Wii U Stuck on Logo

[ChefVortivask]

Hello everyone,

First time poster here. I decided to make this post since I am having issues with my Wii U. Currently, my Wii U will not boot up to the main menu. It stays stuck on the Wii U logo indefinitely.

There are a few things to note about my console. The console is the black 32 gb model. I believe it was bought during the 2012 holiday season (release) as we were expecting to play Pikmin 3 before it got delayed. The system has never been modded in any fashion. It was not the most heavily played console, and I can't even give a good estimate of when it was last used (at least more than 3 years).

I have already tried doing the UDPIH, however it does not seem to be working. When using the second recovery menu, I get a white screen with some blue lines (see attached image). I believe this is similar to what @fadafwet described in his post. I was able to get the logs from the system, which I have attached to this post. Any idea what the issue may be and how to fix it? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[SDIO]

with defuse we can see where the boot fails. There we will see if the SD is detected correctly and if so why the boot fails. Then we can decide if we try to fix your mlc image or just rebuilt the mlc from scratch on the SD: https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-upgrading-rebuilding-wii-u-internal-memory-mlc.636309/

The pico should show up as a new serial port (COMX: ). You use putty to connect to that with 115200 baud. I can't help too much with putty, as I am using miniterm on linux.

 

[ChefVortivask]

I’m assuming I don’t connect the SD card (the one wired to the nand-aid) to my computer’s card reader? I would think the data could be transferred through the pico, but I have no idea if that assumption is correct.

 

[SDIO]

No, the only connection to the PC is the pico. But put the sd which replaces the mlc in the nandaid.

 

[ChefVortivask]

Understood. I'm assuming we're going to try to read from that SD card? If that's the case, I would need to open the DIS jumper right?

 

[SDIO]

It tries to read from the SD card in the SD slot in the front. For the NAND AID put the sdcard with your mlc image in

 

[ChefVortivask]

Sorry for being behind. I had been out of town at the time. Obviously I put the SD card I prepared for de_Fuse into the slot at the front of the Wii U, and I understand I put the micro SD i prepared for the eMMC replacement in the NAND AID, but previously I closed the DIS jumper when I was trying to read from the eMMC using the hard mod. In this case, since we're going to try to read the SD card in the NAND AID, should I open the DIS jumper (remove the solder bridge)?

 

[SDIO]

previously I closed the DIS jumper when I was trying to read from the eMMC using the hard mod

That would explain why you couldn't read it. If you close it (bridge the pads) you are shorting the clk for the eMMC to GND and then you can't read it of course.

For now it doesn't matter if it is open or closed, but it would be nicer to close it, if you don't try to access the eMMC, so the eMMC is disabled for sure

 

[ChefVortivask]

I'm sorry. I thought about it not too long ago and went to double check. I flipped it. The jumper is currently open, and it was so during all my attempts to read from the eMMC. I'll go ahead and close it, then proceed with attempting de_Fuse.

If we can't figure out how to proceed with putty, then we can try with miniterm.

 

[ChefVortivask]

Good news! I finally got around to attempting de_Fuse, and so far everything looks good. The power LED flashed and stayed purple (as described on the Github) and using PuTTY, I accessed the minute menu. Not sure where to go from there though since I think we decided to see if I could even get to the minute menu to begin with.

 

[SDIO]

Just try the first option "Patch and boot ios". Then copy the output from putty to a file and upload it here.

 

[ChefVortivask]

I did "Patch and boot ios" as instructed. I have attached the output from PuTTY as a .txt file. The last few lines were probably unnecessary to include. Once it kept returning "alive" in regular intervals, I took that to mean that the process was done.

 

[SDIO]

Strange it just stops without a crash. But it detects your NAND AID SD, which is great, so you are fine there. I would suggest you follow this guide and rebuild the MLC: https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-upgrading-rebuilding-wii-u-internal-memory-mlc.636309/ Also reinstall the SLC titles, not only the mlc ones, since your firmware seems to be older.
You can also replace the SD card with a 64GB one (which would make the rebuild even easier, since the capacity change forces a format)

 

[ChefVortivask]

I had contemplated using a 64 gb SD card, but I would have to order one since the ones I have would probably work, but I'd rather have something built to last long like the SanDisk MAX Endurance. A few questions though...

1. You said replacing the SD card with a 64 gb card would make the rebuild even easier since the capacity change would force a format. Could you elaborate on this? Does my current 32 gb card need to be reformatted?

2. Obviously rebuilding the MLC will wipe all internal data from the Wii U, most notably save data. At this point I realize that having a working Wii U without my save data is better than having a Wii U that doesn't work at all, so I'm willing to start from scratch. With this in mind and the fact that the save data I had was corrupted, is there any chance of salvaging any of the save data I extracted?

 

[SDIO]

I suggest you first do a SLC backup in minute, after putting that somwhere safe, you are free to play around.

I mean you can just try to run the setup with the 32gb card. if you don't use the "destroy_mlc_wafel" itt will not be formatted as a valid file system is detected. If that doesn't work, you can destroy the mlc file system with the destroy_mlc_wafel (which would wipe your data) and then run the setup again.

 

[ChefVortivask]

I still have the MLC backup so that data is safe. I'll go ahead and do an SLC backup. Does that write the SLC to my computer or the SD card in the front of the system?

Also, I am still having an issue with the MLCRestorerDownloader. When I try to download USA titles, it says "Common key not found. Enter it here". I'm not sure what this common key is.

Let's say I want to try to run the setup with the 32 gb card (after doing the SLC backup). What would my next step be? I'm assuming we're going to try repairing the MLC, and maybe this was discussed a while ago (and if it was I apologize), but how would I go about doing that?

I also did order a 64 gb SanDisk MAX Endurance card so I can go down that route if I wish to.

 

[SDIO]

The slc backup will be written to the SD in the front. You need at least 528MiB free there.

copy the otp.bin in the directory where you run the MLCDownloader, it should get the common key from that.

What would my next step be

that depends on if it works. Try it, we see what happens and then we decide.

 

[V10lator]

it says "Common key not found. Enter it here". I'm not sure what this common key is.

We're not allowed to share this key but just google for "Wii U common key".

 

[ChefVortivask]

Copying otp.bin to the directory worked, however I only got 30 files instead of 52, plus the data size was a little smaller, so I'm not sure if something went wrong. I'll try to do SLC backup tonight if I have time (have to double check to make sure there's enough room on the SD card).

that depends on if it works. Try it, we see what happens and then we decide.

If what works? The SLC backup?

 

[Ysecond]

I only got 30 files instead of 52

In fact, I have never fully downloaded using MLCDownloader. Using NUSGrabber would be great.

 

[V10lator]

CC @Xpl0itU (you guys just ignore this, please).