I was moving a big file from HDD to (unmodded) Wii U and it froze. (There was about 1.5GB free and the file was around 900MB. I stupidly reset the console and now it doesn’t start up anymore.
When I turn it on, the gamepad doesn’t sync, the disc drive makes booting noises twice and there’s just a black screen.
Could I fix this myself some how? I already tried unplugging everything and even taking the save battery out like a YouTube vid suggested
Hey.
Maybe i can help you. The WiiU has a small security-protection. It´s not much and not many people know about this, but maybe you`re lucky! Remember when all those WiiUs were "dead" after updating?
The truth is: They weren´t dead. The update just failed. That doesn´t mean the WiiU is dead. The Wiiu´s just missing OS-files which hinders it from starting into the OS on it´s own.There is a security-protection, which tries to download the necessary files, as long as that part of the WiiU is still working AND YOU HAVE the necessary hardware for it (LAN Adapter is required).
They told many years ago- that you need to just connect the Wiiu via a Lan-adapter to the Internet (i´m afraid that Wifi won´t work!), and put the WiiU into Standby-mode. And WAIT a few hours (and watch what happens!).
It´s similar to old floppy-drives trying to "save" a bad bios on a PC`s mainboard. It will try to download your file from the internet and then - via an LED show you the status of the progress. Just like you can save a bad bios via a floppy-drive by just installing it blind.
There are 3 stati for WiiU-LED to show you what´s going on: a) your WiiU´s LED Is red. That means it´s shut-off. When it gets ORANGE it´s checking for data (yes, including working OS-files). and when it BLINKS orange that means it´s installing data right now. And there is a fourth state (Blue) that means it´s switched ON and fully powered into the OS (wether that is the vWii-OS or the WIiU-OS doesn´t matter). The fifth LED-state is blinking blue or blinking red, which you shouldn´t get since that means overheating (blinking red) or hardware-failure (cpu/mainboard etc) => blinking blue.
You better not disconnect a WiiU from the power-plug when it´s installing data in standby. So watch CLOSELY what it does and ONLY switch it off when the orange light is on and IT DOES NOT BLINK!
Once it´s done with re-installing your needed OS-data it will go back to LED being orange and then back to red (shut itself off).
I´m not 100% certain if this security-protection works if you shut-off the automatic updates or not.
But i think it will save your console from being "dead".
What it does is simple:
It checks the servers from Nintendo for needed updates. And re-installs updates which failed or it overwrites them. And your Wiiu will (hopefully with some luck) work again.
GOOD LUCK!
If it doesn´t work it means, your "Safety procedure" failed. Try it at least a few more times! DoN`t give up so fast! It can take HOURS until the WiiU recognices your Lan-adapter and starts to make a security-procedure-call to overwrite your failed update/dead OS (depending on the settings you made when you used "Auto-update").
If it doesn´t work can also mean: The necessary hardware of your WiiU is faulty so that it can no longer do such a security-call to the Nintendo-servers (to heal itself).
Oh and btw: PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU DON`T USE IPV6! As WiiU does not natively support IPV6. Use IPV4-connections. Since the secure-call only is known to work via IPV4.
Like i said: Good luck. And please call back if it worked ok?
Please be aware that it might be that it DOES NOT WORK, if you switched off "Auto-Updating". Since that´s also the auto-recovery-function. It might work or not with that setting off. I don´t know.
] 