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As I mentioned in another thread, I was a little worried about a guy who wanted my Wii with all accessories and to keep it overnight to mod. So I then found another guy local, but he had problems with Cyclowiz (what a crappy chip) and was too worried to install mine. I found he went to my Chiropractor, so I met him up there and he was nice enough to let me borrow his tri-wing driver.
Earlier in the day, I went to RadioShack, picked up a 15w soldering iron, small silver bearing solder, a slightly smaller tip (which I can't get freakin installed), some 30awg wire, and had to find flux at Home Depot. I had never soldered before, so I started by soldering the smallest, closest together points on the back of an old Matrox video card - with success! These actually were a bit prettier than my final result on the Wii (but probably more strong). See my original thread with a pic and discussion.
Taking the case apart wasn't a big problem. I used the instructions here which aren't bad, but forgot to mention the big EMI shield that needs to be removed. Also, they should mention (I read this elsewhere while reading about taking a laptop apart) to use a muffin tin to separate screws in order. This helped a lot!
After soldering a few more points as a test, I started on the WiiKey. In retrospect, I would have been a lot better off soldering to the board first, but I wanted to start the real job on the easier part. I also meant to secure it in a spot off of the board. I found a perfect little spot and cut wire that should have been long enough, but I should have left more for slack, as it didn't end up fitting - oh well. Also, the fact that the WiiKey kept sliding around was a real pain.
WiiKey soldered
When putting it on the board, I wished I had used longer wire, so it would be a bit easier to work with. I could have secured it there, and then cut it to length for the WiiKey. It would definitely have been best to start with the smaller points first, as the other wires were getting in the way a bit, and I didn't want to bend them too much. Too bad I didn't plan a little better.
drive soldered
My issue after all was done was that there was a good bit of bare wire from tinning, etc. I didn't want it to short out, so I devised a system to put small bits of electrical tape under and over each wire. I started with a small piece under the first, then put the wire down and put another piece on top, then another wire down and another piece - creating layers. Because of this, I won't have to worry about shorts. This required some dexterity. Check out the pic below.
shielded with tape
I then put a larger piece of tape across the whole back of the WiiKey, so I could repeat the same process there. As I mentioned, my wires were unfortunately not long enough to put the chip where I wanted, so I taped it down in the location where it would have been quick-soldered. I wish that electrical tape was better in holding things down, but it worked!
So I followed the directions in reverse to put it back together. For the most part everything was fine. Putting it back together is more of a pain than taking it apart though, I'd say. Also, it must be secured tighter than it was originally, as the top gamecube covers don't click in place when closed. Maybe I should loosen some screws?
I had spent some time burning some TDK Lightscribe media, complete with burned labels, and all at 4x. I tested them and got the media code, along with all of my other media codes for other disks, as I posted about here. It turned out they were CMC Magnetics, which had me worried from the start. They always have and (apparently) always will, make crap media.
The Wii partially loaded them. It took forever to load, made a lot of loud noises trying to read them, and gave DRE's all over the place. I grabbed some Playo media which was DVD-R, Mitsubishi Chemical, media code MCC 03RG20, burned the WiiKey setup disk, and it worked properly. I later burned NFS: Carbon on this media, and it worked perfectly. Mitsubishi's cars are horrible (I had one which broke two transmissions within a short period, and I know others - they're complete junk), but apparently, they make some good stuff, as long as it doesn't have any moving parts!
Let's hope my other 20 Lightscribe DVD+R discs (luckily Mitsu) work properly.
All in all, it wasn't so bad. It's a big disappointment that all my lightscribe discs aren't working though
. And the soldering could have been a bit better, but with my shielding, I'm sure it'll be fine for a long time.
Any questions/comments, etc? Be nice!
Earlier in the day, I went to RadioShack, picked up a 15w soldering iron, small silver bearing solder, a slightly smaller tip (which I can't get freakin installed), some 30awg wire, and had to find flux at Home Depot. I had never soldered before, so I started by soldering the smallest, closest together points on the back of an old Matrox video card - with success! These actually were a bit prettier than my final result on the Wii (but probably more strong). See my original thread with a pic and discussion.
Taking the case apart wasn't a big problem. I used the instructions here which aren't bad, but forgot to mention the big EMI shield that needs to be removed. Also, they should mention (I read this elsewhere while reading about taking a laptop apart) to use a muffin tin to separate screws in order. This helped a lot!
After soldering a few more points as a test, I started on the WiiKey. In retrospect, I would have been a lot better off soldering to the board first, but I wanted to start the real job on the easier part. I also meant to secure it in a spot off of the board. I found a perfect little spot and cut wire that should have been long enough, but I should have left more for slack, as it didn't end up fitting - oh well. Also, the fact that the WiiKey kept sliding around was a real pain.
WiiKey soldered
When putting it on the board, I wished I had used longer wire, so it would be a bit easier to work with. I could have secured it there, and then cut it to length for the WiiKey. It would definitely have been best to start with the smaller points first, as the other wires were getting in the way a bit, and I didn't want to bend them too much. Too bad I didn't plan a little better.
drive soldered
My issue after all was done was that there was a good bit of bare wire from tinning, etc. I didn't want it to short out, so I devised a system to put small bits of electrical tape under and over each wire. I started with a small piece under the first, then put the wire down and put another piece on top, then another wire down and another piece - creating layers. Because of this, I won't have to worry about shorts. This required some dexterity. Check out the pic below.
shielded with tape
I then put a larger piece of tape across the whole back of the WiiKey, so I could repeat the same process there. As I mentioned, my wires were unfortunately not long enough to put the chip where I wanted, so I taped it down in the location where it would have been quick-soldered. I wish that electrical tape was better in holding things down, but it worked!
So I followed the directions in reverse to put it back together. For the most part everything was fine. Putting it back together is more of a pain than taking it apart though, I'd say. Also, it must be secured tighter than it was originally, as the top gamecube covers don't click in place when closed. Maybe I should loosen some screws?
I had spent some time burning some TDK Lightscribe media, complete with burned labels, and all at 4x. I tested them and got the media code, along with all of my other media codes for other disks, as I posted about here. It turned out they were CMC Magnetics, which had me worried from the start. They always have and (apparently) always will, make crap media.
The Wii partially loaded them. It took forever to load, made a lot of loud noises trying to read them, and gave DRE's all over the place. I grabbed some Playo media which was DVD-R, Mitsubishi Chemical, media code MCC 03RG20, burned the WiiKey setup disk, and it worked properly. I later burned NFS: Carbon on this media, and it worked perfectly. Mitsubishi's cars are horrible (I had one which broke two transmissions within a short period, and I know others - they're complete junk), but apparently, they make some good stuff, as long as it doesn't have any moving parts!
Let's hope my other 20 Lightscribe DVD+R discs (luckily Mitsu) work properly.
All in all, it wasn't so bad. It's a big disappointment that all my lightscribe discs aren't working though
Any questions/comments, etc? Be nice!
