Nintendo DS keeps freezing - not sure if it's the DS or the cart

My little cousin asked if I could check out his DS to try and figure out what's wrong with it. It's a DS Lite with an R4 & Wood v.1.10.

The DS was purchased brand new, he's had both the DS and cart for about a year and things have been running smoothly - he's also 7 so who knows what he's done to it. When I first turned it on, I could scroll through the list of games without any issues, during game play of two different games the screens froze after a bit. Turned it on and off, while in the Acekard Menu screen after a few test runs I noticed that the screens would freeze if I pressed down on the directional pad while in the game list section - if I scrolled with the stylus things were fine, but later the selected game would freeze. Then switching on and off would not respond well, screens would remain black, had to turn on and off several times to access the card, and again pressing down would freeze the DS.

When the R4 was removed, the normal DS screen would load, for the most part pressing down worked but it did freeze once while no cartridge was loaded.

I placed an actual game cartridge in the DS but so far I haven't been able to get it to work, the DS turns on but the screens remain black and I never see the game or a loading message. I removed the game cartridge, DS turned on and loaded the DS screen fine, but when I try to insert the real game the DS will freeze and a static noise can be heard.

I have tested my cousin's R4 on my DS and it runs fine, no issues at all. His DS experiences the same problems when my R4 is loaded, so this doesn't really seem like an issue with the R4, the issues seem to happen when there is a cartridge loaded, and there's also the Down button issue.

Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions? Could the R4 have caused damage to the DS? Anything I can do to try and fix this, or will he need to ask Santa for a new DS?

Thanks!

 

Okay, it seems like it's the R4 if your cousin gets the same problem after using it.
It's a possibility that its a clone, but that's unlikely as wood R4 wouldn't load up at all.
Have you checked the root directory for any unwanted files in the firmware folders?
Or if that doesn't work you could try backing up your files and formatting your memory card.

 

Thanks for the reply. Well his R4 works fine in my DS, I just checked again and tried my R4 in his DS but the screens are still black when turned on so I can't re-check my card on his DS. I'll check for unwanted files, I actually reformatted his card about a week ago because it was getting that SD/TF error message but I can try again.

I think the R4 is okay, it may not be an original but possibly a good quality clone. I bought it for him, and I believe I ordered it from DealWoot.com - back when they were still called DealWoot.com and selling DS carts. They were advertising their R4's as originals, but could possible have been a clone - but not one of those crazy N5 or suped up carts.

 

Okay, what is the exact wording on the car or the box it came in, and how did you come upon this site and when did you buy it?

 

Bought it about a year ago, and I think I bought from GamebyGame.com - they use to be called DealWoot.com I heard about the site from I'm pretty sure both Romulation and GBATemp, it was a pretty recommended and trusted site during that time, but I think they ran into issues and stopped selling all DS carts many months back. Just checked in and it looks like the site is temporarily closed.

Both the box and the cart reads: R4 - Revolution for the DS - (NDSL/NDS). Box has the r4ds.com website URL, but does say Made in China, not Japan.

My cousin's R4 works fine when inserted into my DS, but I'm still not able to get a real game or my R4 to work on his DS - screens just stay black when I turn it on.

 

It's likely your R4 is a fake, and this is a problem I haven't come across, I'll do some research and if I find anything I'll post again.

 

it freezes with anything in it must be the ds

 

He said his cousins R4 works with it.

 

he says cousins r4 dosent crash in his ds

 

That's what I just said.

 

so its not the card

 

Yesit is, it's his R4 that freezes, not his cousins.

 

Hmm, not sure if I followed the previous posts correctly, got a little confused. So just to recap and clarify things:

~ I'm now thinking it may be a problem with the DS and not the R4.
~ My cousin's R4 works just fine in my DS - but not in my cousin's DS
~ My R4 works fine in my DS, but doesn't work in my cousin's DS
~ A real game that works fine in my DS, will for the most part not work on my cousin's DS
~ No cartridge seems to work well in my cousin's DS
~ When a any cartridge is loaded, screens remain black upon powering
~ when I am able to get a game to load it freezes soon after
~ when I'm able to get the R4 to load, it will freeze while scrolling through the game list

~ when no cartridge is loaded, the DS menu will start up
~ while in this mode I have inserted a real game and it immediately freezes

~ DS is no longer under warranty, I checked. Thought about things and I think both R4 and DS are a little over 2 years old and not one.

 

It's the DS that freezes, not the card.

Even with a real gamecard it freezes.

I suggest sending Nintendo a mail and if they say send it, send it.
DON'T LEAVE YOUR R4 IN!!!
I'm sure they will remove it and throw it away.