gc-forever - Gamecube/Wii Forums

So I'm trying to figure out a way to fool my Wasp into thinking that an SD card is always inserted in the slot so that it will always boot right into Swiss, regardless of whether there is a card inserted. I think it has something to do with pin 10 on the card reader, and I have tried adding a wire between pin 10 and the metal outer case of the slot, which surprisingly isn't ground, but there is continuity between that and every other pin on the FFC connector. I also tried wiring pin 10 to the small solder pad closest to the FFC connector, as according to a few diagrams of SD card readers, this point is actually ground, despite there being no continuity between that point and the ground points on the FFC connector. I also noted that when there is a card inserted, pin 10 is connected to the aforementioned solder pad nearest the FFC connector, and is disconnected when there is no card. Does anyone have any information on how the Wasp detects a card, and how I might fool it? Also, because I'm a little bit paranoid about this sort of thing, although my Cube and Wasp work just fine after trying these little experiments, I get a little worried that I might have damaged my setup in some way as you hear horror stories about how shorting things together causes damage. Do you think there is any chance I have done this, even minorly? Like I said, my Cube works fine, I just need reassurance!

It's unlikely that you can kill anything by doing this, and even if you could then only the WASP would be at risk, the Cube is safe since the SD card is not connected directly to it.

Read this topic regarding autoboot. Andre found a solution, which requires soldering, enabling autoboot even without a sd card inserted:

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3046

Edit: I see you have already posted in that thread, and that autoboot occurs ''randomly'' without SD card. Ignore the above.

tesla246 wrote:Read this topic regarding autoboot. Andre found a solution, which requires soldering, enabling autoboot even without a sd card inserted:

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3046

Yeah, I have implemented this, but as you'll see on the update to the original post, booting with no SD card inserted only works 4 times out of 20, that's not exactly what I call reliable, and if you're me, it won't boot at all with no card inserted. I did find that you can have any old card inserted and it will boot, the card can even have no formatting and it will boot, which leads me to believe that it has something to do with detecting a circuit somewhere. I just want to work out where, so I can wire it permanently shut.

Streetwalker wrote:It's unlikely that you can kill anything by doing this, and even if you could then only the WASP would be at risk, the Cube is safe since the SD card is not connected directly to it.

Thanks for this, so you're certain I haven't damaged anything?

If it works then it ain't broken.

So after doing various testing on the Wasp SD card reader, I have determined that pin 10 actually does bugger all. It's connected to two SPST switches inside the mechanism, both of which are closed when a card is inserted and is not write protected; however if a card is write protected, then only the one closest to the pins is closed. Both of these switches connect to the two small solder pads that you can see near the FFC connector, which in turn connect to absolutely nothing. So, connecting pin 10 to ground with no SD card in the slot just makes it so a little extra piece of metal is connected to ground... with the other end being connected to nothing, much like soldering a piece of wire onto ground and leaving it dangling. The other thing I did was solder pin 10 to the solder pad closest to the FFC connector, and as I previously stated, both pin 10 and that solder pad are connected to nothing, so that creates a grand old connection of nothing.