First Bricked Wii U Reported

[Gahars]

The More U Know​

The Wii U, a brand new console, launched last night in the United States... and so here come the inevitable launch day headaches.

The Wii U will brick if you shut it down during an ongoing firmware update.

Ben Fritz, Film business reporter for Latimes, has bricked his Wii U without playing a single game. The reason? Shutting down the system during an update.

...The Wii U firmware update is 5 GB in size and adds the Nintendo Network to the console. Weird way to install a required service, but hey, it’s Nintendo.

Gaming Vogue

So yeah. That firmware update may be ridiculously huge and long, but you'll have to make the commitment; otherwise, you're going to being spending a lot of time with Nintendo's Customer Service.

Believe me, it will make all the difference between having a console, and being consoled.

 

[Foxi4]

> Console bricks when shut down during a firmware update

In other news, the sun rises in the east, everybody!

 

[raulpica]

Not turning off during an update is a thing which has been known for years, and I'm sure the system also warns you massively against doing it (the Wii did that).

How can someone be so foolish to still do it? This guy totally deserved it.

 

[Dork]

Who the fuck shuts their console down during a firmware update, especially one as important as that? He probably deserved that brick anyway.

 

[emmanu888]

What the heck ?! A 5GB update ?! I mean just for the PS3 its not that big, oh my god 5GB that's just crazy !

 

[chinboogie]

And when did it became a good move to turn it of during a update?

 

[Arras]

I saw someone else saying it crashed and he had the ability to continue where it left off, so maybe he just got unlucky? Ah, I found it in a comment on Kotaku:

I've got my retail Wii U a few hours ago, Guam time. Looks like a really long download. It failed once, but resumed where it was before the crash

http://kotaku.com/5961522/wii-us-firmware-update-hitting-right-now?post=54395312

 

[Foxi4]

I saw someone else saying it crashed and he had the ability to continue where it left off, so maybe he just got unlucky? Ah, I found it in a comment on Kotaku:

http://kotaku.com/5961522/wii-us-firmware-update-hitting-right-now?post=54395312

A failed download does not equal a failed update - this guy had its update downloaded and shut down the console, which is inexcusable unless he just suffered from a power shortage.

 

[porkiewpyne]

LOL Sometimes common sense just isn't all that common anymore :S

 

[Armadillo]

I don't understand why they don't put some kind of fail-safe on the console. Nice bit of code tucked away that doesn't get written to, failed firmware update and it falls back and asks for usb stick or similar with the update on it. Something like bootmii, but automatic. Sure turning off during an update is stupid, but people do stupid things.

 

[Snailface]

He must have unplugged during the installation of the firmware, not the long download part. This guy also quotes the silly Geff Keighley "5 Gig update" claim.

Mainstream game media for the lol.

 

[Arras]

I don't understand why they don't put some kind of fail-safe on the console. Nice bit of code tucked away that doesn't get written to, failed firmware update and it falls back and asks for usb stick or similar with the update on it. Something like bootmii, but automatic. Sure turning off during an update is stupid, but people do stupid things.

Security. If you can update your boot code you can fix flaws, That being said, they could've implemented a system where it stores the recovery section twice or thrice and overwrites them one by one, but whatever. There might even be a special way to recover it that only Ninty knows about.

 

[Foxi4]

I don't understand why they don't put some kind of fail-safe on the console. Nice bit of code tucked away that doesn't get written to, failed firmware update and it falls back and asks for usb stick or similar with the update on it. Something like bootmii, but automatic. Sure turning off during an update is stupid, but people do stupid things.

Everything depends on how much you can cut down the firmware - the "fail safe" would have to take a minimal amount of space while not restricting update functionality. If that portion of the OS is huge or for some reason cannot work by itself, this may or may not be feasable.

 

[indask8]

Did the brick happened once the upgrade finished downloading and actually started to be applied.

Or does it starts as soon as it start downloading? If so, that's quite stupid from nintendo, what about a power outage? And still no user friendly recovery?

 

[Fear Zoa]

And here I was thinking someone tried something really stupid while trying to hack the thing, but nope just a guy who wasn't very smart. I know the wii tells you to do a lot of stupid things but when it tells you not to turn it off you best listen.

 

[Deleted_171835]

well no shit.

If you shut down your system while it's downloading an update, you're going to mess something up. And the update isn't 5GB. This isn't really notable enough news.

 

[Pong20302000]

If you read what he said the guys an idiot

"I only waited 15 mins but that's the pace it was going at on the progress bar. And there was no "cancel" option."

so he powered it off LOL
what a retard

also hes claiming it was 5GB
really 5GB in 15min is impressive because I'm sure the Nintendo servers aren't busy at the moment and it would have had to have actively been flashing to console if it's now bricked

now he's complaining that the signal on them is bad because his remote pad won't connect

WELL DUH! if the firmware is dud then it has got corrupted files

 

[Clarky]

muppets at large I see

 

[Rockhoundhigh]

Well, no shit. I bet someone got a little too impatient.

 

[Snailface]

well no shit.

If you shut down your system while it's downloading an update, you're going to mess something up. And the update isn't 5GB. This isn't really notable enough news.

I don't know of any device that can brick during a firmware download , unless the thing is installing while its downloading -- which would be stupid of Nintendo (not unprecedented).

Seriously, the download can be an entire afternoon for someone with DSL. A simultaneous download/install is just too risky for a process that drawn out.