Hello Tzirf and other people,

I finally started repairing my two Wii U consoles (one at the time) but I have a question because it's not going so well.
I watched the video made by Tzirf where he solders wire on the TP islands and his wire "melts" so nicely in the solder but mine doesn't.
Do I have the wrong wire, it's 0.1mm (38 AWG).
And I also tried to do a continuity test on both ends of the wire but I don't hear a thing or measure no resistance.
So I guess my wire is not good?
See the picture how terrible it is.

Hello @andlinux

The wire looks like enamel wire to me. That is perfectly fine to use & is what I use as well. How hot are you running your soldering iron?

Pre-tin the ends/ burn the enamel away before trying to solder the end of the wire to the Wii U. This will make soldering the wires in place much easier. Remember flux is your friend, use it generously  when pre-tinning enamel wire because its the flux that cleans the enamel away from the copper and allows the solder to flow.

As for checking continuity with 38AWG. Unless you have a good contact point to bare copper you likely will end up with no reading. I would recommend testing continuity after soldering the other ends to the Raspberry Pi Pico. This makes it much easier to get a reading.

The soldering iron is at 335°C = 635°F
I guess I have to try it again, I'm not so familiar with these small enamel wires and
I'm afraid to damage the copper islands that's why I'm so cautious.
It's also my first time using a microscope.
Normally I pre-tin my wires and I tried to do that with this wire but the tin didn't stick on the wire.
But like you said, using a lot of flux.

Your soldering iron is a bit low to do this effectively. Turn it up to 400-450C. I usually pre-tin enamel wire using 450C. Something worth mentioning is that some soldering irons run much lower than the temperature they are set too. I have see a lot of inexpensive soldering irons over the years that were as much as 50 or even 100 C off. A good tell tale of this is how quickly solder melts when you touch it, there will be some variability to this because different solder compositions heat up and melt at different temperatures. Also the tip you are using on the soldering iron, generally speaking the smaller/thinner the tip the more time required to melt solder because there is less transfer of heat from the soldering iron to the solder. Additional factors are always the PCB you are working on. Larger pads and components will suck up more heat than smaller ones. 

Don't pre-tin the wire on the Wii U printed circuit board, as this can cause damage to traces or pads.

Ideally this works best on a silicone mat made for high temperatures. These can usually be purchased for as little as $15 dollars on Amazon. Here is an example of what I am talking about.

If this isn't something you have or cant purchase you can also use a scrap piece of metal or PCB to pre-tin enamel wire on in a pinch. However cleaning those surfaces to reuse eventually gets tricky and would require replacing them. The silicone mat will lasts for years. I have a silicone mat I use for pre-tinning and I have used it for soldering for nearly 15 years now. There is some small damage to the silicone as after repeated exposure to the high temperature it does eventually break down, but overall it looks the same as it did the first day I bought it. Also it cleans up really easily using IPA/Cotton Swabs.

Update:
I managed to solder all the wires to the pcb of the Wii U with the tips you gave. Thank you for that. 
I also soldered TP122 but that was not necessary because I power the pico with USB, so that wire is hanging loose (I'll keep an eye on it).
I also connected the console with my computer monitor with a HDMI cable and I started the serial connection.
But on giving power there was no LED light on the console and because I have had that problem in the past I took a look at the flat cable of the front panel. After refitting it there was an LED light.

So I booted the console and on the serial connection I saw ascii characters which was a good sign.
Then I switched my monitor to the hdmi input and behold there was also an output and before I was unable to get a video signal.

So now I have to gather some info because I have not really an idea what to do in the "minute menu".

Serial output the first thing I saw.


After that I switched to the monitor and there was also text.


And two more pictures to show my mess




Update2: Just selected "Backup and Restore" ==> "Dump OTP via PRSHhax" that was succesfully done.
Do I now have to do the steps like you are doing in your video (@29:02)? @29:02

Not messy at all. Nice job!! Based on your images you successfully defused and dumped the OTP.Bin. 

You don't really need ISFShax if you have defuse. However if you wish to do everything from the console and don't want to use the serial connection you can install ISFShax and then you just need a TV and the Wii U to do the repair. Which is what I chose to do in my video. Keep in mind if you want to use Defuse you will have to keep the Raspberry Pi Pico plugged into the computer for the entire repair. As for the next steps that is going to depend on what you are doing... 

Are you installing a NAND-AID? In that video I rebuild the MLC after installing a NAND-AID, which I mention in the video but I do not show the installation of the NAND-AID because I already have other videos that show that. The steps starting at 29:02 are the ones necessary to get the NAND-AID setup and the MLC rebuilt. To be clear the NAND-AID replaces the eMMC in the console in that video because it is a failed Hynix chip.

If you haven't diagnosed your console to this point yet, I would recommend dumping the system logs and looking at them to see if you need a NAND-AID. There are consoles that just need the MLC rebuilt because it was data corruption from something other than a failing eMMC that caused them to stop functioning. 

I guess I will use the serial connection, it's easier to navigate with the keyboard/computer monitor.
It's better to diagnose and see what's the problem. This unit has the famous Hynix chip I saw that when I dismantled the console.

Now I have dumped a lot of log files and took a look at some, it are 99 log files. But I have no idea what I'm looking for. Can you help me with this? https://mega.nz/file/1UIHXIbS#iSLTTPdhNo2jJ4B4f4w8LHYAcl9MhQAxH5qLOK7-kug

This is the factory log:
0,0,OK,02.00,2015/06/13,01:25,BoardVersion=30$ConfigCRC=F027$SequenceCRC=0C35,
0,1,OK,02.00,2015/06/18,15:47,ConfigCRC=4632$SequenceCRC=6140,
0,2,OK,01.10,2015/06/18,15:48,TesterID : 00:09:0D:00:B2:3B,
0,3,OK,03.07,,15:00,,
0,4,START,03.01,2015/06/19,13:59,Wireless Start,
0,4,OK,03.01,2015/06/19,13:59,MARKO:40D28A37A9DA$GG:40D28A323A0F$BRLYN:40D28A3212FF,
0,5,OK,02.50,,,All Passed,
0,6,START,03.94,0000/00/00,00:00,,
0,6,OK,03.94,0000/00/00,00:00,,
0,9,OK,01.03,2015/06/19,14:27,WUP-S-KAGU-EUA,
0,11,OK,02.20,,,All Passed,
I have dumped:
de_Fuse_otp.bin
factory-log.txt (see above)
otp.bin
seeprom.bin
seeprom_decrypted.bin
SLC.RAW
SLCCMPT.RAW

Isn't the MLC to big to dump on this 1GB SD card?

I just found another video where you go through log files.
I was not able to convert the HEX to DEC, mine is 6B at the end and it gave 107 as decimal.

But in log 7, there were a lot of MEDIA ERROR's
and also this one:
00:00:07:244: FSA: ### MEDIA ERROR ###, dev:mlc01, err:-2228230, cmd:11, path:(null)

FYI you can upload & attach zip files and pictures directly to your post in case you need to share them with me or anyone else. That way we don't have to rely on third party services to share them.

As for your logs, the newest log file would be log 7.

Based on that log file you have a bad MLC. So this console should have a NAND-AID installed.

Edit: Yes a 1GB SD is too small to do a full SLC/MLC Dump. That being said you don't need these to rebuild the MLC from scratch, which is the method I recommend.

Indeed now I see that, I can attach files to my posts, my bad.

I've seen a video where you solder a NAND-AID I guess it's this one:
And the written documentation:
https://www.tzirf.com/nintendo-consoles-handhelds/wii-u-nand-aid-installation-guide-complete/

So the next step is to buy a NAND-AID and install/solder that.
I'm going for this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/276667448485 although I guess it's without SD slot. Maybe another one.

Okay, know it gets confusing, which one do I need, I see one with the text "Preassembled NAND-AID v4.1 for Wii U (like MLC2SD)" and another one "DIY MLC2SD rev. 1.1 Kit for Wii U (like NAND-AID)", What's the difference with the MLC2SD and NAND AID, isn't it the same?
Link1

Link2


I will keep you updated and thanks for helping me, much appreciated.

That is V10lator versions of the NAND-AID, where he changed the design so that you can pre-solder the SD Card slot in place and then solder the NAND-AID into the Wii U. It uses the leg on the right in the picture to solder to a ground point near a Capacitor on the Wii U. It is slightly different installation than what my video shows as I used the original version of the NAND-AID, which was created by Voultar.

It doesn't matter which version of the NAND-AID you choose. They all work and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Just know if you plan on following my video that version of the NAND-AID is the Voultar one.

They can be purchased on eBay as well depending on your location:

USA
Canada
Spain
   
As for the differences in your links:

Link1 = Another version of NAND-AID created by SDIO, where the 3V pad to power the NAND-AID was moved to the back behind the SD Card.

Link2 = V10lator version which allows soldering of the SD Card slot before soldering the NAND-AID into the Wii U. Ground leg is used for grounding to a capacitor in the Wii U. He sells these per-assembled with the SD Card Slot and then a kit where you have to solder it in place. Both come with an SD Card Slot, as without one the NAND-AID wouldn't work.   

Small update: I installed a NAND-AID (v10lator1's version) but I had trouble soldering the SD card slot to the PCB. It was maybe better to buy the pre assembled one.
Now I wanted to start to rebuild the MLC but I got stuck, my SD card is only 1GB and the MLC system titles are over 1GB, I guess I have to buy a 2GB SD card?
The SD card for the NAND-AID is arrived and ready to be installed. It's a Samsung 32GB Pro Endurance.

Edit: I just ordered a 2GB SD card, if all goes well, I will have it tomorrow.

Quote from: andlinux on Apr 06, 2025, 02:01 AMSmall update: I installed a NAND-AID (v10lator1's version) but I had trouble soldering the SD card slot to the PCB. It was maybe better to buy the pre assembled one.
Now I wanted to start to rebuild the MLC but I got stuck, my SD card is only 1GB and the MLC system titles are over 1GB, I guess I have to buy a 2GB SD card?
The SD card for the NAND-AID is arrived and ready to be installed. It's a Samsung 32GB Pro Endurance.

Edit: I just ordered a 2GB SD card, if all goes well, I will have it tomorrow.

Yup you need a 2GB Card to rebuild the MLC

Received my 2GB SD card today and I'm following this guide now, chapter "Rebuilding the MLC".
After making the SD card ready and plugging in the 32GB in the NAND-AID slot. I started the Wii U and selected in the minute menu "Patch (sd) and boot IOS (slc)".

And first it wasn't working, I selected "Patch (sd) and boot IOS (slc)", it did some thing and the GO GO GO afterwards but nothing happened. But afterwards I erased the MLC and deleted scfm.img and when I restarted the Wii U and selected again "Patch (sd) and boot IOS (slc)", the blue LED started blinking and the serial connection was giving a constant output.

Now I see a beautiful screen:

When I want to see the data management it asks for a pin code?

So I'm gonna mess a little bit with that and the rest is for tomorrow.

Excellent job! Looks like your at the end of the repair. It shouldn't have any pin code so not sure why it would be requesting a pin code though. If you figure it out let me know I would be interested in knowing the reason. The reason I say it shouldn't have a pin is because you rebuilt the MLC from scratch, so any settings previous setup on the Wii U would have been cleared.

Did you also download and include the SLC titles?