Picoboot Mod Just Got Easier! | The Picoboot Flex Cable

[@JasonMeeks79]

To remove the heat sink. I just run the cube for 5 mins before taking apart. Never lost a pad yet

[@JayBoyModz]

Thats a good idea! That must have been why I got a few of them off clean before this vid. Thanks for the input 😁

[@fatmansbellybutton]

I’m deffo going to try that, fingers crossed.

[@LRM12o8]

I'll either try that, or use my hot air station at the lowest temperature to warm up the heatsink. I do have an infrared thermometer to check the temperature and decide if I need to warm it up once I've disassembled the GameCube far enough.

[@izzymaedavidson1974]

Why does mine say” files failed to write” and not boot the game ? I have no idea what the issue is and it’s only with GameCube games funny enough

[@JasonMeeks79]

​@izzymaedavidson1974 would need to know a few more details. You install the pico boot ? Does it load Swiss. What sd2sp2 adapter are you using, memory card. What else works

[@PoutingTrevor]

My hands shake when I solder too.

[@PaoloAOR]

alot of the time its the stress of doing it, just practice on any chip and get comfortable. also use thin solder and not a bulky iron. will make your life much easier!

[@SillyFoxJade]

This is really well made! I'm surprised there isn't more likes!

[@JayBoyModz]

Thanks I appreciate it 😁

[@zackeryg2223]

I should be getting mine at least next week. Thank you for this video!

[@DigiDeoBuilds]

Can you still uses discs if you do this mod??

[@djurkinthebox]

Yes. Just hold the A button when you power up the Gamecube

[@narutovssasuke117]

Would the GameCube allow Pokemon Colosseum to still connect to a Gameboy to trade and battle?

[@JayBoyModz]

Yes

[@8BitPlumber1]

Why do you solder all the wires to the chip, but without this flex cable, you only solder 2 wires to the chip and the others are attached to the yellow rectangle below the chip?

[@YabaiModding]

Convenience. You can pull the same points you solder on that yellow rectangle directly on that chip, but the soldering is harder.

[@makedaevilmage]

cheers for the tutorial!

[@welic8219]

ciao esiste uno schema per ogni tipo di scheda madre, oppure le saldature che hai eseguito sono universali nel senso che vanno bene per tutte le console?

[@yeeyo11]

do you know if I can play melee + ucf in picoboot??

[@JohnDoe-wi7eb]

What temp would you set your iron to ?

[@izzymaedavidson1974]

Why does mine say “game file failed to write. Failed to setup the file(too fragmented?) “ then it doesn’t boot the game I want to play ?

[@darkouer]

So, what is the thickness measurement for the thermal pads?

[@sonofskywalker3]

Is there a reason you don't pre-tin the pads? I'm getting 3 of these on Thursday, and it seems like that might be a bit easier as I don't have too much experience with soldering to a chip leg.

[@JayBoyModz]

Hey man, I think its easier to solder it on if it is laying completely flat

[@emersonwilcox7651]

Do you know how to change the region of a GameCube? I have a Japanese GC that I want to be able to play USA games

[@cbk12]

So the advantage to doing this is no more action replay disc or sd card in front?

[@JayBoyModz]

Some models will still need the sd card in the memory slot if there is no Serial port 1

[@cbk12]

@@JayBoyModz ok thanks so 001 no front SD if you have the SD in serial port?

[@REDPLASMA1305]

@@cbk12 Correct. But not all 001s have the serial port required for the sd card. It is luck of the draw if you order one. Some 001s have the digital out and no serial port for the sd.

[@cbk12]

@@REDPLASMA1305 huh good to know. Thanks man, made me a subscriber

[@Lando00100]

I know there working on a patch but the only hiccup is not resetting properly right? Or im i miss understanding, I know this issue might come up with the update.

[@JayBoyModz]

Yeah that’s the only issue I have heard of but I haven’t experienced it personally

[@maciejkobus]

​@@JayBoyModz With this flex cable you won't be able to use ANY future firmware update. You'll be stuck on v0.2 forever. Upcoming improvements to PicoBoot are: more robust IGR, updating the firmware through homebrew and most importantly - exposing WiFi capabilities to the console. This means you'll be able to perform automatic updates of Swiss, PicoBoot firmware or even use fully fledged homebrew store if someone decides to make one. We are now also talking about possible BBA emulation but I'm not certain if this will be fast enough. All of this is not possible with current wiring method. Speaking of this flex - you shouldn't use it because it's actually dangerous for the console - it can burn out LDO during update which may result in feeding 5V to 3.3V power rail in the console. I don't endorse this product in any way and I can't offer my support if you are using one.

[@yagami41]

@@maciejkobus you can connect an usb cable to the pico or not? for the upgrades parts. I was thinking about a switch to kill the power from gamecube while you use the usb cable.

[@jigzyonline2]

​@@maciejkobusI just bought some Pico W's. Does it have WiFi update support yet?

[@soporteti357]

The components of the mod are very good, but the way to remove the heat sink is the most unusual thing I have seen, if it is not done that way, it could damage some part of the main card

[@RedFaceeee]

Thank you. This is the first video that showed the whole process. So this mod doesn’t require a working disc drive?

[@jigzyonline2]

Thats correct.

[@Swordkirby9057]

Is the Picoboot fpc flex works on pcb Picoboot?

[@TheEpicone-lg3hs]

I know this is really late but, do you know what soldering iron you used.

[@lightshine6044]

Can you play GBA games using sd card from serial port 2 without using GBA player adapter DOL017? Thanks

[@evilmookey1067]

Bro did you put new thermal paste ? You wiped the original and then put the heat sink w left over paste

[@JayBoyModz]

The pads were still on the heat sink

[@gabrielmorrison9477]

Whats the difference from 001 and 101 pico boot mod? Is the installation different?

[@JayBoyModz]

It’s a bit different

[@gabrielmorrison9477]

@@JayBoyModz like where you solder?

[@butterccm]

Can you still open into the regular gamecube menu and use discs? I know Swiss can read discs but I’d still like to boot into the regular menu.

[@jackammo9745]

Yes Swiss allows you to toggle between the CD drive and the SD slot

[@geezis_4745]

Where can I get all the games ?

[@jordanperez1925]

Internet archive

[@joewhite4730]

Any chance you sell any of your mods?

[@JayBoyModz]

Absolutely Jayboymodz.com! :)

[@jeffbrl]

Enjoyed the video. Great work. Looks like you have the JPN console yet it looks like it booted into English. Did you region mod the console prior to the the picoboot mod?

[@JayBoyModz]

Thank you! And nope the region doesn’t matter with this mod because Swiss loads in English I did not region mod the consoles

[@Epic_Explorer2024]

Got a green screen after Swiss loads what’s the recommendations

[@JayBoyModz]

Try a different SD card I’d say first

[@Epic_Explorer2024]

@@JayBoyModz bingo now i have to figure out how to get my ISOs to work lol there all .7z and in swiss just read file??? If you have a recommendation or a good how to it would be awesome

[@JayBoyModz]

Have you tried using 7 zip to extract the files?

[@Epic_Explorer2024]

@@JayBoyModz thanks working great now

[@frownmastr]

If you are going to just be using sdcards do you even need to put the drive back in?

[@JayBoyModz]

No it should work without it

[@dpacyau]

The only sucky thing is that you need to hold B when it boots if there is no drive. I had a busted drive and I just removed the drive mechanism and plugged the controller board into the motherboard, now it boots without the hold B button on swiss. 3D printed a plug for the hole in the top and it works great. I can even boot into the regular Gamecube firmware to do memory card management and I don't get the error message and reboot message when the drive is not installed.

[@comical98]

Just to be sure, this is a picoboot mod right?

[@jojorobino5312]

Just a quick question. I found one on Amazon that has a pinkish sort of red motherboard on amazon. Why do no videos show this style of board or is it relatively newer?

[@JayBoyModz]

Post the link I’ll take a look

[@jojorobino5312]

@JayBoyModz for some reason I think my reply is getting deleted. But it's up for sale on Amazon Canada.

[@frostzmonkey]

​@jojorobino5312 Those boards are clones, not official raspberry pi products. Should still work chip should be the same along with gpio layout.

[@ray2dee88]

Very very cool

[@LRM12o8]

DAMN, I should have watched this video before buying all the parts! 😡 Then I would have known that I don't need the 3D-printed Pico installation bracket when using the Flex Cable! 🤦‍♂ I've only seen videos of normal wire installations beforehand and assumed I'd need everything all the same stuff minus the individual wires! It wasn't expensive, but it's just so annoying to make unnecessary purchases for those projects. I also had a small moment of panic when trying to flash the Pico because I couldn't get it to show up on my computer. Turned out that not all micro USB cables carry data, and the first three(!) cables I tried were all of that not carrying data variety! 😲 It's a good thing one can just google these things nowadays, because I did not know that and after testing three cables believing they can't all be broken, I was really worried I might have gotten a broken Pico. I actually had to search for a bit to even find a micro USB cable that I could recall having used for data transmission. It's been a long time and I don't have many of those around anymore! 😅 Anyway, it's 1 am now and after all this confusion, I better not attempt the soldering tonight...

[@predador007100]

Link??

[@pdrobautista]

Nice, I guess it already was easy enough

[@DontPaniku]

Seems like the Xeno Chip is still way easier.

[@Exitsing]

Whats the point of this flexcable when you need solder more then 5 points to hold the flexcable to picocard? Just use 5 cables and doublesided tape, done

[@locobrown]

If the flex cable was S2 bucks it be awesome. For S7+tax+shipping?! No thanks. The Pico is only S4 bucks. This isn't a solderless mod with the flex cable anyway. If the flex cable included a couple of large thermal pads to fill the gaps the damaged pads when removing the heat sink, it be appealing. The flex cable is over kill and unnecessary. Solder several wires to the Pico and the Cube and that's it. Most people should have 5 or more Picos in their inventory anyway. The flex is cool but for the price of S7+tax+shipping?! Instead get yourselves a couple of Picos, pass up on the flex it is not worth it.

[@TobotronPrime]

I tried...I failed, way too fiddly

[@lyianx]

I modded mine with the serial port method, so this wouldnt work for me. Also looks like the pins that connect using the PI are different than what i used because of it. Neat idea, but not very useful to me. Plus, ive already got it wired up.

[@JayBoyModz]

It works great with the serial port sd card 👍🏽

[@lyianx]

@@JayBoyModz Weird.. When i did mine, it was instructed to solder some wires on the bottom serial port to the Pi. Thought thats what connected the Pi to the port so it could read the SD card.

[@spikelee2887]

this dude blood sugars low lol shakin like a leaf my dood

[@TheEpicone-lg3hs]

Happens to me too

[@Tye2K]

I do appreciate that this makes the Picoboot method easier but you probably shouldn’t have posted this. WebHDX, the person responsible for this mod has stated time & time that Picoboot is *highly experimental* and that using flex cables is not recommended as they won’t be compatible with future firmware updates which are going to be very important for a mod like this as it’s still very well in its infancy stages. WebHDX stated he is in fact working on an update for Picoboot & when released, an official flex cable *will* be provided. Please please please do not follow this method. I understand that this process is much easier to install, but when it comes at the risk of destroying the Pico or the GameCube itself along with losing the ability to update, it is just not worth it. Find a modder to do this installation for you & if you can’t find one then PLEASE wait for WebHDX to come out with the new update & flex cable. It is not worth the risk guys. Please be careful.

[@Sepioth]

It's definitely a serious issue with using this flex cable because if you update the Pico while still soldered to the GameCube you risk ruining the Pico as well possibly the GC. You need to desolder a wire before you update the Pico. The upcoming update is to address issues with the current Pico but I believe it is to also add the capability to use the WiFi Pico for over the air updated and much more. This will require a change in the current wiring.

[@Angryhelder]

You guys are just a record on repeat for him, this is the exact same method used if you wired it in manually. Also the update changes NOTHING except fix the IGR which is faulty in the current firmware because he did not use 1 extra wire to connect to a pin to make it more reliable for IGR. The future updates he is planning is for the Pico W which this flex pcb WAS NOT DESIGNED FOR, it was designed for the basic Pico that is covered in the current github build and install. When there is an update to the new wiring which he is not telling anyone because it will likely involve more than that 1 missing wire from the current setup I will make a Pico W flex pcb designed for the new firmware to take advantage of the wifi features he is planning to implement. I have private conversation logs between webhdx and myself about the updating while the power is connected and as long as you disconnect the cable right after the update process you should have no issues. I'm not going to go argue back and forth but I have gone over this with him privately and this is a viable install solution for the current setup for the Pico non W.

[@Tye2K]

@@Angryhelder I literally asked webHDX about this specifically & he said it’s a risk for the system itself… I can link you to that post if you don’t believe me.

[@Angryhelder]

@@Tye2K I know it's a risk but if you leave the cable on for longer than needed and it's only when you update it. How many updates for the standard Pico are there ? Not enough to warrant a change or worry about it.

[@Tye2K]

@@Angryhelder that’s because the Picoboot is still relatively new wtf???????? Was that really a question?

[@demonofshadows9199]

but you still have to solder the exact same points lol is the same as wiring.

[@danielsimpkins9662]

Just a question, do you possibly have some early onset Parkinson’s disease? Your hands are extremely shaky.

[@JayBoyModz]

Thanks for the concern, i'm good though. Always been like that and the caffeine doesn't help. I took a break from it for a while but ive been working a lot lately so have been drinking more and it doesn't help much in the steady department.