Wii-U NAND-AID - eMMC Recovery and Replacement Interposer Public Test

[SDIO]

Maybe you can grab one of the vias next to the 3V Pad? That would also give a nice return path for the signals. But I think another joint somewere nere to the SD slot would be needed for mechanical strength, when inserting a card.

EDIT: maybe you can also release the source in the end, so anyone who doesn't have all his wishes granted can change it himself, so you don't need to accommodate everything.
I also had trouble soldering to the other capacitor when I did the mod, so I get that it's difficult there. But the other vias I tried to get ground from also weren't that easy.

But I really appreciate your work on that PCB, which will make it a lot easier in any case.

 

[SylverReZ]

"I'm going to ask of course that these not be re-uploaded or shared anywhere else."
You do realise by saying that, its gonna get other people to mirror it. At least, have it mirrored if people found it useful.

 

[Quincy]

THIS GUY IS A FERKIN LEGEND!


sorry for all caps, but I just needed to shout this

 

[SylverReZ]

THIS GUY IS A FERKIN LEGEND!


sorry for all caps, but I just needed to shout this

It's super cool that we can now use SD cards as alternative storage.

 

[Voultar]

"I'm going to ask of course that these not be re-uploaded or shared anywhere else."
You do realise by saying that, its gonna get other people to mirror it. At least, have it mirrored if people found it useful.

That's OK. I just wanted it to be clear that this is a WIP that will be partially driven by community feedback.

 

[SDIO]

Just to be sure, I have to select "Half-cut/Castellated Holes" manually at the PCB manufacturer? Because it wasn't selected automatically when uploading the gerbers and it makes it a lot more expensive.

Where did you order the boards and what did it cost?

 

[skawo]

Edit: Nevermind, maybe not.

 

[SDIO]

If there is anyone else from Germany interested? Then I could order a few more.

 

[slimhakz]

This is absolutely fantastic, well done!

How do we dump the nand to sd card using this? is there a guide?

Can we use a pre-existing dumped nand and write to sd card?

Can we increase nand size?

 

[SDIO]

How do we dump the nand to sd card using this? is there a guide?

It's ballistically the same procedure as here: https://gbatemp.net/threads/successfully-dumped-wiiu-emmc-nand-with-hardmod.457165/ but the soldering is now easier. Also I prefer to use a Raspberry Pi for dumping. With that you also don't need to build this SD Adapter.

Can we use a pre-existing dumped nand and write to sd card?

Only if you also flash the SLC at the same time or else the File System will become inconsistent.

Can we increase nand size?

No.

 

[slimhakz]

It's ballistically the same procedure as here: https://gbatemp.net/threads/successfully-dumped-wiiu-emmc-nand-with-hardmod.457165/ but the soldering is now easier. Also I prefer to use a Raspberry Pi for dumping. With that you also don't need to build this SD Adapter.


Only if you also flash the SLC at the same time or else the File System will become inconsistent.

No.

Right...

So this isn't a new process then.

Can you use a Raspberry Pi to bypass the nand?

What SLC??? There is one eMMC chip to override and replace.

The nand is the nand or am i being dumb?

 

[V10lator]

What SLC???

The Wii U uses a MLC and a SLC. The SLC contains a file which is a low-level cache for the MLC. This cache and the content of the MLC need to match or the Wii U is bricked.

The chip we see failing is the MLC.

//EDIT:

So this isn't a new process then.

Correct. While Voultar does great work designing this QSB he's not the inventor of this fix nor the one investigating the root of the issue and stuff.

 

[Voultar]

Just to be sure, I have to select "Half-cut/Castellated Holes" manually at the PCB manufacturer? Because it wasn't selected automatically when uploading the gerbers and it makes it a lot more expensive.

Where did you order the boards and what did it cost?

You'll want to select 1 side for castellations.

 

[slimhakz]

The Wii U uses a MLC and a SLC. The SLC contains a file which is a low-level cache for the MLC. This cache and the content of the MLC need to match or the Wii U is bricked.

The chip we see failing is the MLC.

//EDIT:

Correct. While Voultar does great work designing this QSB he's not the inventor of this fix nor the one investigating the root of the issue and stuff.

But both of these are inside of the eMMC?

 

[V10lator]

But both of these are inside of the eMMC?

No. Look at https://ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Wii+U+Teardown/11796#s42193 - there is a "eMMC 8 GB NAND Flash/Memory Controller" which is the MLC and a "4 Gb (512 MB) NAND Flash" which is the SLC (and ifixit is wrong here: The SLC is dual die, so 2x512 MB).

 

[slimhakz]

No. Look at https://ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Wii+U+Teardown/11796#s42193 - there is a "eMMC 8 GB NAND Flash/Memory Controller" which is the MLC and a "4 Gb (512 MB) NAND Flash" which is the SLC (and ifixit is wrong here: The SLC is dual die, so 2x512 MB).

Ah I'd missed the one on the back, thank you.

Is there no way to replace both out of interest?

So this will 100% fix any broken Wii U?

 

[Voultar]

Here's a demonstration of the NAND-AID; How the interposer fits and how the SD card simply just slides in.

The solder leg on the right isn't a good idea. It doesn't provide a stable, strong anchor. For the time being, the large, 1.5mm solder PTH that lives under the MicroSD card yields the most structural integrity.

 

[Razor83]

Looks great, thanks for working on this Voultar

Just a suggestion, but perhaps you could add a large 1.5mm castellated via at the top right edge of the board to solder to the other half of C655, to act as a large anchor point for mechanical strength? It should be much easier to solder to a half exposed via on the edge of the board.

Then you can keep the right arm for connecting to C13 for a ground connection, and the large via under the microSD slot can be kept as an optional extra ground/anchor point.

At least this way people who may not feel confortable soldering the microSD slot in place after installation would at least have the option of getting one with the slot preinstalled and using the C13 ground point instead of the one under the microSD slot, and the board would still be secured with a strong anchor point.

 

[SDIO]

I ordered 10 of the V2 interposer PCBs from elecrow and also ordered the components (slot and cap). It should take around 2 Weeks till the PCBs arrive.
If they turn out good, I can give some of them away for the price of the parts and shipping to people in Germany. I only used the HASL Lead free finish, so they won't look as nice (no gold coating).

Is there no way to replace both out of interest?

You can also replace the SLC, but not with that interposer. It's in a TSOP package, so easier to solder than the BGA of the eMMC and the SLC doesn't seem to fail. Also you would need a special micro controller to program it.

So this will 100% fix any broken Wii U?

It will fix Wii Us with a failed eMMC, that is still good enough to extract an image to run UDPIH. Looking at the failure mode of the eMMC, that should cover most of the cases of bad eMMC.

 

[Voultar]

I just want to explain something as I believe there's some confusion as to why I've removed the "leg" with the castellated edge.

Let's look at this picture and pay close attention to the component inside the red box:

^ This is a 10V, 220UF electrolytic capacitor. Electrolytic capacitors of this size will most likely at some point require servicing. If we install the NAND-AID interposer on top of this capacitor's solder pad, we'll be unable to replace this component if it fails in the future.. We'd have to remove the NAND-AID QSB or butcher the board in order to remove/replace this capacitor, which isn't good.

Currently, you're going to have to solder the NAND-AID into position and then add the MicroSD card. This takes all of maybe 3 minutes to do and is very simple. I may find a different ground source, but ultimately, this is a much better solution in the long-run than using a weak electrolytic pad as both a ground and mechanical anchor.