Hacking Homebrew app Strange issues with USB detection using Loader GX

MaxBox

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You could try a Y cable, or an externally powered USB HDD. If these fail, any other potential solutions would likely cost more than buying another used wii

Argh. Any idea why Wiiflow can see the drive and games within and not LoaderGX?

Also, coincidentally on the front page of Facebook.. so maybe not the end of the world.
LTHt3xU.png


"You could always restore your NAND backup and start over. "
Seems like a potentially easy fix. I assume I shouldn't do the requested Wii update, though?
 

blackb0x

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But remember, WiiFlow is able to see both the drive and the games within. It just seems to crash upon launching them.

That's a common problem with the Wii U. Like sometimes the games don't launch and sometimes the loader might fail to initialise the drive, so a USB Y cable typically fixes both issues.

My Wii doesn't need a USB Y cable to power the enclosure, so I can't guarantee that a USB Y cable will fix anything for you.

As for why WiiFlow might see the games, that could be due to the timeout period, the cIOS that you're using or how you've formatted the drive.

Seems like a potentially easy fix. I assume I shouldn't do the requested Wii update, though?
  • Ignore the Wii update
  • Restore your NAND backup
  • Install cIOS 249 / 250
  • Copy your games to your PC
  • Clean the HDD with diskpart and format it with Wii Backup Manager
  • Move the games back to your USB HDD
  • Delete usbloader_gx from sd:/apps and then install a fresh copy
To ensure that the HDD is totally clean and doesn't have any hidden partitions you'd do this.
  • Launch command prompt and input "diskpart"
  • Input "list disk"
  • Input "select disk X" replacing X with the correct drive number
  • Input "clean"
  • Input "convert mbr"
  • Input "create partition primary" and close the popup to format
  • Input "format fs=ntfs quick"
  • Input "assign"
  • Input "exit"
Then from the tools menu in Wii Backup Manager you can format the HDD to FAT32.
 
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MaxBox

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Upon going to BootMii and starting the restore tool, I got notified that as a BootMii OS user it's too dangerous.

I looked a little into it and my takeaway is to use priiloader to boot into HBC and then launch BootMii from there.. which is already how it's configured, so now I'm confused there.

I don't know if I have a functioning GC controller, either, so am I shit out of luck either way?

Plus, upon looking into the SD card, I don't think I actually have the nand.bin saved anywhere. So now I'm not sure what to do. Feeling a little defeated.
 

MaxBox

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That's a common problem with the Wii U. Like sometimes the games don't launch and sometimes the loader might fail to initialise the drive, so a USB Y cable typically fixes both issues.

My Wii doesn't need a USB Y cable to power the enclosure, so I can't guarantee that a USB Y cable will fix anything for you.

As for why WiiFlow might see the games, that could be due to the timeout period, the cIOS that you're using or how you've formatted the drive.


  • Ignore the Wii update
  • Restore your NAND backup
  • Install cIOS 249 / 250
  • Copy your games to your PC
  • Clean the HDD with diskpart and format it with Wii Backup Manager
  • Move the games back to your USB HDD
  • Delete usbloader_gx from sd:/apps and then install a fresh copy
To ensure that the HDD is totally clean and doesn't have any hidden partitions you'd do this.
  • Launch command prompt and input "diskpart"
  • Input "list disk"
  • Input "select disk X" replacing X with the correct drive number
  • Input "clean"
  • Input "convert mbr"
  • Input "create partition primary" and close the popup to format
  • Input "format fs=ntfs quick"
  • Input "assign"
  • Input "exit"
Then from the tools menu in Wii Backup Manager you can format the HDD to FAT32.
Replying just to ping cuz I know the thread's been dead a while.

And also I searched for a fix to the not being able to play discs issue and found a post from xFlak saying to use xzero's offline installer but I don't see that name or the stickied post that was being referred to.

Also I bought a y-cable, it'll be here tomorrow.
 
Last edited by MaxBox,

XFlak

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That guide is outdated, and would just have you update IOSs, same as modmii does. I didn't re-read this thread but presumably you already shared a syscheck and we said it looks good. If not, follow this and post results
https://gbatemp.net/threads/posting-a-system-check.300279/

About bootmii, it makes no difference how you launch it as to how it functions. Some wii's are capable of installing bootmii as boot2 in addition to bootmii ios, newer wii's can only install it as IOS. Your wii likely falls into the latter category based on what you're seeing when u launch bootmii. There's no way around it (short of using a hardware flasher), you'll need to use a GC controller to restore your nand backup. It's not THAT risky so long as u don't lose power (immediately afterwards u should resoftmod and reinstall priiloader if it isn't already installed to the nand backup)
 
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MaxBox

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That guide is outdated, and would just have you update IOSs, same as modmii does. I didn't re-read this thread but presumably you already shared a syscheck and we said it looks good. If not, follow this and post results
https://gbatemp.net/threads/posting-a-system-check.300279/

About bootmii, it makes no difference how you launch it as to how it functions. Some wii's are capable of installing bootmii as boot2 in addition to bootmii ios, newer wii's can only install it as IOS. Your wii likely falls into the latter category based on what you're seeing when u launch bootmii. There's no way around it (short of using a hardware flasher), you'll need to use a GC controller to restore your nand backup. It's not THAT risky so long as u don't lose power (immediately afterwards u should resoftmod and reinstall priiloader if it isn't already installed to the nand backup)
Well, I got the Y-cable and tried it in both slots. Port0, homebrew doesn't detect the drive whatsoever, same with gx loader. Port1, homebrew detects the drive, gx loader does not, WiiFlow sees the drive and its contents, but still upon trying to launch anything there's ~15 seconds of black screen before the Wii shows the vanilla home menu.

I'll see if the GC controller still works and try restoring my nand, which again I don't see it immediately on my SD card so it may have gotten formatted during one of the many during this process. Which would really suck. But even then I don't know what other steps there are to take; I feel like I followed the guides well and installed everything as it should be.

Otherwise I guess I'll buy another wii :l
 

MaxBox

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I mean, try a different hdd before going and buying another wii...

I've tried another drive, this time an SSD. Same recommended enclosure, using a y-cable. Drive formatted using Wii Backup Manager in wbfs. Games transferred via the program.

Primary cable in slot zero, closest to the edge: not detected in Homebrew settings menu, or by loader GX, or by WiiFlow. No drive activity status led. I also tried unplugging and replugging the enclosure at The Homebrew menu.

Primary cable now in slot one, in the middle of the Wii: drive status LED on. Drive is detected by Homebrew settings menu. Loader GX does not detect. Loader GX port was already set to 1.

WiiFlow didn't initially detect the drive, but upon switching it to look at Port "2", WiiFlow sees the games. Attempting to launch a game gives a black screen for about 15 seconds.

So, the same behavior as the last drive, and p much all the other drives.

My system is still asking for a system update to play games, so I've gone from being able to play vanilla games to no games.

I seem to have lost my band backup during one of the numerous drive switches. Annoyingly my bad. How do we at least get the Wii back to a semi-nornal state, because modding this Wii seems to be impossible. I can make another syslog if need be.
 

tmscrapbook

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hey, i am new to this site and i dont know which is the proper thread for my question. my flash drive (fat32) works perfect with the usb loader gx. and now i want to use my seagate 2tb external hardive(thegreen one). i started by formatting it to nfts defaul allocation and then from wii backup manager formatted it again to be sure. i transferred games like i usually do from the sofatware. when i start usb loader gx on my wii. it prompts with this , select a partition or format. i am stuck at this point as i dont know what to do. if i click the option select on wii it shows 4 partitions with partition 1 only readable with 2080 something gb, the rest parititons are not reabale i selected the first one and it showed no games,(tired dropping the same game directly and what not. then i though of formatting the harddrive on wii in usbloader gx. messed it up too and now it shows 127.8 gb of free space with no games.(i again copied the games and still it said no games and same 127 gb of free space (original 2tb harddrive) i am sorry , i am a bit noob when it comes to computer thing like disc parititons and all. so please if anyone can help me on this. i am currently experimenting with a single game wii sport resort whihc works perfectly through my flash drive.
Did you actually get a game to play from your flash drive? If so, how? Once I click the start button for the game, the screen goes black for a few seconds and then just returns the the HomeBrew channel.
 

CoolMe

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Did you actually get a game to play from your flash drive? If so, how? Once I click the start button for the game, the screen goes black for a few seconds and then just returns the the HomeBrew channel.
Post a syscheck here.
It is recommended for USB flash drive users to format the drive as WBFS (with Wbfs manager), if yours is formatted as Fat32 i suggest doing so, though copy the data stored in there to your pc before doing so.
What version of USBLOADERGX are you using?
Is the flash drive plugged in the right-most of the Wii?
 
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XFlak

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Fat32 is still recommended over wbfs, but if the drive doesn't work when formatted at fat32, then try wbfs. You will forgo many of the benefits of fat32, but at least u can use it to play wii game backups

Also, saying the "right-most" usb port is ambiguous because if the wii is horizontal there isn't a right-most port, or even if vertical when you say right do you mean when facing the front of the console or the back of the console, this is why I usually say the port nearest the edge, so it's clear no matter how the wii is positioned

Otherwise I totally agree with the above

Oh and make sure you're using the latest version of gx from @blackb0x 's signature
 
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