Question Trimmed Wii not booting up

[Patrick]

Hi all,

A few weeks ago I started working on my own Wii portable. I have done the U10 relocation and wired the voltage regulators and video output, but I can't get the Wii to boot. When I measure everything I get the following:

(what should be) 3,3v gives 3,27v
1,15v gives 1,10v
1v gives 0,94v
U10 also outputs 3,27v so I think that's fine

In the first 20 seconds when I power up the Wii the voltages of the 1,15v and 1v regulators are even lower:
1,15v gives 1v
1v gives 850v

After that they go up to the values above. 3,3v seems good to me, the others seem a bit low to me. Or are they fine? If not, how is it possible they are not what they should be? I'm sure I'm using the right resistors.

---

Also, when I was wiring my video output, two components accidentally came off the board:

Did I break the composite video output? I wired it somewhere else (should've done that in the first place):

But it is not working.

Thanks in advance

 

[GingerOfOz]

Your 1.15v and 1v regs are outputting too low of a voltage. I'd replace the resistors on them to get a higher voltage, it's better to be 0.05v above the voltage than 0.05 below it in this instance.

I'd also recommend sanding your board some more. It looks quite jagged in many places. You should be able to run your finger along the board and have it feel completely smooth.

 

[Nold]

After doing what ginger said, check for resistance/shorts between every voltage line & gnd. Also you might want to cleanup your soldering joints of the voltage lines. Bad/cold solder joints have a higher resistance & may cause problems, too.

 

[Charjame]

I'll add that it would be a good idea to check if your resistors are shorting somewhere. I've had regs give me low voltages because of that.

 

[Patrick]

I have replaced all resistors with new ones and completely redone the wiring of the regulators. At first, I had something like this (I don't know what part of my brain thought this was a good idea):

Now it looks like this:

All the regulators are outputting what they should, but the board is still not booting up. Also, when connecting the regulators to the wii, the voltages drop again.

I have double checked for shorts, can't find any. I also sanded the board a little more, but you can already run your finger along it smoothly, it just isn't completely straight because I was lazy. I don't think it matters anymore because I think the board is probably broken already.

Current setup:

Anything else I can try before buying a new Wii?

Also, I trimmed this wii with a fretsaw (one like this) because I do not have a dremel. It took me about 5 saw blades (they all broke) and a few hours to trim it and I'm not really looking forward to doing that again. I'm going to try to borrow a dremel the next time. If anyone knows of a different method to trim the wii I'd like to know as well.

 

[Paul3854]

What's the resistance for each line on the Wii to ground?

 

[Patrick]

What's the resistance for each line on the Wii to ground?

1,15v 20 ohm
1v 18 ohm
3,3v 30 ohm

 

[Madmorda]

Did you put tape over your CPU and GPU before trimming so metal dust doesn't get in there? I killed my first trimmed wii by not taping them up. I couldn't find a short anywhere, but it wouldn't boot, and that sounds like what you are describing.

 

[Patrick]

Did you put tape over your CPU and GPU before trimming so metal dust doesn't get in there? I killed my first trimmed wii by not taping them up. I couldn't find a short anywhere, but it wouldn't boot, and that sounds like what you are describing.

I did indeed not put tape over my CPU and GPU, that is probably it then. I will definitely do this next time

 

[Nold]

Also..

You should cut away that crack on the top, otherwise you'll not be able to fully sand the edges of the trim.
Also remove the rest of that connector on the bottom. (or any other component you might did cut through

 

[Patrick]

Tutorial:
how to kill your wii the same day it comes in the mail

HELLO guys today i will show you how 2 kill wii
Secret method doctors don't want you to know !!!

REQUIREMENTS
Soldering iron
Soldering gun
Desoldering braid
Tweezers
Computer with speakers

STEPS
1. Open this link and keep it open while doing the whole process (make sure sound is enabled) your IQ will increase every second
2. Get wii motherboard and put desoldering braid on U10 pins and iron on top of it
3. Try to desolder u10
4. fail
5. No problem use u9
6. succeed
7. pick up desoldering braid
8. look at it
9. put it down and use soldering gun instead
10. desolder u5
11. if done correctly it will look like this:

if the pads at the top of u5 aren't completely burnt off you didn't do it right

12. measure left pad of u5 with top pad of c1, you will not get anything
13. pick up u9, hold it between tweezers, then instead of holding it carefully, let it drop on the floor instead
14. make sure you can't find it anymore
15. solder wire to one of the 3.3v points on the board and hold it on the gpu via to test if your board is still working
16. when plugging in power cable led does no longer turn on and nothing happens
17. cry

thanks for reading guys remember to LIKE COMMENT and SUBSCIRIBE!!!!!1`1111

 

[Noah]

It's probably worth investing in a hot air station if you're having trouble removing the U5. It makes it a ton easier, and you can even use it to place U10 back on the board. It also (imo) makes desoldering components much easier, especially off of Nintendo boards because the solder they use seems to have a very high melting temperature.

Also I'm not sure what you're using a soldering gun for, but you shouldn't need to ever use one for a portable. An iron should suffice.

 

[Patrick]

It's probably worth investing in a hot air station if you're having trouble removing the U5. It makes it a ton easier, and you can even use it to place U10 back on the board. It also (imo) makes desoldering components much easier, especially off of Nintendo boards because the solder they use seems to have a very high melting temperature.

Also I'm not sure what you're using a soldering gun for, but you shouldn't need to ever use one for a portable. An iron should suffice.

I had no trouble removing the U5 on the first board, it was just that I was impatient this time and that was also the reason why I used a soldering gun. The gun just gets way too hot for the job and I held it against the U5 for too long not thinking about how that could destroy the pads.

I have already ordered a third Wii (I don't give up very fast) and I will definitely just use an iron on that. Also, the iron I'm currently using is a cheap basetech soldering iron and I'm having a terrible time getting solder stick to it. It was only 20 euros and you can notice that immediately. It oxidates very fast. I also have a second iron that I borrowed from my grandpa who has been soldering professionally for years. The difference is enormous, solder immediately melts when pressed against the iron and it conducts very well. I have always soldered with this iron in the past and you would probably wonder why I am not using this one for the wii. Well, it is so old, that I can't get the tip off, it is completely stuck in the iron and I'm afraid it will break off when I apply force to it. I need to get the tip off, because the current tip is way too large and not point-shaped so I can't use it on the wii. I am considering buying an good soldering iron from Weller for example, but I don't know if that's worth it because I can't tell if I will be doing more stuff like this. I have always soldered simple things like wires to other wires (fixing broken headphones for example). Also I do not have unlimited money

Anyway, I am going to try again with my third wii and I will probably be able to relocate U10 just fine like I did on the first one, bluetooth relocation is just gonna be a pain in the ass because I have to apply a pretty big solder blob on my shitty iron otherwise it just won't work

Maybe someone else with a cheap iron has some suggestions on how to get my tip to conduct better?

Thanks for all the replies so far, appreciate it

 

[Patrick]

Ok so today I (almost) relocated U10 on my new board (it has not been trimmed yet to make troubleshooting easier), but I think I didn't solder the pads properly because it is not outputting anything. Well, it is outputting something, when I measure the needle on my multimeter slides just a little bit to the right. Anyway, I will be able to fix this, this is not the problem (gotta go sleep now first). I have a different question: before putting U10 on the board I forgot to cut the trace and I was wondering if that can give any problems (I have cut it now) or if it is fine now. I have booted it once without the trace being cut.

EDIT:
I fixed the U10 and wired up my voltage regulators and it is working!! Now I "just" have to trim the board and hopefully everything will work then as well