Solved When things go from to crap to even more crap, U10/Overall issues...

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This is my first portable and I am trying my best at it following the threads and all to help me out with my problems, but I am just having a tough time.

When I tried to remove the U10 transistor without a hot air station and kinda broke off the leg, but I still had U9, so I packed up the Wii and head on over a friend who had one. We got it off fine. We successfully replaced it, or so I thought. I was finishing up the relocation 2 days after moving the U9 to U5 since I just got my shipment of wires in. Wired everything up and went to test, no boot. Thought the trace was not fully cut, so I dig in some more. Nothing. I saw online from and found a troubleshooting guide of U10/U9 relocation from Shank, and went to bridge the U9 pin 4 and 5 location. Test again and nothing... Went through the troubleshoot some more and saw that the output was not producing the 3.3V but around 0.5V, so I knew that was my issue. But no there was more to come. Remove the wire from the transistor and decided to plug it in knowing nothing will happen, but to my behold.... The LED on the motherboard is now super dim. Now I am here just pulling hairs thinking did the board break!!! Did the AC adapter reset till not working.

Big Questions:
Is it possible the Wii just fried itself?
Do I need to get a new Wii for U10/U9 or can I just use BD45302G-TR?

If you have been following to this point thanks for reading, and also much help would be appreciated.
 

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jefflongo

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It's extremely unlikely the Wii is fried, even if it's shorted. The Wii is pretty resilient. A few notes on your struggles:

- Pre-trim, you can check that the U10 trace is cut by using a multimeter on the continuity setting and testing the U10 output leg with a via that's further back on the board (follow the trace that is supposed to be cut). If there's no continuity, then you cut the trace successfully.

- You may have torn off some of the pads when removing U10. Pictures would help here. Check that the input pin is continuous with 3.3v and that the ground blob is continuous with ground. Sometimes they're not if you tore off some of the pads.

- When removing U10, you should NOT use desoldering braid if that's what you used. If you aren't using hot air, I find simply adding two blobs of solder to both sides of the chip and repeatedly switching which side you heat with your iron while GENTLY pushing with tweezers works well. It should take nearly ZERO force to remove an IC when reflowing it. If you are using force, STOP and heat the part for longer. ICs are much more resistant to heat than lateral force.

- As for the motherboard LED being dim, it is possible there is a short. Measure the resistance on all the voltage rails. Should be > 30 ohms on all of them.

- You can substitute that BD45302G-TR if you truly broke both chips.
 
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It's extremely unlikely the Wii is fried, even if it's shorted. The Wii is pretty resilient. A few notes on your struggles:

- Pre-trim, you can check that the U10 trace is cut by using a multimeter on the continuity setting and testing the U10 output leg with a via that's further back on the board (follow the trace that is supposed to be cut). If there's no continuity, then you cut the trace successfully.

- You may have torn off some of the pads when removing U10. Pictures would help here. Check that the input pin is continuous with 3.3v and that the ground blob is continuous with ground. Sometimes they're not if you tore off some of the pads.

- When removing U10, you should NOT use desoldering braid if that's what you used. If you aren't using hot air, I find simply adding two blobs of solder to both sides of the chip and repeatedly switching which side you heat with your iron while GENTLY pushing with tweezers works well. It should take nearly ZERO force to remove an IC when reflowing it. If you are using force, STOP and heat the part for longer. ICs are much more resistant to heat than lateral force.

- As for the motherboard LED being dim, it is possible there is a short. Measure the resistance on all the voltage rails. Should be > 30 ohms on all of them.

- You can substitute that BD45302G-TR if you truly broke both chips.
Thanks for the quick feed back. I went back and added some pictures. i did check the trace and there is no continuity, so its good. I am going to check the voltage rails
 

jefflongo

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From the picture you attached, several immediate thoughts. First of all, it's hard to tell what's going on at all with all of that flux residue. Grab some IPA and a toothbrush and clean that off. I can also see a solder ball just sitting on the board. That's a recipe for a short when it falls off and touches something it shouldn't. Secondly, the wire is it's possible the output is shorting with the input. The enamel looks slightly burned off near the input pin. Lastly, I can see some ripped off pads where the capacitors were, so it's not impossible that you ripped off some pads on the U10 spot. Check continuity with the input and 3.3v, and the ground blob and ground.
 
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From the picture you attached, several immediate thoughts. First of all, it's hard to tell what's going on at all with all of that flux residue. Grab some IPA and a toothbrush and clean that off. I can also see a solder ball just sitting on the board. That's a recipe for a short when it falls off and touches something it shouldn't. Secondly, the wire is it's possible the output is shorting with the input. The enamel looks slightly burned off near the input pin. Lastly, I can see some ripped off pads where the capacitors were, so it's not impossible that you ripped off some pads on the U10 spot. Check continuity with the input and 3.3v, and the ground blob and ground.
I did check the continuity of the gnd to gnd and 3.3v to 3.3v and got a beep. So the pads are all good. The enamel coating on the magnet wire is stripped to a small amount. I just didn't want to much bear wire showing. Should I strip off more? As for the voltage rails, I think I measured the right spots (3.3V, 1.3V, and 1V areas) and they seem fine. Also updated the images.
 

jefflongo

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I did check the continuity of the gnd to gnd and 3.3v to 3.3v and got a beep. So the pads are all good. The enamel coating on the magnet wire is stripped to a small amount. I just didn't want to much bear wire showing. Should I strip off more? As for the voltage rails, I think I measured the right spots (3.3V, 1.3V, and 1V areas) and they seem fine. Also updated the images.
Your images appear to be gone now. To clarify, you checked gnd with the 3 pin blob, and 3.3v to the input pin of U10. You want the stripping on the wire to be as small as possible. What I said is that it looks like it may possibly be exposed more than you think and be shorting with the input pin. There is also no 1.3V on the Wii. There is 1V, 1.15V, 3.3V, 1.8V, and 5V. Check that you are measuring 3.3v on the input pin of U10. If you aren't getting any output after checking all the following things, then the chip is likely damaged.
 
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Your images appear to be gone now. To clarify, you checked gnd with the 3 pin blob, and 3.3v to the input pin of U10. You want the stripping on the wire to be as small as possible. What I said is that it looks like it may possibly be exposed more than you think and be shorting with the input pin. There is also no 1.3V on the Wii. There is 1V, 1.15V, 3.3V, 1.8V, and 5V. Check that you are measuring 3.3v on the input pin of U10. If you aren't getting any output after checking all the following things, then the chip is likely damaged.
Yeah I the 1.3V was a typo. I reuploaded my images. I will try rewire the output pin again to be more away from the 3.3V pin and see what happens. If it still doesn't work, I will just order the replacement IC. Also I just want to double check my ohm values ofr the voltage rails.
3.3V ~ 3.87 (20k Ohms)
1.15V ~ 32.9 Ohms
1V ~ 133.8 Ohms
Thanks for all the help! :D
 
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Voltage are fine. I said it before and I'll say it again, this looks very questionable. Could definitely be shorting. I suggest you bend it in such a way that it isn't touching the input pin.
View attachment 13317
Cool. Moved the wire, plugged it in to power and check the pin and power is being outputted. So in the end the IC has been fried. I ordered a replacement. Thanks for the help again. Sad that it happened and still pondering but not caring as much for LED since it will be gone when trimmed, but it was a good learning experience.
 
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