils that took about 4 MB) and run the installation without formatting the card, and it booted fine.

Mine's an official card made in China also and thought with a few saves building up I might have a chance! I haven't got 4mb of stuff on it but tried installing again but still BSOD.

Find the 38 E0 47 4A AC 51 25 1E sequence

Thanks for that step by step guide I thought that was going to finally be the winner to get this thing up and running. I d/l all the advised files, followed the readme.txt to get the osdmain.elf but once I go in to the hex editor (using ultraedit also) I can't find that quoted string? Would it be exactly the same or would there be a unique string for every card?

Edit:
I thought I would try and see if skipping the hex editing steps would work and just copy the osdmain.elf to the memory card, but surprise surprise! It BSOD. It's looking pretty grim for me isn't it?

[lujuris]

Sorry to hear that. It seems strange to me that the string sequence is nowhere to be found. I've consistently found it in every MC I tested -- it may be region specific, though (my PS2 is a US-NTSC Slim)

I found it starting in the 33rd byte. You sure you have UltraEdit in "Binary" mode? Just in case, in ASCII the first 4 bytes of the 8-byte sequence are 8àGJ

Good luck!

[Neme]

@gavatron:
You can also try installing with a 'big' dvdelf in the inject folder (i can send you one). That also fixed my problem with the chinese card, but the drawback is that it's many times bigger than the slim dvdelf (1300kb / 75kb).

Edit: hmm i've just realised that it was not the 'big' file that solved my problem, because i already had a correct mcid.bin for that file which i used to build the osdmain.elf and that's why it worked. The problem really was that wrong mcid.bin was generated on the empty card. So my suggestion is that try putting some more stuff on that card until you get a different mcid.bin file.

@lujuris:
He's using a PAL dvdple file so the hex string is different from the dvdplu one.

[lujuris]

@Neme:

You are right, sir. The correct sequence should be 14 7C 2F 1E AE C6 F2 AC

[gavatron]

Thanks Neme & lujuris.

I have ordered a second memory card which should be getting delivered today so I can test it against the card I have now and report back once I have.

If that fails I'll have another try at tinkering with all the bits and bytes again thanks lujuris for digging out the Pal string!

I'm slowly filling up my so-called 'cannot be found' memory card which is the main thing that's bothering me. I hope this new card fixes that!

[gavatron]

Well my new card from Amazon has arrived and what do you know FMCB is now up and running first try. It became obvious as soon as I compared both mc's together - the differences are immediate. I've attached an image of both cards side by side to show you what I mean.

Lesson learned: Buy from trusted sites and avoid the cheap and nasty ones!

Thanks everyone for all your help through my drama's. I really appreciate all your advice and the time taken to help a brother out!

Now it's time to see what this baby can do!

[Neme]

That's quite similar to what i have here. The japanese card is the older and heavily used, still working perfectly. But atm i'm using the chinese one for testing and that's the one i needed to fill up with data to make it work.

[bootsector]

Smells like bad clusters at the beginning of those "homemade" chinese cards. Maybe that's why it may work when you put some "trash" at the beginning of the card, so no bad clusters will be used when FMCB is installed.

[gavatron]

@Neme

Looks like you have the 'far eastern flimsy' version as well! I'm just annoyed that I paid £10 for it. I would've gone to ebay for one of those and for cheaper! :P

There's so many differences between them such as the texture of the card (real sony is more rough and the dodgy one smoother), the screws, indents on the side of the cards (the real sony card indent is smaller) and the embossed Sony logo and arrow at the top seem bigger. I also noticed that the exposed circuit board are much different shades of green.

I'm just happy that I can save my games with no problems now which is the main thing when you are trying to get through SotC and MGS3!

@Neme & Bootsector

What do you suggest I use to fill up the suspected bad clusters so I can at least use this card and maybe get FMCB on it also?

[bootsector]

Originally Posted by gavatron

@Neme & Bootsector

What do you suggest I use to fill up the suspected bad clusters so I can at least use this card and maybe get FMCB on it also?

I would suggest you use LaunchElf (can be started via SwapMagic 3.6, check the FMCB tutorials) to copy some files from a pendrive to the faulty MC.

[windrider42]

Originally Posted by Neme

That's quite similar to what i have here. The japanese card is the older and heavily used, still working perfectly. But atm i'm using the chinese one for testing and that's the one i needed to fill up with data to make it work.

So how does one know for sure if they have a chinese clone.
Is it by the space between the number and MB - 8MB and 8 MB

Mine look like the ones you have pictured as Jap and have the rough texture, but on 2 of them I had problem with fmcb 1.7. It would install to mc doing the multi-install, and it would load the ELF files by pressing Button key assigned.

It just would not load ELF's from the Sony Browser

http://psx-scene.com/forums/freevast...-7-urgent.html

But 2 other Sony 8mb cards I got from same place work fine.

I was thinking about filling them up with data, then going to try again seeing I read your post.
They work fine otherwise for saves etc.

[KABUKISTAR]

I'm trying to follow lujuris' directions to get the correct Memory card ID, but I'm having some problems.

When I run mcid.elf, with my Chinese MC in the mc0 slot, I get this for output:

IOP reset and update with ron0:EELOADCNF OK.
REading dumped massVDELF.bin...
The value of filesize is 75104

The Value of region is 0155
done.
||
IOP reset and update with REPLACE.IMG OK.
||
SecrDownloadFile start
SecrDownloadFile: failed
||
Going to sleep... byebye...
||

And no mcid.bin file appears on my flash drive.

Anyone have an idea why I get the "SecrDownloadFile: failed" error?

[Bogey]

Quote: