Hacking BootMii functionality

[DigitalSquirrel]

I know everyone on this forum was WAAAAAAY tired of question posts, sorry. I just have a quick one:

I haven't installed BootMii yet, god knows why. I'm going to do it as soon as my questions are answered.. I hear bootmii being installed as "boot2", what does that mean?
Also, does Bootmii automatically pop up every time you turn on your wii? I just want it for failsafe operations, not to get in the way. And apparently it installs to the SD card? Should I use a separate SD card from usual? Or does it matter.

Thanks a bunch GBATemp, as always, you guys are the best!

 

[Midnightzak]

My understanding of Boot2 is that it is a space of memory in your Wii that is accessed before the SystemMenu has a chance to boot. This is why BootMii is so great, because it gives you almost immediate access to your Wii.

If you bricked the majority of your Wii and had BootMii installed you could at least launch the HBC and anything on your memory card.

If you do a NAND backup then you can likely recover your Wii if you were to brick it. Unfortunately I dont have more details on the NAND backup as mine isn't working. I'd personally be interested in the size of a typical NAND backup file...

Currently my BootMii does popup every time I start my Wii however you should be able to edit the BOOTMII.INI file on the SD card to autoboot the System Menu or HBC and bypass the BootMii screen until you need it. Also, the BootMii screen will not appear if you remove the SD card from the Wii.

I believe the BOOTMII.INI file would look like this to autoboot the System Menu:

# BootMii config file
# Video mode, possible settings:
# NTSC, PAL50, PAL60, PROGRESSIVEVIDEO=NTSC
# Autoboot, possible settings:
# SYSMENU, HBC
#AUTOBOOT=SYSMENU
# Autoboot delay, in seconds:
# Default is 5
#BOOTDELAY=5
AUTOBOOT=SYSMENU
BOOTDELAY=0

EDIT: Tested BOOTMII.INI file and the BootMii screen still appears but does a very quick countdown and boots the SystemMenu after 5 seconds. Pretty painless for the much added security on the system.

 

[DigitalSquirrel]

Oh... Thanks! Do you have it installed to your regular SD chip? Or do you have it on another one somewhere?

 

[techboy]

I'd personally be interested in the size of a typical NAND backup file...

Around 528MB for a typical dump. If you wonder why 528 instead of 512, it's because of ECC data.

 

[Midnightzak]

I have it on my regular homebrew SD card, but again, mine doesn't dump so I'm doing something wrong...

 

[DigitalSquirrel]

Well techboy said its 258mb, you're probably out of room.

 

[DigitalSquirrel]

Can I make a dump into a SD card that doesn't have bootmii installed to?

 

[nabster92]

The majority of bootmii's code is put onto your sd card when you install it. If you have a vulnerable boot1 though it writes into two blocks in the boot2 sector some stuff to have it read from the sd card if it finds the bootmii folder in it. If it can do that then it will call on bootmii to load before the system menu so you can still access it even if you brick your Wii in any way since it has nothing to do with any of your IOS. The nand backup should be anything a little over 512 MB (mine is 540 MB) so in order to make a backup you need a card that's at least 1 GB, but just to load bootmii itself any smaller card will do. (I use a 256 MB card for general purpose use and a 2GB card to backup nand to then dump that onto my pc and put the 2 GB card back to my camera.)

If you rename the bootmii folder it won't boot at start anymore and when you rename it back to bootmii it will still be there. Or you can edit the config.ini file. Mine is:

# BootMii config file

# Video mode, possible settings:
# NTSC, PAL50, PAL60, PROGRESSIVE
VIDEO=NTSC

# Autoboot, possible settings:
# SYSMENU, HBC
AUTOBOOT=HBC

# Autoboot delay, in seconds:
# Default is 5
BOOTDELAY=2

So my system starts up in the bootmii menu for 2 seconds then boots directly to the homebrew channel. If you want it to boot normally you can change HBC to SYSMENU and 2 to 0 for direct booting. I left mine at 2 so I don't have to go back and change anything in case I do want to use it for something and 2 seconds isn't long to wait.

Edit: To the post above, yes you should be able to, but when you put the new card in when it prompts you to, I believe it will automatically write the bootmii files onto it anyways along with the nand.bin.

 

[Midnightzak]

Well techboy said its 258mb, you're probably out of room.

I have 1.25GB Free and it still doesn't dump...

 

[DigitalSquirrel]

Weird... Are you using a SDHC?

 

[k3vin369]

Installing Bootmii on boot2 basically means that BootMii will run almost instantaneously when you start up your Wii. Just keep in mind that not ALL Wii's can install as boot2 (It will tell you if you can, or cannot when you try to install as boot2).

Bootmii will start up everytime IF you install it as boot2. If you install it as an IOS, it will not boot up every time. Installing Bootmii as boot2 is the best protection from a brick at the moment. If you want to, you can change your 'bootmii.ini' file, so that it automatically boots into System Menu, even though you have it installed as boot2. That way, you won't have to bother with it starting up every time, but at the same time, have protection on your Wii.

You probably won't have to install Bootmii on another SD, because I have my Bootmii on the same SD, that has DS backups, Homebrew applications, and pictures etc. Unless you are having trouble with an SD card, you can use another one. Besides that, it is fine to keep it on the same SD card.

Good luck!

 

[Midnightzak]

Weird... Are you using a SDHC?

Nope, boring 2GB Lexar SD card. I've got a 2GB SDHC around here somewhere but wasn't using it for this.

 

[DigitalSquirrel]

Try dumping to that. I'm plannin on dumping to a secondary SD card, and maybe putting it onto my PC. I'll only install to my main card.

 

[nabster92]

Well techboy said its 258mb, you're probably out of room.

I have 1.25GB Free and it still doesn't dump...

Bootmii's sd card compatibility is still a little shaky at the moment still even though beta version 2 made some progress on that so you may need to use a different card. I suppose it IS possible you are just doing it wrong as well...

 

[nicko68]

Well techboy said its 258mb, you're probably out of room.

I have 1.25GB Free and it still doesn't dump...

Your SD card may not be compatible. It only works with certain brands for some reason. I use a Sandisk 2GB and it works great.

 

[DigitalSquirrel]

I had a single bad block, but apparently when verifying it, it disappeared... Should I have any worries?

 

[Tux']

Weird... Are you using a SDHC?

Nope, boring 2GB Lexar SD card. I've got a 2GB SDHC around here somewhere but wasn't using it for this.

Some sd cards aren't compatible with bootmii. I tried it with my lexar, it doesn't boot up bootmii. But it did do a NAND dump for me.

 

[FenrirWolf]

I had a single bad block, but apparently when verifying it, it disappeared... Should I have any worries?

It didn't disappear, it just successfully verified as bad.

 

[koji2009]

As FenrirWolf said, when it's verifying... it's doing just that. Verifying. If you read the key it says green means processed. It processed that "bad" sector and therefore removed the mark that it's bad, since you already know it's bad.

The bad block is still there but it's not a big deal. According to bushing, the rating allows for up to 80 bad blocks and still be considered a good NAND. I just did mine and had 4 myself.

 

[DigitalSquirrel]

As FenrirWolf said, when it's verifying... it's doing just that. Verifying. If you read the key it says green means processed. It processed that "bad" sector and therefore removed the mark that it's bad, since you already know it's bad.

The bad block is still there but it's not a big deal. According to bushing, the rating allows for up to 80 bad blocks and still be considered a good NAND. I just did mine and had 4 myself.

wow, I learned something new. Thanks a bunch bro! You just helped me sleep a little better at night.