Hacking USB Loader GX

ecto · Feb 1, 2020

alexander1970 said:
Hello.

I used very old IDE Enclosures when r1272 came out.Yes,I remember pretty well on this Sounds,because I thought the old IDE HDD´s will die soon....
Then I changed to SATA and this sounds were also there (not so much but yes,they where there).

Now with SSD and a Blue LED on the Enclosure,logically no Sounds,but the LED flashes at irregular Intervals (on the USBLoader GX Main Menu Screen without any Movement of the Wii Motion or Gamecube Controller).

Maybe @blackb0x knows something about this "Process" ?

Thank you.

Yeah, that sound just like mine hdd. I noticed that because I used a l new with no vibration damping, so that sound was more prominent.

I also thought it might be a faulty hdd, but SMART status was good, except for a pretty high "load/unload cycles" value for a new drive. So it might have to do with that. Disabling power management of the drive with Seagate tools made no difference (though I dont know if that is permanent).

blackb0x · Feb 2, 2020

alexander1970 said:
Maybe @blackb0x knows something about this "Process" ?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I use an old laptop drive in an Inateck USB 3.0 enclosure (FE2005). It's quiet and there's no random reads or clicks.

I can only guess that some drive and enclosure combinations result in the drives heads not being parked while connected to a Wii, so every so often you'll hear a noise.

ecto · Feb 2, 2020

blackb0x said:
Honestly, I'm not sure. I use an old laptop drive in an Inateck USB 3.0 enclosure (FE2005). It's quiet and there's no random reads or clicks.

Ok, I'll try that enclosure, too (just ordered it). I'll report back with my findings.

Btw. in one of my enclosures the sound is barely audible, because it has a better damping. I can still hear it when I put the drive to my ear.

blackb0x · Feb 2, 2020

@ecto If you still hear noise with that enclosure then it's probably caused by the drive. Especially since you've already tried other enclosures.

If I get up close to where my Wii and the HDD enclosure is then I'll hear the Wii's fan more than anything else. The only time I might hear the HDD is if it's actually spinning up to load something or the systems put into standby.

The HDD that I'm using (A 500GB, 5400 RPM drive from HGST) was literally pulled out of an old Samsung laptop, so there's nothing special about it.

ecto · Feb 3, 2020

blackb0x said:
@ecto If you still hear noise with that enclosure then it's probably caused by the drive. Especially since you've already tried other enclosures.

If I get up close to where my Wii and the HDD enclosure is then I'll hear the Wii's fan more than anything else. The only time I might hear the HDD is if it's actually spinning up to load something or the systems put into standby.

The HDD that I'm using (A 500GB, 5400 RPM drive from HGST) was literally pulled out of an old Samsung laptop, so there's nothing special about it.

As I said I tried two different drives (one almost new 2,5" Seagate from a warranty exchange and one 3,5" WD blue) and both made this quite regular sound every 10s.

I'll probably get the Inateck enclosure tonight, and will report back then.

*EDIT*

I tried the new enclosure (which is quite nice btw.) but the strange sound didn't go away

I'm now copying the data over to an other 1,5Tb 2,5" hdd. Let's see if that settles it. (I'll probably try to exchange the unneving drive... again...

)

blackb0x · Feb 5, 2020

ecto said:
I tried the new enclosure (which is quite nice btw.) but the strange sound didn't go away

I'm now copying the data over to an other 1,5Tb 2,5" hdd. Let's see if that settles it. (I'll probably try to exchange the unneving drive... again... )

Yea, it may be a cheap enclosure, but it's well made and performs well.

At this point we can only assume that the drive itself is to blame, although it's probably worth noting that you're using a much larger HDD and it's probably faster too. That means it'll generate more noise in general.

When I use the Wii the LED will flash when reading and I'll hear it too, but most of the time it'll be silent with a solid white LED no matter what homebrew is loaded.

ecto · Feb 5, 2020

blackb0x said:
At this point we can only assume that the drive itself is to blame, although it's probably worth noting that you're using a much larger HDD and it's probably faster too. That means it'll generate more noise in general.

Yes, you were right. It was the drive. Somehow the power management was not compatible (?) with USB Loader GX. Trying to change the power management with Windows tools (like CrystalDiskInfo or SeaChest) were not permanent but only for the session.

Then I found this Youtube video explaining how to permanantly disable the power management. I should say that this process is not for the faint of heart (involving booting into DOS and using a tool called HDAT2, which is not self explanatory) and can - when being misused - destroy your hdd!

But I managed to go through the procedure fine, and guess what: the clicking is gone, and so is the APM (according to CrystalDiskInfo)!

The hdd will now spin permanantly and will use the maximum power all the time. But that is OK, because it will only be on while using the Wii, so the wear and power coonsumption should not be problematic.

blackb0x · Feb 5, 2020

ecto said:
Yes, you were right. It was the drive. Somehow the power management was not compatible (?) with USB Loader GX. Trying to change the power management with Windows tools (like CrystalDiskInfo or SeaChest) were not permanent but only for the session.

It doesn't surprise me too much since the Wii was never designed to accept external storage like this. So we end up with some devices that work fine and some that don't behave correctly. I just got lucky to have a HDD that does idle correctly.

I don't think the issue is isolated to USB Loader GX though. It should be an issue you'll hear with any loader and possibly any homebrew.

ecto said:
The hdd will now spin permanantly and will use the maximum power all the time. But that is OK, because it will only be on while using the Wii, so the wear and power coonsumption should not be problematic.

Have you checked to see if the drive turns off after a minute or two when you put the Wii into standby? It wouldn't be a major issue if it doesn't since there's no advantage to using standby over a full shutdown.

Codemastershock · Feb 18, 2020

Some small changes to the portuguese-br translation, like some lines added and a few phrases better written and such,

Alexander1970 · Feb 18, 2020

blackb0x said:
It doesn't surprise me too much since the Wii was never designed to accept external storage like this. So we end up with some devices that work fine and some that don't behave correctly. I just got lucky to have a HDD that does idle correctly.

I don't think the issue is isolated to USB Loader GX though. It should be an issue you'll hear with any loader and possibly any homebrew.

Have you checked to see if the drive turns off after a minute or two when you put the Wii into standby? It wouldn't be a major issue if it doesn't since there's no advantage to using standby over a full shutdown.

Hello.

Thank you for your "Enhanced Version",personal,I am really very happy with it.

On the Wii and the vWii too.

The Fact is,we do not know if or when Cyan returns........
And the Loader is very popular and common.We all know that r1272 is not "unproblematic" for many Users and/or many USB Devices.

Is it maybe possible to upload/make an "official" r1272b Release or something like that ?
Your Version works near perfect.Better said,I did not noticed some strange Behavior or Bugs after three Months.

I know,it is a great "responsibility" for the USBLoader GX Community.

(Every "Bug" goes then to your Account... :rofl2:

).

Thank you for your Work.

vree · Feb 20, 2020

So when I play some gamecube games with usbloader gx (nintendont). But I reset the game to return to usb loader gx (you know with the button combination). It doesn't load the cover arts anymore. And I need to back out of usb loader gx and restart it.

Is there a way to make it load them when resetting a game? Or at least a way to refresh the list so it get's the cover art?

using a wii with an external HDD.

Vertigo456 · Feb 21, 2020

Hi everyone,

I have a sandisk 16 gb usb 2.0 flash drive formatted with FAT32 that I am trying to use to install games on. However, the bar always stops moving, usually in the 10 to 20% range. I have left it set for over a half-hour (time to install shown on screen shows 10-15 minutes). I can still move the cursor around the screen with the wiimote, however nothing works. I can click the cancel button and it gets bigger and stays bigger, but it doesn't do anything else. If I try to power off with the wiimote, the pointer freezes.

Any tips on how to get this to work? I followed the complete softmod guide

blackb0x · Feb 21, 2020

alexander1970 said:
Is it maybe possible to upload/make an "official" r1272b Release or something like that ?

Only Cyan can publish official releases and I don't know if or when he'll be back.

I haven't made any significant changes since my last update for the enhanced version, but I'll probably share at least 1 or 2 more updates over the next few months.

vree said:
So when I play some gamecube games with usbloader gx (nintendont). But I reset the game to return to usb loader gx (you know with the button combination). It doesn't load the cover arts anymore. And I need to back out of usb loader gx and restart it.

Try using my enhanced version. If it still doesn't work for you then locate GXGlobal.cfg, delete it and try again.

I'm often using the button combination (R+Z+B+Down) while playing something like Resident Evil 2 or 3 and it'll work perfectly.

Vertigo456 said:
Any tips on how to get this to work? I followed the complete softmod guide

Open up USB Loader GX's settings, change the loaders ISO to 249 and then restart your Wii and try again.

If it still fails then you can try using CleanRip.

vree · Feb 22, 2020

blackb0x said:
Try using my enhanced version. If it still doesn't work for you then locate GXGlobal.cfg, delete it and try again.

I'm often using the button combination (R+Z+B+Down) while playing something like Resident Evil 2 or 3 and it'll work perfectly.

Fixed nvm.

Do got one question. What is the best way to configure priiloader to launch usb loader gx on start up?

blackb0x · Feb 22, 2020

vree said:
Do got one question. What is the best way to configure priiloader to launch usb loader gx on start up?

1. Put uneoboot.dol and this WAD file (for Wii) on your SD card
2. With something like YAWMM install the WAD file
3. From Priiloader install uneoboot.dol and then go to settings and set autoboot to installed file and return to autoboot

vree · Feb 22, 2020

blackb0x said:
1. Put uneoboot.dol and this WAD file on your SD card
2. With something like YAWMM install the WAD file
3. From Priiloader install uneoboot.dol and then go to settings and set autoboot to "installed file" and return to "autoboot"

Where do I put this .dol file because it doesn't show up when i put it in the apps folder.

EDIT: Ok it needed to be on the root. Thanks works perfect!

I did not use return to function. I set that in USB loader gx. That way I can still get to the wii home channel if needed without going through priiloader.

blackb0x · Feb 23, 2020

vree said:
I did not use return to function. I set that in USB loader gx. That way I can still get to the wii home channel if needed without going through priiloader.

I guess that makes sense if you still want to go to the Wii home screen.

Most of my time is spent either in the loader or the homebrew channel and both of those things can be accessed from BootMii when I power on the Wii. And I avoid the Wii home screen so much simply because GC controllers don't work there.

vree · Feb 23, 2020

Ok got 2 more questions.

1) So I made my installed wads visible in usb loader gx. I could find the cover art just fine.
But one installed wad (smash brothers) does not show the box art. Probably because of the way the wad was made waaaaaaay back in the days.

How can I add this cover art manually? How to figer out the ID and so on?

EDIT: found sollution!

2 ) So I set up emunand through usb loader GX. Tried Kirby64 and PokemonPuzzleLeague. Both say you need classic controller after that black screen. Dit I do something wrong?

EDIT: Still no clue....

Oak · Feb 24, 2020

I can't get usb loader gx to load VC N64 games if my usb is plugged in. Games sit at a black screen. Although, games load fine with usb plugged in from the system menu.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Need help. VC n64 games won't load from usb loader gx, load just fine from system menu. If I unplug the usb from the back, they do load, but then i dont have access to my wii/gc collection. Anyone know a fix? Thanks.

Vertigo456 · Feb 25, 2020

blackb0x said:
Open up USB Loader GX's settings, change the loaders ISO to 249 and then restart your Wii and try again.

So I tried this with two games and after each it said successfully installed. However, I don't see the games anywhere and the card is still showing the total memory is free. Are there any other settings I need to change?

Hacking USB Loader GX

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Attachments

XP not matters.

Well-Known Member

New Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

New Member

Similar threads

Popular threads in this forum