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Atari Flashback 9 Gold Red/Test Screen Fix?


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can you show me the youtube video and the link, please.

So, you get into the test screen normally by powering on the system while holding start+select. Are those buttons stuck down?
 

Have you tried loading the official firmware update on an SD Card and tried to re-flash the system?

 

Here is the Atari Flashback 9 Gold Firmware Update V.2.1.1
atari_update.img

Edited by Draxxon
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Ok so, that channel file and rom-05cb.bin file I have never seen before. I also know opening up the system and holding the little reset button and powering on into safe mode doesn't really help anything.

 

Here is another website talking about it:
At @ames sega mega drive red screen | GBAtemp.net - The Independent Video Game Community

@rocketfan, what do you think??? Any ideas?

Other options would be to email atgames, they are helpful in my experience. That had to be where those files came from.

Here is the FULL update. (these updates need to be names "atari_update.img" for the system to see them.

 

AFB9G_2.1.1_FULL.img

Edited by Draxxon
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Ok thank you so much for the info. I did open it up and got it into recovery mode. I used an atari_update file on an SD card but it didn’t seem to do anything nor did it even show on the screen when I tried rebooting from the SD. 
I just emailed ATgames so fingers crossed. 
Another AA member posted about this and received these files from Atgames that solved the problem apparently. I bumped his thread asking about it as well

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i read the comments a little bit on the video you shared. People had trouble with the fix on AFB9Gold because of the wireless joysticks. I guess you have to use a wired one to fix it. The problem they ran into was they couldn't exit the pitfall test game.

To exit a game with a joystick that doesnt have the "menu" button like the atgames P1 joystick, hold SELECT button on the console and press down on the joystick to exit. (or maybe its Select+Up, I always forget which is manual rewind and which is manual menu/exit)

BTW, it looks like the GBATemp guys used android tools to push a full image onto that sega flashback and got it working.

 

Good luck, let us know!

Edited by Draxxon
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There was a full AFB9 dump around here somewhere, I dont remember if it was regular or gold version though.

The 2nd (60+ MB) file up there is the FULL Update image, not system dump btw.

I do have the android tools and drivers if you end up needing them.

EDIT: Well, shit, here they are in case Im not around.
 

Android_Tool_v2.69.rar RockUSB_Driver_Assistant_v4.8.rar

Edited by Draxxon
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I dug into some of the startup scripts.  On the AFB9, the channel.txt is just a blank (or any contents) file you can put on the root of the SD to get into that diagnostic screen (pretty sure anyway).  On AFBX I can see that has been changed to holding down select and start together.  I suspect on some systems maybe you needed both.  So I will guess the other bin file is a firmware update (sure sounds like it).  It looks like somehow a copy can get located in an internal partition (/data where the high scores and stuff go) and that would trigger it to always appear.  Yes, long story short - if you can't follow the video with just the file, then for sure agreed that a full FW update from android tools may fix it.

Edited by rocketfan
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I just assumed that hold select+start on boot was test screen for AFB9s. It is for the X and a lot of other AFBs. So my bad on that. I was wrong.

I remember WD Gaster saying something about a blank channel text file to get into the LFB test screen over at the GBATemp forum now that I think about it.

I think the full firmware Update image above will work. Im suprised it wont flash from the SD Card now. Those Android tool drivers can be a PITA, BTW.

Edited by Draxxon
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Great news! I heard back from Atgames and they provided me with two files to load via SD and prompt me through the test screen. Worked perfect and the system is now running :) Now to make use of that SD slot and do some upgrades :) 

Thank you @Draxxon @rocketfan for your help! I've attached the files here for anyone that needs them

Re__Atari_Flashback_9_Gold_Red_Test_Screen.zip

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Cool, I put the video on youtube, and linked to the files in your post. Hopefully we can help some other people. Thank you for sharing. Glad to hear you got it working. BTW, the custom firmware mod is here:
Atari Flashback Nexus (Community Project) - AtGames Flashback and Portable Consoles - AtariAge Forums 

 

 

 

 

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On 11/12/2021 at 10:56 PM, rocketfan said:

the channel.txt is just a blank (or any contents)

i see that the channel file had the number "1" in it.

I also see that when the fix gets to channel: 1 on the red screen, the screen turns blue when it fixes itself.

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59 minutes ago, Draxxon said:

i see that the channel file had the number "1" in it.

I also see that when the fix gets to channel: 1 on the red screen, the screen turns blue when it fixes itself.

Yeah it does, then goes into Pitfall and you exit out. I pulled out the SD card and powered on and it was good to go :) 

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