Duo Q reviews?

hi guys, my Duo Q is due to arrive in 2 days, but i got the freeloader first. is the freeloader able to boot burnt games?

I tried it with:

Verbatim Mini DVD-R ( MCC 01RG20 )
Mario Party 7 USA
burnt at 2x using Nero 6.6.0.8

It says "No Disc" after swapping. If Freeloader actually boots burnt games then i will adjust the pot after installing Duo Q on it.

 

Absolutely not. Only good for booting original imports, Freeloader has nothing to do with copies. There are some morons spreading misinformation about it on the web. Once you get the DuoQ you will have no need for it anyway.

 

thanks OzMick for the answer. i googled it and couldnt find any answer to my question. guess i'll have to mod it, like tomorrow.


Edit: However, I am still concerned. Does the Freeloader say "No Disc" if i put in a burnt game? I wish to know if I will need to adjust the POT.

 

I did find the same thing on the internet about freeloader being able to boot copies so I tried it at first, but it did say No Disc or something like that. There are other options to modding it, I've been using Phantasy Star for a couple of years with just streaming before now, then using that to upload GCoS, other people are also using Action Replay. So you don't HAVE to install a modchip, but it makes your life much simpler, you just throw the game in and it boots straight up, I think it was worth the small amount it cost. Best way to find out with the pot is to just put the cube back together without any screws once you've initially soldered it in there, if it doesn't boot double check your soldering first, then play with the pot LAST. There are a few things that can go wrong first.

If you have access to a broadband adapter and phantasy star, you can experiment first to make sure you have compatible discs. I went through three brands of discs before I got my hands on some Ritek ones that finally worked without any intervention. I think I saw something like only 10% of cubes need the pot adjusted, so just try your luck first, and don't worry about it. From what I read, the adjustment is fairly easy and safe to do with the help of a multimeter, but it should only be a last resort if you've exhausted every other possibility.

Sorry for the rambling post, hope it is at least semi-coherent.

 

If you or anyone else would like an explanation of how to use Phantasy Star Online (1&2) to test your discs, let me know. I can give a tutorial on how I used it to boot my backups originally.

 

thank you thank you! although it is a little lengthy but i know its for my own good.

thank you, now i know freeloader shows "no disc" if a burnt game is inserted. I just wanted to diagnose the problem to see whether the POT needs to be adjusted.

I will mod it tomorrow, and i think it shouldnt need a tweak

As for the tutorial i think i'll skip it , since i will be installing duo q tomorrow.

once again thanks!

 

Missed ...

It's pretty difficult to solder the cables where there was no soldering before, the solder does not stick !!!
I've tried and taken my chance but I quit because otherwise, I feel that my GC is going to burn !
Any one knows where the A point is linked with because while soldering/desoldering to access the C point, the soldering that was before on the circuitry has peeled off with the cable extremity and it seems impossible to solder the A point now: there is nothing under !!! It seems that it is an separated point ?!
I think that I'm going to buy a GC directly modshiped ...

 

you have to apply flux on the point before getting solder on.

i mod my gamecube with Duo Q today, and i must say it rocks!

my lens was 220ohms so i did not do any adjustments.

wouldnt recognize 2 games initially (all used verbatim mini dvd-r burnt at 2x), but now i realise its better to boot it from the menu rather than direct from the boot screen.

 

I didn't need flux, but I do use a needle point, 10W iron. Yes, 10W is plenty enough for ANY modding needs, anything more just risks damage. It was more than enough to give me a massive scar when I accidentally put my arm down on it while modding a mate's PS2. Damned Sony... There were like 20 wires to do on PS2, so consider yourself lucky there are only 6 here... Made troubleshooting when the PS2 wouldn't boot a bitch too, had to go over every single point twice to try to correct a faulty connection.

I also tinned all of my points prior to actually making any connections. There is a pretty good chance that things are recoverable, but you may have to take more drastic measures if the pad has completely delaminated. First thing you want to do is remove the modchip altogether and try to boot the cube. If you haven't done any permanant damage, you're making a good start. You probably then want to try to get access to the upper side of the PCB of the laser assembly. I don't know if this is technically possible though. You could then identify the chip that is being soldered onto from the other side, and can maybe try to mirror image the original position onto the upper surface, or trace the pin to a safer location to solder to. You'd need to route that wire through a hole to the upper surface too, but it is pretty easy to solder onto the leg of a chip, just gotta be careful to not do any damage to the chip itself.

Worst comes to worst, your cube might be borked, but you should be able to find second hand consoles for maybe US$45 or less. I remember a mate here got one for AU$60 a year ago. One good thing is that you needn't worry about losing game saves at least, all storage is external. Hell, if the thing still boots you might be able to cover your tracks and flog it off second hand, there aren't any seals to indicate tampering as far as I remember, just the security screws.

If you do manage to get access to the upper side of the PCB, take a photo and upload it somewhere, I'm sure the community in general would appreciate it. Good luck with it if you decide to continue.

 

Personal review of Duo Q:

Very easy to install (everything is, compared to PS2)
Works fine, LEDs show clearly what is happening
Games boot fine (tested only 5 games)

Nothing else to say; it works 100%. Worth the money(not much anyway).

 

Wondering what wire gauge you are using to do the mod. Is #28 good
enough?

 

From my experience with modding, I've found that the smallest gauge you can find, single strand is easiest to work with. I've been using wrapping wire (#30 I think), so what you've said is probably fine. Just keep your wires short is probably a good idea if using very thin wires to keep any related problems away. Give it a bash, if you've done any soldering before the cube should be a piece of cake.

 

awg #30 are the best for use on gc and ps2.damn i cant get mini dvd-rw to boot on gc. Verbatim MCC code.

Edit: I did some read ups and found that Duo Q most probably does not support DVD RWs. XenoGC does. Now i regret installing duo q , although i dont like xenogc's wireless install, could still have done it with wires anyway.

 

Are you sure the Xeno handles RW? Before I had any modchip installed I tried booting from a whole bunch of media by using the PSO/BBA method to boot up GCoS, and found it very picky, only liked the Ridata discs I found. People on the web I seem to remember saying that it doesn't like at least 99% of RW brands, if any, though I might be mistaken.

 

the websites that sell the chip says the chip boots mini rws.

but it does not mean that the laser can read it LOL.

it simply means that xenogc is able to boot mini dvd rw.

duo q does not, i've tried it, unless its my laser too.

 

So is the DuoQ better than the XenoGC? Ive never soldered anything this small before. If one isnt better then the other, which one is easier to install?

Also, is Radioshack a good place to get those needle point irons? I was thinking about buying one of those ColdHeat irons
https://www.asseenontvnetwork.com/vcc/coldheat/coldheat/158617/

 

I think they're fairly similar, just get whatever is cheapest I suppose, they have an almost identical feature set. Booting from RW would be nice for initial troubleshooting, but if you just use some Ridata discs all should be ok. As far as I know, RW discs just don't work with the laser full stop, but someone is more than welcome to correct me if they have personal experience to the contrary.

I've seen a lot of people saying they're very very wary about using a cold heat soldering iron. I know I wouldn't use one. They basically work on the principle of

Power (heat) =I (current) ^2 * R (resistance)

if you've done any physics, whereby they use a very high current to get localized heating. They're a fantastic idea in theory, but integrated circuity is very sensitive when it comes to stray currents. Seasoned electronics technicians don't wear those funky anti-static wrist bands to just look cool, static electricity has and can quite easily kill electronics. It is just easy to dismiss until it happens to you and you fry an expensive piece of equipment out of laziness. At least make the effort to touch something large and metallic before commencing work.

If you just spend a decent amount of money straight up you'll have something that will last the better part of a lifetime without any hassles, just don't try to be stingy, especially if you think you might go anywhere near something like a PS2, they can give major headaches without a good quality soldering iron.

EDIT: Was just reading the FAQ for that cold heat soldering iron. This little one caught my eye:

Sounds a little risky to me. Conventional soldering irons have been working just fine for decades and decades, why reinvent the wheel?

 

I like to add that i recently bought a DuoQ chip and modded my gamecube with it. It's freaking stable and cheap!

No bling bling stuff, just direct boot and GO!