Unlocking the additional space on a fx-CG50AU

[MajesticFalcon35 Profile]

Thats alright. I appreciate the help. Out of curiosity, the error was fixable right (not permanent)? I just want to be sure before trying the same thing on my own calculator .

It was fixable, yes. I can't remember how I fixed it, but it was super easy to fix.

[TheDyingWind Profile]

Hi again. When you mentioned expanding the storage, how exactly did you format it? On the international model of the calculator, with 16MB of storage partitioned it uses FAT16, but after inspecting it with some file recovery software on my laptop, this variant seems to use FAT12, which has mixed support on android devices, and probably less support overall. When reformatting it, extending the FAT12 partition would probably not work, as I don't believe the format can handle a 16 MB partition, unlike FAT16.

Also, if you remember the specifics on fixing after the error let me know.

Edit: After some research, it seems if you select FAT (not FAT32) as the file system, it will select between FAT12 and FAT16 depending on partition size, so if you expanded the partition, using FAT it should choose FAT16, which is necessary.

[TheDyingWind Profile]

After conducting some research it seems that the FX-CG50AU uses FAT12 in its 4.5MB partition instead of FAT16, as is with the 16 MB international variants. When you were formatting in Windows Disk Management, did you select FAT32 or FAT as the file system? The latter seems to automatically decide between FAT12 and FAT16 depending on the size of the partition, which makes sense as the maximum FAT12 size is the minimum FAT16 size. It's also worth noting that the minimum allocation unit size (or cluster size) I could find when formatting was 8192 which I think means 8 KB, but the Casio filesystem uses 4KB. It's still a long shot, but the next step might be finding some more powerful partitioning software, to allow for 4KB clusters.

Oh, by the way, let me know if you figure out exactly how to fix the error.

Thanks!

[951261 Profile]

Getting the full 16MB on a Casio CG50AU is very doable, and I have done it to my own calculator and several friends' calculators.

Firstly, attempting to manipulate the partitions in any way is not going to work. The full 16MB requires FAT16, which the Australian version of CASIOWIN (the calculator's operating system) does not support.

Secondly, on the topic of Operating Systems, Casio released two separate versions, one for the CG50, and another for the CG50AU (a binary dump of both can be found here: https://bible.planet-casio.com/common/casio/os_boot_setup/fxcg50_au/os/ and here: https://bible.planet-casio.com/common/casio/os_boot_setup/fxcg50/os/). Without modifying the OS (which I have also done many times, for other reasons), the easiest way to get the full 16MB is to SWAP the operating systems.

DIACLAIMER: There is a moderate chance of bricking your calculator or voiding your warranty. Anything you do is at your own risk.

To swap the operating systems, you must alter the well known OSUpdateDLL.dll file. To find the OSUpdateDLL.dll file, follow the guide here: https://the6p4c.github.io/2018/01/15/hacking-the-gc-part-1.html. Whilst this guide is focused on the CP400, the steps to extract the firmware update files are the same. After extracting the firmware update files and copying them all to a safe location on your PC, open the DLL file in a PE editing program such as Resource Hacker. Within RC DATA, find the 3070 and 3071 binary files. Extract these to two resource items to two .bin files, then replace the 3070 resource with the 3071 .bin binary file, and replace the 3071 resource with the 3070 .bin binary file. Then save and close the dll file. Launch the OSUpdateDLL.dll file using the command line, as seen in the article mentioned previously. If your calculator is already on the latest version, you may need to use the OS ERROR screen to force the update. Once the update is complete, you should have the Worldwide OS version installed on your calculator, as opposed to the Australian version of the OS, however you will still only have 4.5MB available. To unlock the full 16MB, open the windows disk partitions program, and delete the volume on the calculator's disk. When you unplug the calculator, you should get an option to Initialize All on the calculator. After this, you should finally have a Casio CG50AU with 16MB of storage space.

If there are any sections of this post that you don't understand, then you probably shouldn't be attempting it. Be aware that even if you succeed in doing this, you WILL void your warranty.