Worklog Yet another Ashida build (My First)

[Stitches]

Sorry if it caused any confusion, but I did do the VGA patch, and thus component won’t work. I say “I forgot” because I intended to switch it back off to be able to use component video for testing.

Ah, well you're in luck then. The VGA patch has a failsafe to re-enable component output for that boot cycle if Mode is disconnected from 3.3v and then reconnected while the system is still running. If you wire in a little toggle switch between Mode and 3.3v, you can flick it off and on again to switch to component. The Wii will remain in component mode until it's switched off, at which point it'll reset to outputting VGA again. You can do the component switch as many times as needed

 

[Retro95]

Oh really? Well then I’ll have to try that tomorrow. One more thing is that won’t I have to change the input on the screen using K4?
Thanks guys.

If you're going to use the little screen you'll need to wire some buttons to switch input to AV. it will not automatically detect and switch input from VGA to AV1 or AV2.

You can also solder a wire to ground on the screen and touch each contact K1-K5 to activate them.

Personally I'd just solder an RCA cable to the wii and plug it into a tv. Much less a pain in the butt than soldering a set of av wires to the driver board and switch input on it.

 

[soda]

Aight boys, huge update:

I found my problem, kind of a stupid one. I tried to solder to the legs of the LDO to power the Controls board, which was connected to the power of the Driver board, and to provide 3.3V to the display mode. Those connections, even though they looked fine, weren't actually connected. After I connected them in other places it now kinda works.

I say kinda because I now get the RVLoader loading screen, but it loaded for like 40 seconds, and at that point I was uncomfortable about how hot the Wii was getting. I can provide a video once it cools down sufficiently.

My thought is that my MicroSD to USB converter might not be supported by the Wii/RVLoader. In that case, I have another MicroSD to USB converter, would that be worth a try? I'm pretty sure it would be the same, since it would be the same MicroSD, but who knows. I can try a similar thing with a different MicroSD card. And before anyone asks I have formatted it to FAT32 and here are the things I'm using:

I'm currently using this MicroSD to USB (because it fits better)

With the MicroSD card that comes with this MicroSD to USB


The USB Stick that I used originally used to boot RVLoader is miles too big to fit with the PMS-PD 2.

Any thoughts on what to try?

 

[Retro95]

USB compatibility is a crapshoot unless it's one that the community, through trial and error and rigorous testing, has deemed compatible. Especially once you get into trying to load Wii games.

I'd recommend popping over to the RVLoader F.A.Q. page and see if you can get one of the recommended devices online or at your local electronics store.

If you have a pile of random USB drives, try a few of them out while you wait. You'd be surprised what is compatible. I have a knockoff brand usb hard disk drive that works flawlessly but I can only use it for bench testing due to its size. Just bizarre that that one works, yet my Samsung shorty USB drive does not.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[soda]

Unfortunate Update:

As I was screwing stuff in to make it look nicer to take a video I try and turn it on again and it now doesn't even spin the fan. I knew this meant something was up with power. I checked the voltages on the batteries, 3.50V, a little low but shouldn't cause this. I checked all my resistances, look fine. I checked whether the switch is working, and it is. Voltages now don't show up when it is "on" and I say that because I now don't know what is on or off. I think I definitely broke something, as all my connections between everything aren't loose/missing.

Any ideas on what might've broken/happened to cause something like this?

 

[Stitches]

I'm not sure, but if you're lucky it's just a saturation issue. Disconnecting the batteries and power cycling the PMS a few times will clear it if that's the case, otherwise a full disassembly and inspection may be needed

 

[soda]

I'm not sure, but if you're lucky it's just a saturation issue. Disconnecting the batteries and power cycling the PMS a few times will clear it if that's the case, otherwise a full disassembly and inspection may be needed

I guess I'm lucky, I disconnected the batteries and power cycled the PMS a few times and it now works. What does that really mean though? Anything I should keep in mind in the future?

Thanks so much!

 

[Stitches]

I guess I'm lucky, I disconnected the batteries and power cycled the PMS a few times and it now works. What does that really mean though? Anything I should keep in mind in the future?

Thanks so much!

It's hard to explain the mechanics of, mainly because I don't fully understand it myself, but I'll give it a go. Sometimes a switching regulator circuit can retain charge in places that it shouldn't, which confuses smart systems and shuts them off, or one or more inductors can "saturate" with magnetic flux and turn into a short/series resistance. If an inductor saturates it tanks the output efficiency, drops the voltage, and will no longer filter out voltage ripple (it can even sometimes cause even worse voltage ripple). This will trigger protection shutdowns in properly monitored circuits. I'm not sure how anal the PMS is about that, but seeing as this has happened to a few people in the last couple of years and the systems have been fine after a bleed, I'm going to assume it fails safely as long as you don't keep pushing it.

It occurs sometimes with PC components and confuses the shit out of people. You try to turn your computer on, and then it just shuts off. Depending on where the saturation takes place, your PSU or mobo might bleep a warning at you that there's a power anomaly, but often it's just a silent boot failure that most people have no idea how to fix. It's a part of where "have you tried unplugging it and leaving it for 30 minutes" comes from. Disconnecting the power source and power cycling the circuit or leaving it to discharge passively over time usually resolves any active saturation issue. Try it on any electronic device that appears to have a power anomaly, it's a surprisingly common issue.

I wouldn't worry about it unless it continues to occur once the portable is finished and being used normally.

 

[soda]

More updates:

Everything works!... For like 10 seconds. I managed to find a MicroSD card that worked after testing multiple, it loads into the game loading screen and as soon as that happens it turns off. I do flick the power switch off once it starts up to mimic a power button, as I haven't gotten the chance to change that setting yet. Batteries are still at 3.50V and on that note would it be a good idea to just plug in power to the USB-C?

Is this also a saturation issue?

Video linked (might take a bit to process)

Thanks

 

[Stitches]

Giving the system a charge is probably a good idea, yeah

 

[soda]

I think it was the batteries..? I don't know for sure but charging fixed the problem.

I'm going through a bunch of the settings now and ran the fan calibration and it just tells me that my cooling system is insufficient, nice. I switched the momentary switch setting to toggle, and cranked up the charging current to the max. I also changed the LED to Addressable type B, but it still isn't working. Let me know if there is anything else I should change for a basic Ashida.

I'm scared to load a game with it telling me "Your cooling system is insufficient" but I was able to successfully boot into Super Mario Sunshine and confirm audio is working! Temperatures seem to only climb and it gets upto 55C within 3-4 minutes. To my knowledge, I screwed the Wii down as much as I could and I believe it is making contact with the thermal pads (the blue things right?).

Also seems like my batteries are not keeping a charge too well, but I haven't yet charged them to full. Would it be a good idea to charge them through the PMS overnight?

 

[Stitches]

I think it was the batteries..? I don't know for sure but charging fixed the problem.

I'm going through a bunch of the settings now and ran the fan calibration and it just tells me that my cooling system is insufficient, nice. I switched the momentary switch setting to toggle, and cranked up the charging current to the max. I also changed the LED to Addressable type B, but it still isn't working. Let me know if there is anything else I should change for a basic Ashida.

I'm scared to load a game with it telling me "Your cooling system is insufficient" but I was able to successfully boot into Super Mario Sunshine and confirm audio is working! Temperatures seem to only climb and it gets upto 55C within 3-4 minutes. To my knowledge, I screwed the Wii down as much as I could and I believe it is making contact with the thermal pads (the blue things right?).

Also seems like my batteries are not keeping a charge too well, but I haven't yet charged them to full. Would it be a good idea to charge them through the PMS overnight?

I'm not sure about the cooling warning, but I do know that the PMS-2 sculpts its battery display based on a full charge/discharge cycle. Let the system charge fully and then discharge fully and the display should become accurate

Nevermind I forgot that you're using a PMS-Lite, it doesn't have the fuel gauge and can only estimate battery level via the current battery voltage.

 

[soda]

Alright, I was able to fully charge the batteries up to their 4.2V max. There are some new things I have noticed however:

1. RVLoader refuses to boot while charging giving some weird green and purple artifacts on the screen.
2. Booting into RVLoader is very inconsistent, however, it does consistently boot after removing and reinserting the USB (which I won't be able to do once it's screwed together).
   1. Sometimes it gives me a Lua error (code 6). Sometimes it displays the RVLoader loading screen and when this happens it always doesn't load. Sometimes it outputs "rvloader bootloader 1 loading" as text and also doesn't load. Sometimes it tells me it couldn't read the FAT FS device. My USB lines are coiled tightly and have good connections to the vias, so I think this might just be the USB itself, not a wiring issue.
3. I did use heatsinks that I found on Amazon as the ones on Digikey were backordered at that time, so I believe that might be the source of the cooling problem. Luckily the Digikey ones have been shipped and should arrive soon. Though, I don't know whether I will be able to remove the ones that are already in the case.

 

[Retro95]

Did you remove the blue film on the heat sinks? Those are just to protect the adhesive thermal pads.

If those are not removed that will definitely be the source of your Wii running hot.

 

[leftbrainstrain]

More updates:

Everything works!... For like 10 seconds. I managed to find a MicroSD card that worked after testing multiple, it loads into the game loading screen and as soon as that happens it turns off. I do flick the power switch off once it starts up to mimic a power button, as I haven't gotten the chance to change that setting yet. Batteries are still at 3.50V and on that note would it be a good idea to just plug in power to the USB-C?

Is this also a saturation issue?

Video linked (might take a bit to process)

Thanks

I'm very surprised that specific SanDisk MicroSD reader is working for you. It worked on my unmodded 4-layer Wii with only one of the seven microSDXC cards I tested it against, and it gets extremely hot while in use. Best of luck.

In case you decide to use something other than that USB 3 microSD reader, there has been some research done on USB storage compatibility:

https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/rvloader-usb-compatibility-database.5672/​

 

[soda]

Did you remove the blue film on the heat sinks? Those are just to protect the adhesive thermal pads.

If those are not removed that will definitely be the source of your Wii running hot.

I did not! However it doesn't look like that has solved the problem, just made it a bit less bad. Now, however, it finds equilibrium at around 57.3C, but that still feels very hot for just in the menu.

 

[Wesk]

Make sure the heatsinks are actually stuck to the GPU/CPU IHS. If they are then the temps will be fine. If you're really worried just crank the fan settings to max in RVLoader.

 

[Retro95]

I found I wasn't completely satisfied with my thermals after extended sessions, just using the Digi key heat syncs. I managed to lower my temps down to 42-48C while gaming for 1-2 hours at a time by placing some of these between my CPU/GPU and the heat syncs. You'll need to remove the white adhesive thermal pads and cut the silicone pads to the correct size. I also sanded the black paint off the side of the heat sink that mates with the CPU/GPU by placing it flat on my desk and stroking it against the sand paper, otherwise called "lapping" it.

I've also seen some people use actual thermal grease for computer CPUs, I tried that as well but every time I had to open the Ashida up for troubleshooting I ended up finger painting with it.

EDIT: Also, silly question, but what direction do you have your fan oreintation? Are you blowing in or out of the Ashida?

 

[Wesk]

Also, silly question, but what direction do you have your fan oreintation? Are you blowing in or out of the Ashida?

With all the testing I did it made little to no difference which way the fan was oriented.

 

[soda]

EDIT: Also, silly question, but what direction do you have your fan oreintation? Are you blowing in or out of the Ashida?

The fan is blowing in air. I followed the orientation that Ginger had in his full assembly.

Edit: I'm pretty sure the standoffs might be a little too high so that the CPU/GPU aren't fully in contact. I'm going to try sanding them down a hair and see if it makes a difference.

Edit Edit: I think its more to do with the cheap amazon heatsinks having a very small amount of thermal padding at the back and not the standoffs but I think it will work.