Discussion WiiSearch and Development

Ampz

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I have a RVL-CPU-40/60 (haven't checked) Wii that came with motion plus from 2011. It may also have boot2 as well, I'll try and check but the most likely scenario is that Noah's Wii has boot2.
 
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Aurelio

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I have a black Wii that came with motion plus from 2011. It may also have boot2 as well, I'll try and check but the most likely scenario is that Noah's Wii has boot2.
Every Wii has boot2, but just the early ones (before 2008) allows you to install bootmii as boot2
 

Aurelio

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In early Wiis there was a bug in the boot1 that allowed the user to install custom softwares as boot2. In 2008 Nintendo fixed this bug
 

Shank

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I have plenty of 01 boards with year date codes of 07 and 06.
I'll try that when I get home
 

Aurelio

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BootMii installed as Boot2 Boots without the Wi-Fi Module or Bluetooth Module!
That's nice :D
Now what happens if you boot directly to homebrew channel or to the system menu from bootmii?
 

Shank

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When going from bootmii to the following:
Wii menu: wont boot. Black screen
Homebrew channel boots and responds with gamecube controller. However, apps dont show up, and the wifi symbol in the bottom keeps on flashing. Maybe its trying to initialize network before it tries to load and view apps form the SD card?
 

Noah

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Hmm, this is where Wii mini hacking would help. If a version of the homebrew channel was written without WiFi checks then it'd be so much easier. Not that removing it from the source would be hard, but still, one less thing to do. :P
 

Aurelio

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When going from bootmii to the following:
Wii menu: wont boot. Black screen
Homebrew channel boots and responds with gamecube controller. However, apps dont show up, and the wifi symbol in the bottom keeps on flashing. Maybe its trying to initialize network before it tries to load and view apps form the SD card?
Ok so either the IOS loaded by System Menu or the System Menu itself locks the Wii from booting.
Sadly the Homebrew Channel is closed source, but it could be possible to replace it with another loader which doesn't use the WiFi.
I will do few tests tomorrow night :)
 

Shank

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Awesome! I look forward to it.

CPU Documenting


As for developments, I have been looking into the processors themselves. Originally I believed the Broadway-1, the smaller variant of the chip exclusive to revision 30+ boards, was the only variant that underwent a die shrink. Wikipedia says that the Broadway B, which uses the size substrate as the 90nm Broadway A and Broadway B, is made using the 65nm process. This is a particularly interesting development as the Broadway B is used on some RVL-CPU-01 boards and all RVL-CPU-20 I have encountered.

Screenshot image courtesy of Wikipedia, full article here

However
I'm not sure how significantly the size of the substrate affects power consumption, or even if this is true. Even if the CPU is a die shrunk variant, that does not necessarily mean the board is as efficient as newer boards. Also, shrinking the CPU does not necessarily mean the GPU was shrunk as well. Of the 4 reported broadway variants, I have encountered the Broadway A, Broadway B, and Broadway-1.

GPU Documenting

There is no record of how many GPU variants there are, or which ones, if any, are die shrunk. I plan to look into this further, to figure out exactly which wii's are more efficient. Even if some variants do turn out to be just as efficient, the RVL-CPU-01 and RVL-CPU-20 boards are still 6 layer boards who's layers still remain undocumented. Trimming is not advised.

I have encountered 3 variants of the Hollywood
Hollywood
Hollywood AA
Hollywood-1 (always on boards with Broadway-1)

Will continue research, try to run power tests, and report results
 

watsug

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Got a shipment of wii consoles today and found a new revision. May I present:
C/RVL-EEE-X2, model number RIS 901 DUMMY SAMPLE
All it does is light the green led, illuminate the slot and spin the fan. All the other components are missing. The linear reg near the power plug is 5V for the fan. Not useful for portablizing but kinda neat.
IMG_20160315_121018.jpg

Also did a quick power test on three different boards I have. These are just hanging around the system menu with stock regulators, measured at the 12V power cable.
CPU-01 Broadway A - 1,03A
CPU-01 Broadway B - 0,95A
CPU-30 Broadway -1 - 0,94A

The real test will be in a game
 

ShockSlayer

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please do not ask!!!! I will NOT respond
I will now present the smallest trim to ever grace the Wii scene, BEHOLD:

epic_trim.jpg


This blows every trim OUT OF THE WATER. Forget a credit card sized Wii, it's time formemes SD card size Wiis!
 
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