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Botched Wiikey Installation :( Is There Still Hope? Help!
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nacho936
Newbie
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3. April 2007 @ 23:10 |
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I got my Wiikey and, stupidly, tried to install it myself with no experience in soldiering -- although, the bigger mistake was not realizing that there was a wire method, so I used the quick soldier guide. I managed to connect all of the points, but one of them had been damaged in the process. I tried it anyway, and the console worked like normal, played Zelda. However, I just couldn't let it go without another try. Anyway...after many mistakes, and all of the small points getting destroyed, I went further into madness and attempted to use someone's method to connect the four bottoms points on the chip directly to the little connections on the chip -- which actually went fine until some soldier got on those little connections, pretty much ruining everything. The cconsole wouldn't turn on or anything. I went back and removed everything, and attempted to removed as much of the soldier off the chip connection, but there is a little amount still left on. Now the console turns on, but the drive is dead. Is there anyway to remove small amounts of soldier from the chip on the drive?
HELP! I'M AN IDIOT!!!
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MDSP
Member
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5. April 2007 @ 04:06 |
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sorry buddy u might've killed your drive... shorting those pins is not a good thing... well if you can get a hold of some flux and solder wick... you should be able to get that excess solder out... and after your able to take the solder out clean the flux with alcohol... and hope for the best
pizz
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nacho936
Newbie
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5. April 2007 @ 04:14 |
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Thanks for the suggestion. Yeah, I pretty much think it's beyond my ability to fix now, because it will go to the Wii screen, but not load any channels...which doesn't make sense to me. If anyone reading this is thinking of installing their modchip wihtout any soldiering experience, learn from my failure and just send the console to some company that will do it for you. Trustedmods.com looks like what I should've done. I'm kicking myself over not using them, because it would have been a lot cheaper too! :(
HELP! I'M AN IDIOT!!!
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Senior Member
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5. April 2007 @ 08:30 |
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There are lots of people that know how to repair, clean solder off the board and re solder. I personally used the quick solder method and it works fine. I don't know why people say you need to do the wire method. There's no reason for it. Quick solder method is super easy if you are an experienced solderer (is that a word?) Anyway, don't give up, find someone who has experience and good solder equipment and ask them to clean it up for you and fix it. I could do it but I live in Las Vegas.
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Junior Member
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5. April 2007 @ 12:55 |
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If you need to clean up some soldering mess, go to radio shack and get some copper braided wire. Place it on the area you wanna remove the solder from then then place the iron on the copper wire. once its heated up the wire will soak up the solder and you can remove the iron and wire at the same time. then you will have a clean area all over again.
I had to do this to a wiikey that i preped
WiiModder
Leosdesk.com
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Junior Member
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5. April 2007 @ 14:05 |
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Hey I did have a Similar problem with the drive after soldering but the only thing with mine is that it will not read any games the wii itself works fine it is just the drive. I am just curious does anybody know if you can purchase a new drive or if anybody is selling them. Cause that is all I need everthing else works fine just the drive. Thanks in advance
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tgmcg
Newbie
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5. April 2007 @ 16:22 |
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Originally posted by Kafluke:
There are lots of people that know how to repair, clean solder off the board and re solder. I personally used the quick solder method and it works fine. I don't know why people say you need to do the wire method. There's no reason for it. Quick solder method is super easy if you are an experienced solderer (is that a word?) Anyway, don't give up, find someone who has experience and good solder equipment and ask them to clean it up for you and fix it. I could do it but I live in Las Vegas.
i think people like to use the wire method because then, it is easier to remove the modchip
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nacho936
Newbie
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5. April 2007 @ 23:22 |
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I'm going to try the copper wire/wick method (I couldn't find a wick the last time I went to radioshack.) I really hope this works, otherwise I'll have to use my Wii as a decoration (now after buying it with the chip and soldering equipment, one that is as an expensive as an xbox360.) About the drives...I was looking for one to replace mine, and I found one on ebay for $150, PAL version. I didn't buyt it though, because there might still be hope for mine. You should check there.
HELP! I'M AN IDIOT!!!
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nacho936
Newbie
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5. April 2007 @ 23:26 |
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Sorry to sound stupid, but what kind of alcohol should I use to clean it after? Is rubbing alcohol fine?
HELP! I'M AN IDIOT!!!
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naivri
Newbie
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6. April 2007 @ 02:03 |
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if you bridged the connections on the chip and turned it on, im afraid its 90% likely that the chip has shorted and blown
Any alcohol should do to clean the board. Vodka is good. I use isopropanol (coz I have a plentiful supply)
Good luck, although I fear once you switched the power on, you hammered the nail into the coffin
Wii - with Wiikey
XBOX360 - dvd firmware softmodded
PS3 - Firmware bypass for online - 1.5
PSP 3.03OE
PS2 - Neo2.2 (lol - thank you independence exploit + 120gb HDD)
XBOX - the first chip, executer 1.1 or something like that
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Senior Member
1 product review
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6. April 2007 @ 02:17 |
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Just give it a shot as far as it goes.
Trust me I'm like you somehting stuffs you try to fix it and it gets worse and you try to fix that it gets worse and you try once again and it gets even worse...............again.again.again until it dosent start falling apart one main reason is if its already screwed trying to fix it wont disable your console any more then it is .
Any alcohol would do.
By the way what happend when you go into a channel??
does it like freeze?
Crash?
This is why I also say take everything to the pro paying 50au more might just save you paying 400au.
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MDSP
Member
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6. April 2007 @ 04:50 |
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Materials needed to do soldering:
- Solder flux (helps to heat up solder faster)
- Solder wick (best to tool to extract solder)
- Controlled temp soldering iron
- Alcohol (isoprophyl would do. Just use to clean off excess flux. If not cleaned properly flux would then cause corrosion in a long run)
- Old tooth Brush (to brush off flux residue)
Process of soldering:
- Turn on soldering iron (let it sit and warm up for 2 - 3 mins)
- Set iron to 700
- Apply solder on tip on soldering iron (Just a little bit, its just use to tin the tip to help heat transfer)
- Apply solder flux on the circuit (cct) board pad
- Touch cct board pad with soldering iron (Solder flux would react and start to sizzle)
- Then quickly apply solder on the pad while the iron is still touching the pad (This step should be done < 1 second)
- Take out the solder and then the iron
- Take the stripped wire and set it on top of a fresh soldered pad
- Then touch the wire with iron (You would have iron on top, wire in the middle, and soldered pad underneath)
- Wire would then sink in the soldered pad
- Finish up all other solder points
- clean with alcohol
Error noobs do
- they dont let soldering iron heat up
- they leave iron on the pad too long
- using really thick solder. the thicker the solder the longer it takes to melt
- no patience!!... take your time prep everything before you start cause this is your investment, you spent time and money on it, so do it right.
Trust me i've done alot of electronic troubleshooting/repair and ive gone though all the errors too...
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Senior Member
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6. April 2007 @ 08:38 |
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Originally posted by nacho936:
Sorry to sound stupid, but what kind of alcohol should I use to clean it after? Is rubbing alcohol fine?
Captain Morgans should work just fine. ;)
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nacho936
Newbie
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6. April 2007 @ 11:40 |
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I have vodka ;). Actually, when I tried to go to a channel, it would go to a black screen (It happened to my console/replacement console before, and I would have to uplug it to get it to turn off, but this time it's not just a bug or something.) I don't really get why it does that when it's the drive that is messed up...but it doesn't look good as far as a repairable problem. I had a bad feeling I ruined one or more chips/circuits when I turned it on after fusing the connectors...but then, since I removed most of it, except for one or two connectors touching, it went from not turning on to turning on but the channels are frozen. I haven't turned it on since, and a website says they might be able to repair it...if they can, I'll send it in, because there is no way I'm experienced enough to connect the mod chip to the chip on the board if everything turns out ok. At least this way, if it turns out my Wii is salvagable, then I can get it modded cheap at the same time (I'm pretty sure the mod chip is intact, even if it is a little dirty now.)
HELP! I'M AN IDIOT!!!
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Blackshep
Junior Member
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6. April 2007 @ 12:44 |
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Now that I think of it i probaly should have went with the wire install but luckily I have a friend that is a master at soldering.
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Senior Member
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6. April 2007 @ 12:53 |
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quick solder works perfectly fine. It was a very simple solder job for someone with experience. Don't attempt if you don't have soldering experience but on a scale of one to ten of tough solder jobs (with regards to console mods) ten being the toughest, this one ranks right around a 2!
(you should see some of the PS2 chips solder points! YIKES!)
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 6. April 2007 @ 12:54
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nacho936
Newbie
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6. April 2007 @ 14:02 |
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I think the problem with the ones who never soldered before, including me, don't know how to solder. Not just how to solder well, but at all! I did it wrong the whole time, but managed to almost get it down the first try (It was only one burned off point that ruined my amatuer attempt...) Otherwise, it would have worked. The instructions on how to solder in this subject is a lot more clear than some soldering guides. If only there was a video or manual with pictures on how to install these chips...it would have been so much easier...and I know I could've installed the chip through the wire method...it was the direct soldier method that was too difficult for me :( ... I hope this guy I'm sending it to can fix it!
HELP! I'M AN IDIOT!!!
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nacho936
Newbie
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6. April 2007 @ 23:53 |
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Thanks for all the replies. They were really helpful!
HELP! I'M AN IDIOT!!!
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gp376
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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10. April 2007 @ 20:11 |
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you may want to give trustedmods.com a chance at fixing it because i made the same mistake at modding my ps2 and broke it but they fixed it . when i got my wii i did not take the chance because i had to go through hell to get it and it works great with all my imports and backups .
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j314
Newbie
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19. April 2007 @ 07:57 |
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Just a note that after several attempts, my wiikey finally is installed properly and plays all games, but the channels don't work for me either. I get a black screen as well, as reported elsewhere on the forums.
Here's my soldering experience:
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/471264#3008515
Kafluke how the heck did you quicksolder without wires? No matter which way I put the chip I still had a significant gap between points (the chip was bigger so some points were always too far away), and there was no way I could make a thin trail of solder that went from the pad, down along the board, up the edge of the wiikey and then to the wiikey solder point. I had to use wires.
MDSP I thought flux was to get solder to stick? I didn't realize it helped solder heat faster. I don't know much about soldering but I thought of it as like a pre 'glue' to get the solder to stick where I wanted it to (i.e. wire and pads).
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vdojunkie
Junior Member
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23. May 2007 @ 04:33 |
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nacho did you fix ur wii?
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Domovoi
Newbie
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21. July 2007 @ 12:35 |
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Hey there i have a wii key and yah im not going to be able to install it is there any kind of place where i can find people that will in my area (las vegas)
Thanks :)
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ioki_boy
Newbie
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11. November 2007 @ 16:36 |
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Kafluke, do you know of any places in Vegas that are willing to install Wiikeys and/or repair Wiis? I am in Vegas right now but having problems finding places that will do this.
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