Thanks Vince, I have a faulty mic 🎤on mine, which i never noticed until now after, buying over 2 years ago.... but i haven't messed with electronics since i replaced a psp screen back in the day .... your video has given me the confidence to give it ago again (soldering etc) ... I'm also half way through your follow up vid with the region lock chip problem. Thank you. Dave.
The charging light doesn't shows up, so there's a fault on the power section. Use a multimeter to trace where the voltage goes off and then you may be able to repair it. I haven't found the Wii U Gamepad schematics, but i'm nearly sure it will have a switching voltage regulator, that's the most probable faulty component. That or a battery management IC.
From iFixit for you m8 "To test the capacitor with a multimeter, set the meter to read in the high ohms range, somewhere above 10k and 1m ohms. Touch the meter leads to the corresponding leads on the capacitor, red to positive and black to negative. The meter should start at zero and then moving slowly toward infinity. This means that the capacitor is in working condition. If the meter stays at zero, the capacitor is not charging through the battery of the meter, meaning it is not working." Hope that helps.
This generally requires the capacitor to be out of circuit, meaning he'd have to desolder each one. A huge pain in the ass. There are other troubleshooting methods to go... I for one would have followed the voltage line from the battery to find the power IC and narrow down the issue. Guarantee the issue is somewhere in that department. May not have been a blown fuse but perhaps a cap shorting to ground etc. Or even just a bad IC. If the IC for power isn't putting out any voltage, well then you know which chip to replace.
To troubleshoot the other components it's not different, anything that's damaged gives a short with a big bleep from your multimeter. So put red wrire against an IC's V and black to its [the IC] ground - if there's a beep it means its dead and have to be replaced manually. Since there are about 2-3 ICs on the board you'll have to test each, and if there are no beeps but consistent numbers on the meter it means they're working. Capacitors are just about the same, just make sure to measure from the correct polarization.
If I may add, if you look at the ICs usually there's a logo, serial number or name related to the manufacturer, as in Nintendo, Texas Instrument etc etc. But in a majority of cases, power management ICs are bought in cheaply from 3rd party and most likely that's the culprit behind this issue. You can often google and find a replacement very easy, but in case they aren't available but the spec sheet is - you can find a substitute with the right specs. Given the precision required for these small ICs, I strongly recommend in purchasing a thinner solder tip. I turn to elfa.se for small components, just look for your related store in britain (or if you're scottish, Scotland). Edit: Actually I managed to find them on iFxit, www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Wii+U+Teardown/11796 Step 24 and down.
There are a couple of ways to test capacitors. The easiest is to use an ESR meter on the broken circuit, but you need to compare it to the functional one, since we don't have the schematics. Make sure you discharge all the capacitors before testing.
Hi Vince, This week, I had a same problem (Wii u gamepad dead, no response including charging ) and after reviewing the possible solutions including your both gamepad fix videoes; I also tried every Nintendo official and other suggestion, but the gamepad is still no response. Today, it's lucky my gamepad came back and activied as normal. Below are my steps and may be helpful for you and someone. Wii U gamepad dead (Method" redirection the gamepad charge code) 1. Remove the battery from gamepad more than 30 seconds. 2. Plug the charge on the TOP of gamepad. 3. My Wii U gamepad charge Led orange blinked for 10 minutes. (The orange led blinking means the gamepad battery not charging in) 4. Unplug the carge and install back the battery; and then re-plug the charge on the TOP of the gamepad. 5. Now, the gamepad charge led stated as orange as normal charging; After the battery charging full, my gamepad come alive as usual. Remark: not test on the charge cradle. No sure why Wii U gamepad goes dead so easy after google searching, there many many same problems. Just my guess: the gamepad charge mechanism goes wrong code if battery power too low or too full; the gamepad battery protect rules go to both NOT power on or charge. But sometimes the protect codes still stay even the battery remove. That's why Nintendo official suggestions works. My gamepad was power on and charging over night, but dead in the morning. However, I used Wii U this way for months, it's no problem. Anyhow, the method is lucky for me and expect same all of you. Possible Methods I found might be useful. i. Nintendo Official: (It's works, can find at youtube) Open the back cover and remove the battery for more than 30 minutes and reinstall battery. ii. Find another Battery or charge. (It's works, ) Buy or find battery and the gamepad charge. iii. Motherboard replacement. (not sure homebrew to set up as region free works; may be need same region as Wii U console) Buy a Wii U gamepad from Amazon or ebay or Aliexpress. iiii. as above step 1 - 5. the end.
@mymatevince Capacitor c103 looks like it has one side raised above its' solder pad, "tombstoned," and it might need to be resoldered to be pushed more flush to the pads under it. Also, the p15 female connector for a 4-pin ribbon cable looks like the solder connection located by the number 4 needs to be reflowed as well; it looked copper colored instead of silver. I'd like to see the other side of the board. It might just be as simple as a cold solder joint that needs to be reflowed. If you can't test the components with diode mode on your multimeter, then just look at each component/connector and see if it looks uncorroded and properly soldered. Great video. I hope this helps. Cheers
Whoa I'm amazed how big your channel has gotten, It just seems like the other day where I watched that video about playing your playstation 4 portably in a car with that hori or G-story screen addon, Im liking these repairing videos you've been doing as well always enjoy seeing people attempt to mod game consoles or completely restore them, nice work ^^
Actually you need to find schematics for that circuitboard to indicate every capacitors voltages, which is unlikely to find on internet. Most likely a capacitor don't deliver the proper voltage. You can test them with motherboard connected to battery with multimeter by checking each individual microvoltage, With schematics you can see every cap normal voltage. Resistors i don't think you can check with your multimeter. Btw if you buy another motherboard, you can try the faulty one in oven at 120 degree celsius for 7 minutes, maybe you have luck and there is a tiny imperfect connection from solder.
well im enjoying these fix it videos Vince. Your next step on the mother board is to check voltages on the test points. the Voltages might b printed on the board but probs not. If not u will need service info for it. Board replacement is a good option for 1 off repairs u can still take that as a win mate. Well done
You can check out Louis Rossmann channel, he have many detail tutorials on repairs and testing motherboards. You will need schematics for that wii controller.
you should check the water damage indicator sticker, and any big capacitors, also the top board likely broke from something happening to the chargeport, since i cannot think of how else it would break. are you sure you checked every fuse? if you did then i would still recommend looking at many pages of google and checking many forums and videos of wii u gamepad repairs to see if your can find something that could help you
i got a WiiU from game in the uk for £90 and it came with th original box and it is an A rating which is the best rating you can get plus i get a 12 month warranty.
Shane Dean I had a look at the console I paid £90 for and it has barely been used comes with the box and all original packaging and everything it’s as good as you can get and seen as Nintendo has discontinued the WiiU i would say I got a good deal
I haven't bought one from Cex I just know that they are relatively cheap now second hand and that Cex offer 24 month warranty. I think for a boxed one they want £100, so a little more expensive than what you paid
Hey Vince! Have you considered livestreaming yourself recording these repair videos on Twitch? I'd love to watch these live, even though it may take an extra couple of hours.
A live stream would be nice but i don't think that would work out like someone said some people in the chat would give Vince useless information and end up confusing him .
maybe a tip, i always check if it draws power from the supply, even if it does not turns on it can be a dead short although the battery isn't drained down. capacitors usually fail and short out, so a capacitor test is just a continuity test. you could probe every place the positive power goes down the traces. anyway good to see you try to fix it, good video, thanks for sharing
I love the Wii U so much!! I remember buying it when it came out. I owned it until the Xbox One X came about and I did a trade in. I regretted it since and had to go and buy another one to enjoy the awesome catalog of games I never got to play. I collect retro games and play them everyday! Wii U is highly underrated and if they actually put more time into marketing, who knows where it would be now but I think it's truly ridiculous how Nintendo was so quick to write it off. As for the Switch, not a terrible system but I do not like the joy cons and I still hold the Wii U superior to the Switch. Fantastic video!!
Hello! I would like some advice, I bought a Wii U and I can’t update the system and when I open internet browser it comes up with an error. What is wrong and how do I fix it?
Absolutely love your videos mate ! Might i recommend i anti static wrist band ? I once shocked a motherboard and it got fried so i have been using one ever since.
Yeah I agree, none of the charging ports and power switch works, so my thoughts is its not getting the sense voltage or alike from the battery to the charging/power circuit which won't allow the unit to charge or turn on. There will be a common point where the battery input and mains input meet at an IC or such. Personally, I'd be VERY wary of using cheap knock off parts????
Those items marked F1, F2, and F3 that contain a component with a '0' marked on them aren't fuses. Honest mistake. They're "zero ohm resistors", in other words - jumpers. Usually they're used to set some sort of option - what used to be done with a little switch. I agree with the "heat it up" comments. Done carefully and properly (temperature, time and cooling rate all matter) you're basically redoing all of the solder connections on the board. Done wrong, you're ruining a broken board, so no big deal. Also, being a double-sided populated board, you have to be extra careful - you can't rest it on the components on the bottom while you do it, so you need some sort of stand.
Fracture they are in fact, fuses. The "zero" is in fact an "O", which is amp code for 2.5 Amps. Take a look at ultra fast SMD fuses, such as the 0603 package. Besides, if you take a look at the placement on the board, it doesn't make much sense since nothing goes underneath them (therefore just a trace could have done the job, rather than a jumper) EDIT: Just so you don't think I'm crazy (because there's not a ton of obvious information out there), take a look at ebay listing 112697085121
Imagine Wagons at about 25:20, he's talking about one of the small SMD (surface mount) components on the board. Fracture said that they are 0 Ohm resistors, and he could have been right since they look almost exactly the same. A fuse is a component that would stop a certain amount of current going from one place to another. There are fuses that would destroy themselves to prevent that, and there are so called resettable fuses (PPTC) that go back to normal after a certain period of time. The value of the fuse that I was talking about (O) is a symbol that signifies how many Amps can pass through it before it blows. That could have been an F, or something else. The reason for using letters, or just a 2 or 3 digit code, is because the components are very tiny, there's not much space for complicated text on there. A resistor is a component that would limit the amount of current going from one place to another. Zero ohm resistors are basically the equivalent of a regular piece of wire, they act as jumpers. The reason for using 0 Ohm resistors is because they are the same shape and size as the other types of components, therefore a pick-and-place machine could do the job rather than to have a human manually install a piece of wire to act as a jumper. It's cheaper and faster, and less error prone. Another less popular reason for using 0 Ohm resistors is to make it more difficult for people to reverse engineer the board, to make it confusing. And the reason for using jumpers is to be able to have the opportunity to go over things on the board. Copper traces (the thin lines on the board) can't go across one another, they musn't touch. Therefore sometimes when it's not possible to make it so in the design of the board, some traces need to "jump" over other traces, and that's achieved by a piece of wire (or 0 Ohm resistors) that sit above the trace that needs to be jumped.
agreed but whether or not anything is under them is irrelevant since if they are replacing a switch it is cheaper to use them than redoing the board to eliminate the space. But they are definitely fuses especially considering that they are labelled as fuses.
Hey, Vince, like your channel? Keep it up and keep the good work up. Very interested in how you did the VSV like the video. That was critical, the PlayStation Vita or PSP, what you're doing on the PlayStation once.
I like your video as you are just like me, not really sure what you are doing but giving it a go any how. =P I've been buying damaged phones online and opening them up just to see. I've actually surprised myself at how many I've been able to fix.
You should open up a po box for your fans to send things in for you to review or do some videos on. I would love to send you some stuff for you to fix as i love these video!
If you wanna repair the capacitors I would suggest twisting it off rather than pulling it off. When you are twisting it you do not apply as much pressure. Pulling it off can result in the connectors breaking off and having to put a new one back down diagonally.
Put your meter on beep mode or diode mode, then put your red lead on ground (-) and then check those smd caps They should only beep on one side if it beeps on both sides good chance it's shorted remove and check out of circuit Do the same with the diodes check to see if you get a short both ways with both leads on the diodes Those black fuses are zero ohm resistors or just links Check mosfets for shorts and check voltage regulators
Do a nintendo switch trying to fix!!! Ps- even if i am late and its bareley any chance it will happen, i still will watch all of your trying to fix videos!
Also you found your shorted caps at 24:36 they are shorted to ground you shouldn't get any continuity between them. But there maybe a power management ic shorted to ground on that line the caps test bad on.
do you know if its easy to fix hd port on wii u console i got to link mine up with wii u 2 adapter but only gives you 480 resolution even no it says 1080?
Looking forward to this video, even though i think i've spoiled the result by reading the comments first. I passed up a WiiU for 25gbp at a charity shop the other day, catch was it had no ganmepad
I mean I have the regular wii black console, so does the gamepad literally just mirror whats on the tv in game? so I mean if you wanted to you could be staring at the gamepad whilst everyone else is looking at the tv? I need knew thats how they were really lol, I vaguely remember trying one out at gamester when it first came out but this is really neat! So now I have to know, which is better in terms of functionality the WiiU or the Nintendo Switch?
in this type of board (in my experience with notebooks, tha capacitors tend to enter in short circuit and put VCC directly to GND, this tend to occurs more frequentlly in large capacitors (this is not a rule, but is it in most of times), I think in this time you already recognize capacitors in board, this is small brown bricks marked by Cxxx in board (remember the capacitors in short with ground in nintendo switch? same case here, seme on notebooks, so start for the big ones test, anilyze, search for any visual diferences in nearby, if you can use microscope, look for signs of burn, cracks and, leak, measure them, if you suspect of one , remove from the board, use captom tape to protect the surrounds, as I can see in your measures powerlines is in short, test from batery, and from power input from PSU. and try to find out any suspects remove , test out of board, test points in bord, if in short go on... one time you will find the gilty, normally in power line putting vcc and gnd in short... just try it... remember less heat, less air flux, 350 grads max... less flux you put too much and it flows all the board, not need to much, just a small amount to cover 1 caps and it will do the job, try and see.
on the scematic there are 5 fuses i can't link the scematic tho. and yiu should also check resistance of the fuses. a slight change in resitance can have massive effects
My Mate VINCE i've double checked it my schematic is for a different revision. the two fuses most likley don't exist on this revision as i can't find them. i would like to know how bad do you want to repair it. i can't find a scematic for the newer boards. i can try find all information but i would take time. it's as far as i can see fixable.
Just remember wii u tablet controller's are region locked. Also you could trace out the power,you have a working one as a reference,will take some time but I'm sure you can do it.
Oh no....I didn't think of the region lock. It didn't say anything in the eBay listing for PAL when I bought the motherboard. I thought the region lock would be for the console itself rather than the gamepad!!!! I will see if any of the other motherboard listings mention anything about regions :-) Thanks for the message :-)
buy a multimeter with setting for diode and capasitor test or a esr capasitor tester.the cermamic capasitors(browntypical)go bad 2 ways totaly open.device ca "work"2 a total short.cermaic smd caps are Easy to get from a scrap parts.the size capasity value must be the same or higer.Low voltage so every cap is rated for this voltage wise|.find farad best to use esr or multimeter with setting for caps.
Not to seem patronising, did you take a good look at the charge port itself? The most stressed part of the Gamepad if the person was using that while playing and charging at the same time.
My Mate VINCE the bottom charge port is just two pins, as you know, the Gamepad just sits in the cradle. It's the top charge port you should concern yourself with. Sounds like you've overlooked the possibility of ether a dry joint, or the port as come loose slightly from all the connecting and pulling.
usually if you spend enough time you can find schematics which will tell you what voltage levels the caps and resistors are supposed to be showing when on
I had one of the original nyko extended batteries but those of expensive these days of course. Anyone have a good brand of replacement larger battery for the gamepad? Much thanks!!
Isn't it worth just putting the broken one all back together again? Perhaps when you were messing with the motherboard and testing it you could have moved something or a piece of solder that was causing the problem. Worth a try. or maybe plug it in when done and press the motherboard in places to see if that does anything ie might be a dry joint.
i was just given a wii u a few days ago from a friend. and the screen on gamepad is broke. so ive watched a few videos on how to replace it. and once i can order a new screen and it gets here. i can hopefully put it in and fix it correctly myself. ive never owned a wii u and only seen one in my life. so when a friend was willing to give it away. i was all for it.
Having looked at buying JST connectors/cables for a GBZ build I wonder (and should confirm) if the number of connections (other than black/red) imply how many cells there are.
We we use a very good video game from Nintendo itself, but Vince is hard to fix. Most of the consoles and they have a deep factory, default settings and also houses that's around inside of them. The way how you work out definitely parts in it because sometimes they get really, really hard to do, to remake or resold or or. Report back in sometimes. Do you like the videos? And I do like when you fix things.
I've been shopping for an affordable used Wii U and so far they are all around the 250.00 Canadian dollars which would be what around 165.09 Pound sterling. So you got that for half price I could use a deal like that I tell you. I wonder if anyone knows if you can fix the video portion of a Wii U motherboard
Just found a gamepa--- just as i was typing you mentioned my suggestion of buying a new motherboard from china for 14.39, however a couple comments below mentioned putting it in the oven for a bit and i believe you fixed a LG tv that way before, worth a shot, Score on mario 3d world
Stick it in a toaster oven and then put it back together. Maybe solder came loose somewhere. I used to do this with an old graphics card and it always worked.
Nintendo products are the easiest items to get replacement parts due to the modular technology. Screen digitizers are £5 so if touch response is dead easy fix.
More videos like this on the regular, please. I really enjoy watching them!
Thank you :-)
My Mate VINCE Qlomomjupu
My gamepad doesn’t show up but I hear it
@@marlongarcia7081 do you mean the screen dosent work the ribbon cable might not be seated properly
Thanks Vince,
I have a faulty mic 🎤on mine, which i never noticed until now after, buying over 2 years ago.... but i haven't messed with electronics since i replaced a psp screen back in the day .... your video has given me the confidence to give it ago again (soldering etc) ... I'm also half way through your follow up vid with the region lock chip problem.
Thank you.
Dave.
Vince is going to be an electronics genius when it's all said and done.
Since you have a working one, you can test the resistance comparatively.. See where they differ.
The charging light doesn't shows up, so there's a fault on the power section. Use a multimeter to trace where the voltage goes off and then you may be able to repair it. I haven't found the Wii U Gamepad schematics, but i'm nearly sure it will have a switching voltage regulator, that's the most probable faulty component. That or a battery management IC.
Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge :-)
@@Mymatevince alwys start reading the fuses
From iFixit for you m8 "To test the capacitor with a multimeter, set the meter to read in the high ohms range, somewhere above 10k and 1m ohms. Touch the meter leads to the corresponding leads on the capacitor, red to positive and black to negative. The meter should start at zero and then moving slowly toward infinity. This means that the capacitor is in working condition. If the meter stays at zero, the capacitor is not charging through the battery of the meter, meaning it is not working." Hope that helps.
This generally requires the capacitor to be out of circuit, meaning he'd have to desolder each one. A huge pain in the ass. There are other troubleshooting methods to go... I for one would have followed the voltage line from the battery to find the power IC and narrow down the issue. Guarantee the issue is somewhere in that department. May not have been a blown fuse but perhaps a cap shorting to ground etc. Or even just a bad IC. If the IC for power isn't putting out any voltage, well then you know which chip to replace.
You know Vince i like taking things apart too. You do a great job at these videos of taking things apart that i have never seen apart before
Many congratulations on 200k been subscribed for ages love to see this channel grow :)
Thank you for all the support :-)
@@Mymatevince Me too! Ive been watching since 140K!
What an evolution. 5 years ago you were very limited to trougbleshoot and now you do everything!! Ocngrats and keep the good videos!!
To troubleshoot the other components it's not different, anything that's damaged gives a short with a big bleep from your multimeter. So put red wrire against an IC's V and black to its [the IC] ground - if there's a beep it means its dead and have to be replaced manually. Since there are about 2-3 ICs on the board you'll have to test each, and if there are no beeps but consistent numbers on the meter it means they're working.
Capacitors are just about the same, just make sure to measure from the correct polarization.
Thanks for the detailed info :-)
If I may add, if you look at the ICs usually there's a logo, serial number or name related to the manufacturer, as in Nintendo, Texas Instrument etc etc. But in a majority of cases, power management ICs are bought in cheaply from 3rd party and most likely that's the culprit behind this issue. You can often google and find a replacement very easy, but in case they aren't available but the spec sheet is - you can find a substitute with the right specs.
Given the precision required for these small ICs, I strongly recommend in purchasing a thinner solder tip.
I turn to elfa.se for small components, just look for your related store in britain (or if you're scottish, Scotland).
Edit:
Actually I managed to find them on iFxit, www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Wii+U+Teardown/11796 Step 24 and down.
Wow!
There are a couple of ways to test capacitors. The easiest is to use an ESR meter on the broken circuit, but you need to compare it to the functional one, since we don't have the schematics. Make sure you discharge all the capacitors before testing.
got a week off work and have been binge watching these lol
Thats sad what people doing on their holidays these days
Hi Vince,
This week, I had a same problem (Wii u gamepad dead, no response including charging ) and after reviewing the possible solutions including your both gamepad fix videoes; I also tried every Nintendo official and other suggestion, but the gamepad is still no response.
Today, it's lucky my gamepad came back and activied as normal. Below are my steps and may be helpful for you and someone.
Wii U gamepad dead (Method" redirection the gamepad charge code)
1. Remove the battery from gamepad more than 30 seconds.
2. Plug the charge on the TOP of gamepad.
3. My Wii U gamepad charge Led orange blinked for 10 minutes. (The orange led blinking means the gamepad battery not charging in)
4. Unplug the carge and install back the battery; and then re-plug the charge on the TOP of the gamepad.
5. Now, the gamepad charge led stated as orange as normal charging; After the battery charging full, my gamepad come alive as usual.
Remark: not test on the charge cradle.
No sure why Wii U gamepad goes dead so easy after google searching, there many many same problems.
Just my guess:
the gamepad charge mechanism goes wrong code if battery power too low or too full; the gamepad battery protect rules go to both NOT power on or charge. But sometimes the protect codes still stay even the battery remove.
That's why Nintendo official suggestions works.
My gamepad was power on and charging over night, but dead in the morning. However, I used Wii U this way for months, it's no problem. Anyhow, the method is lucky for me and expect same all of you.
Possible Methods I found might be useful.
i. Nintendo Official: (It's works, can find at youtube)
Open the back cover and remove the battery for more than 30 minutes and reinstall battery.
ii. Find another Battery or charge. (It's works, )
Buy or find battery and the gamepad charge.
iii. Motherboard replacement. (not sure homebrew to set up as region free works; may be need same region as Wii U console)
Buy a Wii U gamepad from Amazon or ebay or Aliexpress.
iiii. as above step 1 - 5.
the end.
Love your channle and keep up the great work
I enjoy watching you bring broken consols back to life
@mymatevince Capacitor c103 looks like it has one side raised above its' solder pad, "tombstoned," and it might need to be resoldered to be pushed more flush to the pads under it. Also, the p15 female connector for a 4-pin ribbon cable looks like the solder connection located by the number 4 needs to be reflowed as well; it looked copper colored instead of silver.
I'd like to see the other side of the board. It might just be as simple as a cold solder joint that needs to be reflowed. If you can't test the components with diode mode on your multimeter, then just look at each component/connector and see if it looks uncorroded and properly soldered.
Great video. I hope this helps.
Cheers
You are one of my favorite TH-camrs. Keep making more Wii U videos
you can get a replacement motherboard for around £15 from eBay
EDIT: saw you ordered on in the end!! awesome video! :) - well done!!!
Where to get such motherboard as spare? I currently can't find any european version of this motherboard, only US and japanese versions.
Imagine if the screen had been smashed on the pad when it turned on haha! Good effort mate, great fix!
Haha! Yes, I forgot about that....I should count myself lucky that it wasn't smashed given my past purchases :-)
Whoa I'm amazed how big your channel has gotten, It just seems like the other day where I watched that video about playing your playstation 4 portably in a car with that hori or G-story screen addon, Im liking these repairing videos you've been doing as well always enjoy seeing people attempt to mod game consoles or completely restore them, nice work ^^
Thanks so much :-)
Actually you need to find schematics for that circuitboard to indicate every capacitors voltages, which is unlikely to find on internet. Most likely a capacitor don't deliver the proper voltage. You can test them with motherboard connected to battery with multimeter by checking each individual microvoltage, With schematics you can see every cap normal voltage. Resistors i don't think you can check with your multimeter. Btw if you buy another motherboard, you can try the faulty one in oven at 120 degree celsius for 7 minutes, maybe you have luck and there is a tiny imperfect connection from solder.
well im enjoying these fix it videos Vince. Your next step on the mother board is to check voltages on the test points. the Voltages might b printed on the board but probs not. If not u will need service info for it. Board replacement is a good option for 1 off repairs u can still take that as a win mate. Well done
You can check out Louis Rossmann channel, he have many detail tutorials on repairs and testing motherboards. You will need schematics for that wii controller.
Thanks :-)
Lately, he just complains about stuff. I ended up unsubscribing personally.
D Johnson that's his thing and personality but his repair videos are great and free.
Fair enough, but the vast majority of youtube videos are free, so I don't understand why that's worth mentioning.
still has more sense in repairs then most western people...
you should check the water damage indicator sticker, and any big capacitors, also the top board likely broke from something happening to the chargeport, since i cannot think of how else it would break. are you sure you checked every fuse? if you did then i would still recommend looking at many pages of google and checking many forums and videos of wii u gamepad repairs to see if your can find something that could help you
i got a WiiU from game in the uk for £90 and it came with th original box and it is an A rating which is the best rating you can get plus i get a 12 month warranty.
Cex in the UK sell them from £80 with a 24 month warranty
Shane Dean what’s the quality like?
Shane Dean I had a look at the console I paid £90 for and it has barely been used comes with the box and all original packaging and everything it’s as good as you can get and seen as Nintendo has discontinued the WiiU i would say I got a good deal
I haven't bought one from Cex I just know that they are relatively cheap now second hand and that Cex offer 24 month warranty. I think for a boxed one they want £100, so a little more expensive than what you paid
subscribed for the trying to fix series! thanks and keep it up :)
Hey Vince! Have you considered livestreaming yourself recording these repair videos on Twitch? I'd love to watch these live, even though it may take an extra couple of hours.
HEY VINCE DONT LISTEN TO PIVOTCRAFTER
Vince?
ignore this guy cus chat will go chaos instead of advices
A live stream would be nice but i don't think that would work out like someone said some people in the chat would give Vince useless information and end up confusing him .
maybe a tip, i always check if it draws power from the supply, even if it does not turns on it can be a dead short although the battery isn't drained down.
capacitors usually fail and short out, so a capacitor test is just a continuity test. you could probe every place the positive power goes down the traces.
anyway good to see you try to fix it, good video, thanks for sharing
Thanks for the tip :-)
I love the Wii U so much!! I remember buying it when it came out. I owned it until the Xbox One X came about and I did a trade in. I regretted it since and had to go and buy another one to enjoy the awesome catalog of games I never got to play. I collect retro games and play them everyday! Wii U is highly underrated and if they actually put more time into marketing, who knows where it would be now but I think it's truly ridiculous how Nintendo was so quick to write it off. As for the Switch, not a terrible system but I do not like the joy cons and I still hold the Wii U superior to the Switch. Fantastic video!!
Hello! I would like some advice, I bought a Wii U and I can’t update the system and when I open internet browser it comes up with an error. What is wrong and how do I fix it?
Probably the system is banned from Nintendo.
Anyhow you can jailbreak it!
Absolutely love your videos mate ! Might i recommend i anti static wrist band ?
I once shocked a motherboard and it got fried so i have been using one ever since.
It's the charging IC, I have repaired several of these in the past. I also sell the IC's if your interested.
What is a IC?
Theresa Horton integrated circuit, it's a small black chip on the back of the circuit board.
Yeah I agree, none of the charging ports and power switch works, so my thoughts is its not getting the sense voltage or alike from the battery to the charging/power circuit which won't allow the unit to charge or turn on. There will be a common point where the battery input and mains input meet at an IC or such.
Personally, I'd be VERY wary of using cheap knock off parts????
Thomas Forsythe what chip is it on the back what's the location/number I have the same problem.
Ian Powell it's U18, on Side B, left hand side
Those items marked F1, F2, and F3 that contain a component with a '0' marked on them aren't fuses. Honest mistake. They're "zero ohm resistors", in other words - jumpers. Usually they're used to set some sort of option - what used to be done with a little switch.
I agree with the "heat it up" comments. Done carefully and properly (temperature, time and cooling rate all matter) you're basically redoing all of the solder connections on the board. Done wrong, you're ruining a broken board, so no big deal. Also, being a double-sided populated board, you have to be extra careful - you can't rest it on the components on the bottom while you do it, so you need some sort of stand.
Fracture they are in fact, fuses. The "zero" is in fact an "O", which is amp code for 2.5 Amps.
Take a look at ultra fast SMD fuses, such as the 0603 package.
Besides, if you take a look at the placement on the board, it doesn't make much sense since nothing goes underneath them (therefore just a trace could have done the job, rather than a jumper)
EDIT: Just so you don't think I'm crazy (because there's not a ton of obvious information out there), take a look at ebay listing 112697085121
.........I can safely say I understood none of these comments!
Imagine Wagons at about 25:20, he's talking about one of the small SMD (surface mount) components on the board. Fracture said that they are 0 Ohm resistors, and he could have been right since they look almost exactly the same.
A fuse is a component that would stop a certain amount of current going from one place to another.
There are fuses that would destroy themselves to prevent that, and there are so called resettable fuses (PPTC) that go back to normal after a certain period of time. The value of the fuse that I was talking about (O) is a symbol that signifies how many Amps can pass through it before it blows. That could have been an F, or something else.
The reason for using letters, or just a 2 or 3 digit code, is because the components are very tiny, there's not much space for complicated text on there.
A resistor is a component that would limit the amount of current going from one place to another.
Zero ohm resistors are basically the equivalent of a regular piece of wire, they act as jumpers. The reason for using 0 Ohm resistors is because they are the same shape and size as the other types of components, therefore a pick-and-place machine could do the job rather than to have a human manually install a piece of wire to act as a jumper. It's cheaper and faster, and less error prone. Another less popular reason for using 0 Ohm resistors is to make it more difficult for people to reverse engineer the board, to make it confusing.
And the reason for using jumpers is to be able to have the opportunity to go over things on the board. Copper traces (the thin lines on the board) can't go across one another, they musn't touch. Therefore sometimes when it's not possible to make it so in the design of the board, some traces need to "jump" over other traces, and that's achieved by a piece of wire (or 0 Ohm resistors) that sit above the trace that needs to be jumped.
i understood nothing
agreed but whether or not anything is under them is irrelevant since if they are replacing a switch it is cheaper to use them than redoing the board to eliminate the space. But they are definitely fuses especially considering that they are labelled as fuses.
Very informative video even after 5 years. Saved the video and will get my Wii U gamepad fixed when got a break. Thank you!
Great video, good luck with the final fix.
Thanks :-)
Hey, Vince, like your channel? Keep it up and keep the good work up. Very interested in how you did the VSV like the video. That was critical, the PlayStation Vita or PSP, what you're doing on the PlayStation once.
Yes I love 💖 you’re videos especially your fixing ones
I like your repair vids. Keep them coming.
Thanks :-)
I like your video as you are just like me, not really sure what you are doing but giving it a go any how. =P
I've been buying damaged phones online and opening them up just to see. I've actually surprised myself at how many I've been able to fix.
I've had mine since launch and three kids who use it with me. Never had an issue really. In surprised to see a board fry. Great video
If this Vince could see future Vince now 😂
Yay another video! Always love an upload!
Keep it up!
You should open up a po box for your fans to send things in for you to review or do some videos on. I would love to send you some stuff for you to fix as i love these video!
Yay more repair videos! Keep it up vince i love these videos!
If you try the oven resolder method, use an oven you don't plan on using again. It can contaminate your food.
Yeah please do a lot more of these, especially the more modern consoles I love watching them
I'm from the future (2024). I didn't realize that Vince was such a "Hand Held Game Master" i.e. HHGM. Pretty COoL V-man
If you wanna repair the capacitors I would suggest twisting it off rather than pulling it off. When you are twisting it you do not apply as much pressure. Pulling it off can result in the connectors breaking off and having to put a new one back down diagonally.
When I say the capacitors I mean the big ones inside the actual game console
Put your meter on beep mode or diode mode, then put your red lead on ground (-) and then check those smd caps
They should only beep on one side if it beeps on both sides good chance it's shorted remove and check out of circuit
Do the same with the diodes check to see if you get a short both ways with both leads on the diodes
Those black fuses are zero ohm resistors or just links
Check mosfets for shorts and check voltage regulators
Excellent, great information. Thanks for posting it :-)
My Mate VINCE no worries Vince anytime 😊
Do a nintendo switch trying to fix!!! Ps- even if i am late and its bareley any chance it will happen, i still will watch all of your trying to fix videos!
Thanks Vince great video i had this problem from the seller when buying from eBay 👍
Also you found your shorted caps at 24:36 they are shorted to ground you shouldn't get any continuity between them.
But there maybe a power management ic shorted to ground on that line the caps test bad on.
Oh OK, thanks for the info. Also thanks for the names of the other TH-cam channels :-)
What's the little clam shell tablet device you're using?
do you know if its easy to fix hd port on wii u console i got to link mine up with wii u 2 adapter but only gives you 480 resolution even no it says 1080?
I needed this video so much! Saved my beloved WiiU!! Thank you! Bad fuses from reverse polarity!
Love these videos, please continue
Looking forward to this video, even though i think i've spoiled the result by reading the comments first. I passed up a WiiU for 25gbp at a charity shop the other day, catch was it had no ganmepad
It's not just about "continuity", you need to see if it's out of the range of the actual voltage (or resistor ohm)
Really good videos, been watching all day. You seem a bit flustered throughout though. Still, great videos.
Same
nice video thanks, do you know where i can buy the rubber square screw pads ? many thanks
Excelente work
I have a ps2 fat (frist model) and don't work. you know if the motherboard have a fuse?
Thanks regards
Unrelated, but Is it possible to replace the charger socket to a "type c" socket
You can secure with hot glue
finally someone else in the world that likes the wii frickin u
is your gpd pocket get hot after 10min on desktop or browser?
i like your trying to fix videos
thanks alot
you are the best
Did you try putting the faulty one back together after taking it apart? Just to see if it was a bad connection somewhere?
Hi, yeah I did but it was still dead :-)
The battery light would flash if the battery is unable to charge or it’s not connected
Can you try to do a JoyStick replacement?
On a white gamepad, those Joysticks get yellow most times
hello! hey what sort of computer is that? the one that you use when you read the ebay listings?
I mean I have the regular wii black console, so does the gamepad literally just mirror whats on the tv in game? so I mean if you wanted to you could be staring at the gamepad whilst everyone else is looking at the tv? I need knew thats how they were really lol, I vaguely remember trying one out at gamester when it first came out but this is really neat! So now I have to know, which is better in terms of functionality the WiiU or the Nintendo Switch?
in this type of board (in my experience with notebooks, tha capacitors tend to enter in short circuit and put VCC directly to GND, this tend to occurs more frequentlly in large capacitors (this is not a rule, but is it in most of times), I think in this time you already recognize capacitors in board, this is small brown bricks marked by Cxxx in board (remember the capacitors in short with ground in nintendo switch? same case here, seme on notebooks, so start for the big ones test, anilyze, search for any visual diferences in nearby, if you can use microscope, look for signs of burn, cracks and, leak, measure them, if you suspect of one , remove from the board, use captom tape to protect the surrounds, as I can see in your measures powerlines is in short, test from batery, and from power input from PSU. and try to find out any suspects remove , test out of board, test points in bord, if in short go on... one time you will find the gilty, normally in power line putting vcc and gnd in short... just try it... remember less heat, less air flux, 350 grads max... less flux you put too much and it flows all the board, not need to much, just a small amount to cover 1 caps and it will do the job, try and see.
on the scematic there are 5 fuses i can't link the scematic tho. and yiu should also check resistance of the fuses. a slight change in resitance can have massive effects
Interesting. I will see if I can find the other 2. Thanks for sharing :-)
My Mate VINCE
i've double checked it my schematic is for a different revision. the two fuses most likley don't exist on this revision as i can't find them. i would like to know how bad do you want to repair it. i can't find a scematic for the newer boards. i can try find all information but i would take time. it's as far as i can see fixable.
Nice video! what's that mini laptop model ? thanks!
Just remember wii u tablet controller's are region locked.
Also you could trace out the power,you have a working one as a reference,will take some time but I'm sure you can do it.
Oh no....I didn't think of the region lock. It didn't say anything in the eBay listing for PAL when I bought the motherboard. I thought the region lock would be for the console itself rather than the gamepad!!!! I will see if any of the other motherboard listings mention anything about regions :-)
Thanks for the message :-)
what laptop do you use
thanks..nice vids
how do i fix my blinking blue light on my console unit not the touchpad?
love your videos, keep em coming!
buy a multimeter with setting for diode and capasitor test or a esr capasitor tester.the cermamic capasitors(browntypical)go bad 2 ways totaly open.device ca "work"2 a total short.cermaic smd caps are Easy to get from a scrap parts.the size capasity value must be the same or higer.Low voltage so every cap is rated for this voltage wise|.find farad best to use esr or multimeter with setting for caps.
Awesome! I just subbed for these videos 😉
Thanks for the views and the sub :-)
“ it would be nice if it was the battery...”
Looks at 30 minutes left.
I dont think so
@TheTechChannel 1 True.
@TheTechChannel 1 Or people who care way too much on how others do shit. Get a life.
Not to seem patronising, did you take a good look at the charge port itself? The most stressed part of the Gamepad if the person was using that while playing and charging at the same time.
Hi, not a close look but I tried the bottom charging dock as well and it wouldn't charge in either of them :-)
My Mate VINCE the bottom charge port is just two pins, as you know, the Gamepad just sits in the cradle. It's the top charge port you should concern yourself with. Sounds like you've overlooked the possibility of ether a dry joint, or the port as come loose slightly from all the connecting and pulling.
usually if you spend enough time you can find schematics which will tell you what voltage levels the caps and resistors are supposed to be showing when on
I had one of the original nyko extended batteries but those of expensive these days of course. Anyone have a good brand of replacement larger battery for the gamepad? Much thanks!!
Isn't it worth just putting the broken one all back together again? Perhaps when you were messing with the motherboard and testing it you could have moved something or a piece of solder that was causing the problem. Worth a try. or maybe plug it in when done and press the motherboard in places to see if that does anything ie might be a dry joint.
Can't you compare the working motherboard to the faulty one?
i was just given a wii u a few days ago from a friend. and the screen on gamepad is broke. so ive watched a few videos on how to replace it. and once i can order a new screen and it gets here. i can hopefully put it in and fix it correctly myself. ive never owned a wii u and only seen one in my life. so when a friend was willing to give it away. i was all for it.
Another great video mate
04:27 the dots are battery cell balance cables. they make sure that the 2 cells are balance-charged.
Having looked at buying JST connectors/cables for a GBZ build I wonder (and should confirm) if the number of connections (other than black/red) imply how many cells there are.
I love that little laptop you have. Where can I get one?
The chip that says "PHP" at 26:00 seems to have a bad pin.. Its a litte to the right of the C92 component.
We we use a very good video game from Nintendo itself, but Vince is hard to fix. Most of the consoles and they have a deep factory, default settings and also houses that's around inside of them. The way how you work out definitely parts in it because sometimes they get really, really hard to do, to remake or resold or or. Report back in sometimes. Do you like the videos? And I do like when you fix things.
Hey vince can you tell me what monitor you was using for your Nintendo Switch XL build thanks keep up the good work
Hi, it is a WIMAXIT 10.1. You will find it on Amazon :-)
My Mate VINCE thankyou i plan on making my own soon
Let me know how it turns out :-)
These are so interesting to watch.
I've been shopping for an affordable used Wii U and so far they are all around the 250.00 Canadian dollars which would be what around 165.09 Pound sterling. So you got that for half price I could use a deal like that I tell you. I wonder if anyone knows if you can fix the video portion of a Wii U motherboard
Just found a gamepa--- just as i was typing you mentioned my suggestion of buying a new motherboard from china for 14.39, however a couple comments below mentioned putting it in the oven for a bit and i believe you fixed a LG tv that way before, worth a shot,
Score on mario 3d world
You would have to solder and Reflow everything on the board just to make sure that nothing was loose or broken on the board
love this series.
Stick it in a toaster oven and then put it back together. Maybe solder came loose somewhere. I used to do this with an old graphics card and it always worked.
Nintendo products are the easiest items to get replacement parts due to the modular technology. Screen digitizers are £5 so if touch response is dead easy fix.
Love this THANK YOU VINCE 😊
Thanks for watching :-)
Question to all can the wii U main unit work without the gamepad ?
Where did you get that skin on your personal gamepad and the battery
Amazon UK :-)