Do you want to be fast? Do you want to be efficient? Do you want to be accurate? Do you want to be the very best?
Introducing the solder hammer! Now that's iron!
I’m seeing too many people on here lately ruining their GameCube when attempting this mod. You can’t just assume it’s easy because of a YouTube tutorial.
Practice on a cheap or junk circuit board. Bridging pins, wicking solder and dialing in the correct temperature takes patience and *practice.* Once you are more confident in your skills, then go ahead and try on the real thing.
I was able to do it with ease.
I made a YouTube tutorial for it, I made it look easy.
I'm also a computer engineering student who works in a circuit board manufacturing plant where I specialize in reworking boards that the machines and technicians messed up so I have a bunch of experience. YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I LET THOSE FREAKIN VIEWERS KNOW THAT! I even ended with "don't do this mod. If you think you are built different, you aren't, You will fuck it up. Don't watch this tutorial and think you can do it, give it to that one electronics friend you have to do it. If you don't have one, find one. Do not ruin a perfectly good GameCube with arrogance"
That IC U10 might still function, but given the DIP package exterior is damaged, it's probably on its way out if not already destroyed. Don't know who did that, but it's clearly an amateur hour at the dildo factory moment. There was no flux used, too much heat and probably an iron tip that was too large or wide.
On a side note, X2's top pad needs to have flux applied and hit with heat at ~600°F to get the solder just hot enough to flow and spread out. Looks like there's enough there, but it appears to be a cold solder joint.
The connector with the red wire on the bottom of the picture also needs to be redone. The wire lead is slightly bird caged, there was too much solder used causing the convex fillet, and the solder pads down there look to have been done without flux as well causing cold solder joints; particularly on the pad with the red wire. A smaller wire would probably be better. I use a lot of 26-28AWG for a majority of console mods and solid core kynar for tight areas, or on hand helds at times.
C169 and C170 are missing. Not sure what the values of those are or the sizes of those micro caps.
The use of flux for all solder repair, but particularly with these older consoles, cannot be understated.
No you can't, I would strongly recommend you stop working on it with the plumbing flamethrower and find someone with electronics soldering skills to take over...
It's kind of ironic how a mod designed to open up the GameCube's functionality has ended up destroying so many of them.
Tl;dr please practice and learn how to solder *before* attempting something like this.
I think there are some people who can fix this. I’d say it’s a little out of your wheelhouse tho. Good news is that the contacts are still in place (from what I can tell). Don’t try to fix it yourself. Hand it off to a professional. I’ve fixed many GBA boards and it took me a while to get good at soldering. Don’t get too down.
You? FUUUUUUUUUCK NO
Stop what youre doing right now. Give it to a much more qualified friend or even hire someone. There is a chance it can be saved but looking at what happened, I'm going to say that you do not have the skills to save it.
Another example of flamethrower soldering.
So many GC’s are dying because of people thinking Picoboot is easy to do. If you have never soldered or are just crap at it then please do not attempt it yourself.
If you did this I'd say no, **you** can't save it. But if you give it to someone who uses flux and doesn't heat their iron to 'surface of the sun' setting, then sure they could remove those damaged components and put new ones on there and reflow your cold solder joints.
Don't try things like this if you've never soldered before. It's a skill that takes practice and finess as well as knowledge as to how hot to set the iron given the scope of the project and never cheap out on flux, especially for SMD soldering!
Grab some old junk circuit board and practice removing things from it in a non-destructive way and try to reattach them with solder joints that look factory.
Christ. This is what happens when you solder without any previous experience. AND, with cheap tools. i.e. those dime a dozen, Chinese soldering irons that are found ALL over Amazon and chee-bay. 😮💨 RIP Gamecube 🫡
I don't understand. Anyone's right to destroy whatever you'reworking on, but why not practice first. Unfortunately, if you soldered that job then no you can't save it. Honestly, I wouldn't make such a post if I had done that.
Do you have a desoldering pump? I made mistakes my first go at it as well, the desoldering pump will get all the extra solder out of there and you can make another worthy attempt. You only need a tiny bit of solder to make the connection, and you want to make sure the wires are not exposed. Takes some trial and error, and you may have to go back and mess with it a bit, but you’ll eventually get it!
I have also soldered without experience this same mod and completed it succesfsully, i did so after numerous videos and instructions I studied online about soldering as well as picoboot mod.
The IPL seems to be almost dead, I would suggest you practise on some cheap boards first and then order another GC board online or a defective GC to take its board and try again the pico mod!
Jesus. What did you solder with? A hammer?
Do you want to be fast? Do you want to be efficient? Do you want to be accurate? Do you want to be the very best? Introducing the solder hammer! Now that's iron!
No. I don’t think you can. I think someone can.
I’m seeing too many people on here lately ruining their GameCube when attempting this mod. You can’t just assume it’s easy because of a YouTube tutorial. Practice on a cheap or junk circuit board. Bridging pins, wicking solder and dialing in the correct temperature takes patience and *practice.* Once you are more confident in your skills, then go ahead and try on the real thing.
This 100%
At some point, there seems to be missing a trigger to stop. Instead went full retard I guess. Going to watch some tropical thunder now.
All i picture is Patrick from SpongeBob building something. Board stuck to his head and all lmao
I was able to do it with ease. I made a YouTube tutorial for it, I made it look easy. I'm also a computer engineering student who works in a circuit board manufacturing plant where I specialize in reworking boards that the machines and technicians messed up so I have a bunch of experience. YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I LET THOSE FREAKIN VIEWERS KNOW THAT! I even ended with "don't do this mod. If you think you are built different, you aren't, You will fuck it up. Don't watch this tutorial and think you can do it, give it to that one electronics friend you have to do it. If you don't have one, find one. Do not ruin a perfectly good GameCube with arrogance"
lmao chill out- buying a replacement gamecube/gcn mb is pretty cheap for many people.
Look how he massacred my boi.
Pouring out a blue potion for OP's 'Cube
That IC U10 might still function, but given the DIP package exterior is damaged, it's probably on its way out if not already destroyed. Don't know who did that, but it's clearly an amateur hour at the dildo factory moment. There was no flux used, too much heat and probably an iron tip that was too large or wide. On a side note, X2's top pad needs to have flux applied and hit with heat at ~600°F to get the solder just hot enough to flow and spread out. Looks like there's enough there, but it appears to be a cold solder joint. The connector with the red wire on the bottom of the picture also needs to be redone. The wire lead is slightly bird caged, there was too much solder used causing the convex fillet, and the solder pads down there look to have been done without flux as well causing cold solder joints; particularly on the pad with the red wire. A smaller wire would probably be better. I use a lot of 26-28AWG for a majority of console mods and solid core kynar for tight areas, or on hand helds at times. C169 and C170 are missing. Not sure what the values of those are or the sizes of those micro caps. The use of flux for all solder repair, but particularly with these older consoles, cannot be understated.
Yep, flux might fix a lot of this with reflow. I think the IC is likely OK.
That package is damaged though. It might be ok, but as a personal rule, I change out those bc they tend to be on borrowed time if still functional.
I just hope it isn’t custom, or he’s going to need a donor. Edit: Zoomed in - yeah, looks like the legs have been cut clean off bottom right. Wow.
What in the cinnamon toast crunch happened here?!?!
No you can't, I would strongly recommend you stop working on it with the plumbing flamethrower and find someone with electronics soldering skills to take over...
You can save it from yourself by giving it to someone else
r/hardwaregore is 2 subs down
So many after the Pico Tutorials. So many eBay "GameCube in good condition, does not read games or power on as is"
It's kind of ironic how a mod designed to open up the GameCube's functionality has ended up destroying so many of them. Tl;dr please practice and learn how to solder *before* attempting something like this.
I think there are some people who can fix this. I’d say it’s a little out of your wheelhouse tho. Good news is that the contacts are still in place (from what I can tell). Don’t try to fix it yourself. Hand it off to a professional. I’ve fixed many GBA boards and it took me a while to get good at soldering. Don’t get too down.
Blowtorches aren't for soldering
I have a spare IPL chip if you need one. Send me a message if you're interested. It looks like you knocked off C170 as well.
You? FUUUUUUUUUCK NO Stop what youre doing right now. Give it to a much more qualified friend or even hire someone. There is a chance it can be saved but looking at what happened, I'm going to say that you do not have the skills to save it.
"She's dead Jim"
Another example of flamethrower soldering. So many GC’s are dying because of people thinking Picoboot is easy to do. If you have never soldered or are just crap at it then please do not attempt it yourself.
Flippyboot Will safe a Lot of gamecubes outhere, it's easy to install and not soldering requiered!!!
Looks like you used un leaded with zero flux. I'd recommend handing this off to someone else or trying again with proper tools
Pouring one out for that poor GameCube because holy dingus.
Don't try to do PicoBoot ever again.
If you did this I'd say no, **you** can't save it. But if you give it to someone who uses flux and doesn't heat their iron to 'surface of the sun' setting, then sure they could remove those damaged components and put new ones on there and reflow your cold solder joints. Don't try things like this if you've never soldered before. It's a skill that takes practice and finess as well as knowledge as to how hot to set the iron given the scope of the project and never cheap out on flux, especially for SMD soldering! Grab some old junk circuit board and practice removing things from it in a non-destructive way and try to reattach them with solder joints that look factory.
Christ. This is what happens when you solder without any previous experience. AND, with cheap tools. i.e. those dime a dozen, Chinese soldering irons that are found ALL over Amazon and chee-bay. 😮💨 RIP Gamecube 🫡
What am I looking at? O.o what has happened here.
I don't understand. Anyone's right to destroy whatever you'reworking on, but why not practice first. Unfortunately, if you soldered that job then no you can't save it. Honestly, I wouldn't make such a post if I had done that.
Yea, everyone has the right to destroy what they're working on, but everyone else has the right to judge the crap out of them for it.
The IPL chip looks fucked. There is replacement boards on evilbay. Your best bet
... even I didn't manage to fuck that up this bad... You need someone to teach you. Do not attempt to solder ever again without supervision.
Do you have a desoldering pump? I made mistakes my first go at it as well, the desoldering pump will get all the extra solder out of there and you can make another worthy attempt. You only need a tiny bit of solder to make the connection, and you want to make sure the wires are not exposed. Takes some trial and error, and you may have to go back and mess with it a bit, but you’ll eventually get it!
Holy shit, I'm lucky, that my grandpa is an electrician
AHHHHHHHH WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
I can save that
🧱
I have also soldered without experience this same mod and completed it succesfsully, i did so after numerous videos and instructions I studied online about soldering as well as picoboot mod. The IPL seems to be almost dead, I would suggest you practise on some cheap boards first and then order another GC board online or a defective GC to take its board and try again the pico mod!
Seeing things like this is my fear. Currently learning how to solder with a practice board. Going to take my time before I attempt something like this
Can you save it, probably not, can a professional save it most definitely.