No option up there for me to vote.
Bricked my Wii once, used Nintendo's Repair Disc 1.31 to save my Wii. Had no proloader or bootmii installed.
How I saved my Wii http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=153315
Not sure what exactly is wrong with your DVD drive but if the drive still works but only has a weak lazer you could tweak the POT on the DVD drive to turn the power up on the lazer allowing it to read disc again. Then you could unbrick using rescue menu.
If you wait until a Game Disc is released with a higher update than what you already have you could boot into the rescue menu and update. Might fix the problem or atleast get your wii booting up again. But who know when a Game Disc with a higher update will be relaesed, could be months!
The modchip that I used did not come with autoboot set by default so I was a little worried that it wouldn't work. But I just poped the Pink Fish Disc in and it loaded right up. So yea, having his wiikey should be all he needs.
Use this guide. http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=153315
You can either use the Pink Fish Disc or the Universal Unbrick Disc. Links to both in the guide.
As I said in my other post it was most definitely useful for unbricking (Banner Brick). When I was on 3.4 this was the only thing that saved me when I installed a bad .wad I have a special love for this disc and would like to see it working again in 4.0