NEW $5 modchip for the GameCube - the Picoboot! Install guide for DOL-001 and DOL-101

There have been no major developments with GameCube modchips for many years, but now we have an open source, low cost, and powerful new option! The Picoboot by webhdx uses the Raspberry Pi Pico to create an IPL replacement modchip. On this week's episode of Fix it Friday, we walk you through the installation of this modchip on both models of the GameCube!
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Install docs:
github.com/web...
DOL-001 install diagram: github.com/web...
DOL-101 install diagram: github.com/web...
Parts:
Raspberry Pi Pico: a.co/d/7pUB5kb
SD2SP2: a.co/d/haF7b2C
SD Gecko: a.co/d/00H1XGq
Music:
The Sword of Lxzor (X68000)
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[@KyleBTech]

Really good technique to remove the heatsink. I twisted it before and damaged the switching diode next to the middle screw hole. Another cool thing about the pico is that you don't even need to keep a broken disc drive in the system, making space for some other mods. Really excited to see this with the M.2 adapter when it releases.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yes, I am also very excited for that M.2 adapter. This is such an awesome project and I love that it is affordable and relatively easy to install!

[@OGSERB]

My GameCube is wired up and ready. Amazon is taking their sweet time delivering my pico. Can’t wait to install it. Love your videos, always well done!

[@LIRetroGaming]

Thanks so much! Hope that the video helps with the install!

[@MundoNintend0]

Thank you brother for making my Fridays very happy when I see your videos and modifications, as always I congratulate you and you are a tremendous electronics technician, my respect for you.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Thanks a lot brother, appreciate the support!

[@seanm1738]

This is incredible, using such a readily available board. My very first console mod install was a Qoob Pro. Anyone remember getting GameCube news and homebrew from tehskeen?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Oh man!! Tehskeen really takes me back

[@philipboggs3372]

Great video, did this mod to mine and swapped the clock battery last week and so far it works great.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Outstanding! Definitely some good upgrades

[@mccarseat]

This is a great video, I used this as a walkthrough to complete the project today. Just as a note, for anyone using Insurrection Component cables, or any other video output methods. Swiss boots to 480p in auto mode by default, which was giving me all sorts of crazy issues on my JVC D-Series CRT. But with the original composite cables plugged in, this forced 480i output, then I could go into the Swiss settings and change the default video mode from "Auto" to "480i". Then swap back to my component cables that use the digital video port, and everything worked great!

[@lucyswannsunsafespace7313]

New sub here! Your wire toot on the MB was THE most thorough I've ever watched! Thanks for that! 🙂

[@Sacren365]

Didn’t know about the lid thing when closing it up. Thanks for saving me some repair work🙂

[@Luigi64]

so many good techniques here to get it installed safely wow, I'm really impressed

[@LIRetroGaming]

Thanks! I tried to provide as much info as I could

[@PUDINHED]

4:50 I saw a nice recommendation on the PicoBoot github to power on the GameCube for 10-15 mins prior to removing the heatsink, to give it a lil toasty times for easier removal.

[@jarrodedwards5518]

Awesome install! I have a pico on the way and will be replacing the old xeno with it. My 001 has been having disc read issues and this will make for a perfect fix.

[@tbddevelops]

Great timing! I saw this mod last week, so ordered the parts (they arrive today). This is on this weekend's project list. Thanks for the video.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Excellent! Hopefully this video will be helpful!

[@efrainflores3902]

Great job showing how to do this. I'll wait for the GC loader to be back in stock because I'm no good at soldering.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Fair point, the GCLoader is still amazing and hopefully they will be in stock again soon

[@bytesaber]

This was really great to see. I appreciate the conceptual comparisons to the ViperGC and Qoob of the long long ago. Good to know about the audio streaming. Great video!

[@LIRetroGaming]

Thanks so much! I’m definitely looking forward to trying this on other systems like the Panasonic Q in the future

[@stevemcknelly5036]

Maaaaan! I saw the news on this and, no lie, I said I hoped you would do this on a Fix It Friday!

[@LIRetroGaming]

That’s awesome! Yeah I had to do a video as soon as I learned about this project

[@Bringmejoycon]

Thanks for the video bro. Doing one tonight

[@nathanmakin710]

Something i found out while doing mine is if after you have installed the pico and you get a blank screen dont panic it just means thet your wires are long cut them down and solder onto the pico that should work

[@jasonpistorio3651]

I can't wait to do this. Thanks for the video

[@mateobean6635]

Dang, I was really hoping you were gonna show how to solder in the sp2sd2 adapter to the dol-101. Great video on the Pico though!

[@LIRetroGaming]

Thanks! At some point I’ll probably do a follow up on adding the SP2 to the DOL 101

[@MoreFunMakingIt]

Great video. Really need to give this a go!

[@LIRetroGaming]

Definitely recommend it, it is a fun project!

[@MoreFunMakingIt]

@@LIRetroGaming The big thing for me is not needing a disc to boot into Swiss. That's huge. The Pico is incredible.

[@kingcheerio8558]

Still waiting on my sd2sp2, ordered on Amazon like a month ago, but should be here today, currently setting some cash aside for the gcdual, and the new Bluetooth controller board mod. Planning to replace the fan too with a whisper quiet one, all in all it'll be my ultimate GameCube, lol

[@LIRetroGaming]

Certainly a nice set of modifications to try out

[@venenareligioest410]

Great video 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@Dorff_Meister]

The future of modchips is now.

[@elessar5848]

Working on this, this weekend.

[@BeansEnjoyer911]

This mod was an absolute PIA because I used stranded wires instead of solid core. But other than than, its dead simple anyone with a soldering iron should be able to do it just fine. Just get good wires, unlike me

[@JuandelaCruz-zl1le]

On dol-101, do we have to remove the heatsink? Edit: I've done it, do not have to remove the heatsink and risk destroying the console, just remove the screws.

[@JuandelaCruz-zl1le]

@@victimofgoogle **Miss Handled*

[@sylvaingauthier908]

Good to know that the 101 needs a sd gecko, that is a very important point

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yes unfortunately it doesn’t have an SP2 slot. Technically you can solder one in, but in my opinion it’s not worth the trouble

[@linearlink]

@@LIRetroGaming I mean, might as well add just a handful more wires while the GCube is already open for the Pico

[@Stevejr47]

Awesome video as usual! Will you be adding this mod to your list of GC services on your site?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yes definitely, I will have a listing for this soon! In the meantime you can reach me at my website and we can work out the details

[@draconic5129]

Should've just hardwired an SD2SP2 in the Dol-101 since it's much faster than the memory card and it's not really much more work than installing picoboot on it's own.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Definitely something that I can try next time

[@levispijk7729]

Nice tip!

[@Vmurph]

That’s what I wanted to do, but I discovered my dol-001 unfortunately doesn’t have a serial port 2! So I’m stuck having to use the card adapter sticking out the front 😏

[@draconic5129]

​@@Vmurph I've never heard of the 001 units lacking a Serial Port 2 connection that might be a rare revision. Either way you can still use an SD2SP2 on those systems by opening it up and finding the points on the motherboard that correspond to the old Serial Port 2 and solder wires to them to hardwire the unit to work on those systems. I suggest getting one of the 2 piece versions that have the SD card out the side since after hard-wiring it you won't be able to remove the module from the system.

[@Vmurph]

@@draconic5129 yeah mine is kind of rare. It has no Serial Port 2, but it has the dual AV outputs on the back. The analog AV out and the (never implemented) Digital AV out. Mine must’ve been manufactured somewhere in that sliver of time between removing the Serial Port 2, yet before they removed the Digital AV output. Probably a small window there. I wonder if the colors differed in that respect. Mine is silver. I know the purple was an original color. Did the silver get released at the same time, or was it a little later? Anyway, thank you for that info! I was wondering if there was a way I could do that. And yeah, I would definitely use the two-piece SD2SP2 Pro. It’s a way better design. In fact, I already had one in my shopping cart, cause I just assumed mine had the 2nd SP, so I was really bummed when I looked underneath to “confirm”, only to find an empty cavity.😅 Now I can put it back in my cart.

[@PaulTheFox1988]

I found a slightly better location to route the wires as long as you have small enough wires (I used 30awg) and that's between the cpu and gpu and out through the side of the digital video port, the gap between the port and the metal shield for the dvd drive there is larger for the wires. I then mounted the pico along the back edge of the dvd drive with the micro USB port pointing away from the analogue video port, if you position it flush with the black plastic of the drive it just about clears the black plastic of the rear cover with about a millimeter spare.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Awesome, I’ll try that next time

[@alexharker7223]

I used 30 AWG wire as well and recommend it. You can actually route them through the tiny gap between the connector for the controller board ribbon and the metal housing for a very short and direct route to the Pico mount point. No need to clip any metal to route wires.

[@yumszvee1]

Landed here by chance!!!!! 👍👍👍

[@LIRetroGaming]

Awesome! Hope you enjoyed the video!

[@RyanCampbell21]

Have you or anyone had issues with their audio? Im new to using a swiss booted GameCube and no matter what I've tried I cannot get audio from my games. I've tried new cables, re installing files, using a converter, not using a converter and even using a different TV/speaker. The volume is so low I can't hear it unless my tv is maxed out and even then the static is louder than the actual game. Everything else works perfect but I just can't get decent audio. Any suggestions?

[@valerijsglazkins7237]

Bought Gamecube with Picoboot, but when I press power button, console loads Gamecube menu, not Swiss. There is ipl.dol file on sd-card, but nothing. Can someone help?

[@SNKev411]

Good job bro

[@LIRetroGaming]

Thanks, much appreciated!

[@garulle1662]

Where can we get a picture of the pin out for dol-101 the gethub not there

[@mannygonzalez7987]

I'm having issues when I go back to the Swiss menu to choose a new game it turns to a black screen and I have to power it down. On the root of the micro sd card it has the ipl.dol And I'm running the latest version of Swiss. I use R + Z + B + D-Pad Down to go back to Swiss

[@Creamen]

Thanks !

[@UXMusicc]

On the GameCube Dol-001 how do you save game files?

[@ChabalNet]

My rapsberry pi pico rebooting always after copy the file picoboot.uf2 and returning with the 2 files orignals. Help!!!

[@adhemelfaiky6047]

I need your help I have a GameCube dol 001 and it is missing C97 C98 FIL16 Can you tell me what are they

[@LIRetroGaming]

Unfortunately I don’t have that info, I would need to open one up and measure those components

[@sergiocortizo2563]

Great tutorial. Do you know which is the maximum sd memory allowed in sd2sp2?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Not sure, but I have tried a 512gb which worked well

[@retrorefurb]

I did all the wiring but waiting for the sd2sp2 right now with no SD card in when powered on just get a black screen can anyone confirm if that's expected?

[@FSSHetPDGE]

I feel like that's right. The picoboot will be looking for an SD card with a ipl.dol to boot into. So without that it's just stuck.

[@soad11dude]

Is there any way to move/copy/erase memory card game saves with this mod? I know the boot logo needs to be skipped to allow picoboot to work.... but it would have been great to still be able to hear that intro theme when booting the GC. Maybe one day the picoboot will work like GC loader does and we'll have the option to get into the old GC menu on boot...

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yes, you can still go to the original menu so that you can access and manage the memory card

[@logannosleep5]

Hey got the Pi-pico before my SD2SP2, and was wondering if theres anyway to boot into the normal gamecube bios, just so I can check and make sure everything is working right..... as of right now when booting it just stays blank.

[@LIRetroGaming]

It should work even without the sd2sp2

[@golinart4570]

Any mirrors for the 001 install documents? Links are dead.

[@LIRetroGaming]

github.com/webhdx/PicoBoot/wiki/Installation-guide

[@GameZone-rl4rv]

Great video, My GameCube doesn't have sd2sp2 slot in the slot. How to get my system to work bro.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Easiest way to do this is to use an sd gecko instead of the sd2sp2

[@samuraispiritsx]

Can I ask you what size wire gauge you used for this? And would it be appropriate for the region switch mod as well? Seems like the wires need to be very thin.

[@LIRetroGaming]

I used 28 gauge for the picoboot

[@crystalfortin945]

Is there a certain website to get GameCube games from? And can I play other game systems games on the modified GameCube?? Just wondering??

[@LIRetroGaming]

Try archive.org. There are some emulators that work on the GameCube as well

[@edwardbentfield1701]

Hello I followed your tutorial to the letter. I booted up the gamecube and the pico chip worked once. I turned off the gamecube when I tried to play it again it booted up fine but my game controllor stopped working when I'm using swiss. Do you have ideas what the cause is?

[@LIRetroGaming]

It sounds like the pico might be touching the controller ports directly. Can you test again but make sure that there is space between the pico and the controller port pcb?

[@buckeyes33100]

Hello! So do you only need the ISO file for the games to be read, correct? Also, do you put a separate folder of games for other things like NES or can those all be together?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yes the ISO file can be in the main directory of the card, but you can also place them in folders and it will work. Same thing for that emulator I mentioned in the video

[@realbigtrees]

did you use a mic this time? sounds a lot better

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yeah, I finally got a better mic

[@realbigtrees]

@@LIRetroGaming you're the best

[@josiasperez03]

question: can a dol 101 be moded to have hdmi port? sorry had to edit it had to re check my GC it only has the analog port

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yes it can, I have done a video on that mod as well

[@josiasperez03]

@@LIRetroGaming yeah like straight up hdmi ? no adapters

[@josiasperez03]

@@LIRetroGamingalso have you heard or seen a type c mode for power? for the gc

[@BasicTechGirl]

Can we get a working links for Install docs? working on a Dol-101

[@LIRetroGaming]

Here it is: github.com/webhdx/PicoBoot/wiki/Installation-guide

[@salmakesthings]

Something I may have missed. Is there any reason to upgrade to this over my existing xenochip?

[@pugforce8315]

don’t need a boot disk and easy updates, they’re also working on a way to use a m.2 ssd

[@miro5052]

Will this allow my japanese gamecube to read NA discs? I plan on loading through sd card but I like having the option to play discs.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yes, you will be able to read NA games on that system with this mod

[@ramirojimenez3916]

Is it better to mod a 001 then a 101 I have The Pokémon xd version and I do wanna mod it

[@LIRetroGaming]

I think the 001 is better because you can also easily get hdmi out from it

[@ramirojimenez3916]

@@LIRetroGaming is it possible to switch out the mother board into a 101 same shell color ?

[@peterfitopoulos765]

Does the speed of the SD card matter all that much?

[@LIRetroGaming]

I don’t think it matters that much. Generally speaking I try to avoid the really cheap crappy cards though, because those tend to just be poorly made

[@claybrowning2700]

is there any performance difference between the mods on the 001 vs the 101?

[@LIRetroGaming]

No. The major differences are: no digital port, no SP2 port for the sd2sp2

[@ThePolicenaut]

When I transfer the file to the pico it just disconnects before the transfer can be completed ,anyone else have this issue? When I reconnect there's no file there.

[@LIRetroGaming]

It should disconnect as soon as The file transfers

[@ThePolicenaut]

@@LIRetroGaming Thanks,I'm up and running now ,I just got confused by transferring the file but I didn't realise that it flashes the pico and disconnects.

[@Veeruhyann]

Can you link the wires you used?

[@LIRetroGaming]

XINGYHENG 20pin Wire Rainbow... www.amazon.com/dp/B01JNXLGF2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

[@jmmadridondo]

What Tv are you using?

[@LIRetroGaming]

It’s a Sharp LC19sb25u

[@philtyler4048]

Can it still play discs after being modded?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yes it can, including Japanese imports

[@miketilos2496]

Can you run ripped games from a mini-dvd?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yes I believe that will also work

[@belphegor7891]

Where can i get the wires?

[@sd8213]

Wire shop

[@skidnoob6991]

hey what cables do you use?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Which cables? I was using official cables to connect to the tv.

[@skidnoob6991]

@@LIRetroGaming i mean for Soldering, sorry

[@anthonystebbins6289]

What sort of wires are we suppose to use? O.o

[@LIRetroGaming]

You can use 30 gauge kynar wire, although in this case I was using 28 gauge copper stranded wire

[@danielcordero901]

​@@LIRetroGaming Does the little cables in the inside of network cables can be used?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Not sure what you mean, but most likely

[@battlefinder]

I think you mean $9.50 mod chip, and $9 Micro USB adapter

[@LIRetroGaming]

Either way, it’s cheap

[@battlefinder]

@@LIRetroGaming Agreed, and simple - which is best

[@smokelikeahippi4538]

What’s the chances of me sending you my GameCube and you install the pico for me?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Sure thing, I can do that. You can reach me at my website 1uprestorations.com

[@bonomcgradypewpew2924]

The gc loader has more compatibility with audio streaming games than the pico? Which is better? Besides the fact that the pico allows to use the disc drive. Thank you

[@LIRetroGaming]

The gcloader works perfectly with audio streaming games like star fox adventures, and I am pretty sure these games still don’t play 100% perfect using swiss and this method. But that being said, it’s a very small list of games, like 15 at the most. Otherwise compatibility is phenomenal

[@st0nedpenguin]

I'm struggling to figure out how you arrived at this being a $5 modchip when the components come to like $25.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Here’s where I got it for 4 bucks, try using google next time: www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/raspberry-pi/SC0915/13684020?Evaluation%20Boards%20-%20Embedded%20-%20MCU%2C%20DSP&Shopping_Product_Development%20Boards%2C%20Kits%2C%20Programmers_NEW&Evaluation%20Boards%20-%20Embedded%20-%20MCU%2C%20DSP&gclid=CjwKCAjwq5-WBhB7EiwAl-HEklr6XSlmUiU_6vecvxJgWF3b4kuLBXSbHEvbQwLVQtX2_04D9eYjeRoC-foQAvD_BwE

[@victorg7036]

If I have the pico pi installed into my GC does it boot to the main menu if you don't have a sd gecko or a sd2sp2 installed in the system?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yes it should do that