Bricked wii w Boot 2 Installed

[Litium17]

I've bricked myvery old WII after doing a system update (SU) with ModMii

I previously installed bootmii in Boot2 and backed up + verified my NAND.
During the SU I've updated boot2 installation from 1.4 to 1.5 and got a SUCCEDED msg
After power off-on cycle the WII can only boot to BootMii

In BootMii :
- WII button goes to a black screen, I can only reset
- HBC button goes to a black screen, I can only reset
- SD button allow to launch an app: no elf/dol can be loaded, i ntead a except bootmini that send garbage to screen and lock
- NAND backup/restore works.

I've written back the previous nand backup that was fully working, Only some blocks, identified during the first pass, where rewritten. After rebooting the wii shows the same: system cannot be loaded and bootmii keep doing the same described above
I nave NAND and KEYS backedup.

BootMii info shows :

BootMii : v1.5
Stub : v1.5
mini: v0.4-1-gbefb

Console ID : (correct ID displayed)
Sysmenu : v4.2E boot1b boot2v4
NAND FS usage : 76.8%

Do I have any hope to recover my wii?

 

[XFlak]

I'll ask around on discord but I'm not sure what's going on. If u restored a working nand backup and things still aren't working like they did before, the issue likely has nothing to do with modmii though. I'm guessing it's hardware related and the timing is coincidental

In the meantime, can u share your modmii syscheck updater guide?

 

[Aep]

I've bricked myvery old WII after doing a system update (SU) with ModMii

I previously installed bootmii in Boot2 and backed up + verified my NAND.
During the SU I've updated boot2 installation from 1.4 to 1.5 and got a SUCCEDED msg
After power off-on cycle the WII can only boot to BootMii

In BootMii :
- WII button goes to a black screen, I can only reset
- HBC button goes to a black screen, I can only reset
- SD button allow to launch an app: no elf/dol can be loaded, i ntead a except bootmini that send garbage to screen and lock
- NAND backup/restore works.

I've written back the previous nand backup that was fully working, Only some blocks, identified during the first pass, where rewritten. After rebooting the wii shows the same: system cannot be loaded and bootmii keep doing the same described above
I nave NAND and KEYS backedup.

BootMii info shows :

BootMii : v1.5
Stub : v1.5
mini: v0.4-1-gbefb

Console ID : (correct ID displayed)
Sysmenu : v4.2E boot1b boot2v4
NAND FS usage : 76.8%

Do I have any hope to recover my wii?

can i see the syscheck please?

 

[XFlak]

I doubt it would work, but you could try restoring an ohneschwanzenegger generated nand following this procedure https://wii.hacks.guide/wii-factory-reset.html

Assuming no other solutions are found u could try working around the issue by leveraging your bootmii boot2 installation to launch directly into an emunand using neek. A few years ago I recall someone else with bootmii boot2 had a hardware issue and just worked around it using Neek because hardware repairs are... well... hard, lol

Edit: I was thinking to request the syscheck also, but I know it would be contained in the syscheck updater guide, so if that's shared then we'll have both

 

[Litium17]

Apologize for late reply. Here is the syscheck.csv and guide. I added the output of the check generated by ohneschwanzenegger while producin a new nand, but I'm afraid that installing it would cause the loss of boot2, then I'm not going to try to write it at the moment.
I do not think the problem is with ModMii, at list not only with ModMii.
Broken hardware I don't think so, more likely some software issue that does not allows to execute code.
I understand that under boot2 I can only run elf for "mini" environment. Does it can be the problem?
Thank you for your support

 

[XFlak]

After looking at the syscheck and guide I still think there's no software related explanation for this issue. Unless someone else has any ideas I would investigate hardware issues or the things I listed in my last post

 

[jeannotte]

After power off-on cycle the WII can only boot to BootMii

Hello,

I ask you a question, after I can be wrong !!

do you have the folder "bootMii" on your SD?, if yes ==> rename it to "bootM", then insert your SD in the wii, then try to launch homebrews. How does your wii react?

EDIT: If you don't get anything, you can always rename the "bootM" folder to "bootMii"

@XFlak will answer better than me

 

[Aep]

Apologize for late reply. Here is the syscheck.csv and guide.
I do not think the problem is with ModMii, at list not only with ModMii.
Broken hardware I don't think so, more likely some software issue that does not allows to execute code.
I understand that under boot2 I can only run elf for "mini" environment. Does it can be the problem?
Thank you for your support

Canale Homebrew 1.0.1 appoggiato all'IOS6
why are you on HBC 1.0.1
that is really outdated.......

also you have hermes??? wtf??? yeah i'd go ohneswanzenegger

 

[Litium17]

why are you on HBC 1.0.1
that is really outdated.......

also you have hermes??? wtf??? yeah i'd go ohneswanzenegger

Yes, this WII mod was very old, but working very well. I had the bad idea to give it an update.

Three question if you can help with :

1 - It is possible to get a HBC version that can be run from the SD at Boot2 Bootmii level? HBC was installed as a channel to run it without an SD, this may be a reason that cause Bootmii not bein able to run HBC

2 - in the NANCcheck log, I see some titles not available. Is it an issue?
Checking 00000001-00000009 ...
Unable to get title
version: 3.10 778 hex: 30a

Checking 00000001-000000fe ...
Unable to get title
version: 1.4 260 hex: 104
found 23 bootable IOS

3 - Last but not least : if i overwrite the nand with the new one, do I lose the Boot2 Bootmii? i.e. if writing the new nand does not work will my WII become a real brick?

I would like to try to flash the new NAND, but I really cannot understand why the original NAND that was working fine since years before I started the update this morning does not fix the problem, so I cannot be sure writing a new NAND will do the job.

 

[XFlak]

Restoring a nand backup with bootmii won't overwrite bootmii boot2. So if u have a nand backup from how your wii is currently, try restoring an ohneschwanzenegger generated nand backup and say it fails, u can restore your prior nand backup and your wii should be in the exact same state it was to begin with

You said u tried running bootmini.elf? If u can launch into any version of the hackmii installer and install the hbc and exit it should return u to the HBC. Also if u know which the title ID of the version of the hbc u have installed you can create a custom bootmii.ini file for bootmii folder to launch that channel instead of bootmii, more info here https://gbatemp.net/threads/bootmii-channel-forwarder.609944/

Edit:
If u generate a new ohneschwanzenegger nand, be sure to use a recent nand backup as the basis to ensure all current bad blocks are accounted for

Edit2: your idea to update your softmods wasn't bad, u just got extremely unlucky, or the timing is coincidental as I said this sounds like it could be a hardware issue

 

[Ryccardo]

Maybe try booting linux, even just the kernel (middle link in https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-linux-xwhiite-0-2-with-wi-fi-in-2020-tutorial.570945/ , it's a bootmii compatible elf)?

If it works, as in something appears at all, it might be the bluetooth card, or possibly the wifi one (surely for official software, probably also for homebrew since it's IOS that requires it), or something else in the motherboard...
(and guess what, I have some extra parts around...)

 

[Litium17]

If u can launch into any version of the hackmii installer and install the hbc and exit it should return u to the HBC.

Thanks a lot.
I've made some progress. wrote the new NAND. this didn't help but now I can run miniboot.elf of the HBC installer and it works. But I cannot manage to sincronize a controller with the wii and it seems keys on the wii doesn't work as any other input device I've attached to the USB. There is a way to provide input to the installer to let it install the HBC?

 

[XFlak]

GC controller

 

[Litium17]

I've bought a GC controller and I'be able to try installing HBC next week.

Meanwhile I've found this thread that looks like discussing exactly the same issue I'm having now :
gbatemp.net/threads/black-screen-brick-bootmii-installed-as-boot2.626941/
Unfortunately no info about he was able to fix the WII or not. I hope I can provide better feedback here.

My personal opinion by now is that the issue is in the first 8 block of data, This assumption is based on the fact that New NAND was generated and written correctly but it didn't fix the problem to me and to the othe person that had the same issue, and on the fact that the probability some hardware got broken in the 5 minutes passed since I stopped playing the WII to update it and the reboot that lead to the black screen is way too low to consider it, so I do not believe my WII has any hardware issue.
I would like to extract and check that data, but I have no idea if it is possible an how to do.

Anyway next step will be HBC.

 

[Litium17]

Ok, I'm back here. I couldn't do lot of progress. Received GC controller, but the bootmii installer (bootmini.elf) doesn't really run. It Just arrives to show the warning screen and there seems to freeze, GC controller doesn't help.

I've found a guide from hackwii that suggest to format the NAND with a software named NANDFormatter 1.2 and let it install 4 wads of 4.1E (EULA-NUS-v2.wad, IOS60-64-v6174.wad, Region Select-NUS-v2.wad and System Menu-NUS-v450.wad) that should recreate a minimum envirinment that should be enough only to boot the WII and install the whole set of wads. This procedure worked until the Nand is formatted and the 4 wads are installed. No error message are returned and all installation confirmed OK. Then rebooting the wii into bootmii showed an os 4.1 instead of 4.2 but if I try to boot into the system menu it does not work. Always black screen.

I've also tried to boot the wii while pushing the 4 buttons on the GC controller inserted in port 4 with no luck.

Searching among old disks I've found a very old backup of the nand of this wii. i guess it was made with WiiND and seems to be in a different format then nand.bin/key.bin. as nand is different size and the extention is IMG instead of BIN. I have backups with or without ECC and keys are listed in text format : ECC Priv Key, Console ID, NAND AES key, NAND HMAC, Common key, PRNG seed, SD key and Device cert.
I wonder if there is a way to try to use these dumps in the wii through bootmii, i.e. to convert the image into nand.bin and key.bin (or maybe use the key.bin from another dump) and write it to the nand.

Any suggestion is welcome.

 

[Aep]

Ok, I'm back here. I couldn't do lot of progress. Received GC controller, but the bootmii installer (bootmini.elf) doesn't really run. It Just arrives to show the warning screen and there seems to freeze, GC controller doesn't help.

I've found a guide from hackwii that suggest to format the NAND with a software named NANDFormatter 1.2 and let it install 4 wads of 4.1E (EULA-NUS-v2.wad, IOS60-64-v6174.wad, Region Select-NUS-v2.wad and System Menu-NUS-v450.wad) that should recreate a minimum envirinment that should be enough only to boot the WII and install the whole set of wads. This procedure worked until the Nand is formatted and the 4 wads are installed. No error message are returned and all installation confirmed OK. Then rebooting the wii into bootmii showed an os 4.1 instead of 4.2 but if I try to boot into the system menu it does not work. Always black screen.

I've also tried to boot the wii while pushing the 4 buttons on the GC controller inserted in port 4 with no luck.

Searching among old disks I've found a very old backup of the nand of this wii. i guess it was made with WiiND and seems to be in a different format then nand.bin/key.bin. as nand is different size and the extention is IMG instead of BIN. I have backups with or without ECC and keys are listed in text format : ECC Priv Key, Console ID, NAND AES key, NAND HMAC, Common key, PRNG seed, SD key and Device cert.
I wonder if there is a way to try to use these dumps in the wii through bootmii, i.e. to convert the image into nand.bin and key.bin (or maybe use the key.bin from another dump) and write it to the nand.

Any suggestion is welcome.

Use https://wii.hacks.guide/wii-factory-reset.html

 

[Litium17]

Use https://wii.hacks.guide/wii-factory-reset.html

Thank you, but already suggested in post #4 by XFlak and tried it

 

[Quadraxis_v2]

You could try to extract the NAND and use it in Dolphin to see if there is anything wrong in the software.

 

[Aep]

You could try to extract the NAND and use it in Dolphin to see if there is anything wrong in the software.

Good idea.

 

[Zm1231]

You mentioned that you cannot sync your controllers. I almost guarantee your Bluetooth/ Wi-Fi module has failed. If that module goes bad your Wii will no longer boot properly. Doesn't matter if your nand is working or not, it just will not boot boot mii will work but it doesn't matter what nand image you flash to it. If it's refusing to boot 99.9% of the time, I can guarantee your Bluetooth module has failed. I've got a whole stack of switches sitting in my garage. That's all bad Bluetooth modules, most of the time As long as your nand is good. Swapping the Bluetooth module with a working module can bring it back to life.

I would suggest reflashing your original nand dump that you took with boot mii And then replace the Bluetooth module inside the console and see if it comes back to life.

Since you stated you flashed your old band back and could boot into hackmii installer then get to the HBC but couldn't sync a controller leads me to believe it is most definitely the module. If the module is bad you cannot boot the system menu since it requires that module to be functioning to load. Bypassing the home menu with HBC might let you load some things but official games and programs from Nintendo may refuse to load