Hacking All was going so well, then ... nothing

Pitstop2 · Nov 16, 2007

Well, maybe not exactly nothing, but I've had my PAL Wii since December (bought from Amazon.de - I'm in the UK), and got a Wiikey installed in Manchester a couple of months later (March, maybe).

Everything went swimmingly, and I've even recently been playing Super Mario Galaxy US version. Last time I played it was Wednesday morning. I switched off as usual.

However, yesterday when I tried to resume play, the SMG logo came on in the top left channel, but then it wouldn't load. Now not one DVD-/+R disc will even spin. Even the Wiikey setup disc is doing nothing. Thankfully all of the original Wii and GC games work fine, but just wondered if this was likely to be a loose connection or, if there's potentially a software fix I could use if possible.

I'm useless at electronics myself, so opening up and checking/soldering anything is out of the question for me. I'd have to get someone to do it for me. i just hoped someone may have had the same issue and managed to get a disc of some kind working to fix the problem.

Sorry for the long winded explanation, and also apologies for my first post being a cry for help, but hoping for any help. Thanks

manias · Nov 16, 2007

if it's suddenly stopped working then my guess would be a loose connection or fried chip yeah.. :/ If it worked fine the one day and not the next, a software update won't do much I recon

Pitstop2 · Nov 16, 2007

Thanks. I'd thought it most likely to be that. I'll be back off to manchester in the morning then, hoping to get them to have a look at it. Fingers crossed it is as simple as a loose connection.

Added by Hadrian:
Bit of an update, although nothing positive as yet.

I took it back to Manchester for them to have a look at, but they were 'too busy' and 'can't look at it today'... I ended up getting p'ed off at them and brought it back home, along with a tri-wing screwdriver to allow me to get at it myself. I've (eventually - some of the screwheads had been roughed up a bit, making them difficult to get out) opened it up and had a look, but I can't see what could be wrong with it. They used the quicksolder method. I've looked at it and all still seems intact, with no broken connections that I see. Is there anything I should be seeing/looking for to indicate something's wrong? Connection points 1 & 2 (the two holes to fill) have slightly browned (rusted?) solder in them. Is this anything?

I haven't soldered anything since high school (over half my life ago!) and things have severely shrunk since I last did, so was hoping not to really need to, but I guess needs must. I'll be ordering an iron and what-not to get going.

Any helpful suggestions for what I'm looking for/at, or anything else that may be wrong with it is greatly appreciated.

Forgive me if I'm talking crap. My electronics knowledge is more than poor!

Pitstop2 · Nov 24, 2007

Bit of an update, although nothing positive as yet.

I took it back to Manchester for them to have a look at, but they were 'too busy' and 'can't look at it today'... I ended up getting p'ed off at them and brought it back home, along with a tri-wing screwdriver to allow me to get at it myself. I've (eventually - some of the screwheads had been roughed up a bit, making them difficult to get out) opened it up and had a look, but I can't see what could be wrong with it. They used the quicksolder method. I've looked at it and all still seems intact, with no broken connections that I see. Is there anything I should be seeing/looking for to indicate something's wrong? Connection points 1 & 2 (the two holes to fill) have slightly browned (rusted?) solder in them. Is this anything?

I haven't soldered anything since high school (over half my life ago!) and things have severely shrunk since I last did, so was hoping not to really need to, but I guess needs must. I'll be ordering an iron and what-not to get going.

Any helpful suggestions for what I'm looking for/at, or anything else that may be wrong with it is greatly appreciated.

Forgive me if I'm talking crap. My electronics knowledge is more than poor!

manias · Nov 24, 2007

might want to take a picture to show the peeps here.. but to me brown solder doesn't sound too great

sekhu · Nov 24, 2007

what you could do is take a couple of pictures of the installation and post it in this thread, although I won't know what I'm looking at, I'm sure someone that does will be able to tell you if there's anything wrong with the installation

korven · Nov 24, 2007

QUOTE(sekhu @ Nov 24 2007 said:
what you could do is take a couple of pictures of the installation and post it in this thread, although I won't know what I'm looking at, I'm sure someone that does will be able to tell you if there's anything wrong with the installation

EDIT: Beat me to it

Armadillo · Nov 24, 2007

Brownish colour on the solder will just be some flux that hasn't been cleaned off.

Pitstop2 · Nov 25, 2007

Thanks to all for the feedback.

I will take a picture of it just in case anyone sees anything and post it up, but I need a better camera than the one I've been using (phone-cam) to show it in focus.

Pitstop2 · Nov 26, 2007

Finally got a camera to take a reasonable picture. Any good? There's only one quality soldered point, but i can verify that the others are all connected. Any issues that stand out to anyone though?

MikeyGreenStar · Nov 28, 2007

I would get hold of a multimeter and check the points on the wiikey back to the main chip to see if you actually have a connection. You can pick a half decent one up in B&Q for under a tenner.

lordcoxis · Dec 2, 2007

QUOTE(Pitstop2 @ Nov 16 2007 said:
Everything went swimmingly, and I've even recently been playing Super Mario Galaxy US version. Last time I played it was Wednesday morning. I switched off as usual.

However, yesterday when I tried to resume play, the SMG logo came on in the top left channel, but then it wouldn't load. Now not one DVD-/+R disc will even spin. Even the Wiikey setup disc is doing nothing. Thankfully all of the original Wii and GC games work fine, but just wondered if this was likely to be a loose connection or, if there's potentially a software fix I could use if possible.

If you've checked the chip and it's fine, have a look at this, it might be the same problem:

http://wiikey19g.wordpress.com/

sidneyyoung · Dec 2, 2007

clean the lens

Kyokokoko · Dec 3, 2007

QUOTE(lordcoxis @ Dec 2 2007 said:
If you've checked the chip and it's fine, have a look at this, it might be the same problem:

http://wiikey19g.wordpress.com/

You know, that link is starting to scare me. What's up with all those people whose Wii cannot read burned discs anymore? All of them after having updated to 1.9g and having played Galaxy. It doesn't seem to be coincidence at all. Now I don't know if I should let SMG update my console or not - I haven't played it yet.

manias · Dec 3, 2007

don't get scared kyo. Almost ALL people with a problem post here, whereas most people with NO problem never post here. Add up all the posts n all people playing SMG, don't worry

I've updated just fine with the metroid trick, nothing bad happened at all.

Kyokokoko · Dec 3, 2007

Yeah, you are probably right, thanks for the reassuring answer. But still, we're not really sure it won't happen (not trying to bring bad luck here), and I guess I'm quite curious about the causes ot the problem.

Wait and see, huh.

jonm · Dec 4, 2007

I'm in the same boat but I have a Wiinja deluxe which stopped working a couple of weeks ago. I didn't update the chip before inserting SMG (as it wasn't available) and as soon as I inserted the SMG disc it stopped reading backups. I'm dropping it over to a friend who knows more about soldering etc in a couple of days to have a look but after looking myself I see nothing wrong with the chip or the soldering.

I'm getting very worried... I don't mind buying another chip but I can't afford another Wii.

dapex · Dec 10, 2007

any updates guys?

ImperialX · Dec 15, 2007

I'm experiencing the same errors. After 1.9g some of my backups just stopped working. a.k.a DREs. Any ideas? Mario Galaxy still works.

Pitstop2 · Dec 23, 2007

Sorry it's been so long. I took my Wii apart and nothing stood out. I've bought all of the soldering and testing gear I (though I) required, and it all arrived this week. Then someone posted a link to a potential fix on the previously linked site (http://wiikey19g.wordpress.com/). The fix is simply the 1.9b recovery disc fix:

"Recovering from a bad flash. Please note that this is an emergency procedure which should not have to be performed. If the flashing was interrupted for any reason the chip is left in a state where it cannot operate fully.Burning the recovery disc image - As media support in Recovery Mode is limited we recommend you use DVD-R only for the recovery disc. Burn it with Toast, Image Burner, or cdrecord. Performing the update - Switch on Wii and eject any disc in drive - Insert recovery disc and reset Wii - Wait for at least 3 minutes. There will *not* be any sign that the wiikey is recovering, and the recovery disc will not appear in Wii menu. - Power off the Wii and switch it back on again. wiiKey should now have recovered its firmware, and EEPROM will be restored to default settings."

I used Nero, as I don't have the other burning programs. Burned at 4x. Followed it to the letter otherwise and lo, an initial test worked! TV is in use right now, so further testing cannot be done, but so far *phew* maybe, just maybe, things are looking good.

It's certainly worth a single DVD-R and 5 minutes of anyone's time to try it.

I don't know how what happened to me equates to a "bad flash", but hey-ho.

Hope this helps anyone else.

Hacking All was going so well, then ... nothing

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