Hacking Friends Wii broke due to SD card?

[Relys]

I have a friend, I've help him hack his PSP and when I told him about the Twilight Hack he wanted to hack his Wii. Well it's broken now, and I want to know why.

Let's just get this straight. It breaking had nothing to do with homebrew or hacking.

I told him he needed to put his SD card in his Wii to back up his Twilight Princess save before installing the Twilight Hack.

As soon as he put the SD card in it shut down. Now he unplugged the power and replugged it back in and took out the SD card. It has the little red light, but it shuts down as soon as he tries to boot it up. He called Nintendo and they said he might have void his warenty because he was using an "unlicensed" SD card. It was a Memory gate ScanDisk with nothing on it, one of the leading brands for SD cards. I personally have 2 of their micro sd cards for my DS, and I have had no problem using them with my Wii. Hell, they even have ScanDisk SD cards with Wii packaging!

How could plugging in a SD card mess up the Wii so bad it wouldn't turn on. It honestly sounds like it's a software problem and the Wii killed itself somehow. There were NO files on the SD card.

 

[samsam12]

does your friend have any unliscened accsesories connected to his wii (action replay, freeloader, etc.) if so, remove them. try removing everything from the wii, and leave it like that for a day.

 

[Relys]

Nope. The Wii crashing happened just as he put the SD card in.

 

[TSPhoenix]

Unlicensed SD card? Isn't SanDisk like a standards-compliant manufacturer? Don't SanDisk make the official Wii gaming SDs? Either way find out what isn't an unlicenced card, ring again and say you used that.

As for the problem I had something similar with my GC controllers, one controller would freeze the whole console when inserted, I think it had something to do with the connector on it and it might be the same deal with the SD card/slot connector.

 

[epu708]

this is why it is important to shut down a gadget that has no option for "eject" media storage when add/connect additional part.
although they said their machine is hot swap, still it is better to connect and disconnect with power off.
when you are in bad luck, short circuit happen when you insert card or controller.

try, to let the wii unplug for 15 minutes then plug it and switch it on.

 

[SenorClean]

It might be worth taking out the battery for a few minutes and putting it back in to see if this makes any difference. I don't recommend running the wii without a battery though - this can really mess with it.

 

[sjones900]

The same thing happened to my wii except it didn't break I insersted my SanDisk SD card and the wii completely bugged out the screen changed a snowish looking screen I powered It off by holding the main power button for about 6 seconds powered back on immediately and worked perfectly (wierd).

 

[jinxvorheeze]

Sounds to me like the SD card was messed up and shorted out the Wii. It happends sometimes with USB Devices and pc motherboards where the unit is damaged and runs power into the data connection and shorts out the mainboard. Could be bad manufacturing of the SD Card if it was new, or could have been damaged from any number of things if it is an older model. Or it could be vice-versa and the SD Slot was not properly manufactured and when your SD Card completed the circuit it shorted out the board.

For the price of SD Cards now, I wouldn't take any chances with it and would just get rid of the sd card. Tell your friend to go get a Wii Licensed one, then send his console in for repairs with the sd card, and just tell them it was that card that broke it.

 

[dread123]

you dont need a wii licenced memory card. absolute rubbish. they are fobbing you off. Any memory card that is for sale- will have to be of certain standard and will work in any device!

if the machine is not modifed , get it sent back to them including the memorycard to show as proof.

 

[Relys]

He talked to over 20 people, and explained his story over 16 times and it sounds like he's fucking finally going to get it paid for! He would have had to pay $82 otherwise... Complete bullshit.

 

[jeklnoo]

this is why it is important to shut down a gadget that has no option for "eject" media storage when add/connect additional part.
although they said their machine is hot swap, still it is better to connect and disconnect with power off.
when you are in bad luck, short circuit happen when you insert card or controller.

try, to let the wii unplug for 15 minutes then plug it and switch it on.

Yeah, I always turn off my PC before plugging any USB cable in...oh wait, no I don't

 

[wolfeman]

For what it's worth, yesterday I crashed my Wii by inserting an SD card when it was running... purely an accident. It crashed but rebooted just fine, I think I may have had to unplug it first actually. It was a normal SanDisk 1GB SD card, no third party knock off or anything.

I wonder if your friend shorted something out when he did his? I'm glad now mine recovered and I'll be sure to take a lot more care in ensuring the console is off before I insert or remove the SD.

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