Hacking Cannot get rid of Neek2o stuck on "Reloading bootmii IOS"

[Falligrecht]

Hello!

I know this probably is the 100th time someone has this problem, but - I am working on this for 4 days, first tried anything I could think of, then read all the solutions and threads I could find, and still cannot get rid of "reloading bootmi IOS".

The story went like this:
My Wii has BootMii installed as boot2 AND as IOS.
I actually have some WiiWare games that only run when booted into the emuNAND and don't when just loading the emuNAND from USBLoaderGX.
So I had uneek (using neek2o) running on an 2,5"-USB-harddrive for some years, but it never was working reliably. Nearly every time I booted into the emuNAND and played some hours, the emuNAND was corrupted the next time I wanted to play and didn't boot anymore, so I had to make a new emuNAND using modmii and of course everytime lost all my savegames and had to integrate all wiiware into the new emuNAND again (using showmiiwads).

I felt like the flimsy USB-plug and cable, attached to the relatively heavy hard disk where the culprit.
So I decided to switch to SD-Card and bought an 128GByte Samsung Evo Plus SD card.
Formatted mthe SD card as FAT32/32K.
Then updated my Wii using Syscheck HDE 2.4.0 and ModMii. reconfigured the sd card using ModMii. reinstalled the neek2o channel and successfully booted into the emuNAND - once.
But next I tried booting the emuNAND from the latest USBLoaderGX - and got stuck at "reloading bootmi from IOS" for the first time, and forever.

So I tried everything I could think of and also anything I found in threads for a solution:
-Completely reformatted and reloaded the SD card with apps (FAT32 with 32K clusters)
-Also tried some other SD cards (one 16GByte Sandisk and one 32GByte sandisk).
-Deleted all apps including their configuration multiple times
-reinstalled all WADs with syscheck and modmii multiple times
-reinstalled bootmi as IOS and even boot mi as boot 2
-removed di from sneek
-tried completely replacing the vanilla bootmii folder by the bootmiineek folder and also tried leaving the vanilla ppcboot.elf and bootmii.ini ini there
-tried booting from the neek2o forwarder and from UsbloaderGX
-left it running with this message through a whole night, because I remembered it could take some time
-tried uninstalling bootmii as IOS and just leaving bootmii as boot2 (which actually made a difference, but I just lead to the Wii rebooting and not loading the emuNAND.)

-And of course I didn'to do all these things just once, but countless times in any possible combination resulting from above ideas.
-What confuses me: Why does it say "Switching to "realnand" mode"? Shouldn't it rather say "Switching to "emunand" mode" when loading neek2o from real NAND?

And now I am completely out of ideas, and you are my last hope for ever making neek2o working again
Wht is wrong with my Wii?
I don't think it's the SD card, because it once worked - and because it's same with the other two cards.
Can you help me, please?

I will attach screenshots of my sd card file structure and here's the syscheck log:

Spoiler: SysCheckHDE2.4.0

SysCheck HDE v2.4.0 HacksDen Edition von JoostinOnline, Double_A, R2-D2199, und Nano

...laeuft auf dem IOS58 (rev 6176).


Region: PAL

Systemmenue 4.1E (v450)

Priiloader installiert

Laufwerksdatum: 13.02.2007

Homebrewkanal 1.1.2 benutzt IOS58


Hollywood v0x11

Konsolen-ID: 71763369

Konsolentyp: Wii

Shop-Kanal-Land: Germany (78)

Boot2 v4

Es wurden 80 Titel gefunden.

Es wurden 54 IOS gefunden, von denen 4 funktionslos (Stub) sind.


IOS4 (rev 65280): Funktionslos (Stub)

IOS9 (rev 1034): Keine Patches

IOS10 (rev 768): Funktionslos (Stub)

IOS11[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff

IOS12 (rev 526): Keine Patches

IOS13 (rev 1032): Keine Patches

IOS14 (rev 1032): Keine Patches

IOS15 (rev 1032): Keine Patches

IOS16 (rev 512): Funktionslos (Stub)

IOS17 (rev 1032): Keine Patches

IOS20[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff

IOS21 (rev 1039): Keine Patches

IOS22 (rev 1294): Keine Patches

IOS28 (rev 1807): Keine Patches

IOS30[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff

IOS31 (rev 3608): Keine Patches

IOS33 (rev 3608): Keine Patches

IOS34 (rev 3608): Keine Patches

IOS35 (rev 3608): Keine Patches

IOS36 (rev 3608): Keine Patches

IOS37 (rev 5663): Keine Patches

IOS38 (rev 4124): Keine Patches

IOS40[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff

IOS41 (rev 3607): Keine Patches

IOS43 (rev 3607): Keine Patches

IOS45 (rev 3607): Keine Patches

IOS46 (rev 3607): Keine Patches

IOS48 (rev 4124): Keine Patches

IOS50[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff

IOS51 (rev 4864): Funktionslos (Stub)

IOS52[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff

IOS53 (rev 5663): Keine Patches

IOS55 (rev 5663): Keine Patches

IOS56 (rev 5662): Keine Patches

IOS57 (rev 5919): Keine Patches

IOS58 (rev 6176): USB 2.0

IOS60 (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff

IOS61 (rev 5662): Keine Patches

IOS62 (rev 6430): Keine Patches

IOS70[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff

IOS80[60] (rev 65535, Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff

IOS202[60] (rev 65535, Info: hermesrodries-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff, USB 2.0

IOS222[38] (rev 4, Info: hermes-v4): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Zugriff, USB 2.0

IOS223[38+37] (rev 4, Info: hermes-v4): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Zugriff, USB 2.0

IOS224[57] (rev 65535, Info: hermesrodries-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff, USB 2.0

IOS236[36] (rev 65535, Info: rev 3351): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Zugriff

IOS245[37] (rev 21008, Info: d2x-v8final): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff, USB 2.0

IOS246[38] (rev 21008, Info: d2x-v8final): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Zugriff

IOS247[53] (rev 21008, Info: d2x-v8final): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff, USB 2.0

IOS248[55] (rev 21008, Info: d2x-v8final): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff, USB 2.0

IOS249[57] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff, USB 2.0

IOS250[56] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug, NAND Zugriff, USB 2.0

IOS251[38] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Zugriff

IOS254 (rev 65281): BootMii

BC v6

MIOS v10

Bericht wurde am 27.03.2021 generiert.

Edit:
I have an additional info now:
I tried reattaching the old USB hard drive - and after some waiting time it booted.
So the issue is SD related. But it doesn't seem to be the choice of sd card itself, as it booted once..

 

[XFlak]

Try building neek and emunand from modmii again, then immediately afterwards rename the sd:/bootmiineek (or similar) folder to "bootmii", then launch bootmii from the home menu of the HBC (or upon startup if you have bootmii boot2)

If using GX to launch neek, make sure your path settings are correct. Note GX does not require an sd:/bootmii folder, and in the case of uneek an SD card isn't required at all. All you need is a properly set up sneek folder on the same device as your emunand

Edit: I've always found apps like switch2uneek to be a bit unreliable as it depends on successfully renaming folders before reloading bootmii as IOS

 

[Falligrecht]

Try building neek and emunand from modmii again, then immediately afterwards rename the bootmiineek (or similar) folder to "bootmii", then launch bootmii from the home menu of the HBC

Hello, thanks for your response!
Removing the origiganl bootmii folder and replacing it by the bootmiineek folder is what I did at first. Only after it didn't work for a lot of tries, I tried alternatives, like copying the neek armboot.bin over the existing armboot.bin from bootmi instead.

If using GX to launch neek, make sure your path settings are correct. Note GX does not require an sd:/bootmii folder, and in the case of uneek an SD card isn't required at all. All you need is a properly set up sneek folder on the same device as your emunand

I had set the path in USB-LoaderGX to the right path, everytime I tried loading through USBLGX. But anyways, USBLoaderGX only was my 2nd choice for this experiment, the vast majority of tries have been done using just the Neek2O forwarder channel. (The emunand is where Modmii put it on the sd card btw).
The very strange thing is, that my frist try with booting the emuNAND from USBLGX seems to be th reason that started this all.

 

[XFlak]

Launching bootmii at startup or bootmii ios, or even GX (if paths set up properly) is the best way to test neek upon first launch. After u confirm that it's working, then try and get alternate boot methods working (if you care to)

If you renamed bootmiineek to bootmii, then tried launching a tool like switch2uneek, it may have tried renaming "bootmii" since it was detected, and tried to return to "real" nand. If using those tools to boot into neek, you should leave the folders named as is. Tldr, if you manually rename bootmiineek to bootmii, you should also manually launch bootmii via the hbc, priiloader, boot2 (if applicable) or GX's neek booter with properly set up paths

 

[Falligrecht]

You mean booting the emuNAND directly from the bootmii menu?
(I assumed using the Neek2o forwarder was like the 'default' way before. I don't know if it's "switch2uneek", but it's the channel that gets installed by using the supplied wad from ModMii).

 

[XFlak]

Yeah the neek2o forwarder, nswitch, switch2uneek, are all similar. They should be your alternate boot method after u confirm you can boot into neek properly without them.

In a perfect world, they work, and neek boots. But since you are having boot issues, let's take alternate boot methods out of the equation so it's one less potential point of failure, and instead launch bootmii manually (assuming sd:/bootmiineek or similar has already been renamed to sd:/bootmii), or manually via gx with properly setup paths

 

[Falligrecht]

Of course, seems logical. I am not questioning you, I just want to understand xD
I will try loading the most recent ModMii-SD creation through USBLoader GX again, now.

 

[XFlak]

Modmii may still install switch2uneek in some scenarios, I don't 100% recall which, but I think if u are setting up uneek but NOT neek2o (I. E. the original neek). Otherwise the neek2o forwarder is used to launch the nswitch app

But in all cases, you can launch it manually as described above (also described in Modmii's notes after setting up neek or an emunand)

Edit: no worries, you are allowed to question things. I hope I didn't come off as being defensive, it's all good.

 

[Falligrecht]

OK. I now added the latest USB Loader GX to the sd card's apps. Started it from HBC, configured the "sd:/nands/pl_eu" folder as "Nand Emu Channel path" and activated "Launch Neek System menu".
Now I am staring at a black screen and hoping for something to appear the next few minutes..

 

[XFlak]

In my experience, it may take 2-5 minutes (10 max), you'll be presented with menus to select your country and other settings, then eventually you will hit another blackscreen (right after the press A to continue screen iirc) which could take another 2-5 minutes before loading

On subsequent boots, sneek and uneek are always quick to load, almost as fast as real nand. And for me, 100% of fresh ModMii nands I've ever tested have worked for me. I understand this isn't the case for everyone though, likely due to hardware compatibility or user error

 

[godreborn]

neek will take longer to boot the first time, because I think it's creating additional files (at least it seemed to on the virtual wii). normally, it takes as long as however many games you have injected into it, so don't overload it with games. just use neek for games that need neek and regular emunand for everything else. I usually use emunand for saves as well, but some games don't work like that including skyward sword. I think I got a black screen with usb loader gx if I used emunand at all with it. works perfectly without it.

 

[Falligrecht]

Yes, I remember the first time taking longer. That's why I waited for 25 minutes. But now I am starting to get a bit nervous - still black

 

[XFlak]

@godreborn makes a good point, keep the nand small for first boot testing

What kind of neek are u loading right now? Latest version of neek2o? Sneek? Sneek+di? Uneek? Uneek+di?

Edit: if it's been over 30 minutes i would probably start over. But this time if you tried sneek, try uneek, and vice versa (or try a different device but otherwise same type)

 

[Falligrecht]

It's sneek version 96 (which Modmii claims to be the latest) without di.
The emuNAND is completely empty, just for testing. I didn't even install the apps suggested by ModMii (Priiloader, Wiiflow and such). All my tries have already lead me to the bare bones
Could the overal storage capacity matter, too (in regards to duration)?
Status: Still running, but black.

Another observation:
I just had a look at my old USB-HDD, which still boots into emuNAND fine, and saw that there isn't any bootmi folder on there. Neither there is bootmiineek. Still it can boot into the emuNANd on this USB-HDD. What's that black magic?
Should I maybe just try deleting any bootmii related stuff on the sd card, too?
There are some neek2o related files on the old USB-HDD, though.
That's what the (working) USB-HDD looks like:

 

[XFlak]

If using GX to launch neek, make sure your path settings are correct. Note GX does not require an sd:/bootmii folder, and in the case of uneek an SD card isn't required at all. All you need is a properly set up sneek folder on the same device as your emunand

Edit:
If you have a working emunand already, what is your objective? (edit2: you could copy your working nands folder to other devices instead of fresh ModMii emunands if you want)

If you are at max capacity on your sd card it could be a problem. Neek is expanding files and growing your emunand slightly upon first boot

 

[Falligrecht]

EmuNAND is working from my old and flaky USB-HDD solution, with flimsy cable. I often had problems with the emuNAND going corrupt and believe it's because of the usb cable dangling around. So want to switch to the new 128GByte sd card that I bought for replacing the old usb-hdd by a more robust internal solution. But from sd card it doesn't work (besides the very first try, before I tried booting the emuNAND from USBLGX).

Edit:
...(edit2: you could copy your working nands folder to other devices instead of fresh ModMii emunands if you want)
..

Yes, that's my ultimate target. When it didn't work as intended, I stepped down to "just making it boot somehow" first.

Alltogether it seems like something in my Wii still pointed to "use USB!" instead of using the sd card, despite me replacing anything I could think of..

 

[XFlak]

Copy over your files from your working hdd to the new hdd and all else being equal it should work. If it doesn't, it could be the HDD isn't formated properly (it should be fat32 MBR), or could it be a compatibility issue with the HDD, or a power issue with the hdd

Edit: ever consider just replacing the faulty cable for your old hdd?

Edit2: a confirmed working file structure, like the one you have on your old hdd, is even better for testing neek is setup properly than a fresh minimal nand (in most scenarios anyway)

 

[Falligrecht]

Hi!
The existing HDD is for USB, while the sdf card is in the internal sd card slot. So I think SNEEK wouldn't work without replacing some sneek related files (like the kernel) by their SD counterparts, would it?
Anyway: I have an simple USB-SD-Card-Reader for my notebook. And So I did what you said, and copied all the files from my old usb-hdd to the sd card and put the sd-card into the usb-sd-card reader and put it into the WII's USB slot.
The results where hit and miss.. Sometimes it booted to emuNAND and somtimes it got stuck with a black screen (after taking very long at the "Reloading bootmy IOS" screen.
Normal Wii games from the sd card in the usb adapter did not load at all using USB Loader GX.
So I guess there is an compatibility problem to ALL the three sd cards I tried (or to the usb adapter itself..). Maybe some timing problem (race condition), which makes it work sometimes, and sometimes not..
Too bad I already tried three cards and couldn't make it work..
Is there a recommendation for a good and stable sd card with 128GByte for the Wii's internal card reader?

 

[XFlak]

I don't know why you're complicating things. Yes you are correct, the sneek folder on the SD card must be configured for uneek if that's what you're trying to launch, UNLESS you are booting using GX.

But anyway, you said u could boot into your old hdd emunand. If this is the case, clearly your sd card is not interferring with anything as is, so why are are changing things there? All u got to do is copy files from one hdd to the other, and change nothing else

If u already made changes, then just use modmii to set up uneek again, copy over files, and rename bootmiineek to bootmii if using bootmii and not GX to launch neek

Edit: if you are trying to switch from one type of neek to another, please say so

 

[Falligrecht]

...
But anyway, you said u could boot into your old hdd emunand. If this is the case, clearly your sd card is not interferring with anything as is, so why are are changing things there? All u got to do is copy files from one hdd to the other, and change nothing else

From about ten tries, it worked 3 times. The other times it got stuck with a black screen. It just seems random.

Edit: if you are trying to switch from one type of neek to another, please say so

Yes. My old hard drive was connected to usb, while the new sd card is in the internal sd card slot. I don't want to use any USB-storage anymore.