Tutorial  Updated

How To: Upgrading / Rebuilding Wii U Internal Memory (MLC)

Warning


This tutorial is only for advanced users and has a serious risk of bricking the console. Make sure you read it completely before executing any step and that you understand every step and its implications. With de_Fuse everything should be unbrickable if you know how.

You should at least have a backup of SLC and SLCCMPT, as we can’t rebuild them at the moment. (can be done in minute_minute, so there is no excuse). We had two cases where the SLC corrupted for an unknown reason, so a backup is essential.

What is this for?


This tutorial goes into rebuilding the MLC from scratch on a clean media. This can become useful, if
  • the MLC (eMMC) chip died or corrupted the filesystem
  • the SCFM (SLC cache for MLC) became inconsistent
  • you want to upgrade the capacity of the internal storage.
  • you want to set up a redNAND without SCFM
If you have a bad eMMC chip, but the recovery still works (which is most likely), then there are also ways to fix it without a complete reformat.
If the LED is blinking blue, you have a SLC problem and not a MLC problem, so this tutorial won't help with that.

It will format your MLC, so all data on the internal Wii U memory will be lost.

Update


13.03.2024 - The wafel_setup_mlc.ipx now uses a built in IOSU function to create system folders, that should make sure the permissions are right, which caused problems with game updates in the past. It will also recreate the update folder (so system updates won't be blocked by that)

Prerequisites


Backing up save games



Do a backup of what you want to preserve, like savegames and Miis.
For Backing up Save games, it is recommended to use SaveMii. That requires that you have Tiramisu or Aroma running.
You can also move your savgames (or whole games) to USB, which should still be readable. When recreating the users after the rebuild, you just have to be carefull to create the users in the right order, to make the ID’s match. A backup by other means (Like savemii) is still recommended.
If you are using this tutorial to fix a failing eMMC you might not be able to use the other Backup options. In that case use the Dump MLC option in the Recovery. You can extract your data from there using wfs-extract.

Storage Options


The Wii U has two ways of connecting internal memory, each with its own drawbacks:
  • SDIO – On retail consoles the internal memory is a eMMC chip connected through an internal SDIO bus to the Latte chip. This SDIO bus can also use SD cards (hence the name SD IO). Access to media connected on the SDIO is cached through a file on the SLC, presumably to reduce writes on the MLC. This cache is called SCFM and it is the reason why you always need to backup / restore SLC and MLC together and doesn’t allow easy swapping of multiple SDs.
    IOSU also only supports 3 sizes of media on this bus: <=8GB, 32GB and 64GB. The size will be limited to the biggest it fits, the rest is unusable. This bus is limited to 26MB/s (4bit@52Mhz). For replacing the eMMC with an micro SD you can use MLC2SD or a similar Interposer. Soldering and micro SD adapter using wires, works too.
    It is recommended to use a 64GB Sandisk Max Endurance card (But similar card should also be fine), since the Wii U is known for writing much.

  • SATA – The Disc drive is connected through SATA, the connectors are different but the electrical signals are still the same. Some Kiosk consoles used this Interface to connect to a HDD. The type of the SATA device can be configured in the SEEPROM, so we can configure our retail consoles to also use a SATA HDD / SSD.
    NOTE: @QuarkTheAwesome is building an SATA adapter for that purpose, available soon™.

    The advantage of using this interface is, that the size isn’t limited (well WFS is limited to 2TB) and it doesn’t use SCFM, which makes some things easier and improves performance in some circumstances. The obvious disadvantage is that you can’t use your disc drive anymore. Without the Disc Drive vWii System Menu doesn't work. vWii Injectes / Wii VC from the eShop can still be used, but only when installed to USB. Also you still might need to disable the MLC on the SDIO bus, or else the wii u might still use the SDIO one if the SATA device takes too long to init.

  • redNAND – redirects the read / writes to one or more of the internal storage devices to paritions on the SD card. You can create an arbitrary size MLC partition on the SD card and set it up using this tutorial. SCFM can be easily disabled for the redNAND. The 64GB limit does not exist for redNAND if the SCFM is disabled. For redNAND we have a dedicated Tutorial here: https://gbatemp.net/threads/fixing-...-soldering-using-rednand-with-isfshax.642268/

Does that mean we can’t get more than 64GB on the SDIO bus? No, BUT it requires ISFShax / defuse to boot the console every time. @GaryOderNichts created a patch to remove the limits and always use the maximum size of the SDIO media and it also disables SCFM, because SCFM doesn’t work with more than 64GB and disabling SCFM improves performance and reduces wear on the SLC, at the cost of increasing wear of the MLC media. I packaged this patch in wafel_unlimit_mlc.

Rebuilding the MLC


Now that you decided what media you want to use as MLC, we can start with the actual process:
  1. Download all the mlc system titles for your region from NUS. This can be done conveniently with MLCRestorerDownloader by @Xpl0itU. Copy the otp.bin from the SD to the folder with the MLCRestorer Downloader so it can get the common key from there.

    You will get the output/MLC/{region} directory, which then contains a directory for each title. In total there should be 52 titles totaling ~1.1GiB.

    If your console has an old firmware it might also be necessary to get the latest SLC titles.

  2. On the root of your SD card (the one that will go in the front slot, not the MLC replacement) create a folder wafel_install. Then copy all 52 titles to the wafel_install folder, so it now contains the 52 subfolders, one for each title. If you want to reinstall / update SLC titles, you would also put them there.

  3. Attach your MLC media of choice. (If you are using SATA got to Backup and Restore, then at Set SATA Device in SEEPROM select GEN2-HDD (Kiosk CAT-I with HDD)).
    For installing MLC2SD look here: https://gbatemp.net/threads/using-n...emmc-fix-160-0103-system-memory-error.636361/ at the Soldering section.

  4. If you install to eMMC / MLC2SD, got to Backup and Restore and select Erase MLC and Delete scfm.img. If the Erase MLC fails, you can ignore that if it wasn't formatted as MLC before (from a failed install or so).

  5. Put the wafel_setup_mlc.ipx on the SD card in /wiiu/ios_plugins. If you want more than 64GB on SDIO you also need to put the wafel_unlimit_mlc.ipx there. If you install with wafel_unlimit_mlc.ipx, it will be permanently required and therefore also permanently requires ISFShax or defuse.

  6. [Optional, only when using defuse] Open the serial monitor on the PC (Putty / minicom) for defuse to see the setup progress. There will be no display output in the Wii U itself. I attached the whole serial log of a successfull install as a reference.

  7. Select Patch (sd) and boot IOS (slc) in minute to start the setup of your fresh MLC.During the setup you won't see anything on the screen. You have to go by the power led.
    The power LED will flash blue, while it is installing the titles.
    if something goes wrong the LED will turn orange, but it will continue as long as it is blinking.
    The LED will become static once it finished. You can now power off the console.
    If the led is blinking red, something fatal happend. Ask for help.
    During the setup a short log gets written to the SD: wafel_setup_mlc.log.
    In the end it will enable the initial setup on the next boot.

  8. Remove the wafel_setup_mlc.ipx from /wiiu/ios_plugins on the SD.

  9. Boot the console. Patch (sd) and boot IOS (slc)

  10. If everything worked, the initial setup should launch.

  11. (Optional) delete the wafel_install folder to free up space

ISFShax only: Finalizing


If you are using the wafel_unlimit_mlc.ipx you need to keep ISFShax installed. If you haven't done already complete the "Booting without SD" step form the ISFShax tutorial but also add the wafel_unlimit_mlc.ipx renamed to 9unlimit.ipx to the /storage_slc/sys/hax/ios_plugins directory.
If you are not using the wafel_unlimit_mlc.ipx you can either uninstall ISFShax or keep it as a brick protection. If you keep it complete the "Booting without SD" step form the ISFShax tutorial.
The Wii U should now boot automatically if you don't have an SD in.
You probably also want to enable the autobooting now.

See Also


https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-internal-storage-upgrades-are-possible.635629/

Pictures


512 GB SD card:
img_20230702_021647-jpg.381270


@QuarkTheAwesome 120 GB SSD:
img_2709-jpg.381271


Thanks


 

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ironsniper1

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  1. how do i know if isfhax is installed?




  2. [10:34 PM]
    minute keeps saying its not installed but if i go into the installer it says it installs
 

TheSunnyMachine

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  1. how do i know if isfhax is installed?




  2. [10:34 PM]
    minute keeps saying its not installed but if i go into the installer it says it installs
If the console boots directly into minute the install worked.

If it's not installed you have to use recovery menu to boot into minute.

Make sure you are on the latest version of minute as stated before, and if you are booting directly into the menu now, you can remove the wire to disconnect the orignal nand, put the SD card back in, and follow the guide to setup the SD card and install titles.
 
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ironsniper1

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If the console boots directly into minute the install worked.

If it's not installed you have to use recovery menu to boot into minute.

Make sure you are on the latest version of minute as stated before, and if you are booting directly into the menu now, you can remove the wire to disconnect the orignal nand, put the SD card back in, and follow the guide to setup the SD card and install titles.
okay on step 7 says the light will blink when it starts but on mine its not blinking, i am also attaching a screenshot of the last thing on screen when it started
 

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ironsniper1

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You need to give more information about what you have done. And if everything went well.

Did you erase the mlc? And did it look right?

Did put the setup file on the SD card? Are you sure the titles are copied properly to the SD card? Everything is ok the front SD card looking right ?
i tried but it says erase mlc failed due to isfhax not installed, the guide says if it fails thats fine

setup file is on the sd card in the correct place as is the other files
 

TheSunnyMachine

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i tried but it says erase mlc failed due to isfhax not installed, the guide says if it fails thats fine

setup file is on the sd card in the correct place as is the other files
The mlc should erase. That's not a good error. I've never had the mlc not erase. Did you update minute to the latest version so you also have rednand options now?
 
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ironsniper1

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The mlc should erase. That's not a good error. I've never had the mlc not erase. Did you update minute to the latest version so you also have rednand options now?
yes

also
If you install to eMMC / MLC2SD, got to Backup and Restore and select Erase MLC and Delete scfm.img. If the Erase MLC fails, you can ignore that if it wasn't formatted as MLC before (from a failed install or so).
 

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SDIO

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The mlc erase not detecting isfshax is a bug of the latest minute prerelease. I will fix that later. In the meanwhile as a workaround do the scfm.img delete first and after that do the mlc erase and it should then work.
But if the scfm delete also says isfshax is not installed, then stop
 

ironsniper1

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new issue, thanks to someone in discord we narrowed my issues to bad solder joints on the nand aid, however now when i hit the power button i just get a blinking blue power light
 

SDIO

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Is it possible that you used an old stroopwafel with the pre release minute?
In that case it probably formatted the slc and erased isfshax.
Now you need to defuse to restore your SLC backup
 

ironsniper1

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Is it possible that you used an old stroopwafel with the pre release minute?
In that case it probably formatted the slc and erased isfshax.
Now you need to defuse to restore your SLC backup
thts what the other person said as well and i do not know as i got all my files from here
Post automatically merged:

so i am trying to do the defuse thing and it says to flash boot1 to an sdcard and then it says to move files to the same sdcard but when i flash it, it says i need to format it before it can be used, i tried to resize it on my macbook but it wouldnt even mount it after flashing it with the image

EDIT i have decided to call it and sell the whole thing for parts and just try to get as much as i can, i have sunk way to much time into this and i am just sick of it, thanks for the help though
 
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LightRayn

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I'm not sure if anyone else has come across this but, I have a system that has a flashing blue light. So I checked the voltages and they were all there and correct. I decided to De_fuse and noticed 20+ errors while making a backup of the SLC. They were all corrected and I restored the SLC.raw with no issues. (Not sure if that was redundant) I then tried to boot but it didn't get far, it complained about the firmware being pre 5.5.x and didn't go further. I got the idea of taking the fw.img from the most recent 000500101000400a title, renaming it "ios_orig.img" and booting that with the mlc setup plugin (I had it install both SLC and MLC titles). I didn't think it would work but after a few minutes the system came up with initial setup. I'm guessing the issue was with the SLC and probably got bricked during an update.
 

SDIO

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Probably the probably the fw.img on the slc was corrupted (which causes blue blinking) and since you also reinstalled that, it fixed it. We had a few of this cases. It is also in the troubleshooting guide.
 
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LightRayn

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Probably the probably the fw.img on the slc was corrupted (which causes blue blinking) and since you also reinstalled that, it fixed it. We had a few of this cases. It is also in the troubleshooting guide.
Where would I find the troubleshooting guide? I didn't see it linked on page 1. ( I could just be blind. 😆)
 

JeremyKO

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Hi! How long does it take to install a European MLC? 🤔

(Mine has been trying to install for 30 minutes)

Update... logs:
OpenDir /vol/sdcard/wafel_install: 0
OpenMCP /vol/sdcard/wafel_install: 0
InstallInfo 0005001010040200: 00000000
Install 0005001010040200: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001010041200: 00000000
Install 0005001010041200: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001010043200: 00000000
Install 0005001010043200: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001010044200: 00000000
Install 0005001010044200: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001010045200: 00000000
-


It seems to be stuck, my Wii U is semi-unusable at the moment... I'm going to try with another SD card to see...
Post automatically merged:

update 2... :
OpenDir /vol/sdcard/wafel_install: 0
OpenMCP /vol/sdcard/wafel_install: 0
InstallInfo 0005001b1004f000: 00000000
Install 0005001b1004f000: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b1005c000: 00000000
Install 0005001b1005c000: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b1005f000: 00000000
Install 0005001b1005f000: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b1006c000: 00000000
Install 0005001b1006c000: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b10042300: 00000000
Install 0005001b10042300: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b10042400: 00000000
Install 0005001b10042400: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b10050000: 00000000

It's with another SD card, I completely redownloaded the MLC (eur) as well as everything needed for isfs (I formatted my SD card and I redownloaded everything) to see but it's ok always stops at the beginning and I don't know why...help
 
Last edited by JeremyKO,

LightRayn

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Hi! How long does it take to install a European MLC? 🤔

(Mine has been trying to install for 30 minutes)

Update... logs:
OpenDir /vol/sdcard/wafel_install: 0
OpenMCP /vol/sdcard/wafel_install: 0
InstallInfo 0005001010040200: 00000000
Install 0005001010040200: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001010041200: 00000000
Install 0005001010041200: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001010043200: 00000000
Install 0005001010043200: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001010044200: 00000000
Install 0005001010044200: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001010045200: 00000000
-


It seems to be stuck, my Wii U is semi-unusable at the moment... I'm going to try with another SD card to see...
Post automatically merged:

update 2... :
OpenDir /vol/sdcard/wafel_install: 0
OpenMCP /vol/sdcard/wafel_install: 0
InstallInfo 0005001b1004f000: 00000000
Install 0005001b1004f000: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b1005c000: 00000000
Install 0005001b1005c000: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b1005f000: 00000000
Install 0005001b1005f000: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b1006c000: 00000000
Install 0005001b1006c000: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b10042300: 00000000
Install 0005001b10042300: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b10042400: 00000000
Install 0005001b10042400: 00000000
InstallInfo 0005001b10050000: 00000000

It's with another SD card, I completely redownloaded the MLC (eur) as well as everything needed for isfs (I formatted my SD card and I redownloaded everything) to see but it's ok always stops at the beginning and I don't know why...help
Is the LED on the system flashing? If so what color?
 

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