Ashida Troubleshooting; blue screen then nothing

[melonballer]

I just finished putting together my first Ashida to find that it doesn't work. When I turn it with one battery inside on the screen turns blue and says VGA for a second, then it turns black and nothing happens. I heard some small crackling sounds, almost like something is sparking so I'm pretty worried.

I tested the Wii trim before I wired it in and it booted fine. None of the voltage lines are completely shorted together, but the resistances between them are definitely smaller than the trim resistances alone.

 

[melonballer]

Accidentally posted before adding photos. Thanks in advance for any advice !

 

[Stitches]

Have you tried booting it with two cells? Sometimes one can't supply enough stable current to boot a Wii

 

[melonballer]

Have you tried booting it with two cells? Sometimes one can't supply enough stable current to boot a Wii

Thanks, I just did but unfortunately no change.

A few other things to add.
I had a hard time soldering to the mode via, so I moved the mode wire to this via which I believe is the same, but might not be...

I did the U10 relocation myself, not using the PMS board, but again it booted before so that shouldn't be the issue.

The RVLoader installation was done from a different USB and I just copied all the files to this one because the other was too large. The old one was also FAT32 formatted and this Sandisk one seems not to have that option so it's formatted as exFAT. I don't think this is the issue because it should still boot to the 'no usb detected' screen if the USB is formatted wrong.

I think my next step might be unwiring all the video lines and wiring a composite cable to test on my TV like I did with the trim previously, but please let me know if you have a better idea.

Oh also! The power switch works to turn on the ashida but will not turn it off once started. Weird issue because BTN gets the correct signal afaik.

 

[Bryceshaw06]

Send a closeup of your H and V sync wires on the Wii AVE. It looks like they might be shorted.

 

[melonballer]

Send a closeup of your H and V sync wires on the Wii AVE. It looks like they might be shorted.

Right I forgot about that. It might be a problem.


So it's a bit jank, but I read a post that said Hsync pad on the AVE isn't connected to anything, so I bent the Hsync pin off the pad and used both pads for my Vsync wire because I was having a real hard time with the soldering. Despite looking really bad I'm not detecting any shorts between those pins. Maybe there's an Hsync via on the board somewhere else where I can test if I've broken the connection to the AVE by bending the pin.

 

[tealflip]

Right I forgot about that. It might be a problem.
View attachment 32424

So it's a bit jank, but I read a post that said Hsync pad on the AVE isn't connected to anything, so I bent the Hsync pin off the pad and used both pads for my Vsync wire because I was having a real hard time with the soldering. Despite looking really bad I'm not detecting any shorts between those pins. Maybe there's an Hsync via on the board somewhere else where I can test if I've broken the connection to the AVE by bending the pin.

Actually, try reflowing these pins here:

From what I can see, they look bridged. I'm not entirely sure if that is still the issue, but I'd reflow them first.

 

[Stitches]

Thanks, I just did but unfortunately no change.

A few other things to add.
I had a hard time soldering to the mode via, so I moved the mode wire to this via which I believe is the same, but might not be...
View attachment 32417
I did the U10 relocation myself, not using the PMS board, but again it booted before so that shouldn't be the issue.

The RVLoader installation was done from a different USB and I just copied all the files to this one because the other was too large. The old one was also FAT32 formatted and this Sandisk one seems not to have that option so it's formatted as exFAT. I don't think this is the issue because it should still boot to the 'no usb detected' screen if the USB is formatted wrong.

I think my next step might be unwiring all the video lines and wiring a composite cable to test on my TV like I did with the trim previously, but please let me know if you have a better idea.

Oh also! The power switch works to turn on the ashida but will not turn it off once started. Weird issue because BTN gets the correct signal afaik.

That's not a mode via, so your VGA output isn't enabled. The most convenient mode location is the TP47 pad nearby.

The power switch behaviour needs to be set in the RVLoader settings. There's an option to change the power button behaviour from a momentary push button to a latching switch.

Also, exFAT is the wrong format and will not work. You are correct that the wrong format won't prevent the system from booting tho, it will just throw the no device error. You can download and use guiformat to bypass the Windows FAT32 formatting restrictions.

 

[melonballer]

That's not a mode via, so your VGA output isn't enabled. The most convenient mode location is the TP47 pad nearby.

The power switch behaviour needs to be set in the RVLoader settings. There's an option to change the power button behaviour from a momentary push button to a latching switch.

Also, exFAT is the wrong format and will not work. You are correct that the wrong format won't prevent the system from booting tho, it will just throw the no device error. You can download and use guiformat to bypass the Windows FAT32 formatting restrictions.

Thanks, I was super wrong about the mode via, but I’ve moved it to TP47 now, but still no difference.

And that makes a lot of sense about the power button, I just assumed it would latch.

Okay I’ll switch the USB format to FAT32 right now! I really appreciate all the help!

I’ll update again after I try composite video. Still not sure if it’s just a video issue or if the wii straight up isn’t booting. :/

 

[Stitches]

Make sure to disconnect mode from 3.3v to enable composite video output

 

[melonballer]

Okay... So. Composite is not working either, I'm thinking the Wii trim isn't even booting which is tragic because it definitely did before!

A couple more questions in that case. When I was testing I used B+ and B- but I wired it into the Ashida as B+ and GND, that wouldn't be an issue with the PMS-lite right?

Also my 1.8 volt line is 30 gage magent wire, not 24 gage stranded like the rest of my voltage lines. I thought the Ashida didn't use 1.8 volts besides the peripheral board with the power button etc so figured 30 gage would be fine, but again could be wrong.

 

[Stitches]

Okay... So. Composite is not working either, I'm thinking the Wii trim isn't even booting which is tragic because it definitely did before!

A couple more questions in that case. When I was testing I used B+ and B- but I wired it into the Ashida as B+ and GND, that wouldn't be an issue with the PMS-lite right?

Also my 1.8 volt line is 30 gage magent wire, not 24 gage stranded like the rest of my voltage lines. I thought the Ashida didn't use 1.8 volts besides the peripheral board with the power button etc so figured 30 gage would be fine, but again could be wrong.

The negative battery terminal should be connected to B-, not GND. There's a return path resistor in play. 30awg wire is fine to run the logic on the U-AMP, but using magnet wire to supply voltage can be unreliable and isn't recommended.

Also, since you're using 24awg stranded rather than 22awg stranded for voltage connections, you must have 2 GND wires between the Wii and the PMS-Lite. A single 24awg GND wire isn't enough for reliable operation.

 

[melonballer]

Tragic update… I completely unwired my trim from the ashida and wired to PMS to test with nothing else connected and it no longer boots, just black screen. I must’ve broken something in the process of wiring up everything.

I checked my resistances against the one’s on Nold’s resistance thread and they are still totally fine or higher. I have no idea what it could be. U10 wiring still looks solid. Lost a couple MX data lines in disassembly but that’s alright. I might remove the MX just for sanity.

Also… I just removed the Wii and tested the PMS with battery for voltage and my 1.8 line is registering as zero… All other lines are fine. Super weird.

My theory right now is that either my PMS is fried or my CPU is.

Excuse the excess wires. They aren’t connected to anything, just didn’t want to disconnect them in case they’d be harder to reconnect later.

 

[Stitches]

To make it more affordable for simple builds, the PMS-Lite doesn't have a 1.8v regulator onboard. It instead consumes 1.8v from the Wii's LDO to run some of its logic processes, so a reading of 0v on the 1.8v line when the PMS-Lite is disconnected from the Wii is normal.