Wii DVD/Wiikey Fusion/WODE + GC Portable Discussion

[LOCtronicz]

PAL motherboard is DOL-01 Rev A
NTSC motherboard is DOL-11 Rev A

Swapped over the PAL disc drive (game cannot be read error) It's the same error that happens if you put in a different region game. Will not play NTSC games and PAL neither.
Swapped over the NTSC disc drve (game cannot be read error) It's the same error that happens if you put in a different region game. Will not play NTSC games and PAL neither.

I only have 1 NTSC gamecube and 8 PAL gamecubes. I shall try the other lasers to be 100% sure. But I'm almost certain disc drives cannot be swapped. Wii works the same way. I have one of the first PAL and NTSC DMS drives and swapping them does not work.

Which region drive do you have emu_kidd?? and connect to what region gamecube?

[emu_kidid]

DOL-001 PAL and DOL-001 NTSC, both 06 drives.

[LOCtronicz]

I assume you have switched drives and they both work then? Maybe the revision of the disc drive is different.....

[Ashen]

Zen, When you tested the Wii drive with the cube was it a NTSC cube/DD or PAL cube/DD combo? Curious so I can update the "megaguide" if the info is relevant.

Edit: Also Zen, have you ever use the "hailrazer style" 11.1v packs? http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=34576

[LOCtronicz]

The wii drive I have is NTSC which is connected to a NTSC gamecube. It works just as you described. I have a DMS drive (the first that came out) and the Cube is Rev A DOL-11. I have close to no time to test the wiikey fusions so when I get to it I'll let you know.

As for the 11,1v battery pack... The diagram you made will work. That's also the way hailrazer discribed it. When wiring the GC regulator to the gamecube make sure you also use the 12v line for audio. It is possible to use a lower voltage but it will sound crappy some times. Depening on you gamecube revision.

[LOCtronicz]

Oh the diagram is a bit wrong. You connect the regulator + - to the charge output! So no where the battery's are connected!

[Ashen]

The wii drive I have is NTSC which is connected to a NTSC gamecube. It works just as you described. I have a DMS drive (the first that came out) and the Cube is Rev A DOL-11. I have close to no time to test the wiikey fusions so when I get to it I'll let you know.

O.K. I wasnt sure if you used PAL DD/GC combo. As of right now PAL DD/GC combo is untested. I dont see why it wouldn't work though. No rush on the wiikey man, we all realize how busy life can be.

Oh the diagram is a bit wrong. You connect the regulator + - to the charge output! So no where the battery's are connected!

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here. Are there connectors on the other side of the PCB? Or are you saying the charger input lines are also voltage output lines to the regulator from the batterys? Hailraizer said the way I had it laid out would work but he may have just overlooked that and I want to be 110% sure before I hook things up....

[LOCtronicz]

Yes that's the way to hook it up. Taking the voltage from the battery + - spots will make the pcb circuit kinda obsolete. But then again I'm not 100% sure maybe that pcb works a little different then the ones I'm used to.

[Ashen]

Awesome man, Thx!

[mikog]

If your using wii parts, why not just make it a portable wii?

[mikog]

If your using wii parts why not just make it a portable wii?

[Ashen]

1. Despite what some people say the Wii Mainboard cant be trimmed nearly as much as the GC.
2. The Wii runs much hotter than the GC.
3. The Wii NEEDS to run off 12v or higher. At least it needs 12v to start = more space/money wasted on batterys.
4. Navigation of the wii requires a built in wiimote/classic controller.
5. Despite me building this set of portables with the wii DD, the goal here has kinda become mass storage for the GC.
6. This is just way more interesting/challenging to me as a project

[emu_kidid]

I've been a bit busy too. I'm going to wire up a DOL-001 tonight with the D2E/Sundriver but this time I'll have a ViperGC Extreme or something on the board so that I can poke at the "drive" to see what's going on

[gtmtnbiker]

By poking, you're going to send commands to the drive and see what kind of response you get? How does this work exactly? Do you write some hex values to some addresses and then read some other address?

[emu_kidid]

Yep, I'll send DVD commands and see which ones work and which don't.

[Ashen]

Nice man, can't wait. Keep us posted.

[Abb_eliten]

Wired a D2B drive from a PAL wii to my PAL GC, but it won't start reading the disc.
I have no error messages when booting up the GC. When a disc is inserted, the "reading disc" message appears, but nothing else.
No laser, no spinning disc.
Will recheck my wiring, but wouldn't I get an error message if something is connected wrong?

[Ashen]

Hmmm. How did you wire the DD to the cube? Solder to ribbon cable or DD pads? Do you have ALL power connections hooked to the drive (12v, 5v and 3.3v)? Are all ground connections hooked up proper (power and ribbon cable grounds)? Check all continuity?

[Abb_eliten]

Soldered to the pads
Traced and marked the pads needed:

I think I got everything right

All power connections tested and working

Hmm,figured it would be enough to solder a really thick wire to a big DD ground pad, since all of them are connected to each other on the driver board.
I'll rewire it with all of the grounds connected individually, hopefully that'll do it.

[Ashen]

As far as I can tell just by looking at the traces you have everything right coming from the DD, you should be able to get away with a fat common ground cable.

Not sure what you have going on at the power connector? whats going on with the white jumper wire?

Edit: also do you have pin 29 going to some kind of switch? if so just wire it direct to GC ground until you have the drive working, then wire in the switch. may be just the switch is hooked up incorrect.

Edit 2: Just checked fedex shipping, looks like my 2 Wii drives should be here today. I'll report back once they arrive and I have a chance to test them, won't be till much later tonight though probably.

[Abb_eliten]

Oh, the 12V fuse was blown, so I jumped it for now.

Nope, no switch on pin 29 yet

Sweet! Do you know what versions you'll be getting?

[Ashen]

Nope have no idea what drive revisions they are, hopefully they work though ;P Keep us updated on your progress man. Double and triple check everything. Did you test the DD flat ribbon pads with a multimeter to check continuity between pin and pad? there's a chance those pads under the connector where we cant see the traces might be off if you didn't verify with a meter.

[Abb_eliten]

Double checked with a meter, but that doesn't guarantee it's correct

I think I'll go with a thinner wire this time, something might be bridging

[956229]

Double checked with a meter, but that doesn't guarantee it's correct

I think I'll go with a thinner wire this time, something might be bridging

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=6213704076

be easy

[Ashen]

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=6213704076
be easy

Nice link! thx!

Soooo. I opened up my 2 new Wii drives this morning and they are both the newest revision Wii Drives (D4/D3S) with the smaller circuit board. Both drives work... Kinda... Both drives boot fine. One even auto booted a game when it was inserted prior to me powering everything on (something I haven't had before). The only thing with these drives is that they are erroring out after the games boot. This probably has something to do with pin29 just going to ground. Going to do some messing about in a bit.

Edit: After thinking about it. It may just be another latency issue. Going to shorten up my wires a bit and see what happens.

Edit2: Shortened my wires up to about 8" total length (thats including the FFC cable I soldered to). Everything is working perfect now. Both Drives work! They even autoboot games if they are inserted before the GC is powered on. Weeeeee!