Lately I was dealing with a banner brick on 3.4E firmware. From all resources I searched(including this forum), it came clear that it isn't possible if you had at least TPH on the Wii(which I hadn't). With TPH it would have been possible using an autoboot from TP starting Wad Manager.
Well I was able to successfully restore my Wii, and I want to share my experience.
Initial situation:
3.4E firmware
No TPH(restored my original because I wanted to play TP)
No modchip
No prevention against banner bricks
Maintenance mode not booting
SaveMiiFree working
According to every source this would mean a full brick. Indeed, that's not completely true.
Step by step procedure what I did:[*]Borrowed a working Wii with 3.4E firmware(no chip, but some homebrew on it)[*]Patched Wii Backup Disc 1.31 to PAL using RegionFrii[*]Installed a modchip(Wiikey2) in bricked Wii to enable autoboot[*]Exchanged drives between Wiis[*]Booted up working Wii with Backup Disc using SaveMiiFree[*]Backed up everything from working Wii to SD using Backup Disc[*]Exchanged drives again[*]Booted up bricked Wii with Backup Disc using SaveMiiFree[*]Restored all to bricked Wii, with "Finish Repair"(actually means eject disc and reboot)[*]Booted again with Wii Backup Disc[*]Chose "Delete All" in Backup Disc MenuThe last step seemed to have deleted all user data from the bricked Wii, including corrupt channels and saves. From there, my Wii was just as if it would have been initialized from the system settings.
Most probably I could have skipped steps 1 and 4-7, but I wasn't sure about any system files related. This procedure should be reproducable on NTSC, just skip step 2. Step 2 is necessary despites the chip, because it otherwise the Wii wouldn't boot after step 8(didn't research why). The Backup disc didn't seem to copy over any saves(TPH was on working Wii), thus step 11 is mandantory.
Unfortunately, I have to dash some hopes regarding unbricking a banner brick without a modchip on 3.4(TPH doesn't matter): That's simply impossible, because you don't have any chance to execute at least the Backup disc, not to mention any custom code. This applies to >=3.3 and 3.2 without starfall. I just repeat this to make it clear, though it was mentioned on every source I searched.
I won't post any links to the backup disc, use Google instead. I also won't provide my my backup.
Well I was able to successfully restore my Wii, and I want to share my experience.
Initial situation:
3.4E firmware
No TPH(restored my original because I wanted to play TP)
No modchip
No prevention against banner bricks
Maintenance mode not booting
SaveMiiFree working
According to every source this would mean a full brick. Indeed, that's not completely true.
Step by step procedure what I did:[*]Borrowed a working Wii with 3.4E firmware(no chip, but some homebrew on it)[*]Patched Wii Backup Disc 1.31 to PAL using RegionFrii[*]Installed a modchip(Wiikey2) in bricked Wii to enable autoboot[*]Exchanged drives between Wiis[*]Booted up working Wii with Backup Disc using SaveMiiFree[*]Backed up everything from working Wii to SD using Backup Disc[*]Exchanged drives again[*]Booted up bricked Wii with Backup Disc using SaveMiiFree[*]Restored all to bricked Wii, with "Finish Repair"(actually means eject disc and reboot)[*]Booted again with Wii Backup Disc[*]Chose "Delete All" in Backup Disc MenuThe last step seemed to have deleted all user data from the bricked Wii, including corrupt channels and saves. From there, my Wii was just as if it would have been initialized from the system settings.
Most probably I could have skipped steps 1 and 4-7, but I wasn't sure about any system files related. This procedure should be reproducable on NTSC, just skip step 2. Step 2 is necessary despites the chip, because it otherwise the Wii wouldn't boot after step 8(didn't research why). The Backup disc didn't seem to copy over any saves(TPH was on working Wii), thus step 11 is mandantory.
Unfortunately, I have to dash some hopes regarding unbricking a banner brick without a modchip on 3.4(TPH doesn't matter): That's simply impossible, because you don't have any chance to execute at least the Backup disc, not to mention any custom code. This applies to >=3.3 and 3.2 without starfall. I just repeat this to make it clear, though it was mentioned on every source I searched.
I won't post any links to the backup disc, use Google instead. I also won't provide my my backup.
