Worklog g-wii build

GingerOfOz

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Looks like you've got one is the Wii revisions with solder mask over most of the vias. Did you scratch the mask off before soldering to the via?
 
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Looks like you've got one is the Wii revisions with solder mask over most of the vias. Did you scratch the mask off before soldering to the via?
No I didn't know that was a thing they did. I should see about that
Edit: I scratched some mask off from the board down the trace a little and checked the via, ended up getting a connection.
Is it normal for the ground on the port to make continuity to the composite line, it only happens when the cord is connected.
Also, I guess i still get continuity from the 1v line to gnd. It goes away when the boards disconnected.
 
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jefflongo

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Depends on the TV. It shouldn't be less than 10 ohms, but it's normal for the resistance to be relatively low. It seems you've been stuck with the same problems for quite some time now. I'll try to make this as clear as possible:

If you're getting < 10 ohms to gnd on any of the power lines you have a short and you shouldn't be trying to turn the system on. It's normal for the 1.15v to be around 30 ohms. If this is the case, disconnect the wires from the regulator board. If you still have the short, then you need to sand the Wii board more. If it goes away, test the resistance to gnd on the voltage lines on the regulator board. If you have a short on the regulator board, then you probably messed something up on there.

If you have no shorts and the board still won't turn on, it's most likely the U10. When the system turns on, check the voltage on the pin with the wire on the U10 chip. If it's not reading 3.3v, then the U10 is not connected well or it's broken. It's either not getting 3.3v on the input pin or the 3-pin glob is not connected to gnd. If the pin with the wire is reading 3.3v, then it may not be connected to the via on the back of the board well.

While you're testing this, have a piece of magnet wire connected the reset via to gnd so you won't need USB. Hopefully this gives you enough to try to get it working.
 

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Depends on the TV. It shouldn't be less than 10 ohms, but it's normal for the resistance to be relatively low. It seems you've been stuck with the same problems for quite some time now. I'll try to make this as clear as possible:

If you're getting < 10 ohms to gnd on any of the power lines you have a short and you shouldn't be trying to turn the system on. It's normal for the 1.15v to be around 30 ohms. If this is the case, disconnect the wires from the regulator board. If you still have the short, then you need to sand the Wii board more. If it goes away, test the resistance to gnd on the voltage lines on the regulator board. If you have a short on the regulator board, then you probably messed something up on there.

If you have no shorts and the board still won't turn on, it's most likely the U10. When the system turns on, check the voltage on the pin with the wire on the U10 chip. If it's not reading 3.3v, then the U10 is not connected well or it's broken. It's either not getting 3.3v on the input pin or the 3-pin glob is not connected to gnd. If the pin with the wire is reading 3.3v, then it may not be connected to the via on the back of the board well.

While you're testing this, have a piece of magnet wire connected the reset via to gnd so you won't need USB. Hopefully this gives you enough to try to get it working.
I'll check the via for 3.3v, the power lines and resistance
For the TV I'm just using a CRT
Panasonic I think?
And that red wire you circled was ground I said I ran out of black wire. I'll also be sure to wire reset to ground
 

Stitches

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I'll check the via for 3.3v, the power lines and resistance
For the TV I'm just using a CRT
Panasonic I think?
And that red wire you circled was ground I said I ran out of black wire. I'll also be sure to wire reset to ground
Maybe try moving that ground wire to the big ground plane circle to the left a bit. It probably won't do anything, but my (totally unreliable) magic sense says it might do something.
 
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Maybe try moving that ground wire to the big ground plane circle to the left a bit. It probably won't do anything, but my (totally unreliable) magic sense says it might do something.
I can do that, but I just went over resistance again. I guess I wasn't fully paying attention to 3.3v -- I get 8 ohms...
1v gets 25 ohms and 1.15v gets 40 ohms
I'm also gonna shorten the wires a bit more.
 
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Did you even try the things I mentioned?
I've sanded the board a couple times, before having realized 3.3v was like that. But I haven't connected it to see what u10 was outputting I just got home so i haven't done anything
Edit: just went over the power mii lite board detached and only 1v on it is getting a proper reading everything else is going nuts
Although with the ti regs everything's ok, but 3.3 gets 13ohms and 5v gets 12ohms
 
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Stitches

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I've sanded the board a couple times, before having realized 3.3v was like that. But I haven't connected it to see what u10 was outputting I just got home so i haven't done anything
Edit: just went over the power mii lite board detached and only 1v on it is getting a proper reading everything else is going nuts
Although with the ti regs everything's ok, but 3.3 gets 13ohms and 5v gets 12ohms
It's worth trying Jeff's suggestion, scratch some solder mask off the U10 via and resolder the wire. Preferably with some flux this time, that oxidised jank joint might not even be making proper contact.
 
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It's worth trying Jeff's suggestion, scratch some solder mask off the U10 via and resolder the wire. Preferably with some flux this time, that oxidised jank joint might not even be making proper contact.
Yea the wire ended up coming off, but I scratched the via with my exacto, tinned it and saw that it was silver. But I dont know how much more sanding I can do on the edges. I'm still getting 8 ohms on 3.3v I also bridged gnd and reset.
 

jefflongo

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It's possible that the 3.3v short is not caused by the edges of the board. Thoroughly inspect the board and see if there's any small pieces of solder that could possibly be shorting somewhere on the 3.3v area of the board. You can also try cleaning the board with 90+% IPA. From the looks of it, you have two big problems: you have shorts on your board, and your regulators aren't working. Solve problem 1 first: Remove everything you have on the board currently, besides U10. Don't reattach anything until you get those shorts figured out. Then get your regulators working separately. Only after you've done both of those things connect the essentials back together to test out a boot.
 
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It's possible that the 3.3v short is not caused by the edges of the board. Thoroughly inspect the board and see if there's any small pieces of solder that could possibly be shorting somewhere on the 3.3v area of the board. You can also try cleaning the board with 90+% IPA. From the looks of it, you have two big problems: you have shorts on your board, and your regulators aren't working. Solve problem 1 first: Remove everything you have on the board currently, besides U10. Don't reattach anything until you get those shorts figured out. Then get your regulators working separately. Only after you've done both of those things connect the essentials back together to test out a boot.
Ok I'll have to pick up some rubbing alcohol and a magnifying glass so I can give the board a better inspection, everythings tiny so it's hard to focus on it lol
However the front case half is smooth at this point so I'm getting finer grits as I go along. Not sure how much I'll be working on this, school starts this Monday for me so along with work I'm a little busy. I'll be sure to keep this thread posted. But I was starting to think my edges were fine at this point so I'm glad you brought that up
 
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Just a couple of small nicks on the front that I'm trying to get rid of, but im managing to get the back half on par. However I got quite a bit of sanding to do around the r and l button holes. The plastic printed a little iffy on that, but Its not too bad, one thing that got my attention was the vent hole, but theres nothing I can do to fix it so I'll have to ignore it for now. I'm hoping I can get the cases smooth by this weekend I thought I would need more work done.
USER_SCOPED_TEMP_DATA_MSGR_PHOTO_FOR_UPLOAD_1582135199985.jpeg
 
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So I layed out a coat of black glossy paint to check out the looks of the back. Still needs some sanding work, but it's looking better than before. Haven't gotten the r and l button holes fixed yet, but that'll be done soon. Gonna give it a good sanding tomorrow. Looking for some input.
Screenshot_20200301-204909_Messenger.jpg
 
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so I've been talking to jeff on the discord chat, I've come to the conclusion that u10 is my problem with my board booting up, the chips get hot, the trim at this point seems reasonable, I've done enough sanding with 1000 grit paper and i get the voltages that i need with the powermii lite board that i bought a while back, so i think i might get a new soldering iron (i use a lot of cheap irons) and i think ill be taking apart a 6 layer wii to reuse the u10 for this board although id have to remove solder from the gpu via to tint it. otherwise i don't think i can try anything else with this motherboard the last time i was troubleshooting this thing i wasn't understanding these issues as much.
 
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So I ordered a second wii, but I'm also getting one from cheese (we had a dm sesh).
I'm also getting a hot air gun to see if I can do a better job with the u10 relocation. So from what I understand, you can do the u10 relocation before you trim the board and it would still boot fine?
I'll have more pics of the case to post soon. Getting some sanding done.

But I might try and work on the previous board again after I work on the one I'm getting in the mail I'm gonna have to order some IPA.
 
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Yes you can (and should) relocate U10 before trimming.
I ended up getting the wii today, which was before schedule so I'll take today to mod it and maybe tonight I can take it apart.
I didn't know an untrimmed wii would boot with the u10 relocation done otherwise I would have done that on my previous board lol.
My fingers are crossed that this board will work that way I can save the board I'm getting from cheese for something special.
 
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