Solved What did I do wrong?

[Mason]

Hi! So, I finally got around to wiring up the u10 to one of the vias with the magnet wire I got on Amazon, and when I attempt to power the Wii on, the power led goes from red, to red and green, then to green and then just no light at all.

UPDATE!
The u10 was completely fried. I replaced it with the u9 and it boots up now! You won't believe how loudly I shouted "I DID IT" once I saw the green led stay on. I still have a long way to go!

Here's what my wiring looks like

I didn't trim the board yet. It is a 6-layer board CPU-RVL-01. I'm wondering if I'm testing it wrong, or if I wired it totally incorrect. Thanks for your time!

 

[Xerehm]

since it's untrimmed, did you make sure to cut the trace as shown in the guide ? you might wanna cut it again a bit further down the trace (so you don't have to desolder anything)

i'm not very experienced so take that as you will

 

[Mason]

I'm sure I did cut the trace. I forgot to mention that it is a 6-layer board, so I'll edit that in...
Thanks for your reply.
Edit: cut the trace a little deeper, same result.

 

[jeffery]

Did you remove the enamel coating and did you make sure to fill the via with solder to make a good connection?

 

[Mason]

I was having some issues with getting the solder into the via. I heard that the way to get the enamel coating off of the wire was to get some solder onto it and then take it off. I believe I did get that coating off.

 

[jeffery]

You know the enamel is off when the wire has a copper look instead of the red add more solder inside the via itself and check for any shorts to ground

 

[Wesk]

Higher resolution pictures would help as it's difficult to see the solder joints. If you were having issues soldering to the via underneath you may need to scratch it a bit so that the solder will stick better.

 

[jeffery]

Yeah because you may have tented vias so solder wont stick unless you remove it with something

Is that the u10 or the u9?

 

[Wesk]

Yeah because you may have tented vias so solder wont stick unless you remove it with something

Is that the u10 or the u9?

6 Layer Wii vias are generally untented but it can depend on the revision. Regardless if it's U9 or U10 they both function the same.

 

[Mason]

It is the u10. The issue is, the solder sticks better to the iron than to the vias.

 

[jeffery]

1. scratch the via just in case
2. put solder inside the via not just the outside
3. tap the wire to the blob on the via to put it on

If you are using u9 and killed u10 you need to short 2 pins to get it to turn on

[MERGED - Don't double post.]

Are you using flux as well? besides the one from the solder because using a drip really helps.

 

[Mason]

Some flux here and there. The u9 is still there, so I'm not really sure what the issue is.

 

[jeffery]

Have you installed portabalize mii?

 

[Mason]

Yes, it is installed.

 

[jeffery]

It does not look like you burned the enamel off on the u10

 

[Wesk]

The solder joints are "cold", they should look smooth and shiny and not dull. This will cause connection issues.

Make another attempt at cleaning up your solder joints and be sure to use lots of flux.

Here is some information on typical solder issues: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-guide-excellent-soldering/common-problems

 

[jeffery]

Add some flux to the cold joints tap them with you iron with some fresh flux and that should fix it if the enamel won't burn off use some sandpaper to scrape it off. (About 350-400)

 

[Mason]

Just redid the soldering, but still won't power on. Could it be I fried the u10? How do you know if you ruined it?

 

[jeffery]

use a multimeter on dc negative probe to ground and positive to the u10 pin see if it is 3.3v

 

[Mason]

I'm not sure if I measured it right, as I never used a multimeter before, but I got 0.01v, I think.
I'm going to take a break from this for a bit and get back to it another time. Thanks for your help.