WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Portables, case replacements, mods etc, all in here!
User avatar
Ashen
Posts: 994
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:08 pm

WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by Ashen » Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:08 am

I wanted to make up a "little" guide for everyone to help you all get on your way installing my adapters once you've received them. As I've stated previously The Wiikey Fusion is 100% plug and play. Plug it in and go. The WODE will require a few (three to be exact) wires to be soldered to the GC mainboard to power the chip/harddrive.

A little forewarning: Please remember when unpacking/handling these adapters that they are handmade. While they are not going to crumble apart in your hands or anything they should be handled with a bit of care. Please don't pull super hard on the wires or anything like that.

1. Prepping your GamCube:

There are a few steps we need to do prior to doing anything else. Obviously you will want to open up your GameCube and remove the DVD drive. After you've removed the DVD drive, remove the large metal shield (the one that covers/protects the GC mainboard) that is attached to the bottom of the DVD drive. What we want to do is cover this large metal plate in something that is non-conductive (masking tape/electrical tape/paper) whatever floats your boat as long as its non conductive. Its important that we reinstall this shielding/plate thingy because it helps direct the fans airflow over the fins of the heat sink and will also provide us a nice place to sit our modchip on (that will be non-conductive!). Here is an example:

Image

The next thing on our agenda is to prepare our lid switch. To do this we'll need a pair of these:

Image

Take your cutters/dikes/snippers/whatever you like to call them and cut the lid switch off of the GC DVD drive like so:

Image

Set that aside with your non-conductive metal sheilding for safe keeping for now.

The next thing we need to do is find a nice home for our "eject" switch. You can put this little bugger wherever you fancy, as I've left the wires going to it long enough to accommodate placement of it pretty much anywhere. Wherever you decide to put it though, you'll need to drill a 5/16"/edit by liquitt: 8mm hole there. Please make sure it will be somewhere unobtrusive to the workings of the rest of the GameCube. That'd be a real biatch to drill a hole in your GC only to have the placement somewhere it wont allow the GC to close or wont allow the power switch, etc to work properly. Here is an example of a good unobtrusive place for the switch:

(please excuse the scum covering the top of the GC in this picture. The lots I buy off e-bay don't always look the prettiest)
Image

Thats it for the prep work. On to it then!

2. Installing the extra WODE stuff:

Obviously if you're a Wiikey Fusion user, skip to step 3!

If you're a WODE junkie, hopefully you have your naked cube in front of you and your soldering iron is nice and steamy. Its time to solder our 3 wires to the power input of the GC mainboard. This should go without saying, but PLEASE make sure you follow this part of the guide to a T. I'm not responsible for anything you misconnect that kills your WODE/GC. If something here is not clear to you, I'm only a PM away!

This is the connector in question (Rev A/B gamecubes only!!!! If you have a rev C cube please PM me for diagrams):

Image

As you can see, I've removed the screws from the GC heatsink and slid it over a bit to give myself some room... Got that done? Alrighty, lets prep our connector! Put some fat solder blobs on the top and bottom pins on either end of the connector so that the connections bridge themselves, yep you heard me right. Don't worry I promise everything will be OK. Second pin in from the left on the bottom of my picture there is 3.3v tin that one a bit too... Once you're done it should look something like this:

Image

Now, we get out our "extra" connectors from our adapter pack. The red wire will supply our WODE slave board with 5v and the blue wire will supply our WODE slave board with ground (sorry I didn't have any black wire). Strip the ends of those wires I've supplied to you, now take the blue wire and the "other" connectors ground wire (i've labeled it) and twist them together. After you've done that "tin" (put a bit of solder onto) the ends of all of those wires. It'll help make connecting everything easier on you. Then solder the wires in the proper spots as I've shown here:

Image

Once again, Pictured leftmost is ground, next pin over is 3.3v and rightmost is the 5v line. As you can see in the last picture the heat sink of the GC sits pretty close to the 5v line once the heat sink is screwed back into place. Please make sure your 5v wire is not touching the heat sink at all.

Now, we'll want to put our cover/shielding back over the GC motherboard, but first we'll have to make a little opening in the back to let our power wires stick through like so:

Image

To do this just flex the metal in that area back and forth until it breaks off. Cover the rough edge with some electrical tape like I've done. Now screw the sheilding/cover back in place over top of the motherboard.

The next thing we need to do is finish the prep of our red and blue wires. The best way I've found to to this without destroying the WODE slaveboard in any way is to just modify the plug that leads to the USB adapters that normally supply the WODE with 5v when hooked to a Wii like so:

Image

As you can see, I've just cut the end of the USB cable off and stripped the ends to make the connection to our red and blue wires. Once again red coming from both sides is 5v and black to blue connected wires in the picture are ground. Make the connections such as I have above and then cover the soldered spots with electrical tape or heat shrink tube if you have any.

Thats it for the extra wode stuff. Onward!

3. Putting everything back together

Alrighty! So if you're a Wiikey user and skipped the last step you'll need to screw your protective shielding/cover back over the GameCube motherboard. At this point everyone's GameCube should look like this (with the exception that you should have all the screws back in place going around the shielding):

Image

Once that's all done we need to mount our lidswitch some way or another like so:

Image

There is a little post at the back of the GC that the switch sits on top of that will help hold it there. Double sided tape/adhesive or some kind of glue to hold the switch securely in place is a really good idea.

Once you've got your lidswitch secured its time to plug in my handy little adapter into the DVD drive connector slot like so:

Image

Its pretty obvious that this is the correct orientation for the adapter. I should tell you though that there is absolutely nothing that will stop you from plugging in the adapter backwards! Needless to say if for whatever silly reason you did plug it in the wrong way it would be very bad for your modchip/GameCube! Please make sure yours looks like the picture above.

After you've done that plug in the lidswitch wires coming from the adapter into the actual lidswitch.

Pretty much all thats left at this point is to connect whichever modchip it is that you're going to be using. Please make sure you do this correctly. The blue endtab of the FFC
coming from the adapter should be facing upwards when connected to your Wiikey Fusion/WODE when looking at it top down. Like so:

Image

Your GameCube should look something like the above picture at this point. Please make sure to secure your modchip down some way with either tape or glue. Make sure that any extra loose wires sticking out are packed away inside the cube and secured so that they wont move around much.

You can then take the "eject" switch and screw it into wherever you've made the hole for it on the top of your GC case and put the lid (carfully) back on your cube.

Thats it! Hope everyone who got one of these from me enjoys their "new" Disc Drive'less GameCubes!

If anything here in this guide is unclear to you. Or I've not explained anything in enough detail, please feel free to post with your questions and I'll get this guide updated to the best of my ability!

Cheers All!

Here's a couple video's of these babys in action:
WODE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4MBX0mb6l8
Wiikey Fusion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SgI6gB-rbU
Attachments
DSCN0818.jpg
(51.66 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0809.jpg
(122.68 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0807.jpg
(87.23 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0806.jpg
(59.97 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0805.jpg
(92.34 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0804.jpg
(112.03 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0803.jpg
(103.79 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0803 (1).jpg
(103.79 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0802.jpg
(65.98 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0799.jpg
(88.76 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0797-1.jpg
(66.28 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0789.jpg
(128.83 KiB) Not downloaded yet
DSCN0787.jpg
(104.02 KiB) Not downloaded yet
User avatar
liquitt
Posts: 1810
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 5:43 am
Location: neverland

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by liquitt » Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:26 am

added mm for the 5/16" and made your URLs clickable - awesome tutorial man! can't wait to prep my cube for this!
please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
http://is.gd/MDmZcr

we also have a wiki filled with knowledge
http://is.gd/dX58Rm
User avatar
Shinebi
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:57 pm

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by Shinebi » Thu Jun 30, 2011 7:42 am

Nice, now this actually raised me some interest after seeing your tut & vid...
I'll be surprised if you manage to incorporate the WODE screen/USB into the GC casing.
A real shame it needs to ditch the optical drive though...
User avatar
Ashen
Posts: 994
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:08 pm

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by Ashen » Thu Jun 30, 2011 2:15 pm

liquitt wrote:added mm for the 5/16" and made your URLs clickable - awesome tutorial man! can't wait to prep my cube for this!
Thx liquitt!

Tutorial is now complete as far as I can tell. Some/Most of you probably didn't need all of that in depth explanation but I want to make sure even someone at the lowest modding level is covered. As stated above if anything is still unclear to anyone feel free to ask!
User avatar
Ashen
Posts: 994
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:08 pm

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by Ashen » Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:58 pm

At this point most people should have or should be receiving their adapters very soon. One quick thing I forgot to mention for WODE users is that after you've hooked everything up. When you update/downgrade the WODE's firmware you will get an error on the GC. DO NOT turn off the power to the GC when this happens. You need to let the WODE do its thing until its done updating/downgrading on the little WODE LCD. The error you get on the GC will not effect the WODE at all.

Figured I better get this out there before someone bricks their WODE. :D
User avatar
Dragoon
Posts: 323
Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:01 pm

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by Dragoon » Wed Jul 13, 2011 2:39 pm

Add that to the first post, cause I know the warez guys are only going to read the 2 first posts :p
Image
User avatar
liquitt
Posts: 1810
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 5:43 am
Location: neverland

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by liquitt » Sat Oct 01, 2011 2:13 pm

my slaveboard display doesn't light up, somethings wrong with the 3,3V or the 5V line then?
please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
http://is.gd/MDmZcr

we also have a wiki filled with knowledge
http://is.gd/dX58Rm
yamaharacer
Posts: 448
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 4:11 pm
Location: Germany

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by yamaharacer » Sat Oct 01, 2011 2:15 pm

5V maybe. 3.3V is only for the chip. but also check if the slave board cable is the right way inside. in my case the cable was the wrong way round.
User avatar
liquitt
Posts: 1810
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 5:43 am
Location: neverland

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by liquitt » Sat Oct 01, 2011 2:24 pm

had that before, wrong way round the slaveboard didnt even power up...
please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
http://is.gd/MDmZcr

we also have a wiki filled with knowledge
http://is.gd/dX58Rm
yamaharacer
Posts: 448
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 4:11 pm
Location: Germany

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by yamaharacer » Sat Oct 01, 2011 3:26 pm

does the display only have no backlight and everything else is working or does nothing work on the slave board? If only the backlight isnt working you have to check the 5V line. If both isnt working you have to check both, the 5V and the 3.3V line.

oh by the way do you use one of the adapters of ashen? if not did you solderes 5V to the slave board to the usb ports?
User avatar
Ashen
Posts: 994
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:08 pm

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by Ashen » Sat Oct 01, 2011 4:22 pm

The 5v "USB" line is for powering a USB HDD only. Its not even required for the wode to work. The 3.3v and GND pins on the DVD Power connector are for powering the chip and back lighting the slaveboard. Like Yamaha asked, are you getting a display on the WODE screen with just no backlight? or are you getting nothing at all?
User avatar
liquitt
Posts: 1810
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 5:43 am
Location: neverland

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by liquitt » Sun Oct 02, 2011 8:24 am

the wode seems to work, since i can see stuff on the screen, it's just not lightened up.
the 5V line doesn't work (either) because it doesn't power up an external USB HDD so i can't really test the wode, but yes i can use the wode
please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
http://is.gd/MDmZcr

we also have a wiki filled with knowledge
http://is.gd/dX58Rm
yamaharacer
Posts: 448
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 4:11 pm
Location: Germany

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by yamaharacer » Sun Oct 02, 2011 9:14 am

ok then it seems that your backlight is damaged. but befor we can say that you should get your 5V line working.
User avatar
liquitt
Posts: 1810
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 5:43 am
Location: neverland

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by liquitt » Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:49 am

yep i'm on that....but the backlight should def. work since i just uninstalled this wode from my wii and it worked when it was in there...
please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
http://is.gd/MDmZcr

we also have a wiki filled with knowledge
http://is.gd/dX58Rm
User avatar
Ashen
Posts: 994
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:08 pm

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by Ashen » Sun Oct 02, 2011 4:18 pm

Dont really know what could be the issue. All I can say is look at the pics in the first post and make sure all the extra WODE stuff is hooked up exactly like I've shown.
schmake
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 1:22 pm

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by schmake » Sun Oct 09, 2011 1:31 am

I'm having a little difficulty in getting my Wode to work. It is extremely intermittent in working (1 out of 50+ power-ons), and then only the default wode linux-gc ISO boots, nothing else reads if I try to select another ISO - not even the banner displays?.
I've tried Wode firmware 1.0,1.28, 2.0, 2.1 and 2.6, triple checked the couple of solder points. Any idea's?
User avatar
andzlay
Posts: 447
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2010 12:53 am
Location: Germany

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by andzlay » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:50 pm

Hey! I don't understand why the original lid switch has to be installed in the setup... Can you explain that to me?
sm4rty
Posts: 94
Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:19 am

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by sm4rty » Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:00 pm

i dont have it installed. i have bridged the lid switch. the switch which is installed to the adaptor does the job good. but i didnt need it.
you can chose games and play games without any switch :)
User avatar
liquitt
Posts: 1810
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 5:43 am
Location: neverland

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by liquitt » Thu Oct 20, 2011 6:24 am

it is only needed for multigame discs!
please search before you ask - a lot has been discussed already!
(or use google with "site:gc-forever.com *term*")
http://is.gd/MDmZcr

we also have a wiki filled with knowledge
http://is.gd/dX58Rm
User avatar
andzlay
Posts: 447
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2010 12:53 am
Location: Germany

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by andzlay » Fri Dec 02, 2011 12:25 am

I finally got the time to install the adapter. But now the GC is loosing the time settings and says "An error has occurred (...)". If I set the time again und switch off/on the Cube it does not remember it... :(
But the wode display is powering up and I can use the small joystick to browse through the menu.
Tomorrow I'll resolder the cables... But has anyone any ideas why the time is lost?
User avatar
infact
Posts: 346
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2011 4:35 am
Location: Germany

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by infact » Fri Dec 02, 2011 2:02 am

The rtc (real time chip) is powered by the 3.3V battery, which is mounted behind the controller ports. it could be coincidence that the battery is empty now or it could be something with the connection to the mainboard. i would try 3 things first:
1) use multimeter to check battery voltage
2) check battery connection/voltage on the end of the cable, that plugs into the mainboard
3) reinsert the cable and make sure, it sits correctly

If this does not help, it may be that you accidently bridged some traces/pins on the mainboard with a small solder drop or something like that, then you would have to find that.
infact
Image Image
User avatar
Ashen
Posts: 994
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:08 pm

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by Ashen » Fri Dec 02, 2011 3:08 am

I'm not sure why your RTC is acting funny, but maybe its like infact said. Try reseating the controller port cable to the motherboard and check for solder dropets.

As for the "error has occurred" message it could be that you are in the same boat as me, and have a WODE with a slow FPGA. I would try downgrading your WODE to firmware 1.28 and see if it works on the lower firmware. The downgrade package can be found on the WODE forums.

If this works for you, its likely that anything above 1.28 firmware will give you errors. The WODE chips with these slower FPGA's take longer to initialize on higher firmwares because apparently the 2.0+ firmwares can tax the chips. Since the gamecube expects the drive to initialize within a set amount of time at boot. If the WODE takes to long you will get the error. :/

When you put the downgrade package on the SD card and start the gamecube to downgrade you WILL get the "error has occurred" message for sure. MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT TURN OFF THE GAMECUBE while the WODE has "UPDATING" on its little screen.
User avatar
andzlay
Posts: 447
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2010 12:53 am
Location: Germany

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by andzlay » Sat Dec 03, 2011 7:36 pm

Argh. I replaced the controller ports board with one from another cube and the settings are still lost every time. I plugged in the old disc drive again and there is no error has occurred message but it's also not booting up original games... I gonna check the solder stuff :(
User avatar
Ashen
Posts: 994
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:08 pm

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by Ashen » Sat Dec 03, 2011 8:13 pm

Can you post pictures of your board/connections?
User avatar
andzlay
Posts: 447
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2010 12:53 am
Location: Germany

Re: WODE/Wiikey "plug and play" adapter installation guide.

Post by andzlay » Mon Dec 05, 2011 4:40 pm

I just resoldered the cables and it's still not working, and I still get the time-and-settings-lost-error. I saw some little solder drops on 2 places and removed them but still...
Here are photos of the connections (i took them with my mobile)
Image Image
Post Reply