Hardware VERY strange bug with component cables + USB/SATA adapter...

[Siover-Tiger]

Hi,

I have a very strange bug with my component cable when I plug in my USB. It's an USB to SATA/IDE adaptor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSO5nsfm8xI

As You can see in the video, when my standard Wii cables over RGB(Scart) are plugged in, everything is okay. I can plug my USB hard drive and everything is okay.

However, when I change to my Component cable and I plug in the USB cable , the whole screen is distorted. As long as i won't plugin the USB adaptor, everything is okay. But the moment the USB touches the slot, the screens breaks down. The Wii still works as you can see in the video, and the sound is also okay.

When I pull out the USB, everything is fine again.

It's not the resoluton, I tried all three, all have the same bug.

Somebody got an idea where the problem is? I can only think of bad shielding of the Component cable, as the RGB cable doesn't have the screen issues.

 

[Eddie_Brock]

My guess would be that your USB drive is not powered, and is therefore taking power from the USB slots on the Wii.
It may have too much draw and is somehow gimping the Wii in the process. I would recommend using a USB drive with an external power supply. I've heard rumors that a USB Y-adaptor may fix the issue as well, however I have no experience with this. I do however have an external USB hard drive, and have not seen these issues in my case. I hope this helps...

Edit: Also, my Wii's power brick, if too close to my component cables will cause distorion. Try to put as much distance between these things as you can.

 

[Vattu]

as eddie said, your usb drive probably takes too much power. if you want to use usb+component, you must do something about the power problem. buy another drive.

 

[Siover-Tiger]

My guess would be that your USB drive is not powered, and is therefore taking power from the USB slots on the Wii.
It may have too much draw and is somehow gimping the Wii in the process. I would recommend using a USB drive with an external power supply. I've heard rumors that a USB Y-adaptor may fix the issue as well, however I have no experience with this. I do however have an external USB hard drive, and have not seen these issues in my case. I hope this helps...

Edit: Also, my Wii's power brick, if too close to my component cables will cause distorion. Try to put as much distance between these things as you can.

The drive is already powered by an extra power supply, so that can't be the problem. The weird thing is, the USB adaptor doesn't have to be connected to the Wii. When I plug the USB adaptor in my PC or PS3, the distortions are there, too, though a bit weaker. However when it isn't plugged in at all in an USB port, the distortions are gone, even though the HDD is running and spinning over the power supply.

Well, I will try a casing for my HDD and I will change the component cable, I hope this will solve the problem.

 

[Vattu]

so... no matter WHERE the hdd is attached to, it interfere with the wii video signal? Try wrap the hdd with tin foil and use it with your wii.

 

[Justin121994]

Same thing for me. I tried this with an adapter same has his with an external power source.. And everthing was weird. So i changed back to the regular cables.......

 

[Siover-Tiger]

so... no matter WHERE the hdd is attached to, it interfere with the wii video signal?

Exactly.

I will try out your tip, maybe it helps. In any case, I will wait, until my HDD Casing arrives and I will report you if the problem consists. Thank you for the comments.

 

[grante]

I had a similar issue with mine. It's caused by electrical interference.

Either:
- Plug the HDD into a power bar, wii directly into the wall
- Or The opposite way around
- Or completely seperate outlets
- Or move the hard drive further away

One of those should fix it.

 

[Am0s]

sounds like a grounding issue to me, as stated the guy said it happens on his other console and as soon as its touches the usb distortions appear, I watched the video thats not distortion thats just screen rolling, which can be caused by a ground issue,

 

[Siover-Tiger]

SUCCESS!

My HDD casing just arrived. I put in the HDD and tried it.... and no screen distortions anymore! So it was the USb to SATA adaptor I the end. Thanks for your help, guys.

 

[foob]

SUCCESS!

My HDD casing just arrived. I put in the HDD and tried it.... and no screen distortions anymore! So it was the USb to SATA adaptor I the end. Thanks for your help, guys.

It only took me several months to troubleshoot mine when this happened (I have just finished troubleshooting!).

Composite (bundled) Wii cable: everything looks fine (well, as fine as composite can look...)
Component cable: Every time I'd connect my USB portal (Skylanders) the screen would go completely black. That was the first sign I noticed some interference. Also, randomly the screen would go black for a second (or three) while playing games using the component cable. Weird stuff. Also interference patterns on the screen. The interference lines on the screen were isolated to a nearby USB drive being used. Actually it would still cause interference quite a distance away from the TV. What the...? But the black screen 'blank outs' of the video signal and the Skylanders portal making the screen blank out while the component cable was in use was a mystery to me (first I thought it was the cable, then the Wii itself). The only solution was going back to the bundled composite cable.

terrible cheapie power supply
Turns out it was the terrible switching power supply bundled with my ebay 3.5 inch sata-to-usb external enclosure. I was thrown off a bit 'cause I never thought the USB drive would have this kind of influence on both the screen and the Portal used for Skylanders (black-screening the video signal). Now I know better