Hacking All USB Loaders slowly failing on me

[Rossman]

I got a Wii 4.2U, with USB Loader GX, newest version, Wiiflow newest version, cios rev 17, Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 750 GB HD.

I had lots of games loaded onto the HD, and everything was working fine. Then, as I added new games, some of my games that I tested previously and worked, stopped working, such as Monster Hunter Tri demo, Red Steel 2, Mario Super Sluggers, and Madworld. Some of them get to the control warning screen, then black, some just boot to black. Madworld even loads all the menus, then when you start a level, it hangs at the loading screen forever.

I tried reloading the iso files onto the HD, and they worked again, but then I added a few more games, and bam, they stop working! I haven't re-tested every game, so there might be even more games with problems. I also tried deleting EVERYTHING on my SD card and starting over again, same problem. This is with both GX and Wiiflow.

Can someone please help me? I've tried on so many boards, and no one can tell me what's wrong. I don't understand what is unique in my case. Should I just return the HD and get a big one (instead of these small portable HDs)?

Please someone help. Thank you!

 

[Dr. Clipper]

Are you installing your games from disc or via a PC app? Is the drive formatted as WBFS, FAT32 or NTFS?

Many of these managers seem to corrupt poorly formatted WBFS partitions. The safest method is to use a FAT32 format and install your games from their original discs using the Wii.

 

[elimist]

^ That or you have a really bad harddisk

 

[Kittymat]

You are not alone!

This is a problem I have been reading about and I have personally experienced.

My findings
4.2E Wii
GX Loader 874 (latest stable)
Hermes v4
WD 500GB Passport drive
WBFS Manager 3.0 to transfer games

Load the hard drive and all games work, if I remove games OR rip directly to the hard drive some games stop working (most people find Lego Star Wars and Mario Galaxy to be favourites to fail - no idea why!)

I have stopped ripping the games direct to this hard drive, I rip to a small spare, test and then copy across, I also NEVER remove games once they are added, this definitely screws things up.

Since I have done all the above I thought everything was fine, however I have since had one failure (Lego Star Wars!), loads to the scrolling words then goes black screen.

I have tried different drives and it is not the drive, I am going to try to swap over to FAT32 over the weekend to see if that is more stable, however I have tried before and the ripping direct to disc was still an issue.

Thanks Dr Clipper - the first person to offer a reason, I have had issues with WBFS manager formatting my drive (would fail to format), I now tend to use Wii Backup manager to format and WBFS to transfer (as I like the rename facility on this program)

 

[wii in her butt]

This is definitely the problem I seem to be experiencing, although I do not see black screens or hangs on the load screen. I only have complete freezes where I have to power off and on the wii (not even a restart or home button options are available). The freezes are becoming more common and across multiple game; some games have been fine for months.

How many games/gigs do you guys currently have on your HD that is connected to the Wii? I doubt this could be contributing, but it is odd that we seem to have problems increase as games are added. I have 114 games and 265.93 gigs of space taken up on a seagate 500 gig drive (454.09 gigs of actual space after partition for NES/SNES roms).

 

[Kittymat]

If you do not rip to the drive (or remove any games) then the instances seem to be very rare.

I am currently converting to FAT to see of this cures the problem (however seem to be getting code dumps on ripping - rev874) looks like I will use a small 60GB to rip on WBFS and test then put onto the FAT drive

 

[Rossman]

I'm using WBFS Manager 3.0, and I've filled about 190gb of my 750gb HD. I have put games on the HD from ripping from a disc, and adding images from my computer, and I have deleted the ones that didn't work... Maybe that's what's causing the problem? Is there any way to reverse the problem without ripping all the games again? Do I have to first burn the games to disc then rip them from the disc? I've had a few games that didn't work the first time I've ripped them, and had to delete them and rip again, so it doesn't seem like ripping everything just once would work for me.

Before I return my HD and get another brand, does any one else have any ideas, or the people experiencing the same problems find anything new out?

Thanks!

 

[spotanjo3]

I am using:

3.2u Wii
GX Loader 874 (latest stable)
Hermes v4
WD 500GB Passport drive
Wii Game Manager 1.3 to transfer games

NO PROBLEM for me

 

[9th_Sage]

Last time that happened to me it meant the hard drive itself was dying.

 

[Rossman]

I just deleted a game through the GX menu, games that usually stop working still work. Then I deleted a game through the WFBS Manager application and the game that usually stops working STILL WORKS. This leads me to believe that it's something to do with ADDING games, not removing them. Anyone have any other new information?

 

[wii in her butt]

I just deleted a game through the GX menu, games that usually stop working still work. Then I deleted a game through the WFBS Manager application and the game that usually stops working STILL WORKS. This leads me to believe that it's something to do with ADDING games, not removing them. Anyone have any other new information?

This is my position as well, based on the following . . .

-The games never seem to freeze at the same spot.
-Without deleting games, games that previously worked fine now have problems.
-The issues I am experiencing are increasing as I add games to the HD.

Thoughts??

 

[Kittymat]

Do you rip direct to the hard drive, I stopped doing this as I had seen reports that it could cause other games to fail. I now rip to a small spare hard drive, then add when tested via wbfs manager.

Deleting games does not cause any issue, however when you add the next game it seems to make the issue much worse if you have previously deleted a game.

 

[kyle007]

so wtf is the difference between adding a game with a loader and adding it with wbfs manager? same things been happening to me though, bunch of my games randomly just stopped working i had no clue what was wrong, but i guess i won't add games with loaders anymore, i'll just use a dumper and then add it with wbfs manager. And to reiterate, why does it make a difference HOW you add the game?

 

[Dr. Clipper]

Can those experiencing the problem please respond to the following questions:

1: Have you ever ripped an original disc with a loader (if so, which loaders)?
2: Have you ever ripped a burnt disc with a loader (if so, which loaders)?
3: Have you ever installed a game with a WBFS manager (if so, which managers)?
4: How did you format your drive to WBFS?
5: Have you ever deleted a game from the drive (if so, in a loader or manager or both)?
6: Do you have a modchip installed (if so, which)?
7: How many games did you have on your drive when you first discovered the problem.
8: How many partitions do you have on the drive and of what types?

Incidentally, I have never had this problem, but I will answer the questions anyway:

1: Yes, with Configurable USB Loader
2: No
3: No
4: With Configurable USB Loader
5: Yes, with Configurable USB Loader
6: Yes, a Wiikey, but I have left it unconnected since long before soft modding the Wii.
7: Installed about 45 games without ever experiencing an error.
8: One WBFS and one FAT32.

 

[Rossman]

1: Have you ever ripped an original disc with a loader (if so, which loaders)?
Ripped original discs with USB Loader GX

2: Have you ever ripped a burnt disc with a loader (if so, which loaders)?
Again, yes, with USB Loader GX

3: Have you ever installed a game with a WBFS manager (if so, which managers)?
Yes, with WBFS Manager 3.0

4: How did you format your drive to WBFS?
I used WBFS Manager 3.0 to format my HD to WBFS

5: Have you ever deleted a game from the drive (if so, in a loader or manager or both)?
I've deleted games with both WBFS Manager 3.0 and USB Loader GX.

6: Do you have a modchip installed (if so, which)?
Yes, I have a Wiikey installed, but on second Wii which is experiencing the same problems, no chip.

7: How many games did you have on your drive when you first discovered the problem.
First time I would say 20 games or so. Second time I experienced it, about 50-70 games.

8: How many partitions do you have on the drive and of what types?
No partition, just one WBFS drive.

Hope this give valuable information so we can narrow it down.

 

[kyle007]

1: Have you ever ripped an original disc with a loader (if so, which loaders)?
Yes, with Usb Loader GX, Uloader, and Wiiflow

2: Have you ever ripped a burnt disc with a loader (if so, which loaders)?
Yes, with Uloader

3: Have you ever installed a game with a WBFS manager (if so, which managers)?
Yes, with WBFS Manager 3.0 and WiiBackupManager 0.3.5

4: How did you format your drive to WBFS?
WBFS Manager 3.0

5: Have you ever deleted a game from the drive (if so, in a loader or manager or both)?
Yes, with both

6: Do you have a modchip installed (if so, which)?
nope

7: How many games did you have on your drive when you first discovered the problem.
Around 80

8: How many partitions do you have on the drive and of what types?
One WBFS, and one NTFS

and yeah out the blue it wasn't even one game, PunchOut, Super Mario Galaxy and a few other just randomly stopped working, and obv. i had to rerip them which was fine, but ive been wanting to switch to fat32, just need to get a new hard drive. If wbfs rin someway randomly corrupts games, i really don't wanna use it

 

[Kittymat]

Initially

1: Yes, with GX USB Loader
2: No
3: Yes WBFS 3.0
4: With WBFS 3.0
5: Yes, with WBFS 3.0
6: No.
7: Installed about 50 games with several failures.
8: One WBFS.

Then
Formatted and then only ever added games with WBFS manager (no deleting) Just found out Lego Star Wars has failed again. All other games 80+ work correctly

 

[Dr. Clipper]

Formatted and then only ever added games with WBFS manager (no deleting) Just found out Lego Star Wars has failed again. All other games 80+ work correctly

This is an interesting case. So you are saying that for this new format, your answers would be 1:No, 2:No, 3: Yes? Did you format with WBFS Manager again?

The results are looking good so far... I'm beginning to thing this has nothing much to do with how you add the games, but much more to do with how you formatted the drive...

 

[Kittymat]

Formatted and then only ever added games with WBFS manager (no deleting) Just found out Lego Star Wars has failed again. All other games 80+ work correctly

This is an interesting case. So you are saying that for this new format, your answers would be 1:No, 2:No, 3: Yes? Did you format with WBFS Manager again?

The results are looking good so far... I'm beginning to thing this has nothing much to do with how you add the games, but much more to do with how you formatted the drive...

Yes I only added games using the WBFS manager. The drive may have been formatted by the Wii backup manager as the WBFS manager will sometimes not format a drive but I have never used the loader to add games (added to a backup drive, tested then added to the main drive via WBFS manager)

Previously numerous games on the drive had failed (sometimes just removing the non working game to my computer and adding back the same file would be enough to make it work) adding more games increased the non working issue.

This time I was careful to never add or delete files but Star wars when tried froze just after the start screen.

I have asked others and a friend had no issues with non working games, he then deleted a load of games he did not want (WBFS MAnager), added a few more titles and previously working games started to freeze. He had no issues till he deleted the games.

 

[b166er]

1: Have you ever ripped an original disc with a loader (if so, which loaders)?
USB Loader GX

2: Have you ever ripped a burnt disc with a loader (if so, which loaders)?
No

3: Have you ever installed a game with a WBFS manager (if so, which managers)?
WBFS Manager 3.0

4: How did you format your drive to WBFS?
With WBFS Manager 3.0

5: Have you ever deleted a game from the drive (if so, in a loader or manager or both)?
With USB Loader GX and WBFS Manager

6: Do you have a modchip installed (if so, which)?
No

7: How many games did you have on your drive when you first discovered the problem.
around 80

8: How many partitions do you have on the drive and of what types?
Primary WBFS secondary Fat32

Hope this helps