GamecubePerson111
Active Member
I actually have wired to the thermal protection line before and have had no problem with it powering on.
GameCube not Powering on
- Thread starter GamecubePerson111
- Start date
Blargaman91
Well-Known Member
You said you switched to a new board, so what exactly have you done with the new board? Trimmed it? Did it even work before you modified it at all?
GamecubePerson111
Active Member
Yes it powered on before, I took it straight out of an enclosed GameCube. All I did was remove the ports on it, didn't trim anything at all.
Blargaman91
Well-Known Member
Then there might be bent pins touching on the area where ports were removed. Check them thoroughly, even if you think they're absolutely fine. Especially the parallel expansion port.
GamecubePerson111
Active Member
Okay so I checked all the pins and none are touching on either of the two motherboards that I am trying to use. Can you show me which pins out of the diagram I need to wire which voltages to? I seriously can't think of any reason I am not getting video. Not sure if I mentioned this but every time I power on the cube my tv will flash (not sure what this signifies anyway). I have checked double checked and triple checked all connections. Not sure what the problem could be...
GamecubePerson111
Active Member
Yeah the board is just sitting on top of a wooden table. I'm thinking one of my regulators may not be providing enough current, could that be possible? (Batteries are fully charged by the way)
Blargaman91
Well-Known Member
Okay, we know that:
-No main voltage lines are shorted to ground
-No stray pins are bridging
-All connection are secure
Nothing's wrong with that board as far as I can tell. I'm pointing fingers at the regulators and power supply. You should hook one or both motherboards up to a stock GC regulator using a 12v GC power supply.
That flashing you see makes it seem like the board obtains power for a split second and then it's immediately cut off. I imagine it's something along the lines of that, power being cut off at some point for some reason.
-No main voltage lines are shorted to ground
-No stray pins are bridging
-All connection are secure
Nothing's wrong with that board as far as I can tell. I'm pointing fingers at the regulators and power supply. You should hook one or both motherboards up to a stock GC regulator using a 12v GC power supply.
That flashing you see makes it seem like the board obtains power for a split second and then it's immediately cut off. I imagine it's something along the lines of that, power being cut off at some point for some reason.
GamecubePerson111
Active Member
Okay, that definitely sounds like a plan. Thank you so much for all the troubleshooting I really appreciate it. In the meantime I will wire up some new regulators and try running the boards off 12v as well.
GamecubePerson111
Active Member
Okay so I'm about to connect new regulators to a new gamecube motherboard. Can someone please post where to connect the voltages (7,3.34,1.9) on the motherboard before I do? I'm pretty sure I know where they go but after not being able to get two motherboards to work I want to be absolutely sure.
GamecubePerson111
Active Member
Hey guys sorry to be naggy but if someone could post which pins exactly I need to solder which voltages to that would be awesome, thanks guys. I've had enough trouble with these past two motherboards...
Blargaman91
Well-Known Member
I'm assuming you're wiring to the pins on the regulator's plug. If so:
If not, here's where you can wire elsewhere:
(There's no 5v/7v because it's not used by the main components.)
If not, here's where you can wire elsewhere:
(There's no 5v/7v because it's not used by the main components.)
GamecubePerson111
Active Member
Thank you so much Blargaman91 you've been such a huge help that I can't thank you enough. My only concern before I power it on is the 12v and 5v line. Can I get it to power on properly by bridging all 5v pins with the 12v pin and feeding in 7.5v there? And the 1.9 and 3.43 lines are pretty self explanatory, so I don't need help there. Thanks again.
Blargaman91
Well-Known Member
Yeah sure, that'll work. But are you really sure that 7.5v on the 5v line is okay? I can't imagine it's good for the rumble in the controller since it uses 5v. If you have that connected.
GamecubePerson111
Active Member
I actually will not be using the rumble, is that the only component that would use 5v other than the disc drive (I believe)?
Blargaman91
Well-Known Member
Yes. I mean, the memory card slot has a 5v pin and I'm pretty sure the GameCube Microphone uses it but you're probably not going to be connecting a microphone to your GC 
.
.GamecubePerson111
Active Member
Oh okay, that would make sense. I guess I'm going to hook things up and pray to God it works!
GamecubePerson111
Active Member
I guess my question is, can the GameCube be powered up with nothing connected to the disc drive port.
GamecubePerson111
Active Member
Alright Blargaman91, well after wiring up my new regulators (which output correct voltages) I am still having no luck. On my tv there are lines of static running up and down the screen when the GameCube is powered up. I noticed that my 1.9v regulator outputs 1.9v until is connected to my GameCube, then it outputs .8v not sure what the deal is there as I just opened up this cube and have not torn off any of the ports at the moment. How could there be resistance on the 1.9v line before the cube has even been modified? Or am I approaching this at a completely wrong way? Thanks!
Blargaman91
Well-Known Member
I don't know what's normal for a voltage drop when the system is powered on but 1.9v to .8v does not sound good.
The 1.9v line should have a low resistance to ground (~20-30 ohms) because there are some low resistance capacitors on that line, right under the GPU. You just never want it to be 0 ohms.
When a working GameCube stops working only after you've wired something, it's probably because of... well, the wiring. It doesn't seem logical that anything is suddenly going wrong unless you have some serious static electricity on you that's killing the boards when you touch them.
How thick are the wires you're using now? I don't know why it never occurred to me to ask. With an issue like this you should try to thicken the ground wires first (or just add more). If that doesn't provide results, try the main voltage wires.
The 1.9v line should have a low resistance to ground (~20-30 ohms) because there are some low resistance capacitors on that line, right under the GPU. You just never want it to be 0 ohms.
When a working GameCube stops working only after you've wired something, it's probably because of... well, the wiring. It doesn't seem logical that anything is suddenly going wrong unless you have some serious static electricity on you that's killing the boards when you touch them.
How thick are the wires you're using now? I don't know why it never occurred to me to ask. With an issue like this you should try to thicken the ground wires first (or just add more). If that doesn't provide results, try the main voltage wires.
