Which Wii mod chip? (D2C2 & D2E)

[Franco B]

I recently got a Wii and I would like to mod it so I can can play Wii/GC backups and homebrew etc.

After examining my serial number it appears I have the D2C chipset.

Looking around it seems that the Wasabi mod chip is the 'best' on the market at ther moment. Does anyone have anything positive or negative to say about them?

I was going to install the chip my self but I dont think my skills are quite up to it. This is the installation diagram:



If I had any of the other drives I would probably have a go as you only have to solder onto the five pads but as I have a D2C you have to solder to three IC pins and an extra pad too. Im not sure I could solder to the pins without bridging any other pins or generally fubar'ing it. I have seen a trick you can do with two razor blades to help you solder to IC pins but im still not too sure. I can get the chip installed for an extra £35 (if anyone knows where you can get it done cheaper let me know) and I would rather pay that than turn my Wii into a £200 paper weight.

[dweebs0r]

I have an Argon modchip in my D2C Wii and it works perfectly.

I have also heard the D2Pro chips are good but dont have any personal experience with them.

The argon can be purchased with a chip programmer and can be flashed with argon firmware or the Wasabi firmware so its really a do all solution.

[dweebs0r]

I have a friend who does the installs if you are interested, PM me.  He is in the US and I have used him for at least 3 Wii modchip installs.

-D

[Hoagie_one]

I thought the wasabe or agon had an alternate soldering schema that avoided the pins?

[dweebs0r]

I dont know about the wasabi but the argon has an alternate 9 wire install.  I believe it requires a different set of firmware if you go this route but should otherwise work the same.

[Franco B]

Thanks for the install offer but im in the UK and it would cost loads to send it over.

Im leaning towards the Wasabi due to the 128kb onboard flash to store drive commands/patches (if they are needed).

You can get a solderless (well, one solder link) Wii Clip for the Wasabi but it cannot be used on the D2C.

[Hoagie_one]

keep in mind if you just bought it in teh last month, you may have the D2C v2 chip and that is currently unmoddable.  Although two groups will have a chip fix out soon for them.

[Level42]

I just got a new Wii. (D2E likely, the serial number checker doesn't "know" my serial number yet).So what's the latest on this ? I think the Wasabi is about the only one to support the latest models ?
It doesn't have the nice feature of backing up your valuable original disks to SD card that the Wiikey has though....

[ChadTower]

You can get a solderless (well, one solder link) Wii Clip for the Wasabi but it cannot be used on the D2C.

I have the WiiClip and there are versions for D2C (which I also have).  It is not solderless.  There is no soldering involved with the Wii DVD drive but you do have to solder the modchip to the WiiClip.

My WiiClip has been working for many months without a single issue.  It was surprisingly easy to install but you have to be very careful - the reviews are not kidding when they say these tension pins are fragile.  Get it right the first time.

[Level42]

OK, you use the Wiiclip, but what mod chip ?

My Wii is very new, so new that the serial checkers don't seem to recognize it....
So I bet mine has a D2E, which is not supported (yet) by most mod chips.

Funny to know that this is the fist console I bought new. Actually didn't buy it, it came "free" with a mobile phone contract for my wife.

[ChadTower]

OK, you use the Wiiclip, but what mod chip ?

My Wii is very new, so new that the serial checkers don't seem to recognize it....
So I bet mine has a D2E, which is not supported (yet) by most mod chips.

Mine is an older D2C so I can't help you with what chip to use on yours.

[Martijn]

i have some d2pro d2e chips laying around if you need them or d2e compatible wasp chip

[Onji]

not trying to hijack the thread or anything, but i have a launch Wii, which solution would be the best for me? wiikey? also i do enjoy using the virtual console etc from nintendo and do not want to get banned from any of their online services. are they detectable or what? thanks

[Level42]

i have some d2pro d2e chips laying around if you need them or d2e compatible wasp chip

Drop me a PM with prices. Are these as good or better than the Wasabi ? Thanks

[Martijn]

i have some d2pro d2e chips laying around if you need them or d2e compatible wasp chip

Drop me a PM with prices. Are these as good or better than the Wasabi ? Thanks

They have more memory then wasabi and has external prgramming option, also d2pro is from wiikey creators and good support

[Martijn]

not trying to hijack the thread or anything, but i have a launch Wii, which solution would be the best for me? wiikey? also i do enjoy using the virtual console etc from nintendo and do not want to get banned from any of their online services. are they detectable or what? thanks

all chips do they same thing, they just patch the dvd drive so it can play import and backups. wiikey if a fine choice for your model. its cheap and still supported and updatable through dvd. you can get a wiikey for 10 dollars nowadays,

[SNAAKE]

not trying to hijack the thread or anything, but i have a launch Wii, which solution would be the best for me? wiikey? also i do enjoy using the virtual console etc from nintendo and do not want to get banned from any of their online services. are they detectable or what? thanks

I have wiikey and launch wii. I never got banned or anything worked perfect so far. I might even install on for you I still have some wiikeys left if you are interested. I was modding for a while until things got little out of hand(I am really busy) and I havent really looked into all these new chips yet so I couldnt really offer my service to next gen wii owners(YET..I might come back or something lol)

[Franco B]

I think its high time i chipped this sucker! Its only been four months, heh.

My work mate has given me his brand new Wii (gulp) to chip at the same time. I have taken both units apart and I have the GC2-D2C (D2C2?) chip and his has the GC2-D2E (D2E).

Im thinking of getting the D2Pro (9 Wire Version) solderless chip as its an easy install,  will work on both consoles and seems to be a decent chip.

[This] is the one I am looking at.

I thought I would get your guys views before I pull the trigger. Any thoughts?

[mcfreak]

Have you thought about seeing if the new ISO Boot loader will work for you?  No mod-chip necessary.

[Franco B]

Could you give me any more info on that? I had a quick google search (im on my way out) but I only found info about a region free disc.

[Level42]

Have you thought about seeing if the new ISO Boot loader will work for you?  No mod-chip necessary.

Still to risky yet for me. I've also read it's not stable yet.

[ften]

I use a D2pro with a Wiiclip on my DC2C Wii, works great. I highly recommend getting a WiiClip, as it's very easy to install.
The ISO loader has some compatibility issues, although the new ISO loader by Wiigator shows promise as it's open source.

-FTen

[Franco B]

Ive installed the d2pro on both Wii's, neither of which are booting ISO's.

They both 'see' gamecube games burnt onto 80mm Tuff Disc DVD-Rs but I just get a blank screen when starting the game.

I burnt super smash bros onto a TDK DVD-R and my D2C2 'see's' the game (you get the SSB splash screen) but then I just get the blank screen. When I try it on the D2E I just get the 'There has been an error, eject the disc and refer to your manual' error.

Both machines still play originals fine, I inserted a PAL disc in both machines to make them region free (they are both PAL machines)

Disassembled both consoles and checked the clip was mounted correctly and checked the pre-soldered points from the d2 pro chip to the clip. The chips are insulated on both sides to prevent shorts.

Reassembled both machines and the same problem applies but now the D2C2 drive is only taking discs in 1cm at a time, it looks like I may have to desolder the CLK point and solder the J wire.

I picked up some Verbatim discs yesterday so I'm going to try a couple of ISO's on them before I do anything else.

Edit: All media burnt at 2x using Imgburn

[Franco B]

Success!!

I think the burn speed may have been the key but I did try a couple of other things which may have helped.

First off all I used the D2pro 9 EUR 1.6 Utility disc (burnt onto a Verbatim at 2x) to update the D2C2s firmware to 1.6 (you cannot update a chip installed on a D2E according to the D2pro site).

I tried the SSB ISO burnt onto the TDK at 2x and it would not work, neither would the GC ISO on the Mini DVD. I read a few threads about burning discs and i learned that sometimes burning too slow can cause problems so I burnt a Mario Kart ISO at 6x using ImgBurn onto a Verbatim DVD-R disc. I put it into the D2C2 and I got the splash screen, I wasn't expecting it to load but it did I had to update the system from the Mario Kart disc for it to run (ignoring the mod chip warning, the Wii cannot see the D2pro, I'm not sure about other chips though, be warned) but it works great now 

I'm still having problems getting GC ISOs to run but I can work on that.

The 6x Verbatim Mario Kart disc also worked on the D2E Wii but didn't require the system update.

The funny thing is the 2x TDK SSB disc now works on the D2C2 but not the D2E.

[Hoagie_one]

In case anyone else is pondering modding their wii, there is now a completely software based solution to running backups.  It's still in the early stages but is looking good.

All you need are some files on your sd card anda copy of zelda to install the homebrew progs to run it.

Mike

[shmokes]

I'll have to check that out.  I have Zelda and an SD card.

[ChadTower]

I imagine that one will be one of those hit and run methods... it works, Nintendo patches it... it works, Nintendo patches it... part of the reason the console manufacturers want the ability to push out OS updates is to take care of things just like this.

[Moose13]

I read a few threads about burning discs and i learned that sometimes burning too slow can cause problems so I burnt a Mario Kart ISO at 6x using ImgBurn onto a Verbatim DVD-R disc. I put it into the D2C2 and I got the splash screen, I wasn't expecting it to load but it did

I always burn my wii discs at 16x, using Verbatim datalife plus. Burned a BUNCH of them. The ONLY problem I ever had was with Guitar Hero. The songs kept on skipping. I had to burn that one at 2x. All others work fine burning at full speed (I can actually overburn at 20x on 16x media, but I don't for some reason, besides movies).

[ften]

You might want to check out DVDInfoPro http://www.dvdinfopro.com/ and check out how well your DVD burner burns DVDs. Using DVDInfoPro I was able to tell my DVD burner's firmware sucked, I was pulling about a 69% on the Quality test. By cross flashing my Optiarc with Light-on firmware I was able to increase my burn quality to 99% and have yet to burn a bad DVD sense.

-FTen

I wrote a post about DVD cross flashing on http://fathertom.net/hardwii/?p=76

[Red]

I just noticed that the WiiKey 2 chip is out.  Anyone have any experiences with this new chip?  How does it differ from the original WiiKey?  Just wondering if it's worth getting when the original WiiKey is so cheap.  Thanks.

Red

[Spaz Monkey]

With reguards to the "Zelda hack", I believe that the latest Wii firmware upgrade disabled it.

[ften]

With reguards to the "Zelda hack", I believe that the latest Wii firmware upgrade disabled it.

For a few days... lol
http://hackmii.com/2008/11/rise-of-the-dead/#more-208

Eventually Nintendo will get it right, third times the charm.

-FTen