Is anyone here willing to dump a Megatouch MAXX Diamond for me?

[BobBorakovitz]

Is anyone here willing to dump a Megatouch MAXX Diamond for me?  I aquired one almost a year ago that has a bad drive and I'd love to get it fixed for the holidays for everyone to play.  I've heard about using a compact flash adapter - I think I'm going to go that route eventually, but have some (really) old hard drives laying around that should work.  Thank you to anyone who can help. 

Long live BYOAC! (forums, at least)

[lilshawn]

You will have to source a replacement hard drive for your machine first. the hard drive ID has to match the original drive (EX: "merit00") in order for it to work. this means obtaining the firmware of the drive, changing the data, and then uploading it to the drive ROM. This was done to ensure people would only buy from them.

[BobBorakovitz]

that doesn't sound too bad...i would think that i should be able to find the hardware id in a hex editor and change it out before flashing it.

also - it would probably be easier on a compact flash drive and adapter, no?

[mahkeymike]

If you can find a working drive that is the same model, you could just swap the circuit board. That is only if the circuit board isnt the problem. If it is then your probably $hit out of luck. Also, I dont think its going to be easy to dump the firmware from the drive unless maybe theres a dos or linux software tool to do low level flashing. A simple firmware update wont touch the boot loader rom.

[lilshawn]

the problem is that the data you write to the firmware has to be checksummed. otherwise the drive won't initialize. It's not an easy task with these older machines due to the copyright scheme used (although not impossible)

after FORCE version 2005.5, merit removed the hard drive ID requirement on the HD allowing you to put in any drive and load the software on it (albeit later a small disclaimer was displayed on installation saying this was not an "Official" merit drive, and saying that it's not factory warrantied to install it on this drive, it still works.)

Your best bet may be to simply source another hard drive for it and play it till it dies... by then the market will be flooded with LCD flatscreen ION's and you could buy one for a couple hunskies.

[mahkeymike]

If one had access to a working drive with the software pre-loaded or the install disc one could remove the hdd check...

[lilshawn]

I don't remember if we ever used diamond edition at all. I'll dig through my "box of old crap disks" and see what I can find.

[ed12]

i chked all mine
there is no rescue disk
it just game 1/2
unless disk 1 carrys the partition info. ?

ed

[lilshawn]

unless disk 1 carrys the partition info. ?

i believe it does. At the time i believe they had the OS on disk one, and the games on disk two.

[ed12]

well i cannot really aruge with u as i have never really chked..
there so dang old..if they fire up i just stick the for sale sign on them
first 200.-300. takes it away
if the mobo is beat/hd-etc
it just gets decommisioned..and scraped

ed

[lilshawn]

yeah we are pretty much the same...looking at a pallet of radions with bad tubes and Midway infinitys.

I sigh every time I look at it, knowing i'm going to have to do something with the atrocity.

[ed12]

well personally i tore 6 down that had good touch screens and monitors
and converted them to my v-rock juke box's
there is still to this date date 4 sitting there marked scrap...

ed

[mahkeymike]

unless disk 1 carrys the partition info. ?

i believe it does. At the time i believe they had the OS on disk one, and the games on disk two.

As i have not looked at anything pre force software I cant say for sure, but force and ion both have their hardware checking in the game loader binary. So its most likely on disk two. However, there are ways of tricking the hardware check in the main game binary into likeing what the OS reports back to the game binary.

Even though this $hit is old as dirt, it would still be fun to poke around in it. Maybe even get it working on a standard pc with an elo, or microtouch touchscreen.

[ed12]

ya i never really poked around with them either
but what i get from merit there is away around the chk
i just forget it..

ed

[lilshawn]

well, i dug through my box-o-crap and came up with a Maxx diamond Edition disk set...but it's paper sleeve is marked NFG 

the disk looks not bad, a little scratched up...looks like someone tried cleaning it with their shirt a few times. i'll try and read it in my computer tonight and see what the deal is with it.

the other option is i have a "double diamond" disk set. i'm not sure if it will work with your key. but i'm thinking it's kind of like the XXXX.5 mid year updates...unless it's not. I don't know.  Been a long time since ive had to mess with these.

the disks for "double diamond" are burned disks... hand labeled. i can't find a reference to the software in the key list but does have a key for diamond 2 and it's the same as diamond. (SA3042-01)

NINJA EDIT: Double Diamond's name was changed to "Diamond 2" Due to a trademark conflict with the name and logo.

[mahkeymike]

I just looked through my box of mega-junk and i have a few maxx boards and i/o boards. also have a bunch of keys but not sure if any are diamond. I think there platinum and old force keys. No maxx software discs though.

[ed12]

well i am going into the warehouse tonight
or tomrow,i will look
i know we have/had a boat load of them things

ed

[ed12]

ok i was right it is olny 2 disks
no rescue
as it is a older first gen merit
they loaded the o/s >disk 1< themselfs
what u recieved with the game is disk 1 @ 2
the up-grade is 1 disk,whch shawn pointed out.
i have brought them all home,if u or any one wants ? i will scan them for parition info.
last time i chatted merit there answer to me go to flebay and buy a pre-loaded drive
i went what ? this is from the factory,the reply is they no longer care it is to  old..
so my thought is we streer clear of ion and carry on,as i know that i have seen some mames,that were merit based,same with its-gamming 2004 and back

ed

[BobBorakovitz]

i would really appreciate the disc iso's I'll see if i can find the checks for it.  So far, it's my best bet without going the fleabay route.  I know some people are doing this on compact flash, so they must be bypassing the checks to do that, right?  At this point, if Merit isn't going to support them, then the community should. 

THANK YOU

[BobBorakovitz]

well, i dug through my box-o-crap and came up with a Maxx diamond Edition disk set...but it's paper sleeve is marked NFG 

the disk looks not bad, a little scratched up...looks like someone tried cleaning it with their shirt a few times. i'll try and read it in my computer tonight and see what the deal is with it.

the other option is i have a "double diamond" disk set. i'm not sure if it will work with your key. but i'm thinking it's kind of like the XXXX.5 mid year updates...unless it's not. I don't know.  Been a long time since ive had to mess with these.

the disks for "double diamond" are burned disks... hand labeled. i can't find a reference to the software in the key list but does have a key for diamond 2 and it's the same as diamond. (SA3042-01)

NINJA EDIT: Double Diamond's name was changed to "Diamond 2" Due to a trademark conflict with the name and logo.

This would also be great, especially since it has more games.  Can you upload them for me somewhere?  Thanks a ton!!

[ed12]

merit no longer supports them that is a fact
here is what they would do
it was a rack with 1 master drive,that copyed all of the hd's they requested at 1 time
so let's say ten..they would put 10 blanks in hit copy
and wa la u got 10 hd's of the same base os
inculding the merit base code we have been talking about
i do rember in the linux fourms a merit 000 call walk around
but do not ask me which fourm as i do honestly forget
your main problems ploure there are simple
hd size,type,merit base code..
now yes u are correct ppl have found away around it using flash..
i have never seen it..but if the board will support it ?..go for gold
but i do not think your bios supports out of range.
range=harddrive/cdrom/floopy
but usb is called in after the s/w is loaded
same with the modem,serial,par.
but the base s/w has to be there

ed

[lilshawn]

This would also be great, especially since it has more games.  Can you upload them for me somewhere?  Thanks a ton!!

I'll try and get to this tonight. Yesterday and today is a real gong show with xmas coming up.

[BobBorakovitz]

I am not in a huge hurry, just been looking for them for a while.  take your time, and thanks again for your help!

[ed12]

shawn
if u take easydos,u can copy the complete parition to a file and up-load it as an os
it must come from a working max,rember his key if he is in the usa will not match ours,and u will get the nasty #97 error
now if i rem right i did read where another op here was working in the problem..
but back to what i am saying,easydos will do a 1-1 parition copy..
ie the exact contents on 1 drive can be copyed to another,or saved and brunt to iso

ed

[lilshawn]

i'm uploading it to my dropbox now...it's going to be an hour or so... I'll PM you the links once they are done.

you'll need 2 blank CD's. start digging now.

[mahkeymike]

i'm uploading it to my dropbox now...it's going to be an hour or so... I'll PM you the links once they are done.

you'll need 2 blank CD's. start digging now.

Send me the links aswell shawn. I'll see if i can get rid of that pesky hdd check.

[BobBorakovitz]

i'm uploading it to my dropbox now...it's going to be an hour or so... I'll PM you the links once they are done.

you'll need 2 blank CD's. start digging now.

Send me the links aswell shawn. I'll see if i can get rid of that pesky hdd check.

thanks for looking into this, as well.  I really appreciate it!

I guess what I'll do is try and install it onto a hard drive and see where it fails. 

[mahkeymike]

i'm uploading it to my dropbox now...it's going to be an hour or so... I'll PM you the links once they are done.

you'll need 2 blank CD's. start digging now.

Send me the links aswell shawn. I'll see if i can get rid of that pesky hdd check.

thanks for looking into this, as well.  I really appreciate it!

I guess what I'll do is try and install it onto a hard drive and see where it fails.

No problem. I am getting it now. Thanks shawn.
Anyway, i have removed a few hardware cheacks from force and ion system binarys, so this should be pretty trivial. I think it is BS that this software isnt supported anymore, yet someone would have to pay overpriced costs to get a replacement drive because they locked the hdd down at a low level rom chip on the hdd. Yes you could attempt to clone/reflash it, but your risking a brick. Just remove the hdd check via software and call it a day is what i would say.

[ed12]

yes that is what  my post meant
they locked it down low level,as merit themselfs told me to chk the linux fourms..

yes u are right,we should beable to remove the s/w chk for it
thus opening up the drive..any drive then can be used

yes u are right it is rubish they would charge for a replacement hd to the extent they do
and as they no longer have the copyers..>they were trashed when ami got there fingers into it<,we need to do some code work

as i rem i pointed the linux forums have the bypass method
much like a jailbreak..
i have seen it in .trx file and straight .tar

our problem here as i see it
is how much understanding do these ppl have as to what we are saying ?
can they just copy code over ?

i have a read of the low level flash some where in my box
as i have the eq nessary to give me the stuff i am looking for
it is in a hidden none windows paritition

now i did explain to shawn to use easydos to copy a good working drive
it will give u eveything u need to know as it is 1 to 1..
then i think we can break the lock down

ed

[ed12]

thank you very much for making my brain work
u aslo need to get a good copy of the motherboard eprom
i will dig out the hexcsum for it..
as it carrys part of the problem >bios<
i will post more as i dig it out
from what i can rember the 2 do a chk-sum at >boot<
it will allow u to load the os,but then crap out on u
i think it is error 87 or such
these errors btw are not even listed in there repair guide
i had to find them the hard way...lucky me

ed

[BobBorakovitz]

wow, this is great reading.  I really hope we can remove the checks, this sounds a bit above me now.  I have a few older IDE drives around i can install to

[BobBorakovitz]

just wondering if anyone has any knowledge on where to even look to remove the checks? 

[mahkeymike]

just wondering if anyone has any knowledge on where to even look to remove the checks?

The functions (checks) are in the main binary. I havent got the files installed onto a hard drive yet so i cant tell you what directory the main binary is in. If its anything like force it would be in /usr/local/bin.

[mahkeymike]

Shawn, are these iso's just copies of original cds, or are they created from a maxx hard drive like ed12 suggested using easydos?

I cant seem to get these installed, keeps rebooting. I cant find a working power supply to use the old maxx mobo's i have laying around so i was trying to get those iso's installed onto a hard drive connected to a spare pc i have.

Getting some "Causeway error 09 : Unrecoverable exception. Program terminated"

[lilshawn]

they are actual CD's.

[ed12]

ya my bawd,i forgot that we were talking  legacey,they are a data disc set and not iso,but this will not help much without the proper overlay on the hard drive..
as merit never handed out rescue disk's until radieon? or such
so basicliy the best u can do is reburn to data and hope for the best
but if your main over-lay is gone? u are up a crick without a paddle

ed

[mahkeymike]

Its no biggie ed12, I was just going to poke around inside the main binary and see if i could remove the hard drive check for Bob. Looks like he gave up anyway, so im not gonna bother with this old crap software. Busy poking around 2014 at the moment. Might release a script to patch the iso so it installs on any pc. No original copyright code in the script what so ever so completely legal.

[ed12]

thk's man
got a little ahead of myself there
i posted a snib bit of info about the key for radieon/ion etc in the
merit is colsing fourm
but i may have spelled your name right
and as this info applys perty much across the board for merit
i do not sharing it
pre radieon and ion,it was double des..
with radieon/ion stuff it is tripple des..
a part of it lays right in the master 0 track of the hard drive
with linux u can see it
with windows u cannot see it,because windows will not go that far in,
i had to use a 1-1 coyper with a usb sniffer to catch it,then a wack of converting to hex to pull it out,what they place in the button key is 2 sep hexcsums
1=vaild game id
1=valid hash
the hash is first,the id is last
on pre radieon it is the other way around
that should get u started..

ed

[mahkeymike]

I think we need a translator. Google translator doesnt have an option for ed12 language. Anyway, I think you are saying that you need linux to view the data off radeon (force) and ion hard drives. You DO NOT. All you need to do is connect a keyboard and boot into single user mode lilo (force) and grub (ion) to gain root access. Then you can FTP into the system and read/write/execute all the data from Any OS you want. I prefer Windows because i am use to using the gui version of IDA. You need IDA to dissemble/RE the elf binarys. Olly doesnt support linux elf files.

[ed12]

ya i have complianed to google about a translator also..but they just will not listen
but i cannot get to track 0 with windows alone,even though once i get a good
1-1 dump,i can convert to any thing i am happy with,i also use ida pro,
i find it is more use full when u want to see where the call's and sub-routines are headed,and yes i have done exactley what u stated,but u see what u are missing
is the call is right at track 0 >post-boot<,and most o/s's will not see that low level.
but i will take your strong advice and take a drive through

ed