Hello again everyone!
I wanted to apologize deeply, it's been two months since I fixed my Wii, and have yet to update you all about it. Let me walk you through how I fixed it from the beginning.
Beginning
In 2019 my Wii started acting... "Odd", at times it would give a black screen instead of the usual Wii screen, at first I thought nothing of it, perhaps i put in the video cable wrong, or have a faulty outlet brick. After a few restarts it would usually work again, but as time went on it became worse. Fast forward to early this year (2022) and my Wii seemed to be at the end of its life. So I did some research, found absolutely nothing except others having the same issue.
Start of this post
So I made this post, hoping for others to know he answer. Short answer, this problem is very mysterious and nobody really knows what causes it. But then
@KleinesSinchen came along with this:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-has-no-signal-and-does-not-respond.609725/post-9782792 response which caused me to read it, and became curious as well. I opened up my Wii (Which I already did before, thinking it was the Wifi or Bluetooth module- nope.) and used a multimeter to check the voltage.
Annoying Wii
Low and behold, it was still 3.3V in, 1.8V out. I got confused and gave up, then for funsies plugged it on my TV again. Just for it to work again. My Wii did this alot, suddenly coming back from the dead, which might sound great, but made this process very annoying considering it would die a month, a week, or even a day later. I decided to leave it be for a few months again, and in the summer I took another try as it wasn't working again. NOW THIS TIME, it showed me 3.3V in, 0.01V out, aka the LDO was dead. Hooray, problem found.
Preparations
Looking at
https://gbatemp.net/threads/transfer-broken-wii-content-to-another-wii.604111/post-9693780
And
https://gbatemp.net/threads/transfer-broken-wii-content-to-another-wii.604111/post-9694532
I thought about a plan. I am far from being good at fixing hardware, so I had to research a lot about what an "VIN, VOUT, GND" actually is. To help me find out which goes where I made a few pictures using information I found.
View attachment Motherboard2.jpg
I noticed in the first picture, the picture of
@botfixer that he didn't show where his Ground In goes to, so at first I assumed (wrongly) that it was not needed.
Materials
But before I was able to do this whole process I needed parts. I found this at first:
https://www.yoycart.com/Product/542574642188/ but didn't order it as well, they want your ID number, which is always a red flag. So I decided with an the same MP1584
@botfixer used. (
https://www.ebay.nl/itm/133489723575?var=432947700851 ) for the resistor I decided for a Metal 0,25W 47K Ohm 1% resistor considering the 47K matched the same color as
@botfixer 's and metal due to temperature concerns.
Finally fixing the wii
Having every material I need, it was finally time to fix the Wii. With the help of someone else, we desoldered the old LDO, cleaned it up and managed on this:
I'll explain to you what you are looking at here.
Before I continue with the voltage stuff,
MAKE SURE TO CHANGE THE VOLTAGE OUT TO 1.8V with the built on tweaker before connecting the chip to anything in your Wii. If the Wii can not work with less than 1.8V, imagine what could happen if you gave it too much voltage, I assume you can then say goodbye to your Wii. Checking if the voltage is right requires a adjustable power source to check if you do not have it already. Be sure to not put the wires and such in places where it might be in the way of screws or other parts as that could cause more problems.
When it comes to voltage:
The Ground out and Voltage out are in the same place as
@botfixer 's, which might not require much explaination except that those are the same places the original LDO outputs to.
The resistor was tricky, the MP1584 chip has another chip in its place which can be difficult to get rid of. I apologize for the poor picture, the camera I took it with back then wasn't that great in general. It is the same as
@botfixer 's so you could take inspiration from there.
For the input, the right red line is the Voltage in. 12V to be exact:
See the where the Red pin is inserted? Every one of those holes outputs (more or less) 12V. Take note of the 4 pinned chip next to it, that's where you must look.
For the Ground in, you may simply use the gold plates at the sides as they are all ground.
Finished!
If everything goes right, your Wii should now work just as if your LDO was never broken. If not then you made a mistake somewhere, use my pictures as reference if you wish.
Hooraaaay! Problem finally solved! I hope this helps everyone.
But why did this happen? (Theories)
Heat
Now this is still a mystery considering I do not speak the language of the computer chips, but I do have some theories. Doing some research the first few models output an excessive amount of heat, and do you see where the LDO is?... Right next to the CPU heatsink, it's simply possible that the early models in specific are killing off their own LDO's with heat.
RVL-CPU-20
Now this one I have less evidence for, but if you take a look at
@botfixer 's pictures, you can match it to a RVL-CPU-20 just like mine. Is this motherboard cursed? Does it have some hardware flaw? The only way we can confirm this is seeing motherboards of the ones with the same issue.
Conclusion
This might sound dramatic, but it was a long (and confusing) journey which not only fixed my Wii but gave me more insight into the hardware. I want to thank everyone in this thread, especially
@KleinesSinchen for his insight, ideas, and thought alongside, and linked me to the thread which helped me A TON. Thanks to
@botfixer for making this thread in the first place, using his previous experience to create a way to revive Wii's suffering from this problem.
Thanks to you all, I can now play my copy of Mario Kart Wii in peace.
