Had a customer reach out wanting a completely decked out GameCube and asked about GCloader and BlueRetro services (which I dont have listed). Since the GameCube was going to be completely apart for all other work, I dont charge for swapping out boards or simple installs like plug and play ODE’s, etc so was happy to oblige.
One thing I do want to mention on this order… It did not go smoothly, mostly because several crucial parts were missing and since they had considered doing the install themselves a lot of the kits were all mixed up which made organization a bit messy. As for the former, making sure you have all the parts together and ready for shipping can really go a long way to helping me be efficient. I was able to steal the flex from a spare PixelFX kit (they are shipping the missing flex to me now) but incorrect screws and a missing portion of the SD mount definitely caused problems later, mostly around the fact that in order to get it done I had to steal good parts and screws from a shop GameCube which will be extra work for me later in replacing. So yeah, just a friendly reminder to please try and make my life as easy as possible, there might be a time where I dont have the parts to steal from anywhere then you will be stuck while we sort it out!
Anyways… Since they were opting for a custom shell I didnt have to worry about washing or retrobrighting an original, and it arrived torn down already. I quickly got to work recapping the mainboard and cleaning it to prep for RetroGEM flex install. Thats when we noticed the flex was left behind but a spare kit saved the day, so got the points scraped and tinned and the flex soldered onto the underside of the board, along with the GEM support bracket!
Was then able to install the antenna and HDMI connector onto the GEM, and turn the board over to install some all new thermal pads!
I cleaned and reinstalled the heatsink then elected to begin reassembly and work my way up the GameCube by screwing the heatsink/board in place in the bottom shell with all shielding before turning attention to the fan assembly and blueretro board. For now I left the HDMI ribbon hanging out the side, since they had provided a GCDual 3d printed backplate I routed the ribbon out the side and kept it safe until it was time to mount HDMI port.
Blueretro install was a breeze, especially since the stock controller board was already gone so just snapped that in place and screwed it in and set aside. Next I routed the fan wires carefully and then snapped the noiseblocker fan into the mount and installed that on the side of the Gamecube along with the blueretro controller board, as the two integrate directly for fan and power connectors!
With both of those in place I reassembled the recapped and cleaned optical drive for testing and at this point, I was not going to be able to do GCLoader install with SD mount as they had only sent the top piece, and had missed the bottom part that actually attaches to top shield. I could not find the STL online so I again turned to a shop GCN and stole the bottom bracket from that to go with their orange top. The GCloader screws were also incorrect which caused a headache as one snapped off inside the standoff so I had to desolder and steal standoffs from a personal GCloader.
Either way, got the optical drive tested and it was working great then figured out the path forward to get the GCloader install done as thats what they had wanted. Once it was all mounted and installed I took the SD card they had sent and got latest firmware and SWISS setup!
On a GCDual mount style the ribbon for the HDMI is pretty tight but it fits with some careful bending around back/top of the shielding. I 3D printed a riser plate for the GCDual port and drilled/screwed the minihdmi port into place on the 3D printed backplate, it all came together quite nice! With that completing the reassembly I fired it up for some testing so I could join wifi, update PixelFX kit and make sure fan and blueretro board were working.
Everything fired right up so signed off on the sticker and got rest of shell put back together
Another issue I ran into is the tolerances on the custom shell were off so the fan vent screen wouldnt hold in place and the 3d printed memory card flaps would not rotate/turn smoothly. I carefully cut and sanded those flaps down to operate correctly and used thin strips of double sided tape to hold the fan mesh in place securely!
Once I knew the RetroGEM was on latest firmware, I adjusted a few settings for 1080P (they had sent the Shiny version) and got it hooked up to my RetroTink 4K for some captures! Hard to see below but I will have the full 4K captures on display when I post to my social media!
Kind of a headache job but it all turned out ok and I have to say, the customer shell and colors really look nice on this one, I like it! Hopefully the customer is happy with the end results.
Order complete!
