Hardware Homebrew Both drives (vWii/FAT32 + Wii U/WFS) connected at the same time won't let me boot into USB Loader GX (stuck at "reinitializing devices" forever)

lordelan

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After blowing the dust off my Wii U last week to set it up with Aroma, I now decided to tackle the vWii. Since I hacked it before (many years ago) there wasn't that much to do.
However it annoys me so much that I still can't have both drives (the one formatted by the Wii U and the FAT32 one for the vWii) plugged in at the same time.

On the Wii U side of things, everything's fine now thanks to the AromaBasePlugin. No need to UStealth the vWii/FAT32 drive any longer.

But as for the vWii, there's literally no way to keep the Wii U drive connected while booting USB Loader GX. It would either show the countdown while telling me that no drive was found at all if I have both on an active USB hub (to ensure power delivery) that is on the top back port...
...or freeze at "reinitializing devices" forever, if I plug in the FAT32 drive directly (without any hub) in the upper back port and the Wii U drive literally anywhere else. I tried all combinations.

However as soon as I unplug the Wii U drive while in the vWii system menu so I remain with only the FAT32 drive in the upper back port, it works just fine.

This is how I had it 7 years ago and it's so annoying as I always would have to get up to unplug the drive but the most annoying part about this is: If I ever forget to plug it in again after I'm done with the vWii, all my Wii U games are taken outside the folders I put them in and are shattered across the main Wii U home screen (god I hate this!).

I wrote @blackb0x about this issue over a year ago and he's aware of it, claiming to fix it in the upcoming version r1282:
Hey, yea. It's been a known problem forever, but I've recently fixed it now that I've got my hands on a Wii U :)

Basically depending on your USBs device ID the loader could mount the Wii U USB device before the Wii USB device, which would then cause the loader (WiiFlow too) to freeze because it's unable to read from the encrypted Wii U USB device.

Nothing really happened since then but I've read here and there in certain gbatemp and reddit posts that people got this working.
So I figured I start this thread to ask how. What is your setup? How did you manage to get this to work?

And before someone suggests this to me:
I'm aware of SDIO's amazing contributions recently but I'm currently not interested in doing the partition thing to my big drive to have only one drive for everything (it probably won't work with my drive anyway) and I'm also not interested in launching GC, Wii and/or Wii U games from my SD card. I would really love to rock the two drives setup.

PS: Here's my SysCheck (unfortunately in german, sry for that)
Code:
SysCheck ME v2.5.0 von blackb0x, JoostinOnline, Double_A, R2-D2199 und Nano
...laeuft auf dem vIOS58 (rev 6432).

Region: PAL
Systemmenue 4.3E (v610)

Laufwerksdatum: 28.06.2011
Homebrewkanal 1.1.2 benutzt IOS58

Hollywood v0x21
Konsolen-ID: 608769697
Konsolentyp: vWii
Shop-Kanal-Land: Germany (78)
Boot2 v0
Es wurden 78 Titel gefunden.
Es wurden 37 IOS gefunden, von denen 0 funktionslos (Stub) sind.

vIOS9 (rev 1290): Keine Patches
vIOS12 (rev 782): Keine Patches
vIOS13 (rev 1288): Keine Patches
vIOS14 (rev 1288): Keine Patches
vIOS15 (rev 1288): Keine Patches
vIOS17 (rev 1288): Keine Patches
vIOS21 (rev 1295): Keine Patches
vIOS22 (rev 1550): Keine Patches
vIOS28 (rev 2063): Keine Patches
vIOS31 (rev 3864): Keine Patches
vIOS33 (rev 3864): Keine Patches
vIOS34 (rev 3864): Keine Patches
vIOS35 (rev 3864): Keine Patches
vIOS36 (rev 3864): Keine Patches
vIOS37 (rev 5919): Keine Patches
vIOS38 (rev 4380): Keine Patches
vIOS41 (rev 3863): Keine Patches
vIOS43 (rev 3863): Keine Patches
vIOS45 (rev 3863): Keine Patches
vIOS46 (rev 3863): Keine Patches
vIOS48 (rev 4380): Keine Patches
vIOS53 (rev 5919): Keine Patches
vIOS55 (rev 5919): Keine Patches
vIOS56 (rev 5918): Keine Patches
vIOS57 (rev 6175): Keine Patches
vIOS58 (rev 6432): USB 2.0
vIOS59 (rev 9249): Keine Patches
vIOS62 (rev 6942): Keine Patches
vIOS80 (rev 7200): Keine Patches
vIOS236 (rev 65535): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Zugriff
vIOS247[57] (rev 21010, Info: d2x-v10beta53-alt-vWii): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff
vIOS248[56] (rev 21010, Info: d2x-v10beta53-alt-vWii): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff
vIOS249[56] (rev 21011, Info: d2x-v11beta1-vWii): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff
vIOS250[57] (rev 21011, Info: d2x-v11beta1-vWii): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff
vIOS251[58] (rev 21011, Info: d2x-v11beta1-vWii): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff
vIOS512 (rev 7): Keine Patches
vIOS513 (rev 1): Keine Patches
Bericht wurde am 20.07.2024 generiert.
 

neverendsDull

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I...can plug in two USB drives on my Wii U the same time under vWii and Wii U OS.
Console horizontally placed.

Upper USB port: vWii USB. It is a TF card reader, also tried a thumb drive, both works. yeah I know people say this has compatibility issues but mine works fine. The only thing that does not work is an "all-in-one" card reader, the console can recognize nothing attached to it.

Lower USB port: Wii U USB. It is a 3.5' enclosure with power supply. A 500 GB HDD inside.

Works without issues. I use USB loader GX 1281 under vWii and played many games with Wii U USB plugged in and powered on. Completed Mario Galaxy already.

So I think it is what the author of GX said:

"Basically depending on your USBs device ID the loader could mount the Wii U USB device before the Wii USB device"
 

lordelan

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Thanks for confirming. So I'm "just" in the bad position that my Wii U drive's ID seem to come "first" after all. I wonder whether there are tools to manipulate that and which ID he's even talking about. The MAC address? Or what else would be the ID?
 

Sypherone

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This is a workaround to get USB Loader GX work with both drives connected (vWii+UWii drive). Use IOS 58 for cIOS, as some drives are not full compatible with the mini ehci modul for USB 2.0 support inside a cIOS with IOS 56 or 57.
In this workaround the WiiU will check for a drive with MBR partition in descending order port 3,2,1,0 . And will get the vWii drive on port 1 before the WiiU drive in port 0, to prevent recognizing it as some drives for WiiU does.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-loader-gx-troubleshooting-guide.617564/#ios58
 
Last edited by Sypherone,

lordelan

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This is a workaround to get USB Loader GX work with both drives connected (vWii+UWii drive). Use IOS 58 for cIOS, as some drives are not full compatible with the mini ehci modul for USB 2.0 support inside a cIOS with IOS 56 or 57.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-loader-gx-troubleshooting-guide.617564/#ios58
Thanks, I'll try that but I think whenever I read about the "IOS 58 trick" I also read of people claiming that no games will appear then. I'll try it nonetheless and report back.
USB PID and VID?
Mmh, never heard of those. Any idea with which tool those can be changed? That would solve all my problems on a hardware-level so I wouldn't have to alter the recommended cIOS configurations as suggested by @Sypherone
 

retrofan_k

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I revisited my WiiU too last week to update to Aroma and I done the vWii side of it yesterday. My current setup is two hdds (1 NTFS for Wii games and 1 Hdd formatted for WiiU WUP game installs) . Using d2x-v11-beta1-vWii my CIOS install was:

Slot 249 => base 56
Slot 250 => base 57
Slot 251 => base 58

Both drives are Seagate portables (no external power plug) using a Y splitter on both drives connected to front and back USB ports. Using the Aroma Plugin, both drives can be connected without the nag screen and USB Loader detects the NTFS hdd fine.
 

lordelan

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I revisited my WiiU too last week to update to Aroma and I done the vWii side of it yesterday. My current setup is two hdds (1 NTFS for Wii games and 1 Hdd formatted for WiiU WUP game installs) . Using d2x-v11-beta1-vWii my CIOS install was:

Slot 249 => base 56
Slot 250 => base 57
Slot 251 => base 58

Both drives are Seagate portables (no external power plug) using a Y splitter on both drives connected to front and back USB ports. Using the Aroma Plugin, both drives can be connected without the nag screen and USB Loader detects the NTFS hdd fine.
Thanks.
If you use y-cables:
  1. Which drive is where (vWii back and Wii U front?)?
  2. Which of the y-cable (data and charge) goes into which specific port?
  3. Which loader and game IOS did you set up in USB Loader GX (or are you using default settings)?

This is a workaround to get USB Loader GX work with both drives connected (vWii+UWii drive). Use IOS 58 for cIOS, as some drives are not full compatible with the mini ehci modul for USB 2.0 support inside a cIOS with IOS 56 or 57.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-loader-gx-troubleshooting-guide.617564/#ios58
I just tried this but it doesn't change much.
After doing this, the vWii drive goes to the lower rather than the upper back port (according to the guide) which works fine (games are there and launch) but as soon as the Wii U drive is connected too while booting USB Loader GX, it won't work.
While it doesn't freeze on the reinitialize screen, it takes me to the USB Loader GX main menu but shows only my channels, giving me a popup saying
USB Device not initialized. Switchting to channel list mode.
Doesn't matter where I put my Wii U drive (upper back port or any of the fronts).
 

retrofan_k

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@lordelan

1. vWii hdd is using the back USB ports
2. vWii Y cable (power & data is in the top port at the back or left if you have the console standing). For WiiU hdd front ports it does not seem to matter which end of the Y cable I use.
3. I didnt touch any of loader/game IOS settings (all default). The only thing I changed was USB to use "use both" ports in the HDD settings and in the GUI I changed "Game Window Mode " to "Rotating disc", as if you use Priiloader it has a bug displaying the channel banners when choosing a game.
 

lordelan

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@lordelan

1. vWii hdd is using the back USB ports
2. vWii Y cable (power & data is in the top port at the back or left if you have the console standing). For WiiU hdd front ports it does not seem to matter which end of the Y cable I use.
3. I didnt touch any of loader/game IOS settings (all default). The only thing I changed was USB to use "use both" ports in the HDD settings and in the GUI I changed "Game Window Mode " to "Rotating disc", as if you use Priiloader it has a bug displaying the channel banners when choosing a game.
Thank you for the reply. Then it appears that you are actually very lucky while I am not.
If I understand blackb0x correctly, your vWii drive just has a lower PID/VID than your Wii U drive so it's being detected (and thus used) first by USB Loader GX whereas in my case it's vice versa so USB Loader GX would detect my Wii U drive first and freeze.
 

retrofan_k

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Thank you for the reply. Then it appears that you are actually very lucky while I am not.
If I understand blackb0x correctly, your vWii drive just has a lower PID/VID than your Wii U drive so it's being detected (and thus used) first by USB Loader GX whereas in my case it's vice versa so USB Loader GX would detect my Wii U drive first and freeze.

It appears to look like that. Here is my drive I use for vWii if it helps

https://www.amazon.de/Seagate-Tragb...87851&sprefix=stgx2000400,aps,372&sr=8-2&th=1
 
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Sypherone

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Did you tryed cIOS 58 and also tryed cIOS 251(base58) as loader IOS. In my personal case I use cIOS 251 with base58 for loader and game IOS to work with both drives. Also check the correkt drive is set in USBLGX Settings.

If USBLGX works alone with the vWii drive pluged in Port 1 (back lower on WiiU). Then it should also work with WiiU plugged in simultanesly in port 0. As the WiiU checks backwards from port 3 to 0 for a existing drive with MBR partition. In this case it will not check on port 0, as it detects on port 1 and boots.
 

lordelan

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Thanks for trying to help me out, I really appreciate it!
Did you tryed cIOS 58 and also tryed cIOS 251(base58) as loader IOS.
If you mean by that the meta.xml step with Notepad++, yes I also tried that.
In my personal case I use cIOS 251 with base58 for loader and game IOS to work with both drives.
I definitely followed the guide here. What I did:
Settings -> Loader Settings -> Loaders IOS from "249" to "251" + Games IOS from "Auto to "Custom" and then Custom Games IOS from "249" to "251".
Then did the testing. Then edited the meta.xml where I changed
Code:
<arg>--bootios=58</arg>
to
Code:
<arg>--bootios=251</arg>
Also check the correkt drive is set in USBLGX Settings.
Not 100 % sure what you mean by that.
Settings -> Hard Drive Settings?
They look like this:
Code:
Game/Install Partition: FAT32
Multiple Partitions: OFF
SD Card Mode: OFF
USB Port: 0*
Mount USB at launch: ON
Install Directories: Gamename [GAMEID]
Game Split Size: Split each 4 GB
Install Partitions: Remove update
GC Install Compressed: OFF
GC Install 32K Aligned: OFF
Sync FAT32 FS Info
*guess I would have to change this to port 1 now?
(although it currently works as it is, as long as the Wii U drive is not connected)
If USBLGX works alone with the vWii drive pluged in Port 1 (back lower on WiiU). Then it should also work with WiiU plugged in simultanesly in port 0. As the WiiU checks backwards from port 3 to 0 for a existing drive with MBR partition. In this case it will not check on port 0, as it detects on port 1 and boots.
I resetted everything to the defaults after it didn't work but after reading your posts gave it another shot. Fun fact: When I do the meta.xml thing, it won't work even with the Wii U drive not attached (same popup telling me that it switches to channel list).
But I'll give it another shot now since the only thing that could've been wrong:
I used an active USB hub in the upper back port for the Wii U drive (since it uses an Y-cable whereas my vWii drive does not btw). I'll try to plug it in directly in the upper back port, only putting the second of the y-cable (power supply) into the active hub as a last try.
Post automatically merged:

Okay WOW, now it works!
If I plug in only the data port of the Wii U drive to port 0 and give it power via the active USB hub (which itself isn't any longer connected to the Wii U) it works. As soon as I put that active hub into port 0 and both y-cable ports of the Wii U into the hub, it does not work.

I would be okay with this setup, but I can't use USB microphones for karaoke games if I can't plug the HUB directly to the Wii U or do you (by any chance) know whether the front ports can be used for the microphones as well? I remember everything (cIOS, USBLGX and games) to be very picky about the USB microphones on the Wii U.
Post automatically merged:

Okay here's an odd thing...
When vWii drive is in port 1 and the active USB hub is in port 0 (holding both ports of the Wii U's drive y-cable) it will give me the usual "can't initialize, only channel list view" nag in USB Loader GX.
BUT I can then just go to settings -> hard drive settings -> and click on the first entry where it says "not initialized" which then changes to FAT32 (it knows my drive lol).
If I then back out of that menu, it just shows all my games.
However when I close USB Loader GX and launch it again, I'm having that damn nag again and have to repeat all these steps.
Unfortunately they also involve clicking on the "select titles sources" icon and tick "Wii Games" every single time again as it auto unchecks it when it can't find my Wii games initially.
Post automatically merged:

Okay WOW, now it works!
Guess I celebrated too early.
Games won't boot and result in a frozen black screen with the Wiimote turning off.
Edit: Or not? It just took FOREVER to load NSMBWii. But now it booted.
Post automatically merged:

Umm, while inserting the DNS of WiiLink and doing the connection test, I got a popup saying:
Connection test successful.
Do you want to proceed with an update to your Wii System now?
Wii Support Code: 61312

Pretty sure I was always on the latest FW (4.3E). How's this possible? Could this also be a cause of my USBLGX issues, that I'm not using the latest FW? (still pretty sure I already did).
 
Last edited by lordelan,

Sypherone

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If you mean by that the meta.xml step with Notepad++, yes I also tried that.
I mean like you did correctly here:
Settings -> Loader Settings -> Loaders IOS from "249" to "251" + Games IOS from "Auto to "Custom" and then Custom Games IOS from "249" to "251".

Not 100 % sure what you mean by that.
Settings -> Hard Drive Settings?
Yes correct, check this:
Game/Install Partition: FAT32 (should show the correct partition)
USB Port: 0 (Try with set to 1 whre your vWii drive is)

And check under Loader Settings -> Fast load (or named Fast boot) is off

If it dont work with the meta xml edited, leave it untouched.


Nice to hear that it finally works. :yayu:

When vWii drive is in port 1 and the active USB hub is in port 0 (holding both ports of the Wii U's drive y-cable) it will give me the usual "can't initialize, only channel list view" nag in USB Loader GX.
BUT I can then just go to settings -> hard drive settings -> and click on the first entry where it says "not initialized" which then changes to FAT32 (it knows my drive lol).
Maybe it works when you set under harddrive the USB Port to 1.

if I can't plug the HUB directly to the Wii U or do you (by any chance) know whether the front ports can be used for the microphones as well?
Only the backports are supported by vWii. So you need to figure out by yourself how it may work with the USB-Hub including microfon, as iam not familiar with that. Sorry.
But as Info from Cyan:
- HUB are not compatible with cIOSes DATA on vWii.
- HUB can only be used for accessories, or additional power line of a USB Y-cable.
source: https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-loa...-external-powered-usb-hub.607192/post-9740340
As workaround you may get a 90 degrees angeled USB-Cable and connect the WiiU drive into the front port. So the Mic can be plug in the backport.
 
Last edited by Sypherone,

lordelan

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I mean like you did correctly here:



Yes correct, check this:
Game/Install Partition: FAT32 (should show the correct partition)
USB Port: 0 (Try with set to 1 whre your vWii drive is)

And check under Loader Settings -> Fast load (or named Fast boot) is off

If it dont work with the meta xml edited, leave it untouched.


Nice to hear that it finally works. :yayu:


Maybe it works when you set under harddrive the USB Port to 1.


Only the backports are supported by vWii. So you need to figure out by yourself how it may work with the USB-Hub including microfon, as iam not familiar with that. Sorry.
Already set it to port 1. I'll try the fast load stuff when I get back to it. Thanks so far.
Okay guess I just have to manually unplug the Wii U drive when I want to use the microphones. That's way more acceptable than having to deal with the drives in general each time I'm playing anything anywhere.

I still hope blackb0x gets this sorted out in r1282 but until then you made me very happy. I can't thank you enough! =)
 
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lordelan

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You could try a cleaner approach with ISFS HAX and only one hdd instead of 2. Check this https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-partition-use-partitioned-usb-hdds-with-the-wii-u.656209/
I already followed the guide correctly and I have setup my hdd to contain wiiu formated and fat32 partition
Thank you. I'm aware of this (amazing) hack and plugin but my 5 TB FAT32 vWii drive (with one big partition) is already almost out of space and even if not, I dunno if SDIO's "USB Partition" would work in that scenario.
 

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I am experiencing same issue. I even created new discussion. I did have some progress after changing to IOS58 or cIOS 251 base 58. USBLoaderGX recognises my FAT32 and NTFS partitions on vWii USB BUT it only shows games on first partition- FAT32. Choosing particularly NTFS partition or multiple partition option in menu does not make any difference.
 
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Sypherone

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Pls check also this thread for multiple partition issue:
USB Loader GX - Partition not being recognized

Please verify your setup:
- Partitiontable is MBR or GPT?
- Partitions are Primary and active or Logical/Extended? Dynamic are not supported.
- Drive size is under 2 TB?
- Drive gets enough power by Y-Cable or external powercord?
- vWii drive is in back port 1(on WiiU -> back lower one) ? As you use a dual drive setup with WiiU drive. Or even just tested on port 0?

Quotes from Troubleshooting guide:
The USB drive with recommended one single partition should be formatted to fat32 and using MBR not GPT partition-table. MBR is supported by any homebrew including Emulators and GPT mainly by USB Loaders. Don`t use a drive bigger 2TB

MBR partition-table supports 4 primary partitions or up to 8 extended partitions. GPT is bugged
 
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pankos

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I finally managed to make USBLoaderGX work with both USB drives connected to WiiU. My current setup:

vWii USB drive connected to the bottom back USB port.
WiiU USB drive connected to the top back USB port.
Only in this setup my vWii USB is recognised by homebrew apps such as HBC, WiiXplorer and WiiMC.
All cIOS of vWii updated to the latest.
In USBLoaderGX config files cIOS of both loader and for games changed to 251.
Now I am able to load USBLoaderGX app from FAT32 partition of USB drive and USBLoaderGX can display and load all Wii games from both FAT32 AND NTFS partitions.

I can also load Wiiflow from USB drive after editing cIOS to 251 and it works with all my numerous plugins and GC games. I can also see Wii games in catalogue BUT if I try to load any Wii game it reloads back to Wiiflow. I couldn't find a setting in Wiiflow config file or Wiiflow menu to specify iOS for loading games. I double checked all path setting to load games from USB drive but still no success. Only Wii games are not working. Maybe I have to reinstall Wiiflow from scratch.
Post automatically merged:

Unfortunately, Wii backups are not playable from Wiiflow on any configuration. I've tried clean install of Wiiflow but I am being kicked back to Wiiflow every time I load a game.
As soon as I unplug WiiU USB HDD Wiiflow is able to load games. Could anybody check if their Wiiflow installation is working with Wii games when two USB hard drives are connected to WiiU.
 
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