BlueTire's First Portable Worklog: The G-Boy

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Hey Everyone, Just wanted to start by saying how awesome this community is. Have been an onlooker for a few years now, never having the guts to jump in and try anything.
The G-boy made this hobby accessible for me.

I'm getting familiar with the terminology, soldering, all of it, really. I'm completely new to all of this.
I'll start with some familiar progress pictures:
IMG_0077.jpg
IMG_0082.jpg

(trimmed the board more between these 2 photos ^^ )

And now is where I kick things off with my first question-
I've reached the part in the manual "Switching to VGA". So far, I've been following the instructions word for word, and have had no problems. But when I try switching to VGA via the source button on the LCD controller board, the screen flashes and goes dark. (maybe it goes without saying, but Composite no longer works after making the switch, but I can re-wire everything for composite again, and that still works fine.) Here are pictures of my wiring:

Working Composite Signal:
IMG_0094.jpg


And Non-working VGA wiring:
IMG_0095.jpg


I've followed the G-boy manual as closely as possible, but is there some unspoken rule for this part that a newcomer like me might be unaware of?
Grateful for any tips or nudges in the right direction. Thanks again to all for setting up such an awesome kit + community. been a long time since I've had this much fun working on something.
 

Wesk

Undervolting....
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Composite will no longer work if you have mode tied to 3.3v, you'll need to disconnect that line for composite to work again.

As for your VGA issues, did you install the VGA patches? if not you can always install the BB Loader Beta over the top of Portablize Mii and not have to worry about applying the VGA patches.
 
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Composite will no longer work if you have mode tied to 3.3v, you'll need to disconnect that line for composite to work again.

As for your VGA issues, did you install the VGA patches? if not you can always install the BB Loader Beta over the top of Portablize Mii and not have to worry about applying the VGA patches.
Thanks for the help Wesk. I found the VGA patches thread, as well as the BBloader beta thread.
- Reconnected composite.
- BBloader would not install. Got a 'Exception (DSI) Occurred!'
- So I went to VGA patches thread. Loaded those onto the usb, and selected the installer from the Postloader menu. It installed, but it never booted back to the Homebrew channel. (never got to step 5 in process) Screen went black, but lcd was still lit/powered. Screen lights up, no display. Unsure how to proceed troubleshooting this one. will continue scouring forums for vga switching mishaps.

I do have a backup wii system, (updated, untrimmed, with BBloader successfully installed) if i've already bricked the one I've been working on.
 

Wesk

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It's very unlikely you've bricked it, I'd try go through the BB Loader install process again but try a different USB. DSI errors can be caused by USB compatibility issues.
 
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Sorry, I should have clarified better- Currently, (in composite setup) the screen powers on, but nothing is displayed. This happened after I used the Priiloader VGA installer, but was never rebooted to the Homebrew channel. Screen just went black, and restarting just gives the same black screen.
 

Noah

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When you install the new priiloader included with the VGA patches it defaults the autoboot setting to the System Menu. Therefore, it will only boot if you have BT and WiFi relocated (or no WiFi IOSes installed)

As Wesk said you'll need to boot into priiloader, go to settings and set it back to "installed file" and set the "return to" option to autoboot.
 
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When you install the new priiloader included with the VGA patches it defaults the autoboot setting to the System Menu. Therefore, it will only boot if you have BT and WiFi relocated (or no WiFi IOSes installed)

As Wesk said you'll need to boot into priiloader, go to settings and set it back to "installed file" and set the "return to" option to autoboot.
Ahh, I think I understand then. I'm not actually sure which settings I had chosen for this board (wifi/nowifi).. will be keeping better note of that from now on!
Thanks, Noah!
 
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Comedy/Cringe update?
After Wesk and Noah's help yesterday, I thought I'd take a moment to re-do the software on my trimmed wii.
"Might as well reinstall the wifi wads and check to see if this wii is even updated." I thought to myself. So on my trimmed wii, I reinstalled wifi. I realized my mistake as I was powering down to reset the system. I do not yet have the skills to attach the wifi module, so I switched to the backup wii.

- Made sure to install BBLoader before even disassembling.
- Patch out Wifi: YES, Enable VGA: YES.

Wanted to test things before I trimmed this board (being 'extra' careful... I think) and so I wired the composite and controller wires to the G-boy for this Frankenstein test:
IMG_0111.jpg

Twists and turns are what make stories entertaining, right? Also, I experienced the new BBloader for the first time (as seen above) for about three seconds, and love the wheel navigation! Another congratulations and thanks to Aurelio and the bitbuilt team- looks great!

My understanding is that the only way to salvage the first wii board is to physically re-connect a wifi module in order for it to boot? The first (trimmed) wii has portablizemii installed, but with the regular wifi wads.

Will be trimming the new wii later today.
 
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And here's the 'final' product. So many things learned, and I have a new understanding of just how much work goes into these portables- even though I only followed a kit with step by step instructions. I can only begin to imagine how much time has gone into preparing something like this.
Again, my thanks and applause to Gman and this community.

This was my first soldering/electrical project. I've spent a lot of time 'spectating' this hobby, and still have no real knowledge of electrical basics (volts, amps, all the terminology..) but this was my first hands-on experience. I can attest that this may not be the easiest introductory project, but the kit, guide, and a little patience made this possible for someone who's never held a soldering iron before this. You all did a great job.
IMG_0137.jpg

IMG_0140.jpg


As for the first wii board- I feel comfortable chasing that wifi resurrection now.
Will put it in this, my 'level 2' attempt.
IMG_0142.jpg
 
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