Hacking Homebrew GCN PicoBoot - GameCube IPL replacement modchip using Raspberry Pi Pico

[Donnie-Burger]

Have parts on order. Can't wait to dabble. Nkit'n isos in the meantime. Anyone know what the smallest micro sd is to fit USA set?

 

[lincruste]

I successfully installed it two days ago, but when I let run Super Mario Sunshine for about 15mn the screen went black and the mod did not work anymore, even after many reboots.
I just re-opened it and shortened the wires then re-flashed and re-soldered it, I'll give it a try tomorrow and will update this post.
Many thanks to hdx for this.

edit: 3,3V wire was desoldered because I moved it too much while looking for a place to put the RPI. It works perfectly now.

 

[Donnie-Burger]

Finally got it done. Almost fit entire set on a 512GB Samsung after compressing isos. Works good so far 100% boot success.

 

[hdx]

It should work reliably as long as you keep the wires short. I can actually recommend a video from Joe Bleeps: he shows the most recommended location for the chip and how to route the wires correctly.

 

[Kioku]

No idea. My first foray into the GameCube scene. Don't know what to expect..
Redid some of the joints on the Pico... Testing out boot now. If that doesn't work, I guess I'm triple checking the mobo joints. I was worried I damaged a leg on the IPL chip.

Secretly hoping this is just something that may happen, and I don't have to tear my GameCube apart.

Edit: Will be reinstalling Still getting inconsistent boots. The light is green, but no image. If I take the SD2SP2, I can still boot using the Xeno and Swiss disc. Will try shortening the wires.

Edit: Never crossed my mind that it may be the wire I'm using. Need recommendations for some good wire to use on small boards like these.

Got some new, larger wire in. 26awg solid core. Redid the install, kept the wires pretty freaking short, and it's working as intended! Excitement!

 

[Donnie-Burger]

Ordered a cheapie hdmi from ebay for this and man the picture is bad. Stretched and blurred.

So of course I ordered a Pluto-IIx XC3S200 HDMI. $60 isn't to bad. Let's see how hard the install is. Need to get the 3d printed bracket as well for a clean finish.

 

[hdx]

@yo1dog I asked novenary for push access to redolution/iplboot repository. I want to take all the improvements from different forks and merge them in the main repository. Would you be interested in opening your pull request against https://github.com/redolution/iplboot?

That way I'd be able to provide your improvements with next PicoBoot update.

 

[rs1n]

UPDATE: So in my own case, I started with 30 AWG (wrapping wire) and later tried 28 and 26. None of them seemed to give me any success regardless of how short I made the wires. I finally took apart an ethernet cable (the label on the outside indicated the individual wires inside were 24 AWG). This lead to an immediate success. So for anyone who has been having trouble, try 24 AWG wire.

ORIGINAL POST:

Spent all day attempting this in my DOL-101 but it never shows any sort of boot screen like in the YouTube videos. Instead it just boots straight into the regular GC logo and then into the retail cube menu. No black screen even though I get a green light on the pico. Tested continuity on all wires and tried several gauges and length but still getting stock boot process.

I should note that I am booting with empty memory slots and no DVD (ie no media plugged in).

 

[grozio]

hi, i'm italian...where can you buy pico at the right price ? thanks.

 

[tech3475]

hi, i'm italian...where can you buy pico at the right price ? thanks.

Raspberry pi’s website links to the official sellers:
https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico/

 

[Donnie-Burger]

Picoboot + HDMi is real nice!
Now to get the 3d printed bracket for a clean hdmi finish.

 

[yo1dog]

@yo1dog I asked novenary for push access to redolution/iplboot repository. I want to take all the improvements from different forks and merge them in the main repository. Would you be interested in opening your pull request against https://github.com/redolution/iplboot?

That way I'd be able to provide your improvements with next PicoBoot update.

Yea no problem. I'll work on that tonight.

I was thinking this weekend that if we wanted to add features like support for a config file, .CLI files, etc., that probably warrants a new repo/project. IPLBoot's original purpose was to be as minimal of a DOL launcher as possible (to fit on modchips).

 

[Clector]

I installed it, but it isn't working.
The normal IPL boots fine, but it's slow and the image is distorted and on black and white.
The controller doesn't get recognized on it anymore.
What could be the problem?

 

[Jonapika]

can anybody modify this method to use HDD (SSD), M2, or USB to load games faster??

 

[tech3475]

can anybody modify this method to use HDD (SSD), M2, or USB to load games faster??

Picoboot isn't responsible for running games, it just gets the GC to run other software on boot e.g. Swiss.

 

[tech3475]

I installed it, but it isn't working.
The normal IPL boots fine, but it's slow and the image is distorted and on black and white.
The controller doesn't get recognized on it anymore.
What could be the problem?

Does it work if you remove it?

 

[Deleted member 194275]

I believe that is was a coincidence, but my SD gecko died few days after I installed the picoboot. I was using a ultra bootleg version made for wii, so it was not a high quality piece anyway, The gamecube is working fine with and without the picoboot, so it was really no big deal, I'm just telling that because if it is a recurrent problem you will know.

Additional info: I'm no soldering or electronics professional and I'm running long wires against the recommendation, so it may be a coincidence or even my own fault.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

I believe that is was a coincidence, but my SD gecko died few days after I installed the picoboot. I was using a ultra bootleg version made for wii, so it was not a high quality piece anyway, The gamecube is working fine with and without the picoboot, so it was really no big deal, I'm just telling that because if it is a recurrent problem you will know.

Additional info: I'm no soldering or electronics professional and I'm running long wires against the recommendation, so it may be a coincidence or even my own fault.

Sounds like coincidence. The SD Gecko is a passive adapter without any electronic functions. They are often flimsy and can break easily (just like a micro-SD to full sized SD adapter)

 

[Donnie-Burger]

Bluretro is so fucken dope!

After testing seems like sd gecko memory card is more reliable than sd2sp2.

 

[AMIdDST]

Thank you for your hard work, hdx! Can't wait for that "Hold A to native IPL" revision.

This was my first soldering work and I managed to get it run with a lot of trial and error. Learned definitely a lot regarding the Gamecube and mod work in general.

Like many recommended in this thread, I cut my wires down to as short as possible and perhaps that seemed to do the trick on getting Pico to register. I used 26 AWG wire.