Just installed 4.2.1, my first foray into freeing my wii from disks. Little bit of feedback, hope it's useful
1. First formatted my drive to WBFS (WD Passport, 1TB), experienced problems similar to those laid out above (install completes very quickly (aka, fails), black screens, crashes etc.), downgraded to 4.2 and it worked ok.
2. After reading more, switched to FAT32+NTFS partitions and 4.2.1 works fine. Interestingly the games installed (Lego star wars, okami) when 4.2 was in place continued to work in WBFS on 4.2.1, pointing conclusion towards prob with WBFS Install process in 4.2.1
3. Gamecube games seem to work too with DiosMios, though have only loaded a couple to title screen so far and not even plugged in a GC controller to fully check yet
4. Playing in 60Hz PAL causes lockups after around 5mins of gameplay (in Mario Galaxy 2 and Tetris), 50Hz is completely stable thus far, though I've spent longer tweaking than gaming last few days. I'm not sophisticated enough yet to tell which component causes this, but thought you might like to know. [edit: it was my softmod, crashes weren't limited to PAL 60, just more frequent. Did a new softmod following maufrog's guide and all is now 100% stable]
5. When installing some games from disk, process ticks up to 99% and then freezes (4 flashing LEDS on wiimote), same game may complete next time. Sometimes after hard reboot, game is available and playable, sometimes not, so it's somewhat trial and error. Okami seems to be the worst offender, yet I suspect if I try again tomorrow may simply work; can't identify conditions that causes this issue, have left overnight at 99% to no avail. [edit] transpires that conditions are in-fact very simple, but were not obvious whilst I was tweaking my setup. The first disk will install perfectly, the second will freeze at 99%. To install, I've found it necessary to exit to system menu and then fully reload WiiFlow, thus far this has a 100% success rate. Slight inconvenience. [edit: again it was my softmod, followed maufrog's guide and now all installs complete every time]
Question: Is it possible to remove the delete key or req. password? Haven't yet played with themes and I think the answer lies within, but simple config would be good (to prevent small fingers making mistakes).
May I finally just say well done, has transformed my wii and given it a second life with my young daughter (parental controls handy there too!). I know you'll say shoulders of giants and all that, but individual hearty congratulations to the devs.