HELP, WKF!!!

[L10N37]

After getting what seems like the last wkf in stock... in the world, ever.... I end up wrecking the FC cable! I used a ruler and an x-acto knife (or whatever you call them) to splice it up and first wire i barely touch with the soldering iron and the cable disintegrates and melts away.

Anyway.. I was half way into wiring directly to the back of the HOST plug, when I bridged a pair of legs and couldn't wick it off, nor solder suckerer it off! I ended up snapping the plug off.. so I etched back the PCB and hooked up all 18 wires as per the guide


Questions:

IS it 18 wires, or are pins 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 of the WKF to go to the common ground on the gamecube motherboard as well. I have all the grounds connected and linked to a common ground on the board itself and the console now gives no error message and lets me browse the memory card etc. I had all the 18 wires hooked up and got no power to the WKF, after completely destroying hours of work to start again and seeing this photo I took i thought maybe it was the broken trace underneath where I have the +3.43v. The other is the pin 29 switch. It was such a solid connection I just left it there and ripped the rest off.

Do you think this is salvageable? I am going to TRY my hardest to re-trace in paint to help me fix it tomorrow. Any help appreciated. I think I messed her up!

 

[Blargaman91]

There shouldn't be anything wrong with the Wiikey, so I'm sure it it salvageable. As long as you can cleanly wire to those traces. There's most likely nothing wrong other than that; there can be a lot of errors you don't see.

 

[L10N37]

Im sure it would have fired up if I fixed 32's trace. Multimeter showed power going up through it but didnt see the trace below. So just 18 wires? Another night undet the magnifying glass.. sigh

 

[megalomaniac]

take a look at Pad 0 and 3


also clean those blobs of solder between the pins on the IC.
check continunity from pin to pin to make sure those blobs have been removed completly.

do not re-apply power until you do that first.

 

[L10N37]

Repaired the trace to 32 and wired the 3.35 into the correct pad.


And Pad 0 is the boards ground? Still no power? Well no LED, there's 3.04v getting to the LED... but it isn't turning on..

All IC legs completely clean, no bridging

Edit: Just realised it's an activity light

 

[L10N37]

After a million mistakes trying to go by eye, I FINALLY decided to make this... it could help someone

Just having problems with WBFS manager. Seems to be working how it should with the switches. (I hope) IF all goes well I'll update my log.

 

[L10N37]

Due to the damage I caused I'm having a LOT of trouble getting the fusion to work. Here's a video to show the issue I'm having with resurrecting the WKF. I think it might be pin 17 and 19 which continue to traces via the back of the WFK PCB, as wired; Pin 19 is directly to the bottom of the small chip, 17 to the little pin hole spot. (refer to pic)

There is also pin 30 which is not required but I THINK it continues to the back of the PCB.(As I damaged the trace it no longer does) but you can't see where that trace leads. If you follow it in a straight line I think it goes to the alcatels first IC leg on the DVD side opposite pin 29 of the HOST side??

I have wired, wired, wired and re-wired and almost ready to call it dead. 21-29 were checked over and over there were no shorts between any legs, even where I had to do 3 in sequence direct to the IC. After a through checking I have glued these all in place so they can't be bumped and come undone. These are permantly sealed now.

The rest of the legs, 1 to 19 I've just finished... AGAIN... and this is whats happening.(video)

The plan is to double check for shorts once more, and glue the rest of the legs down as well, then sand the back of the PCB and link up where the traces have broken for 17,19 and 30... I don't want to do this until I'm sure as it's a permanent seal, and one half is already sealed for good.

Do you's think this is what it is? Like I said, nearly ready to call it dead and throw it away.. the blue light isn't flashing to show it's attempting to read the SD card! and far as i knew it was meant to flash on, then go off until it reads the SD card.

I've had the light doing a few things slightly differently with each install, it now need pin 29 switch pressed to light up, but I'm positive this is perfectly wired other than the broken traces to the back of the PCB!

#RANT OVER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOicL3q0 ... 5NWiTfWSRg
EDIT: I just noticed pin 12 should go to ground, so I'm going to try this too

??????????
Im thinking pin 19 should be to the trace on the back of the board which leads to a little pin dot like 17... and pin 16 is meant to earth the little chip out that I have pin 19 connected to? Pin 30 which is glued shouldn't matter as it's not used?

So alternate plan, move 19 to the rear of the board as I can't solder to the front dot. Maybe relocate 17 to the back to make sure it's a good connection as the copper left is tiny and I think shorting to earth.

These JPEGS of the PCB, even when zoomed in are hard to follow.

I just want to make sure as I'm going to have to glue the connections in place to flip the fusion over or it's more re-work again.
????????????

 

[DuHasst0]

I have to say your right in saying that its not wired right. But the blue light should not come on unless you have a card in when you press the pin 29 switch (as far as I know, I haven't actually pressed it without an sd card in it). But I have an offer for you, if you ship it here and pay for return shipping I can do my best to help you out. I just soldered a wkf last night with the wires connected to the main ic on the wkf.

 

[megalomaniac]

I posted a pic a while back during a WKF repair...
I can't post a link right now (mobile phone) but there is an alternate pin for 17 & 19 if I remember correctly. It's along the side of the FPGA where the SD card FFC is..

Search for that pic in one of my posts and see if that works for you

 

[DuHasst0]

I remember you posting that. That was a mess and you fixed it up well.

 

[L10N37]

I glued everything down as i was sure it was good but I glued around 17 and 19 so i could still work on these wires. I relocated 17 and 19 the traces on the back of the board and earthed out pin 12 as the trace was damaged and also pin 16. (Which actually goes to where I had pin 19, the bottom of that little chip thing)

It will turn on and I can go up to gameplay, when I press pin 29 switch -blue flash- shows GC Linux screen in gameplay.

Press it again -red flash- insert disc message

Again -blue flash- GC linux screen.

This is with NO SD card plugged in.

When I try and boot the linux in gameplay I get a black screen and it freezes.

I'm thinking there's really only pin 31 left, which should earth, but i broke the trace and glued it, it doesn't go to the IC legs, but it's impossible to follow as it disappears under the IC. Either that or a simple mistake somewhere.

How far could I possibly be off to have it to this stage...

 

[L10N37]

I found your thread megalomaniac, it looks like pin 31 does run straight through from HOST side to DVD side on to leg 1 of the other side of the IC - but it looks like it picks up other legs for earthing along the way - pin 14 of DVD side and leg 1 of the SD side and possibly a few on the the left as well (your picture with the alcatel IC removed)

Just earthed out leg 1 of the opposide side and now the WKF has no functionality at all, i'm going to try the other legs out.

EDIT: No I'm not going to do anything, it's working perfectly as per youtube videos, pin 29, blue flash, linux available. just won't load...

As soon as I plug the sd card reader in, i start getting red light... not going to touch it until further advice.

 

[DuHasst0]

These might help,

 

[megalomaniac]

there is no need to connect WKF pins 30 or 31
leave those pins alone and continue to follow the diagram as indicated in the schematics by Ashen.
pins 30 and 31 are for other purpose related to wii or wii dvd drive.




also, you really need to have an SD card plugged in.
dont worry about the RED led. you will not kill your WKF because of a red led.
The red led is commonly flashes because the modchip is set into passthru mode and does not detect a dvd drive...how does it go into passthru mode?
1. pressing pin 29 with no sd card in the slot..
2. bootup with no sd card in the slot..

 

[L10N37]

Ive started again. Glue peeled off.
This time im doing all wkf connections and labelling every wire with a tag to be certain.

I have 23-29 left to go. Ill finish this afternoon. Do you work under a special magnifying lens duhasst.

Rammstein lol

Anyway... if doesnt work ill put it in junkyard.. meant to have two more on way from hong kong (but its been a month) but also found two more suppliers that have genuine ones in stock (this is 3rd party) and a hong kong supplier for wasp fusion but he wantd paypal payment and organisrd via email (a bit suss)

 

[L10N37]

Cheers mega must have been typing msg at same time. Hopefully not home too late this arvo n fingers crossed. So frustating as I get a few solid connections and then melt one of the prior ones off with the next n have to go backwards again...so close together. Dnt know how duhasst done that with EVERY leg!

 

[L10N37]

Could really do with one of these
http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/380133518940?nav=SEARCH

 

[DuHasst0]

Yeah I have a helping hands, that has a magnifying glass and 2 alligator clips. I also have a decent soldering station with a fine tip. But I understand what you going thru with all the attach one the one next to it gets a huge glob on it and now both are stuck together or you hit the one next to it with the one you're working with and it knocks that one loose. Pain in the ass. You'll get it tho, patience is definitely key.

 

[L10N37]

Took another hour or so to finish - then I had to run around looking for a new power source, out of the 10 or so AC-DC adapters i couldn't find any with sufficient amperage as I was going to chop the end straight off and solder it to the power board. Found another old laptop battery and ripped it apart, nearly flat, but gave me the opportunity to test out. (waiting for new dc jack and supply from Hong Kong)

power on with Raw formatted SD card for wiikey recovery 1.2 - One bright blue flash, then gamecube operates normally with functionality of Pin 23 as lid open/closed (insert disc, reading disc). No errors

Power on with No SD Card - red flash, quick blue flash, solid red, errors in gameplay menu.

Power on with WBFS formatted card with Wiikey fusion update ISO or Swiss ISO - no initial flash, pin29 makes solid blue. gameplay ->reading disc-> Error

Certainly liked it better when it went between reading disc and Linux GC with pin 29 switch and not having to have an SD card plugged in

Either way ...it's not working.


I think it's time to admit defeat...!

 

[L10N37]

There were no shorts between any legs, verified with multimeter.
I have no idea.
Anyone want it? just pay for shipping.
Next time I won't rip the Dang connector off.