Solved USB not detected on my trimmed Wii

Jordn

.
Joined
Oct 12, 2025
Messages
3
Likes
3
Hello,

I just trimmed my first Wii and I'm testing everyhing before building my portable Wii. The board is sanded, I added the RVL PMS lite and stripped a VGA cable. The console boots up fine and I am getting VGA output.

The USB port on my PMS PD does not seem to work though. I get an RVLoader bootloader error saying “Failed to initialize FAT FS”. I'm using a 32 GB SanDisk Ultra Fit 3.1. I also tried a Lexar stick with a led, when the console boots, it's blinking but nothing more. I tried soldering my D+ and D– wires directly to the vias. I also twisted the wires tighter than in the pictures I'm including and shortened them to about 70 mm. I get continuity between the PMS PD and the Wii vias and the data lines are not shorted. I connected the 5V from my RVL PMS to the 5V on the other side of the motherboard but it made no difference. I also tried the vias for the second USB port with no success.

I haven’t had a chance to test it with a battery yet , I’m currently powering the Wii with a USB-C power brick. Does it make any difference ?

I’m making this post hoping someone can point out something I might have missed, thank you.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2371.webp
    IMG_2371.webp
    133.5 KB · Views: 49
  • IMG_2373.webp
    IMG_2373.webp
    243 KB · Views: 40
  • Like
Reactions: cy
It looks like you don't have a file system connected to the PD, but I'll assume that's just the picture. Your USB Data positive and negative wires need to be short and twisted tightly in order to work. Your wires look like they might be a bit long and also maybe a bit loosely twisted especially near the ends where the solder joints are. That said, the solder joints look good! Anyways you really shouldn't have that metal wire shielding going around like that. Loose wires and shielding always have shorting potential which could destroy something while the unit is connected to power.

Also, have you verified your USB drive worked on an untrimmed modded Wii? Could always be something with the file system.
 
I rewired everything and it didn’t change anything. I finally tried a 4GB Philips USB stick, and I managed to boot into RVLoader. It’s still surprising that my 64GB SanDisk Ultra Fit 3.1 doesn’t work on my Wii.
 
Adapter and micro SD card compatibility with the Wii is a bit spotty. Glad it was a simple and easy fix!
 
Back
Top