uLE problem with V9 to V18.

[aar36095]

EDIT: PROBLEM FIXED! SCROLL TO POST 11 to SEE PROBLEM + DIAGNOSIS (http://www.psx-scene.com/forums/431895-post11.html
I recently got my V9 in a eBay auction, and it was replacing my dying V7 machine, which was suffering the "jet" problem. I purchased and formatted a 16mb MAX Memory Card from Walmart, installed FMCB 1.5 (didn't know 1.6 was going to be released in 2 hours, ahh!!!) and put uLE 4.21 (current version at the time, ahh!!!) as boot.elf. When I went to copy the backup MC files and proggy's from the HD, I then went on to configure it with uLE's built in program. I set it up, and then went to launch Codebreaker from the HDD. The HDD powered up, and uLE looked like it was going to do something, but I just got a blank, black screen of doom. I restarted, and tried running another program from the MC. Same, BSOD. Any help here? The only way uLE will run is if I manually make a CNF on a PC, but if I need to change a setting on a dime, it takes just too long...
Good thing FMCB 1.6 uses a hacked OSDSYS and can run ELF's from the mc's and mass. I just had to copy over my Codebreaker 9.3. BTW, GREAT WORK jimmikaelkael, ffgriever, and everyone else that I can't remember that made FMCB!
EDIT: Forgot to mention, I have the same problem with any ps2 version 9 to 18.

[dlanor]

I recently got my V9 in a eBay auction, and it was replacing my dying V7 machine, which was suffering the "jet" problem. I purchased and formatted a 16mb MAX Memory Card from Walmart, installed FMCB 1.5 (didn't know 1.6 was going to be released in 2 hours, ahh!!!) and put uLE 4.21 (current version at the time, ahh!!!) as boot.elf.

This sounds like what I too did when those versions of uLE and FMCB were current, with no problems at all on any of my consoles.

When I went to copy the backup MC files and proggy's from the HD, I then went on to configure it with uLE's built in program.

I'm not sure what you mean by "it" in the last sentence above. If you mean uLE itself, then of course you should use the built in config menus to set it up. That's the only convenient way of doing it, and also ensures that you get all the file paths correct as you do it by browsing to each file. Text editing the CNF is only suitable for some rare special cases.

I set it up, and then went to launch Codebreaker from the HDD. The HDD powered up, and uLE looked like it was going to do something, but I just got a blank, black screen of doom.

And was this with a CodeBreaker elf that used to work previously, in the same location ?

I restarted, and tried running another program from the MC. Same, BSOD. Any help here?

So you are saying that the installed uLE is completely unable to launch anything then? Is that it ? Because in that case something is hopelessly broken, though I have no idea how that happened.

The only way uLE will run is if I manually make a CNF on a PC,

This contradicts your earlier statement that uLE is not able to launch anything, so which is it ?
If you open the FileBrowser and try to directly launch a highlighted elf, does that give any problems ? (Doing this should be independent of any CNF.)

but if I need to change a setting on a dime, it takes just too long...

The time is irrelevant. The crucial fact is that if the internal config menus of uLE don't produce a working CNF, then something is broken. (Corrupted uLE elf ?)

Have you checked the resulting CNF files in a text editor to see if their content matches what it should be ?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I have the same problem with any ps2 version 9 to 18.

So you are saying that uLE v4.21 is unable to launch any elf files at all when it has a self-edited CNF file, and that this is the case for every single model from v9 through v18. (You really have those 10 consoles yourself ?)

I have to doubt the correctness of that, since many others (including myself) use FMCB and uLE without problems, on console models within the range you report as not working.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not doubting your truthfulness, but simply think you are overlooking some other cause of the problems than uLE itself. Because if it was as hopelessly bugged as you describe, then it should not be working for other users either, and the fact is that you're the only one who has reported problems of this kind. So they should be caused by something unique at your end, and not by the same uLE elf everyone else is using (or was using when it was still current). Have you tried the latest version (v4.24) to see if this suffers from the same problem on your setup. (It certainly doesn't on mine.)

Best regards: dlanor

[TnA]

@aar36095: Maybe a stupid question and maybe it is not related to your problem, but did you turned Disc-Control on, or did you tried to insert a disc?

[aar36095]

OK, let me explain again. It was 9am on saturday morning and I just woke up, so I'll re do my post. I got my V9 last Tuesday, and I already had the 16mb card. I had it all setup and working with my V7 jet, and I only started having problems when I would go over and use the card with my V18. No programs load. So, I reconfigured it with uLE's config util (that's what i've always used) and then everything was good and happy, even my V7 was fine with the new config. Until I got the V9, and put it in. Same problem with the V9 as the V18. I reconfigure it, and it still doesn't work. I had an idea, so I copied the LAUNCHELF.cnf file to my usb key. I edited the CNF, and it worked. Until I needed to change the Disc Control to on, since I was using PSX Launcher to play a backup of MGS, which is hell trying to find in stores these days. It seems that uLE simply destroyed itself when I saved the config, so I tried my method of editing on the PC. I could not find the line to change Disc Control, so I deleted the CNF and just used the FileBrowser to load up my apps. Then I saw FMCB 1.6 was out and it could load ELF's from OSDSYS. No more need for uLE except for the HDDManager and FileBrowser. But, I would like to know why uLE can't launch any apps now. I am going to downgrade to 4.16, as that was the lastest version I was able to use without any trouble.

[dlanor]

@aar36095:
I really don't think your problems are due to any changes in uLE, but rather due to your use of a non-standard memory card in slot 1 of the slim PS2. I too have had problems with that on the slim consoles I've tested (only two, both v15, including the one I now have). I finally had to settle for using slot 2 for the large memory cards when using them on the slim PStwo, even though they work fine in either slot on all fat PS2 models. In my case this problem applied to my 32MB Max Memory cards from Datel, but I'm pretty sure it would apply to your 16MB card as well.

I suspect that each time you tried to write anything to the 16MB MC while inserted into slot 1 of your v18 PStwo, that caused some corruption on the MC. And once the MC content was corrupted, that problem would of course persist even when the card was moved to the fat PS2 consoles.

Please reformat and reinstall the 16MB card again (hopefully you still have backup) and try it again, but when using it in the v18 PStwo always insert it in MC slot 2. I suspect that this will eliminate the problems you've seen.

There are two drawbacks with using the card in slot 2:

1: Your old uLE setups may not work as intended, because of config file paths specifically using "mc0:". Fortunately that is easily fixed by reconfiguring the CNF (inserted into slot 1 of a fat PS2) to always use "uLE:" instead, for those cases. In case you haven't tried that yet, this is done the same way as you'd normally select a configurable file in the uLE config menus, except that you finish each file selection by pressing R3 (pushing down on the right analog stick) instead of using the normal 'OK' button ('O' or 'X' depending on config). Once you use "uLE:" paths for all configurable files, newlaunched uLE will look for those files in three places: The launch folder of uLE, SYS-CONF on mc0:, SYS-CONF on mc1:. So if you have those files either in the same folder as uLE, or in the SYS-CONF folder, then they will be found regardless of which slot you insert the MC into. Note that "uLE:" paths only work in fairly recent uLE versions. They were introduced in v4.14, but the implementation did not cover all configurable files until v4.19 .

2: The other drawback of using slot 2 for your large MC is simply that some games don't allow you to choose slot 2, but insist on using slot 1 for all gamesaves (eg: all Nippon-Ichi RPG games do this). And since you can only use 8MB cards for that slot on the slim PStwo (in my experience), you'll have to be more careful about its free space, pruning non-current gamesaves by PSU backups more often than you'd need to do on a larger MC.

Please report again when you have retried as described above, without using the 16MB card in slot 1 of the v18. I'm fairly certain that your results will then be more positive.

Edit:
FMCB will boot regardless of the MC slot the card is inserted in, so don't worry about that.

Best regards: dlanor

[aar36095]

I will try to format it tomorrow, but I'm saying that even the V9 is having troubles with uLE.

[JNABK]

I have a V9 and havent yet had an issue with any version of uLE or FMCB as yet. I even use the Normal install option and it works in all my consoles [ including my V16 ] so far without the need to use the Mutli-Version install.

Maybe it is the MC you are using, thats the root of your problem, do you have another to test with?

[aar36095]

OK, I will just backup my saves and format with the V9. I will post results in around 30 mins.

[aar36095]

Nope. After formatting, reinstalling the ps1 exploit, reinstalling FMCB 1.6, and copying all the files over and setting up the config, uLE still hangs at a BSOD when booting any file. Oh well, the FileBrowser still is functional without a cnf.
EDIT: Could it be the fact that I ALWAYS have a PSX MC in slot 2 on my V9?

[Bootlegninja]

at worst case, send your MC to dangwoot. he'll hook ya up.