Bricked Wii with unknown cause

[PJREZ]

UPDATE: i fixed it
it was a hardware issue LMAO


So, I posted on here a couple months... years actually holy shit does time fly.
I don't remember what I did to it, but something is definitely is up with my Wii.

I posted this two years ago, and this three years ago explaining my situation (I don't know if this is needed, but I'm pretty sure I just fckd with some ios files.)

My Current situation is this:

• My Wii turns on, and all the hardware works, minus the disk drive (I'll touch on this later)
• I get a black screen without SD card in
• I can launch BootMii with SD card, but I cannot enter the Wii Menu. Priiloader doesn't work anymore
• HBC launches, but it takes me to the Scam screen, and doesn't show the "1 to continue"
• I can backup and restore, however I don't have a backup at the moment (Another thing I'll touch on

What I've tried

• Ohneschwanzenegger, I used BootMii to backup the nand of the bricked wii, and created a new nand. I restored it but it didn't change anything
• PunetWiin, I used a backup of my second wii, to see if I could transfer the nand over to the other (bricked) wii, but I restored it but it didn't change anything
• I tried installing HBC using the bootmini.elf but again, no 1 to continue
• I spent like 6 hours trying to run bluebomb on my non-bricked wii but couldn't get it working, I thought maybe bluebomb would be able to accomplish something
• I tried Cboot2, but I honestly have no idea if it did anything, + it seems really outdated

I have no idea what else to try. I say I don't have the backup at the moment, is cause I'm unsure if I have one on my old laptop, but the problem is, my friend has been borrowing it for a while.
My Wii also never got a disk drive replacement, so there's an empty slot where it should be, but I don't think the lack of a disk drive would prevent the wii from booting entirely, since It's run before.

Any other ideas though? I'm at a standstill. I'm willing to send the nand files for both the bricked and nonbricked wii's if anyone wants to try/check them.
Thank you

 

[morning_glory]

I get a black screen without SD card in

What do you have as a USB device ?

I can launch BootMii with SD card, but I cannot enter the Wii Menu. Priiloader doesn't work anymore

Have you visually checked if PriiLoader is present on your SD card ?

My Wii turns on, and all the hardware works, minus the disk drive

Can you hear the Wii's dvd drive initialize ? (Hope you talking about the same drive ?)


What other peripherals have you got plugged in & what was the last thing you did that would have caused it ?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

My Wii turns on, and all the hardware works, minus the disk drive (I'll touch on this later)

How do you know all hardware works? BootMii doesn't need either Bluetooth or WiFi board to be connected and functional – but both must be present for official software (unless IOS are patched accordingly)
I've encountered such a problem with a Wii after moving to another house. Black screen, and nothing on official software (Home Menu, games) but a seemingly working console (HB Channel, Neogamma, Priiloader, BootMii). Turned out the Bluetooth module disconnected itself for no good reason.
Nintendo being Nintendo, the Home Menu reacts to pretty much all hardware faults alike: Black screen and no error message →

I'm not sure about the optical drive. For Wii U at least the drive board must be present and is married to the motherboard. While Wii drives are interchangeable between consoles, even different models, (and optical drive emulators exist) I do not know if the Wii requires something to be plugged in.

 

[PJREZ]

What do you have as a USB device ?


Have you visually checked if PriiLoader is present on your SD card ?


Can you hear the Wii's dvd drive initialize ? (Hope you talking about the same drive ?)


What other peripherals have you got plugged in & what was the last thing you did that would have caused it ?

I have a USB that I can plug into, but idk if I it even matters since the hbc wont even boot.

Priiloader should be on my SD, I can double check when I get home, but it loads on my other Wii, so I would assume the files are on the SD

The DVD Drive is just gone. It’s unplugged and I dont know where the actual reader is. Plus, the latch for the cable broke.

The only other thing I have is my gamecube controller plugged in, I was using it to make my way through the menus

Post automatically merged: Nov 4, 2023

How do you know all hardware works? BootMii doesn't need either Bluetooth or WiFi board to be connected and functional – but both must be present for official software (unless IOS are patched accordingly)
I've encountered such a problem with a Wii after moving to another house. Black screen, and nothing on official software (Home Menu, games) but a seemingly working console (HB Channel, Neogamma, Priiloader, BootMii). Turned out the Bluetooth module disconnected itself for no good reason.
Nintendo being Nintendo, the Home Menu reacts to pretty much all hardware faults alike: Black screen and no error message →

I'm not sure about the optical drive. For Wii U at least the drive board must be present and is married to the motherboard. While Wii drives are interchangeable between consoles, even different models, (and optical drive emulators exist) I do not know if the Wii requires something to be plugged in.

Honestly, I have no idea, I’m just assuming hardware is fine. The issue is, nothing at all works. You mentioned that your hbc and everything else worked minus the menu, but nothing loads at all, not even hbc

 

[CoolMe]

PunetWiin, I used a backup of my second wii, to see if I could transfer the nand over to the other (bricked) wii, but I restored it but it didn't change anything

How is that possible? Restoring a nand image from a different system should've resulted in a brick, unless the nand itself wasn't registering correctly, or some other hardware fault prevented that process to run effectively/ as it should. The same could've happened with the virgin nand made with Ohneschwanzenegger, and why it didn't work (when it should've fixed your issue).
And i don't think with a faulty sd card (and/ or sd reader) could behave like that, but you never know..
I know this might sound obvious, but have you tested the sd card for errors with h2testw?
If you haven't, backup your sd card's data, empty it then run the test. If it passes the test, format it as FAT32 32kb clusters, and put fresh files of BootMii, Priiloader, and the virgin nand you made with Ohneschwanzenegger (if you did it correctly, and try restoring the nand again.

 

[morning_glory]

Is it a safe guess that when you ripped out your faulty Wii drive, you possibly damaged something else, &/or failed to re-assemble it correctly ?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

You mentioned that your hbc and everything else worked minus the menu, but nothing loads at all, not even hbc

For this attempt this isn't surprising:

What I've tried

• Ohneschwanzenegger, I used BootMii to backup the nand of the bricked wii, and created a new nand. I restored it but it didn't change anything

Empty (stock) NAND does not contain HBC or Priiloader or anything. But BootMii survives the restore (boot2 sectors do NOT get overwritten by RestoreMii which means flashing experiments on consoles with old boot1 are fine).


↓↓Given that HBC is present on your second Wii and given the encryption (key) of the image has been changed correctly it could theoretically load from this:↓↓

PunetWiin, I used a backup of my second wii, to see if I could transfer the nand over to the other (bricked) wii, but I restored it but it didn't change anything

↓↓Any log file on the SD? No vulnerable IOS found or something like that?↓↓

I tried installing HBC using the bootmini.elf but again, no 1 to continue

I vaguely remember now that Wii doesn't work correctly without drive connected, but it should boot.

The DVD Drive is just gone. It’s unplugged and I dont know where the actual reader is. Plus, the latch for the cable broke.

 

[CoolMe]

I vaguely remember now that Wii doesn't work correctly without drive connected, but it should boot.

Well from the experience of one user here, he failed to make Wii game backups work from ext hdd (wii has a faulty disc drive). GC worked fine though.
I could look up the thread if you're interested, at least i'll try to (hard to locate the thread)..

 

[PJREZ]

How is that possible? Restoring a nand image from a different system should've resulted in a brick, unless the nand itself wasn't registering correctly, or some other hardware fault prevented that process to run effectively/ as it should. The same could've happened with the virgin nand made with Ohneschwanzenegger, and why it didn't work (when it should've fixed your issue).
And i don't think with a faulty sd card (and/ or sd reader) could behave like that, but you never know..
I know this might sound obvious, but have you tested the sd card for errors with h2testw?
If you haven't, backup your sd card's data, empty it then run the test. If it passes the test, format it as FAT32 32kb clusters, and put fresh files of BootMii, Priiloader, and the virgin nand you made with Ohneschwanzenegger (if you did it correctly, and try restoring the nand again.

PunetWiin pretty much converts one nand to work onto a different system. Nand 1 >>Nand2, so Nand2 can be used on Wii2, while Nand1 has all the contents of Wii1. I'm trying h2testw right now, I'll post an update when it's done. (It has no errors) I'll try reformatting. I'll try to see if I can restore it with that

Post automatically merged: Nov 5, 2023

For this attempt this isn't surprising:

Empty (stock) NAND does not contain HBC or Priiloader or anything. But BootMii survives the restore (boot2 sectors do NOT get overwritten by RestoreMii which means flashing experiments on consoles with old boot1 are fine).


↓↓Given that HBC is present on your second Wii and given the encryption (key) of the image has been changed correctly it could theoretically load from this:↓↓



↓↓Any log file on the SD? No vulnerable IOS found or something like that?↓↓



I vaguely remember now that Wii doesn't work correctly without drive connected, but it should boot.

Yeah beforehand it booted, so I dont think its a hardware issue regarding the disk drive

Post automatically merged: Nov 5, 2023

UPDATE: After trying something, I backed up (again just to see what was installed) the nand from the Old Wii, and loaded it in dolphin. It's a "new" nand, with nothing on it. The thing I'm wondering is, if maybe I just didn't do it correctly, and it's not booting cause I doesn"t the right keys (like installing a nand from a different wii, onto yours) so I gotta figure out how to get my keys, but I'm gonna try to see if I can install the hbc through dolphin, and figure out how to compile the nand and load it back onto the old wii. Just for shits and giggles.

 

[CoolMe]

PunetWiin pretty much converts one nand to work onto a different system.

It might be better to try and restore the virgin nand made with Ohneschwanzenegger, than the one you extracted with Punetwiin. I don't know how the latter works exactly, but Ohneschwanzenegger is the one that's usually recommended when one is faced with a similar situation (like yours), and doesn't have a clean nand backup.

 

[PJREZ]

It might be better to try and restore the virgin nand made with Ohneschwanzenegger, than the one you extracted with Punetwiin. I don't know how the latter works exactly, but Ohneschwanzenegger is the one that's usually recommended when one is faced with a similar situation (like yours), and doesn't have a clean nand backup.

I tried that, where I backed up the bricked wii's nand, and used Ohneschwanzenegger to make a clean nand, but restoring it did nothing. I can't figure out why, but I'm wondering if installing the homebrew channel (somehow) will let me figure out if something's wrong, but nothing works at all

pretty much just trying to figure out what else I can do. I'm gonna try and just mess around with it cause I'm a little stuck

Post automatically merged: Nov 7, 2023

I installed a HBC wad through Ohneschwanzenegger and reinstalled the nand, but that didn't work either. The nand was made using Ohneschwanzenegger

Post automatically merged: Nov 7, 2023

nvm i fixed it, it was a hardware issue. the wifi thing was out I think, i plugged it back in ;D. Only took like 3years to notice LOL