Question Help with Wii Portable

[wifflebat]

Hello,

I have got the Wii cut, and the regulators built. When I power on the screen and the Wii nothing happens. I have checked voltage and 1.15 reg is good, and 1v reg is good, however the 3.3V line shows .5mv. If I take the 3.3 volt line off and check it it's putting out 3.3V, Not really sure what is going on I have attached a pic of the cut front and back.

Thanks

 

[Spencer Richardson]

It seems like you may have a short on your 3.3v line. How well did you sand the edges or your Wii after you trimmed it?

 

[Shank]

It seems like you may have a short on your 3.3v line

I second this. Check continuity between GND and 3.3v and report back. If it's continuous, sand the board edges, especially the edge that is on the right in each of these pictures.

 

[wifflebat]

I sanded the hell out of it, I left like a quarter of an inch after the cut, then sanded it down close to final size, then used sanding stones like these to dress the edge

 

[cheese]

Try sanding it with really high grit sandpaper instead, I don't think those stones work super great for the edges of mobos.

 

[wifflebat]

ok, i'll check for short to ground, and i'll sand it some more. Can you guys tell me if this item in the bottom right corner, I have it circled in Red. Is that Item needed, or can i take it off?

 

[Shank]

Can you guys tell me if this item in the bottom right corner, I have it circled in Red. Is that Item needed, or can i take it off?

Not needed

 

[wifflebat]

i have been sanding on this thing for an hour and a half, and still shorted to ground on the 3.3 line. I am right at the max i can sand in now. how much past the line can I go?

 

[Shank]

Ok here is a screenshot from The Wii Compendium of the voltage layers overlayed on top of the board. The red areas are the 3.3v section within the voltage layer of the board. If it is a short between layers, thats where it would most likely be. Check those areas, and pins of the components that connect to 3.3v, such as the NAND, LDO, and U10. It could be a tiny piece of metal flew under the GPU, in which case you may be screwed. Check the suggested areas, and let me know if you find anything. If any of these terms are unfamiliar, reference my anatomy guide.

 

[wifflebat]

the 1.15V line is now shorted to ground also. This is crazy I have even ran my USP cam over the edge and don't see anything.

 

[Shank]

The 1.15 line would be the blue section. It may be dust and bits under the GPU. This can be prevented in the future by covering the GPU with masking tape

 

[wifflebat]

here are some pics of the board right now, have i gone to far in on the cut now?

 

[Shank]

You cutting the other nand power decoupling capacitor off the board is a little unsettling. Last picture, very top, center two pins.

 

[wifflebat]

is that fixable? if I can find out what is causing the short?

Also I have another board I cut a long time ago, but I did not flash it before I cut it, is that possible to fix? or just move on to another Wii?

 

[Shank]

The Capacitor can be fixed with some trickery, if you can find the other issue, but it doesn't matter unless you can diagnose the bigger problems.
If you rewired the WiFi, bluetooth, and SD card it would be possible, but it may not be worth the headache. I would say cut your losses and start on a new board using what you have learned. @Aurelio may be interested in your dead boards though.

 

[wifflebat]

here are pics of board 2, that i cut months ago without flashing

 

[wifflebat]

@Aurelio is more then welcome to them, I still have the boards where i cut these out of, As long as he will pay shipping i'll send them off to him. So @Aurelio contact me if you want this stuff.

Thanks

 

[Aurelio]

@Aurelio is more then welcome to them, I still have the boards where i cut these out of, As long as he will pay shipping i'll send them off to him. So @Aurelio contact me if you want this stuff.

Thanks

Thank you, I appreciate it. I’ll send you a PM tomorrow, it’s 4am here and I should sleep
For the NAND you could try to boot it even without the capacitor on the power lines, just make sure that you have no shorts anywhere

 

[wifflebat]

all right, new board is here, been flashed and is taped up. got one question just to make sure. On the U10 move where you need to cut the top right trace. In the pic is shows the pad on bottom right gone also. is that needed? picture attached.

 

[Aurelio]

all right, new board is here, been flashed and is taped up. got one question just to make sure. On the U10 move where you need to cut the top right trace. In the pic is shows the pad on bottom right gone also. is that needed? picture attached.

The bottom left pad is not connected to anything on the U5, so it's fine if you leave it there