EUR Game in OZ/NSW Mk7 -

[Mk7_4fun]

I have a Mk7 19" that came with a game that is "EUR" which I assume is for Europe? The game worked 100% perfectly. I then put in a NSW Players Choice title which didn't work until I installed a LAB board and then the title worked. I then decided to put the original EUR title into my machine and it now boots just beyond the BIOS and then throws a "DSA" error (see attached). I removed the LAB board to see if that was the issue with the EUR game but I still get the error.

When I put back in the NSW Players Choice it boots up no problems (besides needing to add the LAB board card which is for NSW here in Oz).

Error says "DSA verify of MBR failed! Trying to boot next device..." "Operating System not found"

Do I need setchip to get the EUR game to work again?

[Mk7_4fun]

Here are some pictures of the game and the error message.

[rickhunter]

Sounds like the CF card is corrupt.  Those are error messages you get when the system can't find a boot record on the cf card or the card does not pass validation.  Did you insert the gamecard into a pc or a mac?

[The laneman]

If put into a pc after Windows 7 it isnt going to work anymore.

[Mk7_4fun]

thanks. I think it might be a settings thing as the 100D had a setchip looking BIOS whereas NSW games have graphical version..


What normally happens when you have a new game that requires setchip? Does it refuse to boot? What errors do you see?

[rickhunter]

It boots, but then it will either just reboot after it tries to load the new game, or it will not allow you to clear sram if you get to the game screen where you can clear the sram.  The error you are getting means the CF card is unable to be validated or is missing the boot record.  So you are not even getting to the part where the system checks for game settings.

[Mk7_4fun]

thanks for that... I;ve never had to use set chip.. I did back up the CFs and the NSW ones work... very strange...


Have you ever come across this error?

[rickhunter]

Yes, when I tried to back up a WMS CF card after the fall update to windows 10 a couple of years ago.  All of a sudden my card wasn't working.  I tried another card, and sure enough it got scrapped. It also happens with macs.  So nothing newer than windows 7 to backup my cards now.

[Mk7_4fun]

So figured it out! I hope this helps others that may have issues after they try and back up their CF cards!

Issue is Windows (not always), changes the MBR Signature in the MBR section of the compact flash when you read the CF. The reason it does this is that the original games are mounted under Linux and use as the signature 00 00 00 00 which isn't valid for windows.. As Windows wants a "unique" signature for the MBR before providing a "mount", corrects this value and overwrites it with a random value to make it unique to the system it is installed in. The Aristo CF MBR has a DSA hash applied to make sure that it hasn't been altered. Due to windows changing this signature within the MBR, this then makes the hash check fail!



To fix (and to be safe), you need to mount the CF under linux to make duplicates  of the CF. To fix the CF  when you have read the CF under windows and it no longer boots up... Then use a hex editor to change the bytes at 0x1B8, 0x1B9, 0x1BA, 0x1BB to "00"

[The laneman]

Great info.Thanks for sharing.