First G-Boy attempt and first problems... will probably need a lot of help and support...

[JFBFR75]

Hi together,

so, after reading lot and ask some questions on Discord, I was finally so far today to attempt the trimming of the motherboard as I received the kit last week.
It went mostly good but I messed up the lower side: I cut it too short so the sanding might become problematic but the biggest issue I see is that I have also once dirft a bit on the motherboard with the dremel So now guys, I need your professional sight to tell me if I may already order the next Wii on ebay or if I can still save this motherboard somehow. Here are the picts of the mess:

 

[jeffery]

That nick is just on the soldermask for the uneven line I used a sanding wheel to get it straight and then sand it with 200 300 400 600 and 1000 is what I used

 

[Nicholas298]

IMO: Def sand those edges more, but the dremel slip doesn’t look like it would cause a short. No need to be scared of sanding it more, as long as you don’t sand into the Black Square component, you’ll be fine, (take a look at my trim for reference) Don’t be like me and buy a new one every time a lil mess up happens lol

 

[JFBFR75]

Thanks both of you, Jeffery and Nicholas298, you,ve saved my day today!
@Nicholas298, your trim is uncommon, it seems you have even cut the whole section where the LDO is. I've never seen such a trim before... Are you using it in a G-boy?

-------

so now than my worst fear is gone, I can eventually start my thread from a real beginnig.

Here are some questions/answers I've asked on discord which might help some beginners like me.

First, here are some link to BitBuild which are my bible:
the G-Boy complete assy guide: https://manual.bitbuilt.net/guide/g-boy-rev-3-complete-kit-assembly/
the definitive wii triming guide: https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/the-definitive-wii-trimming-guide.198/
the basic trimming guide: https://manual.bitbuilt.net/guide/wii-basic-trimming-guide/

the problem is that some info from the one guide is not exactly the same as from the other guide so I was sometimes quite confused. Fortunately, helpful people help me to find answers on discord. So, here are my questions and the answers I have received.

- VGA:
Q: without taking the degree of complexity into account, what does VGA brings upon Component? I have the monitor provided with the G-Boy Rev. III kit.
A (from Dee): IIRC it only support VGA and composite input. And VGA is way better quality. Composite input is only for testing.

- LDO:
Q: in the trimming guide, it is said that the LDO must be remove if building a G-Boy but int he G-Boy complete assy guide, all the pictures are showing the LDO still in place, so what is correct leave or remove it?
A (from Gman): if you have the right tool to remove it then you should remove it. It's not absolutely necessary. If you keep LDO on, do not wire 1.8V from pms

- Trimming shape:
here as well I have uncertainty. I did not ask on discord but between the trimming shape in the basic and the definitive guide there is a huge difference. The 4th round ground point is remainign in one guide and is trimmed in the other. I have personally choose the biggest and therefore the most conservative shape. This way I can always trim further if it is mandatory

- I put here some pictures of my preparation of the mainboard before trimming.
- And today I have made the sanding so here as well some pictures of it.

Cheers!

 

[jeffery]

no problem good luck hope everything goes well

 

[Nicholas298]

Woah woah, my trim is an LMAO trim with a relocated NAND and a few other components relocated so do not copy my trim for a GBOY I was just showing how close you can trim at the bottom haha.

Also good decision on keeping the trim as large as possible, you can always trim more but can’t un-trim

 

[JFBFR75]

so today, I've made half of the U10 relocation. I say half because the 34AWG is not yet delivered... but it's on the way, may be tomorrow, who knows... Amazon can do miracles sometimes.
I have a hot air station (Quick 861dw, what else!) so the unwelding of the U10 and U5 was very easy! The rewelding of u10 on the u5 was also with hot air very easy. The finishing I have made with the iron of course (the connection of the 3 front legs for instance). The unwelding of the LDO was medium hard. I had to partially cut the front legs with the dremel before I was able to get it loose from the mainboard with hot air. For the U10 unwelding, I normally use the air rate at 120 but I had to reduce to 110 or all the very small parts would have flight away (400°C). So, as I was not fully done with my nerves, I have then decided to spring some steps and to go straight to the most difficult operation: the scratching of the 2 data lines for the bluetooth relocation...
I have trained a lot on some data lines from the useless cd-drive and also on the remaining wii motherboard so that I felt confident to do it on my trimmed wii. The scratching went well, of course because of my advanced age of 45 years old, I had a x3.5 eye glass and my nose was very close to the motherboard
I have also tin the 2 lines but here I had to use a residue flux, with non residue it didn't work at all to tin those 2 tinny cooper lines.

Here are some picts. I hope they are good enough to zoom in. I,ve made them with my mobile but if someone has interest, I could made better one with my real camera which should be better for macro.

 

[JFBFR75]

up to the Step 12, everything went well and the different control like the fan and so on, went all OK. Now, I'm on step 13, the first wiring of the wii motherboard. Unfortunately, I see nothing on the screen when I'm powering on. I see that the screen is powering on as well but it's staying black. I am very sure of my wiring, checked it 3 times and re-reading the Step 13 without seeing a possible mistake. See enclosed pictures.
The only deviation I've made is that I have solder the D- on the lower ban and the D+ on the upper ban but I don't think it is the problem.

When I have installed BBloader on the untrimmed wii, I have checked the VGA option to yes. But on the step 13, we're dealing with component signals. Does it explain why I'm not seeing anything on the screen. Personnaly, I do not understand the second hints given in the trouble shooting of the step 13:

• Attach the controller board included with the LCD to the middle connector on the driver board. Press the source button while the G-Boy is powered on to ensure the LCD did not ship in VGA mode.

I have wired all as in the step 13. I do not understand what is meant with "the middle connector on the driver board"? Furthermore, what is the "source button" referred to?

Any help is very welcome!

Thanks

 

[Tron]

The source button changes which source of video input (composite vs vga) the lcd displays. Checking the VGA option during BBLoader install will not prevent the trim board outputting composite signal until you connect the mode pin on the AVE to the 3.3v.

 

[JFBFR75]

Thanks, Tron, but where do I find this source button?

 

[Stitches]

Did the screen come with a daughterboard with buttons on it? Also you majorly fucked up the USB wiring, you can't do D- from one port and D+ from the other. They're differential data lines, they must be paired.

 

[JFBFR75]

Thanks, with your answer I know what to do next!

 

[Stitches]

I just hope the hardware isn't damaged

 

[JFBFR75]

This will be the good or the bad surprise for this evening...

 

[JFBFR75]

Safe!
Couldn't wait till this evening, I had to know! See pic

 

[JFBFR75]

so, after I have successfully finished the step 13, I put my energy on the Step 14, wiring the controller. With some patience it went pretty well, see pictures, but at the end of the day, the C-pad (the below right one which is driving the menu in BBLoader) is without function and I have no clue why.
- I have remade all of the soldering of the GND, L, LT, Z, R and RT on both PCBs, no improvement
° Can someone tell me which line(s) is responsible for the C-pad?
- As all the other buttons and the upper pad are working, I don't think it has anything to do with the GCD, 3,3V or ground lines
- I have unplug, cleaned and replug the flat cable from the pad to the button PCB, no improvement

I have tested with the last GCplusConfigurator.
The last idea I have is to run the update 2.2 from the GC2+ main page but honestly, I'm not sure if it will solved my problem. Furthermore, the GC2+ PCB is not the same as the G-boy one so I don't even know if it would work anyway.

You can see the pics. It's not the best work I've ever made but it's not the worst as well and doing the welding twice did not improve the general picture.

I am dry on idea, you're all very welcome to suggest some test I may further do. Thanks. Cheers, JF

 

[JFBFR75]

I came to the idea to swap both pads and now the lower one is working but the upper one not anymore, so it's a hardware problem, one pad is simply defect. I'll contact the store to find a solution.

 

[Emetsys]

Hello, I don't own a GBoy, but I guess they are gum pad with graphite inside. I once had this problem while ordering a knock off shell for a gba, if you have conductive tape it may work.

 

[JFBFR75]

Hi everybody,

some good and bad news, first post with the good and the second with the bad and request for help...

BitBuilt store proposed to send me new pads free of charge which is great!

I took my whole saturday to make the VGA Step 15 and though I had a really, really bad beginning by soldering 10 legs together when wetting the H- and V-sync which took me 1,5h to clean up afterwards, I was successfull to see a nice VGA bild on the screen. See pictures. It was greatly rewarding.

 

[JFBFR75]

And now for the bad. I don't know if it was my excitment of having doing a great job or what ever, some hours later when I was cleaning my desk, the G-Boy felt down. I always wrap it in bubble foil once done working on it but of course both shell are moving a bit freely one to another.

The result was, at first sight, not as bad as expected: the H- and V-sync was no more attache to the CPU and one GND was also disconnected. On sunday, the rewelding of all three wires went well but for the Ground one. I wasn't able to use any one of the small GND holes near the G-line so I had to solder it to the GND we used for the composite video step... but when I make the test if everything was still OK, nothing worked. I spent hours to recheck all the wiring but found no further failure.

Not sure how it happened but one of the component of the 3.3V on the power management is broken since a long while. See picture. So far, it was but all fully working. Now the problem I see is that I did not get 3.3V anymore but only 1.8V... ??? I found it out because the fan was not working when putting the GBOY on. And this is definitely why the screen is not showing anything anymore in my opinion.
I have checked a lot of points on the power management but I could not find anything with 3.3V. the rest is working flawlessly: 1V, 1.15V, 1.8V, 5V but no 3.3V.

So I see 2 possibilities. Re-order a GBOY power management or change the defect components and see if I get 3.3V. The problem is what is the exact name of this compponent with the 1R0 marking?

as always thank you all in advance for your great support