Gamecube Layer Info!!!

[LOCtronicz]

Tchay made a topic on benheck to find out which what traces there are in the hidden layers of the gamecube. He has found out that there is a trace on the AVport side which makes the audio break after you cut through it. By joining our forces we have discovered how to resolve the "dead" audio issue!!!!!!

This is a rev A board but B and C boards will have little differences. Rev C has the onboard regulator though so their are more hidden traces. Now due to me sanding down a broken board I had laying around you wil notice that the memorycard ports and the discdrive pins are cut from the board. Note by cutting around that section will not break the board!! You just have to rewire everything. So I don't think there are any hidden traces there. This is also just to give you an idea of what is exactly in the hidden layers.

OK enough chitchat on to the PROOF!!!

Rev A Top:

Rev A Bottem:

Top (visible layer):

Top (hidden layer):

Bottem (visible layer):

Bottem (hidden layer):

Top hidden layer voltage diagram:

I can say with 100% certainty that the bottem hidden layer is ONLY used for ground!! Based on what I've sanded down it seems that the top hidden layer is only used to divide the voltage over the board.

Why my board uses 2 12v spots is because one is used for the sound chip and the other is used for the digital port. Meaning that we should be able to cut of the entire port connectors strip of the board with little rewiring!!!!

Seems my GCMini can be made even smaller than it already was

Credit:
Tchay (for finding the trace and inspiring me to sand like a maniac )
And myself zenloc (Pics of the hidden layers)

 

[Argelfraster]

Awesome!
How much can the gamecube be cut down; now that you know how to re-wire everything?

 

[XCVG]

So to clarify, is that red area the one everybody breaks and we should rewire?

 

[LOCtronicz]

correct! and Rev C boards only have 1 12v connection and that goes to the sound amp. Juct check your board as the location might be different. Most of the time it's next to the big cap on the topside of the board. Connect 12v/5v to that spot to give ressurect your sound. If that doesn't work you have fried the sound amp and the only option uyou have is to replace it. If you ahve other defect cubes lying around you could just take it off that.

 

[Tchay]

Zenloc.....I love you.....

- my electric sander will be coming in the mail soon. I will sand down my rev C board (since I have nothing cut off). I will show results as soon as I can.

EDIT - as I said in the thread on BH, this board Zenloc is showing is PAL. So, it is slightly different from NTSC rev A boards. It is probably not an issue regarding hidden traces, but I am going to sand an NTSC rev A board just to be sure.

 

[LOCtronicz]

Don't plan on sanding any boards anymore this one took me 2 to 3 hours to do Just a little tip first sand the top layer until everything is copper, then scrap the copper of with a sharp tool (knife or chisel). Once all the copper of the first layer is completly off and you see the black/gray suff just sand that down evenly to get to the next layer. Do that on the top and botem sides of the board and you should be good

Would be good to have many different versions and regions that way we can be 100% certain that we have covered everything!!
Keep up the good work!

 

[Kyo]

Whoa, nice! Very good work, you two!

Why is there two seperated 1.9V strips next to each other though?

Also, I wonder what that ? stuff is. Should be reasonably possible to find out.

 

[Tchay]

Whoa, nice! Very good work, you two!

Why is there two seperated 1.9V strips next to each other though?

Also, I wonder what that ? stuff is. Should be reasonably possible to find out.

yeahhhhh, we are still working on that

Not sure why there are two 1.9v lines. Zenloc might be mistaken, but after I sand down some more mobos, I will give more definite answers.

Good news is that we will be able to cut off a lot more of from the GC motherboard. But, I actually think that Rev A/B boards are better. You can cut off so much more

 

[LOCtronicz]

There are two 1.9v lines. Don't know why nintendo did this though. As you can connect all the 1.9v lines together and have it working perfectly. Maby to stop interference or something....

If you would multimeter the pins on the mother board with the regulator disconnected you'll find out that there are 3pins 1.9 volt and another 4 pin. Those two are by default not connected with eachother. Untill you connect the regulator to it they all make a connection.

There is one pin I don't really know what it's for though... the pin next to the 12v line. It goes to a little chip close to the regulator pins but doesn't really do anything. Has no voltage or maby just really really low and if I don't connect it it everything still work fine..

 

[PalmerTech]

This is awesome info! One of us needs to get our hands on a dead Wii mobo. Thanks for the tips on how to sand the layers, I will keep those in mind.

 

[Tchay]

This is awesome info! One of us needs to get our hands on a dead Wii mobo. Thanks for the tips on how to sand the layers, I will keep those in mind.

I have a wii mobo with all the chips/caps/etc removed.....hint hint...

 

[PalmerTech]

AWESOME! Make sure to do full scans at each layer, including unmodified.

 

[Mako321]

what do you mean? he's not sanding it, it's obvious. He is trying to turn the wii into a 360 by taking off the components and replacingn them with 360 ones.

 

[Tchay]

what do you mean? he's not sanding it, it's obvious. He is trying to turn the wii into a 360 by taking off the components and replacingn them with 360 ones.

hush yo mouth! He need not know this!

 

[LOCtronicz]

 

[XCVG]

Wasn't there some guy who tried to combine an XBOX and PS2 game and get "a PS2 game with XBOX graphics" by gluing them together?

 

[PalmerTech]

Yes.

 

[zeturi]

Reminds me of that dumb joke, "How to play PS3 on ur PS2!!!!1!" He puts the ps3 on top of the ps2, and plays a game.

 

[Joeyjoe9876]

EDIT - as I said in the thread on BH, this board Zenloc is showing is PAL. So, it is slightly different from NTSC rev A boards. It is probably not an issue regarding hidden traces, but I am going to sand an NTSC rev A board just to be sure.

you ever get that Rev. c i sent you working? if not why not just sand that down too so we can find all the traces on that

 

[Kyo]

I love it when people use refrigerator logic like that, "hey guys can I translate 360 games and then compile them so I can play them on my dreamcast?"