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Q) My Harmony cartridge just displays a spinning logo on the screen, and nothing else
happens - what am I doing wrong?
A) This means that the SD card is not supported, or has not been properly FAT formatted. Try
reformatting the card (make sure to backup the contents first). If this does not work, then
you will need to use another SD card. Unfortunately, not all SD cards are created equally -
there are many counterfeit branded cards out there, and many do not support the full SD
card protocol.
Q) My Harmony cartridge has stopped working - it used to work fine, but now it just
shows weird patterns on the screen - what do I do?
A) Try cleaning the cartridge edge connector, and re-seating the cartridge. If this does not help
then the firmware probably needs to be reprogrammed using the Mini-B USB port.
Q) How do I clean the edge connector on my Harmony cartridge?
A) Open the cartridge dust flap by gently inserting a screwdriver into one of the holes on
the bottom of the cartridge and pressing lightly on the flap. The contacts can be then be
cleaned with a contact cleaning solution or rubbing alcohol, and a Q-tip. Conductive liquids,
such as water, must never be used to clean the cartridge contacts.
Q) Why does my computer say that the SD card is full, even though there appears to be
plenty of free space on the card?
A) Your SD card is probably formatted with FAT12 or FAT16. You can solve this by reformatting
your card as FAT32 (make sure to backup the contents first), or by splitting the contents into
more sub-directories.
Q) What games do not work with the Harmony cartridge?
A) All of the original Atari 2600 titles should work, apart from the 64KB MegaBoy cartridge.
There are also some homebrew titles over 32KB that will not work, e.g. Stella's Stocking.
Q) Why does a ROM that does not work with the Harmony cartridge, work fine with the
Stella emulator?
A) If the ROM is over 32KB then it will not work. If it is 32KB or smaller, you can try forcing the
file type by changing the file extension. The supported file types are listed at the end of this
document. If the ROM still does not work, please let us know.
Q) My Supercharger multiload game crashes after the first part - is there any way to
make it work properly?
A) Supercharger multiloads are supported on the Harmony cartridge, but only if they are made
into a single binary file. You need to join all of the separate parts together using a utility, or
obtain a file that has already been joined together.
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Use the fire button to open a directory (enclosed by [ ]), and to select a menu entry to be
loaded. You can page faster by holding the fire button while moving the joystick left/right
- this will skip forwards or backwards through the menu 10 pages at a time. You can
display the full filename for a menu entry by holding down the fire button for more than a
half second. The menu system can also be navigated with a paddle controller or driving
controller in the left port. Sega Genesis controllers also work but are detected as paddles,
but this detection may be circumvented by holding down button B. A similar method may
also work for Sega Master System or Coleco Gemini controllers.
8) Select an entry from the menu and it will be loaded and should start after a few
seconds. The Harmony cart will automatically detect the type of the file. If weird patterns
(garbage) appears on the screen, this normally means that the Harmony could not detect
the file type. It can also indicate a corrupt or invalid file. It is possible to tell the Harmony
what type of file is used by changing the file extension (the valid file extensions are listed in
a section at the end of this document). Once you are done, the console can be powered off
and then on to return to the Harmony menu. There is no way to return to the menu from a
game without cycling power on the console.
9) The console should not be switched off while the Harmony cartridge is loading a file.
Under certain circumstances, this could corrupt the Harmony firmware (requiring it
to be reprogrammed). Also, the SD card should not be ejected from the Harmony cartridge
while the console is powered, or the contents of the card may become corrupted. It is safe to
switch off the console when it is displaying the menu screen, or after a file has loaded. It is
only safe to remove the Harmony cartridge from the console when it has been powered off.
Harmony Firmware Upgrading
Harmony cartridges ship with the latest firmware (internal software), but new versions of the
Harmony firmware may be released to improve the compatibility of the cartridge and to fix any
issues that are discovered. It is a good idea to make sure that your Harmony cartridge is always
using the latest firmware release.
To check your firmware version, select the [.] entry on the first page of the Harmony menu, then
visit the Harmony cartridge website at http://harmony.atariage.com to see if a newer version of
firmware is available. If the firmware is current, there is no need to upgrade the firmware unless
you are having trouble with your Harmony cartridge, either due to firmware corruption or use of
firmware for an incompatible television format. Harmony cartridges ship with firmware for the
NTSC television format as this usually works worldwide, but sometimes it may not.
The Harmony firmware is too large to be loaded directly onto the Harmony cartridge. Therefore,
a small loader program must first be downloaded onto the Harmony cartridge using a Mini-B
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