Testing and Reassembly

Before you put the system back together, we recommend you take a minute to test it; that way you don’t have to take it apart again if something’s screwy. If you haven’t done so already, clip the back plate of the system with the new switch back on. Now take a look at your switch. Depending on what size switch you have, and provided you mounted it in the same place we did, you’ll have to bend back a tiny bit of metal shielding on the drive assembly so it will fit. With a pair of pliers, bend back enough metal shielding so that the switch fits comfortably. Make sure the electrical tape you put over the switch terminals completely covers them up and prevents them from touching the metal, or this could keep your switch from working properly. Put the drive assembly on, and slide the connector on the bottom of the drive to the main board. Hook the video cable and power cord up (remember that the power plug is mounted on the cooling fan). Press down the power button on top of the fan, and watch the logo on your TV. The menu that comes up should be in English. Flip the switch, turn the system off, then on again. The menu should come up in Japanese.  Presto!

Disconnect the system and take the CD drive back out. Take the heat sink and put a small piece of electrical tape on the underside, directly above where your newly soldered wires will sit. If you don’t do this, the wires may short to the sink and the mod won’t work. Screw the heat sink back where it was, carefully now, since you don’t want to upset your soldering. Now put all the screws that go with the drive back. You’ll have a couple left over, but that’s ok because they would have gone where the bent-back shielding is. Put the memory card terminals back, making sure to  have the “bump” side facing out. Slide the ribbon cable from the controller ports back into its connector,  and clip the controller ports back on. Put the shell over everything and turn the Gamecube over. Tighten the screws  while simultaneously pressing the shell down. Make sure not to over-tighten any screws, or the drive door won’t open. Congratulations…your Japanese Gamecube will now play all those great American games it couldn’t play before!