Troubleshooting Techniques

[Matthew]

I have been trying to diagnose some issues with my first portable and I thought it might be useful to have a thread on different techniques that others use, especially the pros'.

Anyone have any good techniques for identifying why a console would have sudden power loss?

 

[ShockSlayer]

Remember everything you did between "working fine" and "not working fine."

 

[cheese]

Check for loose wires, they can cause shorts that will make it turn off (hopefully...)

 

[Panchuflenks]

Remember everything you did between "working fine" and "not working fine."

before : all new wii board working
after : trimmed wii board not working. maybe I did something wrong hehe

 

[Ampz]

What did you use to trim it? And did you sand down the edges afterwards?

 

[JacksonS]

The first thing I'd do is check for voltages where I expect to see them.

 

[pengy]

Yeah, you're gonna need to check voltage at the battery, at the switch, and at the console. Check with another screen to confirm that it's not a video issue. If it gets dire maybe grab another console and wire the power up in parallel and see if that one boots. Then you'd know there is a problem on your mobo.

 

[Luke]

Test constantly. Check that everything works between every step that you are able. Relocate something, test. Trim something test. Don't be the guy that does the whole wiring job without a single test, then tries to power it on, and asks the forum why it isn't working.

 

[Matthew]

@Ampz - I used my rotorary tool. I cut outside the edges of the revision 1 trim. And then sanded in, but to be honest I didn't really sand it down all that great. I thought since the n64 was a two layer board that sanding it wasn't as big of an issue.

@JacksonS - it looks like I'm getting the right voltages but the connection breaks and there is no more current flowing. I think this has something to do with the battery protection circuit because I can reset it by plugging in the smart charger for a second.

@pengy - I've checked it at all those places and it seems normal but it's really hard to test because the current stops flowing after a second when I turn it on. I've been eliminating things it could be. It still happens without the screen and I used a spare battery protection circuit and it still happens so I think it might either be the regulator or something with the console itself.

@Luke - I completely agree. I did that all through the making process but this happened after using it for a couple of days. It worked fine before that. It was all sealed and working and I didn't have any problems before hand.

Sorry for the long post. I'll try sanding it down and re checking all my wires and get back to you guys. if someone is free this week and willing to skype I'd appreciate it. I know school ha started so don't feel obligated at all.