RickR Posted November 11, 2020 Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 Hey all: Someone on a local Facebook "freecycle" group gifted me a Wii they bought a while ago, couldn't get working, and just set aside. I thought I'd share the process of figuring out what I've got here. First of all, here's the sack left for me on the porch. And here are the contents. I can see potential issues straight away. That's not an OEM infrared bard. Wireless rechargeable? I'll bet that thing doesn't work. And also component cables. I don't want to mess with those (although I'm sure the picture will be nicer). My plan: I'll borrow the light bar and composite cable from my current Wii and see if the thing works. nosweargamer, HDN and socrates63 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted November 11, 2020 Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 Wow! Sweet grab! Those component cables were not usually cheap but, if they work, would improve the video quality from the Wii. And I would not use anything but an official sensor bar with my Wii. I hope it works. Then again that might have been a GS "Premium" bundle. Is the Wii backwards compatible with GC? socrates63 and HDN 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted November 11, 2020 Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 2 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said: Is the Wii backwards compatible with GC? The newer models aren't, but the older ones are. This model is. How do I know? This is my Wii! The same model, at least. When I was little, I thought it was pretty cool that I had the black Wii while everyone else had the white one. You really don't see these too often. In fact, @RickR here is the only other person I know personally who owns the thing, unless someone else here has one that I don't know about. I've seen the occasional YouTuber have one in the background, but no one I knew. So that's cool. The black Wii looks wayyy cooler. It's like the Vader Model of the Wii world. socrates63 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted November 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 An update: It works! (I used my composite cable). It does NOT have gamecube controller or memory card ports. The lightbar works too once I found a cable to charge it with. The controller works. BUT....it made a horrible grinding sound when it turns on. Eject button does nothing but make more grinding sounds. Using needlenose pliers, I carefully pulled out one....two...THREE discs! Whoops! But now it won't load discs. They get pulled in, but not quite all the way before being ejected. There is either something still stuck in there or some damage done by the three discs. Any ideas? socrates63 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted November 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 5 minutes ago, HDN said: In fact, @RickR here is the only other person I know personally who owns the thing, unless someone else here has one that I don't know about Hey, you are NOT alone. My main Wii is the white kind, but my "backup" Wii is the black vader with Gamecube ports. Vader-Wii High Five! This one is my third, and I think it's the newer "non-GC-compatible" type. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted November 11, 2020 Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 (edited) 6 minutes ago, RickR said: It does NOT have gamecube controller or memory card ports Oh, I see. Last time, you only showed it from the side, that's why I thought we had the same model. You can tell because of the way the text is oriented on the side with the disc drive. Mine is meant to be standing up, while yours is meant to lay on its side. I believe that one's called the "family edition". So I guess I'm still alone in the "cool Wii" club. Eh. More for me! EDIT: This (above post) showed up, literally, the exact second I posted this. Vader-Wii high five, @RickR! My Wii and I have been spending a lot of time together today. I've been setting up MAME, Odyssey 2, and 7800 emulation. I can't wait to play some O2 with my dad. He was pretty happy when he say the rainbow-colored SELECT GAME screen come up. I surprised him with it. I should make a post recounting our O2 adventures later today. Edited November 11, 2020 by HDN RickR RickR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted November 11, 2020 Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 41 minutes ago, HDN said: The newer models aren't, but the older ones are. This model is. How do I know? This is my Wii! The same model, at least. When I was little, I thought it was pretty cool that I had the black Wii while everyone else had the white one. You really don't see these too often. In fact, @RickR here is the only other person I know personally who owns the thing, unless someone else here has one that I don't know about. I've seen the occasional YouTuber have one in the background, but no one I knew. So that's cool. The black Wii looks wayyy cooler. It's like the Vader Model of the Wii world. Hey now. Don't leave me out. @RickR you would need to take the top off the Wii. It sounds like a stripped gear. If you get the top off turn the Wii where it is facing you. Look on the right. There is a series of small gears over there. Check them out. With that many discs in the drive it might have been too much for those small gears to handle. It might have either stripped them or caused them to slip. I'd check there first. RickR and HDN 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted November 11, 2020 Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 And mine is the family edition. No GC functions although if you place a GC disc in the drive without the loading mech it loads. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted November 11, 2020 Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 See if this video helps you RickR. RickR and HDN 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted November 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 I will try disassembly now, thanks for the link. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a coin in mine! The good news is that I do not have "New Super Mario Bros." or "Wii Party". So no matter what, I have two new games and a nice working controller set out of the deal. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted November 11, 2020 Report Share Posted November 11, 2020 New SMB is by far one of the crown jewels on the Wii. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted November 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2020 Update: I was able to get the system to load discs properly. There is a plastic "scissors" assembly on the top of the drive that was jammed. I unjammed it and gave it a little lubrication and it worked again. Also of note -- there was a ton of debris inside that was most likely corn chip crumbs! Sadly, the drive won't read discs. Pretty typical for old Wii's. I could replace the entire drive I guess, but it just isn't worth it. Maybe I'll just hack it and make an emulation station of it. On the bright side, those two games do work just fine on my good Wii. SMB is kind of scratched, so I may end up polishing that one. socrates63 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted November 12, 2020 Report Share Posted November 12, 2020 Clean the lens! Try using a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol and gently clean the lens. It might work. socrates63 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted November 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2020 Good tip, and I did clean the lens with alcohol and a q-tip. This will be the fourth Wii I've found broken in this way. Our original (the one I bought for our boys new), a friend who asked me to fix his son's, and my brother's were the first three. Disk spins, but discs won't read. In all cases, unfixable unless you replace the drive. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted November 12, 2020 Report Share Posted November 12, 2020 Even if your new Wii doesn't end up working, it's not that big of a problem. I only use the disc drive for my GameCube games. In my opinion, the Wii's library is mediocre at best. Most of the games are cash-grab "waggle the Wii remote" family and casual-oriented minigame compilations. Even Nintendo's own first party offerings are lacking compared to what has come before and since the Wii. Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword are no Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, or Breath of the Wild. Super Mario Galaxy, while beloved by many, just doesn't seem to interest me. And don't even get me started on Metroid: Other M! Not to say the Wii didn't have good games. It did; though I think of all the Nintendo consoles, the Wii's library is probably the worst. The original DS has a similar problem, but at least that one had some real greats like Super Mario 64 DS, my favorite Mario game. The Wii U had a library much better suited to my tastes as a Nintendo fan, and so did the GameCube. I love my Vader Wii. I have spent a lot of time with it and have some fantastic memories. However, most of those memories were spent with either FCE-Ultra GX, Wii 2600, or the GameCube compatibility. You'll have to mod this Wii, @RickR. TL;DR: If your revitalization attempts on your new Wii fail, turn it into an emulation slave! RickR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted November 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2020 15 minutes ago, HDN said: turn it into an emulation slave! That was me plan. laddie. I am going to agree with you on the third party light bar....it stinks. I'll have to find an OEM replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted November 12, 2020 Report Share Posted November 12, 2020 5 hours ago, HDN said: Even if your new Wii doesn't end up working, it's not that big of a problem. I only use the disc drive for my GameCube games. In my opinion, the Wii's library is mediocre at best. Most of the games are cash-grab "waggle the Wii remote" family and casual-oriented minigame compilations. Even Nintendo's own first party offerings are lacking compared to what has come before and since the Wii. Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword are no Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, or Breath of the Wild. Super Mario Galaxy, while beloved by many, just doesn't seem to interest me. And don't even get me started on Metroid: Other M! Not to say the Wii didn't have good games. It did; though I think of all the Nintendo consoles, the Wii's library is probably the worst. The original DS has a similar problem, but at least that one had some real greats like Super Mario 64 DS, my favorite Mario game. The Wii U had a library much better suited to my tastes as a Nintendo fan, and so did the GameCube. I love my Vader Wii. I have spent a lot of time with it and have some fantastic memories. However, most of those memories were spent with either FCE-Ultra GX, Wii 2600, or the GameCube compatibility. You'll have to mod this Wii, @RickR. TL;DR: If your revitalization attempts on your new Wii fail, turn it into an emulation slave! I can't complain about Metroid Other M or Twilight Princess...I haven't beat them yet but I have had a lot of fun with them. I also enjoyed Super Mario Galaxy. Then again the most expensive Wii game in my collection is City Folk, the rest were $5 or less. My wife gifted me my Wii (Christmas) a few years ago and grabbed Speed with it along with two others. I spend more time on Speed than most of my other Wii games. I don't care that I've already beat the game, I still enjoy the sense of speed and sounds the game has. Its a simple, easy to pick up and play game. My Sims and My Sims Kingdom are fun as well...for me though. The Wii's library of games are casual games and are a nice break from the usual stuff that are far more frustrating and stress inducing than is really necessary. Based on that I don't think the Wii library is entirely terrible. Then again I only have about 30 games for it. HDN and RickR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari 5200 Guy Posted November 12, 2020 Report Share Posted November 12, 2020 I really wish Nintendo would have updated the Wii software so that Netflix could still be used. It made for a great little Netflix box for an older TV. HDN and RickR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted November 12, 2020 Report Share Posted November 12, 2020 5 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said: I really wish Nintendo would have updated the Wii software so that Netflix could still be used. It made for a great little Netflix box for an older TV. I use the Wii U for the same purpose. It comes with HDMI, but will work with the Wii’s composite cables. I actually bought another set just for that purpose. Netflix and YouTube. Not like my CRT is compatible with composite right out of the box! I use a separate RF modulator to get the composite signals to go through coax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted December 18, 2020 Report Share Posted December 18, 2020 I’m currently softmodding @Zerobeat2004’s Wii, as I previously mentioned. Turns out the system has a bad disc drive as well! This seems to be common as I see this stuff everywhere. I asked him about it, and he says that he hasn’t been able to properly play games on it for a couple of years now. I added a few USB loaders, so now he won’t have to worry about that good-for-nothing drive. I have to use my personal Vader-Wii (whose drive functions) to rip the game disks to flash drives, and then hook up the other Wii and plug the drives in. It’s cumbersome, but as always I’m having a lot of fun softmodding something again. Anyways, that reminded me of this old post. @RickR— did you ever get that drive fixed? Just a little curious, don’t mind me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted December 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2020 10 hours ago, HDN said: did you ever get that drive fixed? No. Fixing the drive is most likely not possible. Replacement is. Replacement drives on ebay are about $20 shipped. IMO it's not worth the effort. Just use them as modded emulation stations as you've done. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted December 18, 2020 Report Share Posted December 18, 2020 31 minutes ago, RickR said: No. Fixing the drive is most likely not possible. Replacement is. Replacement drives on ebay are about $20 shipped. IMO it's not worth the effort. Just use them as modded emulation stations as you've done. That makes a lot of sense. You could also set up USB loaders if you want so you can play Wii games. Have you heard of this program called Nintendont (for some reason spelled without the apostrophe)? What it does is that it will unlock GameCube functionality for later-revision Wiis and Wii Us. It will even emulate memory cards and let you use either standard Wii controllers (like the Classic Controller or Wii Mote and Nunchuck) or use the Nintendo USB GameCube controller adapter. These newer Wii machines still can't read the discs, so you'll need to either rip the original discs to a USB device or SD card using an older-revision Wii or add some disc images online. It's a very neat program and worth looking into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted December 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2020 I have not. Sounds pretty neat. However I'm more interested in how your ripped Wii discs onto a USB drive and then get them to load on a modded wii. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted December 18, 2020 Report Share Posted December 18, 2020 19 minutes ago, RickR said: I have not. Sounds pretty neat. However I'm more interested in how your ripped Wii discs onto a USB drive and then get them to load on a modded wii. Fun fact: Since my birthday in 2011 when I got my Wii, I have gotten only two more physical Wii discs. One was Deadrising, which was for my dad to play at the time, and I still haven't played it because it doesn't look fun. The other was Puzzle Challenge, which I got for free at a garage sale. Back in the day, we would go to Family Video (our local video store which lasted a surprisingly long time until it closed a few Atari Days ago) and rent some games for the Wiikend (see what I did there?). Then what we would do was put the game in the system, load up a program called Configurable USB Loader, and then select the option to rip the disc to the hard drive. Don't tell Nintendo! It is much, much easier to rip discs to the Wii than to find usable disc images online. At least for me, I couldn't find any good sites. So for this project I copied the games from my hard drive (I had to pick and choose because of limited space) using another program called WiiBackupManager. If you're interested, check out the GBATemp forums. It is a very good resource. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeJ07 Posted December 27, 2020 Report Share Posted December 27, 2020 Replying late, @HDN, but my Wii is BC with GameCube. So, we're both special. HDN 1 Quote "I'd buy that for a dollar!" -Smash T.V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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