GCN XenoGC Installed but not working

[samedifference]

I'm not too great at soldering, but I followed online instructions very closely and was really careful with how I applied the solder.. but even after attempted to adjust my soldering points multiple times, the Gamecube doesn't even seem to acknowledge the chip. The red LED on the xenoGC stays on, but that's about it; I've tried holding the start button on an in-region disc (does nothing), and I've also tried straight up running import games (doesn't work, normal error screen).
Here are some photos of my soldering attempt, does anything look horribly wrong?

Spoiler

Here's also a photo of the LED as shown by the modchip itself:

Spoiler

 

[Navonod]

Reading this https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/xeno-gc-modchip-installation-guide.1044/
If your modchip lights up and stays a solid red, then it is receiving power, but something isn't connected right. Check that your wires are all soldered in the correct places and that nothing is bridged. Make sure that you have electrical tape above and below the modchip. As a last resort, you could replace your wires.

You're not using wires but I recommend using wires. It fixed my issues.

 

[samedifference]

I can only seem to remove so much of the solder using solder wick, the xenoGC chip seems to be stuck to the drive board now, meaning that a wired install is no longer an option. Despite having removed a good amount of the solder, the chip is still receiving power and lighting up. Should I just try to re-solder the other points again or will doing this damage anything?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

This looks like too much solder. It is easy to bridge things, especially the point next to the number "6" on the drive board. I also went with the zero wire installation without even thinking about it (and it does look nice not having a bunch of wires and tape inside the console).
The problem with that type of installation is that measuring is almost impossible and correcting mistakes is much harder as you have experienced yourself now.

In case safe removal isn't possible with the soldering iron, you could try a hot air station. Don't pull on the XenoGC board; this will rip off the solder pads from the drive board. Removing this might need quite some patience.

I personally would not (re-)add any more solder at the moment not knowing how things look below the XenoGC.


Good luck!

 

[samedifference]

I don't really think I'm cut out for this. At the end of the day, the disc drive still works/ reads in-region discs, but even after adding some wires to the install, I don't think I'm gonna get the modchip working. I just ended up ordering a different disc drive with the chip pre-installed, but I appreciate the advice given here.