Gman's Wii portable worklog

I only turned the wii on for a few seconds to confirm it works, doesnt get warm in that time, but thanks. I tried wiring up a bluetooth module from my other wii and I only used the 8 test pads and I soldered them right to the port and I am positive there are no shorts but the wii wont boot when the module is connected. Not sure why, could be a fried bluetooth module tbh.
 
Wow this is getting too crazy I feel like this is the beginning of a bunch more Wii portables I should really buy another Wii but I don't have as much time as I used to. I really hope this goes well for you gman and maybe youll have the title of the smallest Wii portable :D
 
GarageFactory said:
Wow this is getting too crazy I feel like this is the beginning of a bunch more Wii portables I should really buy another Wii but I don't have as much time as I used to. I really hope this goes well for you gman and maybe youll have the title of the smallest Wii portable :D
The Age of Wii has begun!

Well that wouldn't be much of a title since their have only been like 3 wii portables built to my knowledge and they have all used the wii u case. Still much to do. I'm waiting for the day when we figure out how to cut off the power regulator section and then we can cut the board in half!
 
cheese said:
Don't remember where I saw it, but I'm pretty sure the Bluetooth runs over a form of USB, so it should really only need 2 data, power and ground lines... *gonna look for it to make sure I'm slightly sane*

Edit: this is what I was thinking of

oizC1Skh.jpg

Source is here
This is from tueidj himself. He is essentially the Ashen of wii software modding. He wrote Devolution and several other essential groundbreaking wii homebrew.

I believe there are like 2 pins that run off to somewhere else on the board, but I don't remember off the top of my head. It uses USB protocol, but it has more lines than the standard 4 pins. I believe it could, in theory, be run to a computer (if the extra lines are run somewhere else) like a normal usb device. However, im pretty sure it wouldn't be able to find drivers to do anything with it.

gman said:
I'm waiting for the day when we figure out how to cut off the power regulator section and then we can cut the board in half!
Working on it. Shouldn't be too much longer.

GarageFactory said:
maybe youll have the title of the smallest Wii portable :D
I apologize in advance, Gman, but if you do get this title, I can assure you it won't last. :p There's a reason I'm gathering all this info. I have big plans, and those big plans are very small.
 
Dyxlesci said:
I apologize in advance, Gman, but if you do get this title, I can assure you it won't last. :p There's a reason I'm gathering all this info. I have big plans, and those big plans are very small.
Good :cool: But I promise you this won't be my last Wii portable ;)

Also I got two more black Wiis in the mail today. I'm going to softmod it first before taking it apart because I havent actually finished doing that completely yet, then I'll focus on getting the bluetooth done, finally I trim it!
 
I figured out how to get the bluetooth module rewired. Along with the 8 test pads on top, pin 5 also needs to be rewired from the port to get it to function properly. Then I trimmed the board and it was working after I trimmed all the shielding off, but when I cut the square by the wifi board it wouldnt boot anymore. Then I did the same trim on another wii I had sitting around and again it wouldnt boot when I cut the section by the wifi off. I did that same trim on a cpu-40 and it worked fine. These last two boards I did it on were cpu-60, could have something to do with it. I sanded them both down pretty well. Maybe they aren't dead, just need something rewired that wasnt on the cpu-40.

If anyone wants to buy some wifi modules I already have a collection and will probably have more by the end of this project :cry:
 
So by bluetooth module functioning correctly do you mean being able to shut on off with the wii mote?
 
WatsuG said:
So by bluetooth module functioning correctly do you mean being able to shut on off with the wii mote?
Yup! Just 9 wires, not so bad.

edit:
Here's a diagram I had made for myself if anyone wants to understand it. So I had wired up pins 1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14. The pins are labeled on the motherboard and the bluetooth module. Pin 1 is ground
 
Custom Regulators. Used a 1.6k ohm resistor on the PTR08100 for 1.3v and 1.8k ohm on the PTH08060 for 3.3v. Did it just like Loctronics and Bentomo described. Haven't wired up the 5v regulator yet. This Wii is basically trashed but it shows it does boot. I just got another Wii in the mail today so once I softmod it I'll wire the regs up to that one and test it for functionality.
 
See what I did thar? Haven't rewired a single damned thing either :D Note: The 5v line is basically non existent across the whole board now so that's kinda cool I guess. There's probably a bit more I can trim off without worrying about anything, but this isn't a bad start.


 
Now that's a nice and small trim! Well done

But it could be smaller if you cut off the SD card points and wire them directly to vias.
 
WatsuG said:
Now that's a nice and small trim! Well done

But it could be smaller if you cut off the SD card points and wire them directly to vias.
Yup and then relocate the MX chip and you can cut the board in half :awesome:

Rewiring the sd slot only gives you about 5mm so in most cases probably not even worth the trouble
 
Don't forget wifi! :p

I now realize how far up you cut in the voltage section o.o

How's the fit in your ag-85?
 
WatsuG said:
Don't forget wifi! :p

I now realize how far up you cut in the voltage section o.o

How's the fit in your ag-85?
I think I could cut a few more millimeters up too and not have to worry.
I think I'll be switching to a more ambitious case now that I have realized the potential of the Wii. *20 Wiis later gman finally finishes ambitious first Wiip
 
Thats really impressive! That may be the smallest wii cut to date. What issues are you having when you don't have 5v running? Couldn't you just run 5v externally to the 2-3 things that need it, and skip powering the board altogether?

Regarding the 5v issue with the bluetooth module everybody is having, I haven't done troubleshooting on physical boards, but looking at the traces and voltage layers, the 5v line doesn't touch the bluetooth module. 5v is tied to a few transistors such as the ones for the fan, but nothing remotely near or connected to the bluetooth module as far as I can tell. The issue really is odd.

Here is everything the 5v line does as far as I know:
Connects to the 5v regulation circuitry
Runs through a section in the voltage layer

Runs to 5v output line on av out port
Connects to a transistor.
-1 pin of transistor is connected to one of the 3 Japan only AV port pins
-The other transistor runs to a pin on the video encoder

Powers rumble pins on 4 gamecube controller ports
Powers some Gamecube Memory Card pins
Powers USB ports
Runs to a transistor that runs to the cooling fan

As for cutting off the SD card traces, I am not entirely sure what effect cutting off those nearby transistors would have. Im not saying it won't work, but I have no idea what will happen if you were to cut them off. To relocate the MX chip, you would need to relocate the nearby peripherals, such as the crystal oscillator. As of now, running without the Wi-Fi chip does occasionally cause issues, so keep that in mind.
 
Yeah I actually get a reading of 3.3v on pin 7 of the bluetooth module I believe.

I've only been testing this board if it boots, I havent checked any of the functionality. I hope maybe I can get this board working with bluetooth, sd, and gc controller or I'll replicate the trim on my new board. In the mean time, I'll continue hacking flax off of this board and see how small it can get until it stops working.
 
It's looking like 88mm x 155mm. But with this trim you will have to relocate bluetooth, usb, and wifi module, as well custom regulators. I hope to get this trim functional with controls and verify everything actually works at some point soon.
 
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