Homebrew Can't access Wii Menu

[bluehands]

I just purchased a used Wii. It has Homebrew and USB Loader GX installed amongst other apps. There are about 80 games on an external drive included and I've started a bunch and they all seem to work fine.

My issue is that I cannot access the Wii main menu, so I cannot access any settings or connect to the internet. I don't really know where to start as far as deleting things from the SD card or configuring things inside the loader. I would be fine starting from scratch and wiping the wii but I don't know how to do that without access to the main menu. The only thread I found that might describe my problem had to do with an app called Priiloader (which seems to be installed on this SD card) and its ability to set USB Loader GX as the default menu. I tried going in and accessing the app but none of the buttons on my wiimote did anything (Both of the included Wiimotes are Motion Plus if that is an issue). I tried removing the priiloader folder from the SD card but that didn't change anything. In any event, any opportunity to hit a button that says "Wii Menu" on it just reboots USB Loader GX and reinitializes the external HD. It never takes me to the Wii Main Menu. I've tried taking out the SD card and restarting. The USB Loader GX screen intermittently flashes as if it's looking for the software. But it's obviously the first thing that is configured to boot within the Wii.

I've msg'd the seller and he says that he installed everything years ago (most of the files on the SD card were dated 'added in 2009') and can't really remember much to help. On top of this, the external HD with all the games won't mount on my Mac so I don't have any control over deleting/adding the games included. Again, I bought it to play the games I want to add on, so I don't mind starting from scratch and using an other HD.

Could someone help me configure/modify the current software on the SD card or just get everything wiped so I can reinstall a current version of Homebrew?

I'll get you any system or app version information if it helps! Thanks

 

[KevinLSX]

If you cant reach the wii main menu how are you getting to usb loader gx?

 

[bluehands]

Sorry if I didn't make it clear. As soon as I power the Wii on, USB Loader GX boots up. There's the loader title screen, then the black initialization screen with white computer print. Once I get to the loader menu, if I press the "Wii" button on the bottom right (I assume this normally takes you back to the Wii Menu), it just reboots USB Loader GX.

 

[KevinLSX]

Edit the auto boot in priiloader. Motion plus wont work. Try and get a normal one or use a gamecube control to navigate the priiloader settings

 

[Captain_N]

Priiloader musta been configured to boot usb loader....

 

[wicksand420]

Hold reset when you boot your wii, you will boot onto priiloader, wait a few seconds, like 15, and press reset again, it should boot into your wii's system menu.

 

[KevinLSX]

Hold reset when you boot your wii, you will boot onto priiloader, wait a few seconds, like 15, and press reset again, it should boot into your wii's system menu.

But that still wont remove autoboot. He needs to hold reset while booting and change the setting to not autoboot the usb loader .dol

 

[wicksand420]

He can boot to the wii menu like i said and set up his wiimotes and keep the autoboot on usbloader gx, autoboot is awesome
@bluehands PM me when you are back on and i can walk you through how to get your wii up and running correctly, and being awesome, like it should

 

[bluehands]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. That was easy. Reset button. Took me straight to the Priiloader system menu and my Motion Plus controller worked fine to toggle the options.

From here would you guys recommend wiping everything and doing a fresh install? Like I said, everything hasn't been updated or installed since 2009. I'm not sure how easy it is to update all the existing apps. I have a GC controller coming so any reinstalling should be fine, right?

I set up the internet and adjusted control/sensor bar settings. I can't update the software but I thought my version 4.3u was the last update available. I'm not sure how to install the Virtual Console.

Do any of you know how I can mount the hard drive the seller sent me with all the games installed? It's in ExFat format and I've tried several commands in terminal and in single-user mode on my iMac to mount it, but it can't be verified (or repaired). I get an error and I can "Initialize" which takes me to Disk Utility. The main drive name shows up in Disk Utility but there's no info on the partition so I can't apply any of the disk utility functions.

I thought something was wrong with it because when USB Loader Initilizes, it reads the drive but says it is "slow" or "has problems". The seller says it's because it's a pocket drive @ 5400rpm. Most of the games on it I would not play but if it's possible to mount I can erase, reformat and use it to store the games I do want to play. The seller mentioned that no computer would read it because it was formatted for the Wii and that I needed a program to manage the games. But I've found videos online that show how to mount ExFat. Anyway, I'm a little out of my depth, so any help is appreciated.

 

[wicksand420]

Providing the person who had it before you installed everything correctly, you will have an awesome system. To begin i would suggest using a hdd, 500Gb to 1TB depending on how many games you would like to have. For installing games i would recommend using a program for windows called wiibackupmanager, it formats drives to fat 32 and is a great installer. Keep in mind that the wii is a little power house of a console, and can play a large variety of games from many genres. First of all i would update usbloader gx the the current version, you should be able to find it here on gbatemp. And also Nintendont, which is also here.

 

[Sticksandstones]

https://gbatemp.net/threads/sticky-links-to-latest-versions-of-popular-emulators-homebrews.457854/
This might help.

Truthfully, there's no need to wipe anything--maybe you should clear your Wii's save data (Don't format it! You'll erase Homebrew Channel!) and uninstall unwanted channels.

Something I'd like to accommodate the above post with is that you shouldn't use thumb drives with USB loaders. It could render them unusable. Definitely stick with a real USB HDD, or you'll surely have issues with everything but NES/SNES/GBC/GBA/Genesis emulators--those tend to be much more flash drive-friendly.
Also, ExFAT won't work at all. Use FAT32 format tools: fat32format fat32format GUI
If your HDD is actually in WBFS file system, use wbfs2fat instead.

Virtual Console is done within the Wii's hardware--there's no installing Virtual Console, just Virtual Console channels which are individual games emulated by Virtual Console.
4.3U is indeed the latest System Menu. For the record, in case you're planning to theme your Wii, just make damn sure your desired theme is for 4.3U before using it, and you'll be alright. If it's not for 4.3U, your System Menu will no longer work, but Priiloader will be able to save you from completely bricking your Wii, so definitely don't uninstall Priiloader.

 

[wicksand420]

https://gbatemp.net/threads/sticky-links-to-latest-versions-of-popular-emulators-homebrews.457854/
This might help.

Truthfully, there's no need to wipe anything--maybe you should clear your Wii's save data (Don't format it! You'll erase Homebrew Channel!) and uninstall unwanted channels.

Something I'd like to accommodate the above post with is that you shouldn't use thumb drives with USB loaders. It could render them unusable. Definitely stick with a real USB HDD, or you'll surely have issues with everything but NES/SNES/GBC/GBA/Genesis emulators--those tend to be much more flash drive-friendly.
Also, ExFAT won't work at all. Use FAT32 format tools: fat32format fat32format GUI
If your HDD is actually in WBFS file system, use wbfs2fat instead.

Virtual Console is done within the Wii's hardware--there's no installing Virtual Console, just Virtual Console channels which are individual games emulated by Virtual Console.
4.3U is indeed the latest System Menu. For the record, in case you're planning to theme your Wii, just make damn sure your desired theme is for 4.3U before using it, and you'll be alright. If it's not for 4.3U, your System Menu will no longer work, but Priiloader will be able to save you from completely bricking your Wii, so definitely don't uninstall Priiloader.

He means the thumbstick he has the games on, he said they where games he wouldn't personally play

 

[bluehands]

He means the thumbstick he has the games on, he said they where games he wouldn't personally play

You guys are awesome. Thanks again. I'll look into the thread on updating everything. My intention was to install very few games, but the best of the bunch- Metroid Trilogy, Zelda games, etc. and some of the better GameCube games. I have OpenEmu installed on my Mac and a bunch of arcade, Nes, SNes, etc games, so it isn't important to get them on the Wii.

The HD in question isn't a thumb drive. It's a Toshiba MK2555GSX (guess I called it a pocket drive). I'm sure it's pretty old at this point, but it's 260gb and probably plenty for what I need it for.

As far as the format, I don't have access to any PC, just my iMac, so what format is best for the disk if I can get it erased?

There's- Mac OS Journaled, Case sensitive journaled, ExFat, and MSDos Fat


Also, it looks like WitGui is my best option for game management, is that right?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. That was easy. Reset button. Took me straight to the Priiloader system menu and my Motion Plus controller worked fine to toggle the options.

From here would you guys recommend wiping everything and doing a fresh install? Like I said, everything hasn't been updated or installed since 2009. I'm not sure how easy it is to update all the existing apps. I have a GC controller coming so any reinstalling should be fine, right?

I set up the internet and adjusted control/sensor bar settings. I can't update the software but I thought my version 4.3u was the last update available. I'm not sure how to install the Virtual Console.

Do any of you know how I can mount the hard drive the seller sent me with all the games installed? It's in ExFat format and I've tried several commands in terminal and in single-user mode on my iMac to mount it, but it can't be verified (or repaired). I get an error and I can "Initialize" which takes me to Disk Utility. The main drive name shows up in Disk Utility but there's no info on the partition so I can't apply any of the disk utility functions.

I thought something was wrong with it because when USB Loader Initilizes, it reads the drive but says it is "slow" or "has problems". The seller says it's because it's a pocket drive @ 5400rpm. Most of the games on it I would not play but if it's possible to mount I can erase, reformat and use it to store the games I do want to play. The seller mentioned that no computer would read it because it was formatted for the Wii and that I needed a program to manage the games. But I've found videos online that show how to mount ExFat. Anyway, I'm a little out of my depth, so any help is appreciated.

You might want to re-mod the Wii with ModMii, that should update your cIOS and USB Loader although I don't think it has a selection for USB Loader GX but you can update that separately.
And for the record, Priiloader is navigated by using the Power/Reset buttons. I think it's Power to move down and Reset to select.

 

[bluehands]

You might want to re-mod the Wii with ModMii, that should update your cIOS and USB Loader although I don't think it has a selection for USB Loader GX but you can update that separately.
And for the record, Priiloader is navigated by using the Power/Reset buttons. I think it's Power to move down and Reset to select.

Thanks for the help. Looks like ModMii is for Windows only though. I updated as many apps as I could. After updating USBLoaderGX, the external drive with all the games wouldn't initialize anymore on the Wii (I guess the older version was compatible with ExFat but the new one isn't). So I decided to try and erase and reformat it with MSDos. It completed and mounts on my desktop now. I used WitGui to format a few ISOs to wbfs and dragged them in. Unfortunately, the HD will not initialize in USBLoaderGX at all. The root folder on the SD card seems like kind of a mess to me with some apps in the app folder and some just in the root. I'm wondering if something strange happened with the update and with the way things are set up in the folder. In any event, any advice would be appreciated.

 

[justjack]

Maybe a different cIOS will work with your drive. You can use Syscheck to see what cIOS you have.

 

[bluehands]

I didn't see a cIOS but there's a whole 2 more pages to the report. Does this tell you anything?

 

[wicksand420]

There is a program called D2x CIOs installer that will let you update your cios from your wii, download the latest version of d2x cios installer, the wii edition, not vwii, connect to the internet and look up the guide here on gbatemp with your computer or phone and follow the directions. the drive for your wii has to be fat32. you can download the virtual console wads and install them with usbloader gx, just google wii wads and you should have no problem finding them.

 

[justjack]

You will find an excel file called syscheck on the root of the SD card. Open it with the notepad and post the contents here (in spoiler tags).

 

[bluehands]

You will find an excel file called syscheck on the root of the SD card. Open it with the notepad and post the contents here (in spoiler tags).

SysCheck HDE v2.4.0 HacksDen Edition by JoostinOnline, Double_A, R2-D2199, and Nano
...runs on IOS58 (rev 6176).

Region: NTSC-U
System Menu 4.3U (v513)
Priiloader installed
Drive date: 12.18.2008
Homebrew Channel 1.0.8 running on IOS58

Hollywood v0x21
Console ID: 142100683
Console Type: Wii
Shop Channel Country: United States (49)
Boot2 v4
Found 129 titles.
Found 48 IOS on this console. 8 of them are stubs.

IOS3 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS4 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS9 (rev 1034): No Patches
IOS10 (rev 768): Stub
IOS11 (rev 256): Stub
IOS12 (rev 526): No Patches
IOS13 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS14 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS15 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS16 (rev 54321): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, Flash Access, NAND Access
IOS17 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS20 (rev 256): Stub
IOS21 (rev 1039): No Patches
IOS22 (rev 1294): No Patches
IOS28 (rev 1807): No Patches
IOS30 (rev 54321): Trucha Bug
IOS31 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS33 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS34 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS35 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS36 (rev 54321): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access
IOS37 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS38 (rev 3867): No Patches
IOS40 (rev 3072): Stub
IOS41 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS43 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS45 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS46 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS48 (rev 4124): No Patches
IOS50 (rev 54321): Trucha Bug
IOS51 (rev 4864): Stub
IOS52 (rev 5888): Stub
IOS53 (rev 5406): No Patches
IOS55 (rev 5406): No Patches
IOS56 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS57 (rev 5919): No Patches
IOS58 (rev 6176): USB 2.0
IOS60 (rev 54321): Trucha Bug
IOS61 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS70 (rev 54321): Trucha Bug
IOS80 (rev 54321): Trucha Bug
IOS202[57] (rev 65535, Info: hermes-v5.0): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS222[38+37] (rev 4, Info: hermes-v4): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS223[38] (rev 4, Info: hermes-v4.0): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS236 (rev 54321): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, Beer Ticket
IOS249[57] (rev 20, Info: rev 20): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS250 (rev 65535): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS254 (rev 65281): BootMii
BC v6
MIOS v10
Report generated on 08/06/2017.