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The Wii Disassembled

mrmcgeeber writes "There are two ways to take apart the Wii. The first, as demonstrated by Popular Science, involves breaking the Wii open due to a lack of tools. The second method is a more formal Wii disassembly guide, which is provided by InformIT.com. Either way, you can see some detailed pictures of the internals of the Wii and how the parts are laid out. The InformIT.com version also includes an eight minute teardown video."

23 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Wii alive! by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    No disassemble! No disassemble!

    1. Re:Wii alive! by Instine · · Score: 4, Funny

      Reassemble Stephany? :(

      --
      Because you can - or because you should?
  2. Forgot another method of Disassembly by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Informative

    smashmywii.com!

    Its full of craptastic goodness.

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    liqbase :: faster than paper
    1. Re:Forgot another method of Disassembly by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hey, keep your BDSM fetish sites to yourself!

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      This guy's the limit!
    2. Re:Forgot another method of Disassembly by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 3, Interesting

      smashmyps3.com

      Theres more as well..

      I haven't a clue why people would want to do this, but its their money being wasted.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    3. Re:Forgot another method of Disassembly by paeanblack · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I haven't a clue why people would want to do this, but its their money being wasted.

      Yes, using a game console for entertainment is clearly a waste of money.

  3. Re:So? by Xest · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Many consoles employ ways of ensuring you can't disassemble them without causing breaking warranties. Even without that being someone who's spent time repairing various laptops I know first hand that it can be tricky figuring out how to take electronic devices apart without damaging them by snapping a piece of plastic or some such.

    The news isn't just that it can be taken apart, that'd be silly, pretty much everything can be taken apart some way or another. The news is that someone has provided an article to do it properly and some people like to see what's inside without taking their own system apart also. It's a guide for people who like modding their systems which is a hobby many people enjoy, particularly amongst those of us who like to see what makes things tick.

  4. Re:So? by SenorCitizen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It might not be news, but seeing the internals of new hardware is always interesting. At least, on a geek site it usually is. I thought it looked pretty neat... looks like it will be as quiet and cool as the GC. I hate the noise the PS2 and the Xbox make.

  5. Re:Controller by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 3, Funny

    I would be more interesed to see a controller opened.

    Why do I have a funny feeling that you didn't bother to RTFA?

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    This guy's the limit!
  6. "Sensor array" is not a sensor array by Matz+L.E. · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's not a sensor array, it's just LEDs emitting infrared light.
    The sensor is in the Wiimote.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTGSkYRDpWY

  7. Re:So? by Dunbal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The fact you can disassemble the Wii is news how exactly?

          Would you rather read about the latest Google acquisition? Or how about yet another evolution/ID troll? Oh I see let's talk about the RIAA again...

          THIS my friend, is news for nerds. Someone took apart their Wi, and you can see the porno-grade pics. Who else on this planet, apart from nerds, would be interested in THAT?

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  8. Re:So? by Dunbal · · Score: 4, Funny

    I enjoyed many an hour as a child taking electronics apart and putting them back together

          I used to do the same to small animals. They never worked properly afterwards though - they'd just sit there and pretend to be asleep. Dumb animals...

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    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  9. Links for all consoles by alexhs · · Score: 4, Informative
    Where are the "related stories" ?

    And for those who don't have time, motherboards photos :
    • XBox 360 (sorry not directly the JPEG, seems they rely on referer tag. Motherboard pic to the bottom of the page)
    • PS3
    • Wii
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    I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
  10. Re:Controller by Mike89 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Why do I have a funny feeling that you didn't bother to RTFA?
    Wait, wait, I know this one.. Is it because the controller IS opened in the article? Is it? Am I right?!
  11. Re:Look at the "revolutionary" technology by Mathinker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And if you opened the case of your next (working) computer and only found a few LED's I suppose you would be equally dismissive, eh?

    Sometimes the revolution is about what isn't there, not what is there.

  12. Re:Grr - triwing screws by Schraegstrichpunkt · · Score: 3, Informative
    Also, it may be the case that in order to get the various certifications (that CE mark or whatever it is) you need to make it so it cant be easily diassembled (I have no idea)

    That's doubtful; That's what the separate power brick is for.

    I think the rule is that anything that has more than 60 Volts RMS going into it has to be certified. Electronics companies avoid having to re-certify their entire devices every time they make a change by using separate, generic power adaptors.

  13. Re:Grr - triwing screws by eltonito · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In case you really were interested- Torx bits weren't designed to keep end users from accessing the internals, they were designed to make assembly more efficient. Flathead and Phillips screws require the operator to line the bit up with the slots, the Torx design lines up much more quickly and is less likely to pop out of the socket once it is engaged. Supposedly torx improve production times.

    At least, this is what was explained to me by the Craftsmen rep when I complained about having to buy a crapload of torx bits to work on my car, which seemingly has nothing but torx.

  14. Re:Look at the "revolutionary" technology by LordKronos · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes. To be more accurate...the article has it backwards. It says the bars on the TV are IR detectors and the Wiimote has an IR output. In reality, the bars on the TV are nothing more than IR emitters, and the detector is in the Wiimote (like you said...a ccd)

  15. Re:Grr - triwing screws by muffen · · Score: 3, Informative
    I hate the way some companies use oddball screws to try and stop people taking the device apart. It doesn't work - those who really want to take it apart will find the tool or improvise, and it merely annoys them. Those who don't want to take it apart wouldn't even if you used screws that could be undone with the tip of a steak knife.
    ... like the xbox360, where you can "make" your own tool by cutting some hard plastic, delays the opening-the-xbox360-process by an entire 5 minutes, and requires one additional tool, scissors.

    I completely agree, the only thing this does is stops "kids" from opening the console, which really has no effect in the end. I guess what they are worried about is people hacking the console, which will happen sooner or later one way or another, and the people hacking it couldn't care less about the screws or even if they have to break the plastic.

    With the internet, it takes just one person to show how its done, and thousands will follow. For the xbox360, there is a company selling the special tool you need, I think the going rate is around $10.
  16. Re:Curious by DDLKermit007 · · Score: 3, Informative

    GC games require the GC controller as far as I know. Virtual Console games however all work with the Classic controller plus the GC controller and depending on the game the Wiimote can be used (mainly NES and some Genesis games). Back to Zelda!

  17. Oops by kilo_foxtrot84 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Uh... does anybody have a link to the reassembly page?

  18. Re:Grr - triwing screws by Animaether · · Score: 3, Informative

    You are also less likely to kill
    - the screw head
    - the screw driver

    while being able to apply a great amount of force, or a set amount of force with factory tools.

    For more info, see:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_10664

    Btw - see related topics on the Wiki.. there are a LOT of screw heads out there.

    There is one common property to them, though - if you have a good quality flat screw driver, you can open all but the dotted ones (Spanner Head in the wiki, and a crazy 3-dotted one I encountered once in a greek microwave >_ we ended up drilling those out and replacing them with philips heads on a repair. ha.)

  19. Re:DVD drive? by Akaihiryuu · · Score: 3, Informative

    They called it a DVD drive because it is a DVD drive. It's pretty much the same thing as the DVD-ROM in your computer. Just putting a DVD drive in your computer isn't going to give you the ability to play DVD movies, you'd have to have some sort of DVD player software. You can read the files off of the disk, but if you don't have an MPEG2 decoder, they're just going to be files. I personally don't see the need to have the Wii be able to play DVD movies. It's a game console...if I really want to play DVD movies, the local grocery store has progressive scan DVD players for $28, and these will be better for movies than any game console. It's not like it is when the PS2 first came out, when DVD players were still relatively expensive (and thus having DVD playback on the PS2 was helpful).