Alternate GC2-D2B Chopped Pins Fix

[ivc]

I had my first GC2-D2B with the 3 pin chopped off today. After a few tries I managed to get 3 wire stubs to fasten to the small points that's left on the chip.

1. Strip 1-2 cm 30 awg wire length
2. Add a thin coat of solder to the wire
3. If you have flux available, put some flux over the soldered wire
4. Vertically align the wire 90degrees against one of the chopped pins
5. Carefully heat the wire and press against the chip and push the wire down to the circuitboard to make sure it touches the traces.
6. With a small wirecutter, remove the excess wire used to hold it inplace.
7. Test, if it does not work, try to reheat the wire and press it against the D2B chip to make contact, if not, go to step 1..

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/5326/dsc00249oy9.jpg

Serial: LEH12356XXXX

Hope this helps.

-ivc

[So-Unreal]

I could never do that. I looks to good.

[Brownflem]

It's too bad I can't really practice this..

[evlspcmk]

any reports of these hitting Australian stores.. i have a mate thats getting one next week and wants me to do it, not looking forward to it if its something like this :confused:

[{{909}}]

any reports of these hitting Australian stores.. i have a mate thats getting one next week and wants me to do it, not looking forward to it if its something like this :confused:

we are getting them in the UK now, i had one to do the other day, this looks like an ok fix if your not so steady with a dremel, but id rather expose more of the copper to get a good solder joint. Mite try this next time i get one to do tho.

I believe the ones with the pins chopped are coming with wii sports in a cardboard sleeve instead of a normal plastic dvd case.

[Nikeplektrum]

Cool fix, was thinking of trying it on my broken PS2 motherboard, but I prefer the dremel.

[lenselijer]

my wii sports came in a cardbox and no pins cut!

[gladiac]

Well done... Looks very nice :)

[rycars]

any reports of these hitting Australian stores.. i have a mate thats getting one next week and wants me to do it, not looking forward to it if its something like this :confused:

Yes, I have seen 3 personally in Melbourne.

[dopper_nl]

Works perfect just did this trick on mij first chopped pin Wii.
Thanx Alot
They are also around in The Netherlands mij customer has bought his in Amsterdan at inter-toy's

[darkbluefirefly]

yup, or you can have a solder bath and dip the awg wire in it, then it will be covered in solder in a tin coat, when you heat the top of the wire, about 2 cm away from the legs, it will just suck onto the pins. I've been doing this instead of cutting the dam ic, too dangerous, but the only thing is that when you put the wii together and if the made legs are too tal, they will interfere with the head sink on the other unit and can short or if they are too tall, they will just get smushed and rip the legs, be careful. Always use flux as it makes the solder suck onto the clipped portion and the tiny bit that is being revealed. GOOD LUCK, and HAPPY MODDING.

[Brownflem]

yup, or you can have a solder bath and dip the awg wire in it, then it will be covered in solder in a tin coat, when you heat the top of the wire, about 2 cm away from the legs, it will just suck onto the pins. I've been doing this instead of cutting the dam ic, too dangerous, but the only thing is that when you put the wii together and if the made legs are too tal, they will interfere with the head sink on the other unit and can short or if they are too tall, they will just get smushed and rip the legs, be careful. Always use flux as it makes the solder suck onto the clipped portion and the tiny bit that is being revealed. GOOD LUCK, and HAPPY MODDING.

Do you flux the tinned wire and the ic legs or just the tinned wire or just the legs? ? ?

[joeschmoe.lyt]

Just flux the chopped pins area. If you hit it dead-on with a drop that will be more than enough. I'm looking at doing this, too. But I'm afraid if the Wii experiences any significant shock, the wire(s) could come off. Guess its finally time to buy a Dremel.

[darkbluefirefly]

Just flux the chopped pins area. If you hit it dead-on with a drop that will be more than enough. I'm looking at doing this, too. But I'm afraid if the Wii experiences any significant shock, the wire(s) could come off. Guess its finally time to buy a Dremel.
that's the problem, but ig your wii experiences a shock, like a drop, that will come off and your wii will not inject dvds or eject them properly too. SO DON"T DROP UR "WII", IT"S SUPPOSE TO STAY STUCK ON YOU :D , god made it that way for a reason :D.

[Nikeplektrum]

I'd probably remove the coating from a large bit of a long wire, and get it so stick, and then cut of the top above the chip

[TheMicroShack]

Had 6 of these now and one of them was a real pig.
Deffo Is best to use a dremel though first...

Im sure somebody will make a slot in pcb or something soon...

[detailed]

very nice work

i will try this this week also

[Brownflem]

I tried this method but it didn't work for me. I just couldn't make the connection. But don't go by me. Apparently I am not very good at this because it took me 10 times of opening and resoldering to finally get it installed.

Jeez. I'm glad that's over.

[acesfull]

Wow, that looks hard. I was given one of those lousy chopped pin consoles for my bday. Can someone post some pics of the dremel process? I'm definitely a little scared to be grinding away at chips... Thanks

Edit: I just found the link to a very good guide:
http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.php?t=66358

[dipswitch]

This method works well. So far no problems. I also added a drop of hot glue to cover the pins.
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/5231/cutlegs00dn4.jpg

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/3903/cutlegs01tm2.jpg

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/6826/cutlegs02eh9.jpg

[Desmodromic]

Lovely job, impressed :-)

[Brownflem]

Beautiful work. Really impressed.

[acesfull]

Masterful work! I found that there wasn't enough stub exposed for me to get a good connection (after much trying), so I went the route of grinding the chip cover to expose the traces. It's working well for me now, but there were definitely some nervous moments as I took the dremel to my precious Wii ;-)

[ivc]

I would definetly recommend to try solder to the stubs before going for the dremel method. I think it's essential with flux and a 15w 0.3-1mm tip solder iron.

-ivc

[joeschmoe.lyt]

Personally I used a dremel with a small flat cylindrical orange grinding stone to get to the pins. They are angled inside the chip, so don't freak out thinking you messed them up once you see them. Use a small screwdriver or razor blade to get the last of the silicon away off the top of the legs. IMHO, combining both methods is the best way to ensure you don't have to perform the repair again at a later date. After several tries, I think its best to stick the 3 small pieces of wire to the pads first, then bend them down to the exposed pins. If you're right-handed, start on the left and work your way to the right so there's less chance you'll mess up what you just placed. You will probably mess up a few times anyway. When that happens, just get rid of that little piece of wire (or 2) and start over.

[hoopsta1423]

I would definetly recommend to try solder to the stubs before going for the dremel method. I think it's essential with flux and a 15w 0.3-1mm tip solder iron.

-ivc


where can i find a .3mm-1mm tip? No stores around me have anything that small

[drsquirrel]

0.3-0.1mm?

as 1mm is a bit big :p


What brand soldering iron do you have?




I use a 107 Antex (1.2mm) for the IC on the Wii, normally juse use a 10 0.5mm but a little big for the IC.

[Nikeplektrum]

I use 0.2mm tips, 1mm is quite big, but I guess a Wii could be modded using it.

[idog]

Great, this worked for me. I also did the wire thingy, altough a bit different (saves cutting).

Just use a piece of wire, strip 2 cm's and tin it. Then apply flux and put it against the pad on the board, and push it to the knob on the chip. When done, cut it (I used side cutter), and proceed to the next one. This way you can go on.

(I know it's the same as the first post, just very happy it worked for me).

However, have a question to all you gurus out there :)

This was my first Wii modchip install (great way to start huh ;) ). Now, when I turn on the Wii I hear the dvd spinning up and a blue led on my DuoWii modchip lits up (it stays on). So, then I put in a backup game, but it says it can't read the disc. When I turn on the Wii with power and reset button the modchip goes into disable mode, as per the instructions.

So.. 2 questions :

1. Does the blue led on the DuoWii only lit up when the install was successful ? Or does it mean nothing ?
2. How do I burn a game ? I used a Verbatim DVD-R with ImgBurn on a Pioneer 112D. Burned it on 8-speed.

Thanks for any replies !

[Silver Surfer]

This method was the way I wanted to originally do mine but couldn't due to the stubs being much tighter to the chip than those in this thread.

It's led me to think that if Ninty had people manually cutting these pins instead of some kind of assembly line then if they held the board vertical when chopping the pins would be almost level with the chip outer silicon (or whatever that coating is)

If it was held horizontal then the millimetre or so of exposed pin as this thread shows would be the result.
That being the case there is now a preferred list of Wii's in order of mod-ability :D

D2B no pins cut;:cool:
D2B 3 pins cut horizontally with a little stub left;:)
D2B 3 pins cut vertically and damn! Dremel that chip! ;)
D2C if they exist and no one wants one! :eek:

[skuhn718]

Hey guys i've been reading up on this thread, have a wii with chopped pins, and have a few questions.

I am a total newb to soldering, I know most of you would suggest I don't try this at all but I am confident I can do it so long as I get the preparations right.

Well my only question for now is, how exactly do I tin a wire? Do I need to have a solder pot to do it or is there some other way? I can't seem to find anywhere to explain this to me.

Also, im using:

-15 mw soldering iron with a .7 tip.
-i have flux
-i have 30ga "enamel-coated magnet wire" - is this the right kind?

Thanks alot in advance for any help I receive! Also, any other tips for a novice would be appreciated.

[joeschmoe.lyt]

People say to use a tiny soldering tip, but I used the standard sized tip that came with my Hakko 936-12. You see, those tiny tips are hard to get real hot AT THE TIP. You can turn up the temp on your soldering station, but it seems really high and dangerous. With a broader tip, you can set your station at 600 degrees F and your solder will flow instantly. You have to use just the corner of the tip. Its much easier to touch the area for just a second and know you got a good solder joint. I don't like those tiny tips, I end up with more "cold solder" joints with them. **This phenomenon might be due to the tips staying in a humid outdoors environment. Maybe they are corroding and a brand new tiny tip would be perfect.**
To tin a wire, melt some solder to your iron tip then put the wire in it for a second.
Remember, if you make a mess, just use flux and pull the excess solder away from the affected area with your iron. Do it right, and you'll have no bridges and all points tinned. Watch out for solder balls! If the mess is too big, use some copper braid. Be careful, though, as you may pull all the factory solder out from under the other legs!

[skuhn718]

Thanks Joe for the tips, I will put them to good use. I understand though how you described to tin, however if you look at this image in this thread of the soldered wires the whole entire wire seems to be covered in solder, without having a solder bowl to heat up a big chunk of solder to dip the wire in I cant figure out how to do this. Also, looking at the chopped pins with the naked eye they look so close together I can imagine me bridging them together very easily (if thats the right term) any tips on how to avoid this?

I also forgot to mention that im using silver-bearing .015 dia solder, is this good for this project? And is my wire the correct kind?

Thanks again for the help, im still learning alot here but I love to dig into new projects and just wanna make sure I have the basics right.

[Foxx373]

I used this thing called a RotoMatic. Its a cheap knock off $20 dremel. They usualy sell these things on late night infomercials or as some gimmick. There have been pink models around that are advertised as nail salon studios. It lets gullable chicks sand, polish, and engrave things on their nails.

Its a piece of crap BUT its not very powerful and its not as fast, which is why i got it. Its great for those times where slow and steady is the best option. It worked like a charm. Yeah, it took a bit longer, but the lower power and slower speed let me really take my time and be VERY accurate. I used a very fine point engraving bit to slowly eat away at the chip. I found it easier to solder onto the chip itself than rebuild the legs.

Dont use a 30W iron, you WILL burn the traces clear off the board!! If you dont have a 15W iron, or dont want to buy a new one, you can half-ass a light dimmer into an electrical extention cord. You can use this as an improvised tempature control. If you can install a modchip, I dont think i need to explain how to add a light dimmer to an extention cord...


Here is a link to the rotomatic: http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/roto_matic.html

[drsquirrel]

Be careful, though, as you may pull all the factory solder
out from under the other legs!

Although this is a noble warning. I think Wii users are lucky enough that even without solder the legs sit nice and firm on the board. :)

[idog]

Just a quick update about my blue led on the DuoWii. Just disconnected one of the wires on the chip (point E for those interested). Waddayknow, the blue led still comes on.

Great, the blue led doesn't mean anything .. :(

[EspeN]

I got my first chopped today as well,
to my suprise it worked on first try!!

I didnt use a dremel.

Heres my first try, and working one after fixing chopped legs.

http://spillchip.com/hires.jpg

[swii]

EspeN,

Does your IC chip have little stubs where the 3 pins were "cut off" or just a trace of them as if they were "filed off" the IC chip? Your photo seem a bit too dark to tell the difference for me.

If latter (filed off), did you use the same method (in 1st post with stubs) as in tinig the 30AWG wire, hold it against the IC and heat the wire?

I got a wii a few days ago from the Nintendo World Store and not surprisingly enough I got one of those that has 3 pins "filed" off the IC chip. I put the 30awg wire vertically against the IC chip just to see how it will work and realized that the tiny little points/traces on IC chip where the pins were "filed" off were way too little to make a solid soldering points & when I put the wire vertically against the IC chip, the wire does not seem to touch the trace on the PCB board!!!

arghhhh~ Nintendo really did a good job to make this an anal process.

Any comments/tips/recommendations would be greatly appreicated.

[richypat07]

Hi please could some1 have a look at the attached pic of my board?

Comparing my board to other pics it seems to have a couple of joints missing (circled in red).

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could highlight what joints to solder?

Many thanks

Richy

[dipswitch]

The missing pad is used by wiikey for updating via DVD.

[richypat07]

The missing pad is used by wiikey for updating via DVD.

Thanks for your reply!

With that in mind what chip would you fit? would you still fit a wiikey?

I been looking at the wii drive doctor? will they be the same connections?

Thanks again
Richy

[bigfoothunt1]

Thanks for your reply!

With that in mind what chip would you fit? would you still fit a wiikey?

I been looking at the wii drive doctor? will they be the same connections?

Thanks again
Richy

Didn't you LOOK? Dipswitch showed you where and how to connect for the wiikey. and NO the drive doctor is a completely different animal, it is not a modchip. lol

[lenselijer]

even if you dont see the nubs you can still expose them by holding your soldering iron on the empty area, soon enough the will come through the black plastic and you can solder awg30 wires to them :)

And about that 'new' board, i got one of these last week (serial leh133) and it had indeed 1 pin missing for the wiikey, but its easy to solder a wire from the fifth pin of the chipset to the wiikey and it will work fine :D

[schan137]

I can't seem to get the wires to stick with the IC chip. I was able to grind the chip to expose it. I tried using flux and it still not sticking. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.:confused:

[richypat07]

I can't seem to get the wires to stick with the IC chip. I was able to grind the chip to expose it. I tried using flux and it still not sticking. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.:confused:

sh*t i'm having same problem!

[wiimodder]

Hey guys.. Just wanted to post up a few successes with wii mods.

First one being my buddy screwing up a trace and me attaching a line directly to a chip..This is the D2B chipset with pins in place.The easy one.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n251/motorfreak_69/tracefix.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n251/motorfreak_69/after2-1.jpg

Second is my own.If you have installed the wiikey properly and it still wont work, chances are you have the infemous D2B chipset with chopped pins nintendos attempt to twart wii modifications.Good news is it can be done.

MY Wii had the filed pins not leftover tabs which is even harder to deal with. Process is the same, you must be perfect. I surprised myself geting it the first time!

Before
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n251/motorfreak_69/Before.jpg

After
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n251/motorfreak_69/after.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n251/motorfreak_69/after2.jpg

It is possible to do...I had no leftover tabs to solder to ,but i didnt want to grind my ic either, so a gave it a shot.I rate this repair in the high to expert level for difficulty..You must tin flux tin flux tin flux....

[metalclay]

oh, ****.

wait, why is it needed to solder that? I mean, the wii has the points, why does one have to solder that up? Cause if one HAS to, then...I think I found out why my wiikey won't work :confused:

[Perplexer]

I'm getting too old to mess with tiny wires ;)

The last D2B I modded didn't have a speck of pin left, so I had to bring out the Dremel (with the wrong attachment, no less.)

I used a 0-ohm resistor array which made the job SO much easier.

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s243/Perplexer/XS/d2b_0_ohm_array.jpg

[wiimodder]

Thats an awsome clean fix man!! way to go!