GCDual/Swiss/GBI troubleshooting help

[thebigcheese]

Rather than clog up the GCVideo thread, thought I'd move this here. I have a Game Cube that I modded with the GCDual and it's been working great both with Game Cube games and with GBI. I had it hooked up with RGBs via gscartsw lite into an OSSC and that was working great, but I wanted to try out using the HDMI output instead, so I switched it over to that and everything was still working well. That is hooked up Game Cube > HDMI switcher > Onkyo receiver > TV. This was all with version 2.4a of the GCVideo firmware. I am using an Action Replay for launching GBI off the SD card, btw.

I finally got the stuff I needed to update the firmware to 2.4b, so I took the GC apart and followed Dan's instructions. It was pretty straightforward, update seems to have gone well because the Game Cube works fine with Game Cube games, the OSD operates, and it shows firmware as "2.4b*" in the menu. I do notice there is no option to change the volume, I am not sure if that was something removed in this particular branch or if it is a sign something else went wrong, but it's something I noticed. Anyway, the issue comes when I try to launch GBI. I was also a few versions behind on that, so I deleted everything off my (2GB) SD card and reloaded it with the newer versions. Initially, I created an autoexec.dol file like I normally do since I don't use Swiss and prefer to just have GBI launch automatically whenever I put the Action Replay disc in (for ease of use). After going to the AR splash screen, I would just get a black screen and no audio. I removed the autoexec.dol file and tried manually launching each of the three GBI DOL files, but none of them work. I deleted everything off the card and tried again, still no luck. I tried a different 2GB SD card, still no luck. Again, I can see all the files on the SD card, I just can't launch any of them. With the OSD turned on for GCVideo, it just says "640x 0i" as the resolution when I get to the black screen, so it seems that GCVideo is also not getting a valid signal.

Someone suggested that it might be an issue with my GB Player hardware, so I reseated that, even took the whole GC apart and put it back together, but still no change. I don't have an original GBP disc to test with, but I put the (uncompressed) Swiss DOL on the root of the SD card as a final measure to see if I could configure GBI from there, but I can't even get Swiss to launch. I get the exact same results as I do when trying to launch GBI directly.

On top of all that, I also seem to be having some issues with the RGBs output that I do not remember having before. The OSSC is set to autodetect the input, but the GC can be sitting there powered on and the OSSC just will not detect it. I have not tried a different cable to rule that out, so it's entirely possible that something happened there. But sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Maybe it's the switcher, maybe it's the cable, I don't know, but this wasn't happening before. Both the gscartsw and the OSSC detect inputs just fine with my other consoles.

All of this started happening after I updated to 2.4b (and the newest version of GBI). I feel like that shouldn't have anything to do with it as plenty of people are using this exact setup with no issues, but I am stumped at this point and need some help. HDMI output works with no issues for Game Cube games. When it has worked, RGBs seems to work fine. It's just Swiss and GBI that I can't launch. Any ideas?

[citrus3000psi]

I have seen this issue before and it was related to something with the SD card. When GC-Video gets 640x0 resolution its the gamecube not outputting anything.

Try a different sd card and/or sd card adapter.

[thebigcheese]

I have seen this issue before and it was related to something with the SD card. When GC-Video gets 640x0 resolution its the gamecube not outputting anything.

Try a different sd card and/or sd card adapter.

It is a pretty crappy adapter. The two cards I tried are old, but it did work like a day before the update, so I wouldn't think it would have gone bad then. Any recommendations for a good quality adapter?

[citrus3000psi]

They are all same I'd imagine. They are just passthrough adapters. But maybe a weak contact on one of the pins.

If you haven't tried this already, reformat them to fat32. Re-download swiss again and copy the file over. Even though your computer can read the cards currently doesn't mean something strange isn't happening.

[thebigcheese]

They are all same I'd imagine. They are just passthrough adapters. But maybe a weak contact on one of the pins.

If you haven't tried this already, reformat them to fat32. Re-download swiss again and copy the file over. Even though your computer can read the cards currently doesn't mean something strange isn't happening.

Well, I also see the contents in the AR menu on the Game Cube, to be clear. It's just when actually trying to launch one that I have a problem. I would think that means at least the adapter is working, but maybe not?

It's not a huge deal to reformat and recopy things, so I can try that too, just want to narrow down the options before I go buying new things.

[Extrems]

Action Replay only support FAT16. But yes, try reformatting.

[thebigcheese]

Will do. Technically the case says SD Media Reader, but it boots up an Action Replay menu? So in any event, I will try FAT16 and see what happens.

[thebigcheese]

Okay, that seems to have done the trick. Either that or taking the adapter apart and making sure everything is seated right. I have a new adapter on the way regardless, the on that came with this is pretty crap. Now I can go back to stressing out over which GBI settings to use. Thanks!