GCN DIY SD2SP2 installed internally soldering a micro sd adapter to GameCube Serial port 2

[master801]

I have two DOL-101 that have failed disc drives.. they do not have SP2… but I have 2 SD2SP2 and 2 picoboot .. this hardwire will work for DOL-101 that doesn’t have the SP2 port? I don’t want to let these consoles go to waste. Thanks!

Yes. Look at the second picture in the first post and it shows where the SP2 lines are on the motherboard. Note how tiny the points are.

 

[Shadow#1]

I have two DOL-101 that have failed disc drives.. they do not have SP2… but I have 2 SD2SP2 and 2 picoboot .. this hardwire will work for DOL-101 that doesn’t have the SP2 port? I don’t want to let these consoles go to waste. Thanks!

Can always get an sd2gamecube adapter

 

[themine1500]

Can always get an sd2gamecube adapter

I’ve not heard of those. Will check it out. Thank you for the reply!

Post automatically merged: May 8, 2023

Yes. Look at the second picture in the first post and it shows where the SP2 lines are on the motherboard. Note how tiny the points are.

Will do.. thank you! I just got done doing picofly switch lite.. shouldn’t be any smaller than that I hope :: that stuff was getting down in size!

 

[Shadow#1]

I’ve not heard of those. Will check it out. Thank you for the reply!

Post automatically merged: May 8, 2023

Will do.. thank you! I just got done doing picofly switch lite.. shouldn’t be any smaller than that I hope [emoji102]:: that stuff was getting down in size!

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mN1F6QU

 

[master801]

I’ve not heard of those. Will check it out. Thank you for the reply!

They're usually called SD Gecko or WiiKey SD (not the same as the modchips).

tbh the SD2SP2 doesn't perform much different compared to the SD memory card adapters (other than being in a different physical slot) since they're connected on the same EXI bus (SP2 and memory card slot b).

 

[themine1500]

Can you use this without having a Swiss boot Cd? My disc drive doesn’t work at all. GCLoader isn’t available.. would they picoboot allow this to work?

 

[Shadow#1]

Can you use this without having a Swiss boot Cd? My disc drive doesn’t work at all. GCLoader isn’t available.. would they picoboot allow this to work?

Picoboot can boot dols

 

[themine1500]

Picoboot can boot dols

Awesome news! Thank you!

 

[themine1500]

Awesome news! Thank you!

Picoboot can boot dols

I finally got around to this install. My picoboot lights up and I believe is working correctly.. but not sure my sd2sp2 direct wire is working properly.. I’m not getting a boot screen of any kind. I have Swiss file on SD.. but no video output at all. I don’t have to do anything in particular for it to show screen correct. There is no disc drive in place at all. All connections are solid. Used 30ga for sd2 hookup.. 28 on power and ground for it. 24ga on the picoboot. I’m not sure what I’m missing.

 

[VashTS]

Would the voltage rating of the cap cause it to not work? I have one that's rated for higher than 10v and my sd2sp wiring doesn't work. Can confirm that picoboot works with memcard sdgecko just fine. Same SD card used in sd2sp wired up and doesn't work. All my points have voltage (except gnd of course). Any ideas on what might be the problem? The cap is the last variable that I can think of

edit: wasn't the cap, just did a different cube and it worked. must be my wiring, which i'll check on.

 

[renanbianchi]

Would the voltage rating of the cap cause it to not work? I have one that's rated for higher than 10v and my sd2sp wiring doesn't work. Can confirm that picoboot works with memcard sdgecko just fine. Same SD card used in sd2sp wired up and doesn't work. All my points have voltage (except gnd of course). Any ideas on what might be the problem? The cap is the last variable that I can think of

edit: wasn't the cap, just did a different cube and it worked. must be my wiring, which i'll check on.

Could be a power issue. Had a Gamecube in the same situation (DOL-001). Replaced all the caps from the power board (the one that`s under the mainboard) and changed the modchip to feed from 5v.

After that, the adapter worked. Also i inverted D0 and DI points

 

[rickdgray]

OK I figured it out. Took a while to test everything.

So my board is a DOL-001 NTSC Revision 1.1 with no SP2 Port. It has all the traces and the through-holes for the plug, but the plug is not there. The plastic housing has a hole in the cast for it, but the aluminum shield does not, so you cannot see the board from the outside.

The issue I had was this: FIL22 (the ferrite bead filter) was not soldered in manufacturing; I assume because it'd be a waste if the port isn't even used. It is on the underside of the board near where the plug would be. The nearby bypass capacitor is also not soldered, but being that we are using a capacitor already, I don't expect this to ever be an issue. So the result was the 3.3v line was broken. Because it's only a bead filter (honestly overkill for the most part and can safely be ignored), I just bridged the filter pads with a little piece of wire to get power to the port. It worked perfectly after that.

Also, I used ADA254 to hook it up instead of a leftover SD card to microSD card adapter.

If anyone wants to use this in the future, here's some general guidance: the 5v and chip detect (CD) pins can be ignored; The INT (interrupt) line on the gamecube can be ignored (it was never getting used anyway); you don't need two ground lines, only one; when using the 3.3v pin, the built in level shifter is not used, so you don't have to worry about the extra chip on it messing with anything; lastly, it has a bypass capacitor already soldered on, so you can just forget the 22uF cap.

The result is that it really simplifies things in my opinion and I rather like it as it feels more professional. Also, the width of the breakout board happens to be the perfect size to fit in the hole where the broadband adapter would go. So it's a nice little convenient place to mount it with access to the card from the outside.

Hope this info helps others in the future.

Well, it's taken me over 2 years to follow up, but I've finally put together a model for mounting my SD card here. It was getting quite annoying having to unscrew my Game Boy Player every time I wanted access to the SD card. Hope this is helpful to anyone wanted to use a SD2SP2 setup with a system lacking the physical socket.

 

[wolffangalchemist]

Well, it's taken me over 2 years to follow up, but I've finally put together a model for mounting my SD card here. It was getting quite annoying having to unscrew my Game Boy Player every time I wanted access to the SD card. Hope this is helpful to anyone wanted to use a SD2SP2 setup with a system lacking the physical socket.

nice, i will add this to the first post later this week. gonna do some editing to the first post anyway.

 

[Firestorm808]

OK I figured it out. Took a while to test everything.

So my board is a DOL-001 NTSC Revision 1.1 with no SP2 Port. It has all the traces and the through-holes for the plug, but the plug is not there. The plastic housing has a hole in the cast for it, but the aluminum shield does not, so you cannot see the board from the outside.

The issue I had was this: FIL22 (the ferrite bead filter) was not soldered in manufacturing; I assume because it'd be a waste if the port isn't even used. It is on the underside of the board near where the plug would be. The nearby bypass capacitor is also not soldered, but being that we are using a capacitor already, I don't expect this to ever be an issue. So the result was the 3.3v line was broken. Because it's only a bead filter (honestly overkill for the most part and can safely be ignored), I just bridged the filter pads with a little piece of wire to get power to the port. It worked perfectly after that.

Also, I used ADA254 to hook it up instead of a leftover SD card to microSD card adapter.

If anyone wants to use this in the future, here's some general guidance: the 5v and chip detect (CD) pins can be ignored; The INT (interrupt) line on the gamecube can be ignored (it was never getting used anyway); you don't need two ground lines, only one; when using the 3.3v pin, the built in level shifter is not used, so you don't have to worry about the extra chip on it messing with anything; lastly, it has a bypass capacitor already soldered on, so you can just forget the 22uF cap.

The result is that it really simplifies things in my opinion and I rather like it as it feels more professional. Also, the width of the breakout board happens to be the perfect size to fit in the hole where the broadband adapter would go. So it's a nice little convenient place to mount it with access to the card from the outside.

Hope this info helps others in the future.

I plan on doing the mod using the same DOL-001 Version 2 board as well. Do you happen to have a diagram for your wire setup?

 

[Firestorm808]

you might get away with doing that temporarily the way i did with a cluster of 10v caps to meet the required farad, but i would eventually put in a proper voltage cap as it could be risky to the sd card used.

So ideally, you would use one 22uf 5V Capacitor since the SD is 3.3V?

 

[wolffangalchemist]

So ideally, you would use one 22uf 5V Capacitor since the SD is 3.3V?

I used the same value as was on a actual sd2sp2 adapter, as to why they chose that value not 100% but normally it's done for a reason. probably well... for the cap to be less likely to pop if fed to much voltage, the voltage rating isn't the capacitor's output it is more of the voltage limit to feed through it. Higher voltage rating is anyways better than lower voltage when it comes to caps, the 5v cap will work sure but if the voltage ever is increased above tolerance it will blow. Any time i recap a console i always use a little higher voltagw rating cap than the stock ones, just a good rule of thumb.

 

[Firestorm808]

I used the same value as was on a actual sd2sp2 adapter, as to why they chose that value not 100% but normally it's done for a reason. probably well... for the cap to be less likely to pop if fed to much voltage, the voltage rating isn't the capacitor's output it is more of the voltage limit to feed through it. Higher voltage rating is anyways better than lower voltage when it comes to caps, the 5v cap will work sure but if the voltage ever is increased above tolerance it will blow. Any time i recap a console i always use a little higher voltagw rating cap than the stock ones, just a good rule of thumb.

I see. The most common 22uf Capacitors I see online are 16V, 25V, 50V, and 450V.
The 10V I do find are called Audio Grade.
Would you recommend just using the 10V?

 

[wolffangalchemist]

I see. The most common 22uf Capacitors I see online are 16V, 25V, 50V, and 450V.
The 10V I do find are called Audio Grade.
Would you recommend just using the 10V?

yeah, it should be fine.

 

[SylverReZ]

Something like a QSB to solder to the motherboard will help benefit.