Downgrading NetDimm

[Washp]

Hello. The title is a little misleading but I need some help rolling back an update on my netdimm. Long story short, I have a net dim that refuses to connect to a wipi setup. I talked with some repair service individuals like Ken from irepairsega and he believes it might have something to do with the firmware i am running. The firmware states its running 4.03 and he believes this might be the cause of why my pi doesn't recognize the netdimm.
I've tried switching out ram, reseating the 2 boards inside the netdimm and using different ethernet cables so I believe this is my last resort.

What would be the best way to flash and downgrade my netdimm to 4.02 if I dont have a way to connect to it? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[ForestOfDreams]

I can confirm you can definitely netboot on 4.03.
I have tested this across a few netdimms.

 

[ForestOfDreams]

If it was a bad update, I think you must resolder on a new chip to downgrade.

 

[Washp]

If it was a bad update, I think you must resolder on a new chip to downgrade.

I was able to connect to the netdimm prior, I was using this device called a Naochitri but one day both the dimm and the naochitri stopped working. Now I'm trying to set it up with pi instead.
Idk if it was a bad update or not it was set to 4.03 before I got it. Where can I find a new chip and what is it called?

 

[Orakelschaf]

Interesting idea that FW4.03 may cause such problems if it is not detected correctly by wipi. Good to know! (while never running into that problem myself i got multiple friends who had that issue)

FW 4.03 is able to run net boot. It is just a hacked 4.02 to be able to run CD Rom copies. But if the FW is detected there should be no issues with running games. Check your network environment, f..e if you run a DHCP / Router check if it detects the Netdimm, etc.

Did you try to connecto to your netdimm with the dragonminded netboot tools? If not give it a try, sometimes wipi does some weird stuff (maybe it is not your netdimm but wipi ?)

See this tutorial how to run the netboot tools.

 

[Washp]

Interesting idea that FW4.03 may cause such problems if it is not detected correctly by wipi. Good to know! (while never running into that problem myself i got multiple friends who had that issue)

FW 4.03 is able to run net boot. It is just a hacked 4.02 to be able to run CD Rom copies. But if the FW is detected there should be no issues with running games. Check your network environment, f..e if you run a DHCP / Router check if it detects the Netdimm, etc.

Did you try to connecto to your netdimm with the dragonminded netboot tools? If not give it a try, sometimes wipi does some weird stuff (maybe it is not your netdimm but wipi ?)

See this tutorial how to run the netboot tools.

Somehow I miraculously got the wipi to boot with a cat 5 cable. I was just in the middle of getting python setup to try your method and it just connected without any problems. Thanks for all your help. Looks like the firmware was fine after all.