Hardware Will the wii function without a disk drive plugged in?

[Kues]

I'm planning to make a portable wii with no disc drive and was wondering if anyone knew if the wii will turn on and fully function without the disk drive attached anymore?

 

[GreyWolf]

At least the drive controller needs to be plugged in. It's part of the hardware initialization and booting will stop if it fails.

 

[JacksonS]

@GreyWolf What? The Wii works without the disc drive attached. The only thing you cannot do is boot Wii games and lots of Wii software because they all make calls to the disc drive. You can, however, boot GameCube games with Nintendont because it does not make calls to the disc drive. It's possible to bypass the disc drive calls and play Wii games using emuNAND, but it's a tricky process. Very soon, a team is releasing a pack that will make it easy for portablizers to do everything on their Wii without a disc drive.

 

[GreyWolf]

Are you sure? From what I understand the console won't boot if the DI check fails the same as if the BT or WiFi modules don't initialize. From what I've read at least the controller board has to be connected. The drive mechanism itself doesn't have to be there.

 

[JacksonS]

Are you sure? From what I understand the console won't boot if the DI check fails the same as if the BT or WiFi modules don't initialize. From what I've read at least the controller board has to be connected. The drive mechanism itself doesn't have to be there.

I've worked extensively with the Wii motherboard and, no, the disc drive does not need to be present in any form. You can attach a drive replacement like the WiiKey Fusion and you won't have any problems with compatibility at all.

 

[MikaMaslak]

I've worked extensively with the Wii motherboard and, no, the disc drive does not need to be present in any form. You can attach a drive replacement like the WiiKey Fusion and you won't have any problems with compatibility at all.

Hello, I'm in final preparations on doing a portablization project to the wii. Could you tell me what is all the non-essential, for start up, for hardware is and what are the cons of the removal of it?

Also if the drive were to be removed nintendont can cover gamecube could I use something like USB loaderGX to still use wii games? or should I focus on primarily just a pot. gamecube.

 

[ScarletDreamz]

as far as im aware:
Bluetooth module, wifi module, and dvd mobo, not the drive, but at least the board should be plugged.

 

[JacksonS]

Hello, I'm in final preparations on doing a portablization project to the wii. Could you tell me what is all the non-essential, for start up, for hardware is and what are the cons of the removal of it?

Also if the drive were to be removed nintendont can cover gamecube could I use something like USB loaderGX to still use wii games? or should I focus on primarily just a pot. gamecube.

The only non-essential thing you can remove is the disc drive. The Bluetooth module and the Wi-Fi are both needed without software modifications to the Wii. You can play GameCube games through Nintendont without a disc drive, but playing Wii games without a disc drive requires use of emuNAND to emulate parts of the drive in software.

Since you're working on portablization, you would benefit from using a package called "portablizemii" available at BitBuilt.net. It offers a software solution that removes the need for the Wi-Fi module and disc drive (Bluetooth is still needed) and it makes Wii and GameCube games very easy to play with an all-in-one interface.

 

[MikaMaslak]

The only non-essential thing you can remove is the disc drive. The Bluetooth module and the Wi-Fi are both needed without software modifications to the Wii. You can play GameCube games through Nintendont without a disc drive, but playing Wii games without a disc drive requires use of emuNAND to emulate parts of the drive in software.

Since you're working on portablization, you would benefit from using a package called "portablizemii" available at BitBuilt.net. It offers a software solution that removes the need for the Wi-Fi module and disc drive (Bluetooth is still needed) and it makes Wii and GameCube games very easy to play with an all-in-one interface.

Thank you so much!!! I have never hear of the potablize mii package before, but looking into it, that solves a Lot of my soft-controlling problems and I will differently move to that from originally using a traditional homebrew. Now my only problem to solve is power control/implementing an onboard battery.

 

[kaisersozeh]

honda Odyssey rear entertainment system screen. Also a secondary screen I installed up front, because while the driver should keep their eyes on the road, there's no reason the front passenger has to miss out! I have sort of plastic shelf I made which fits under the third row of seats and contains the wii, power supply, excess cable slack (tied up to keep it tidy), and a video amplifier because initially the screens got darker when they were both on versus one or the other (signal out of the wii apparently wasn't strong enough to power two displays with a simple Y-splitter). I know the Wii could be powered off 12v, as I think that's actually the voltage going in from the power supply, and the video amp is too, but the minivan has a built-in 110V 100Watt load inverter, so it was just a lot neater to have a standard household extension cord that could be easily unplugged and the entire system removed if we fold the seats down to haul cargo. I have a lot more info and even some pictures here:
http://www.odyclub.com/forums/11-au...ent-mod-res-media-games-secondary-screen.html

hope someone finds this relevant

 

[HaelStorm]

I might've been late to this, but still wondering will the Usbloader work for wii games booting them up from a portable drive?