Troubleshooting Guide

(We would like to think our product is perfect, but every good product still needs this section)

The Chip programs up ok but fails to verify or the chip fails to program at all.

Solution:

1. The flat flex cable may be crushed. Pull apart the Wii, straighten out the FFC, and reverse it (plug the programmer end into the chip and vice versa). Try to program the chip with the Wii pulled apart, then carefully put the Wii together, ensuring you have no crush points.

2. Your chip may not be installed correctly. You do not need to install the chip to program it, but if you have any points “bridged” due to a bad install, then you can have programming errors.  You may wish to check for bridge points with a multimeter.

3. You may have a problem with your Programmer or IC-Prog installation.  Do the Hardware check on your programmer (as shown in the instruction manual) to test the programmer is working correctly. If the test fails then try a different programmer, if the second programmer also fails then there is a problem either the chip install or there is a problem with your IC-Prog install. If there is a problem with your IC-prog install then use the windows uninstaller, reboot your computer, then reinstall IC-prog and then reboot your computer again.  Also you may wish to check that your computers serial port is working correctly. To make things simpler, we recommend programming your chip prior to installation for testing purposes.

The console loads a backup first time but then intermittently will not run anything if it runs anything at all.

Solution:

If you are using wii-free 2.45 for the first time then the chip may have failed to set the correct region.  To correct this, simply reprogram your Wii_BOSS and try again.  The correct way to set the region is to turn the console on.  Ensure you have no disc in the draw prior to turning the console on or you will need to start again. Run and original disc for a minute or so, then try a backup local, and then a backup import. (Update 26/09/07 use yaosm 1.8 it does not have this bug)

The console behaves as if there is no chip installed.

Solution:

You may have forgotten to program your chip.

You may have a problem with your soldering skills ;)

You may have neglected to install the chip at all (yes, its true, someone who deserves a Darwin Award one day has actually complained of this).  You can not sit a chip next to the console and hope it will work. :P

You may have a D2C chipset.  Currently there is no support for this model on any chip.

You may have a Wii with the pins cut, please see the rebuild instructions for this model.  Note the 3 pins that are missing.

MFE/GC-Linux does not load or hangs.

Solution:

Try a different code for your chip, like YOASM which has better compatibility for homebrew.

The console reads originals and backups but gets a lot of read errors on backups.

Check your disc quality.  Use a good quality disc like “Verbatim” or “Ritek” and burn at 4x speed using “Clone-CD” with “Any-DVD” running in the background.

If you are certain your backups are good quality and its only certain titles that don’t load, then try a different code on your chip, some titles work better with different codes.