Hacking Hardware DUMP NAND AND/OR KEYS - IOS BRICKED WII

[jazzytazzy]

Hello, all,

I have recently uncovered my childhood Wii that I had put away after fully bricking years ago and would like to do anything I can to recover it.

The Problem: infinite black screen on boot. no wiimote connections, power button doesn't work (has to be unplugged to turn off.)

What I know/have:
- no nand backups or files from the original sd card that was used in the wii
- i don't think i have bootmii or priiloader or anything of that kind installed on the wii (power+reset didn't work, and I'm assuming I don't have BootMii because of the blue led indication on the disc slot.)
- i'm pretty sure my wii is boomii boot2 compatible
- ordered a donor wii that should be coming in soon-- i know i can't just swap nand chips because of the associated system-specific keys, but figured i would just swap the motherboard in the worst case scenario

Is there any way to restore my nand chip without a backup, my wii keys, and any bootmii/priiloader software?

I have been looking more into the NAND chip itself, the Wii architecture, Starlet's role in the IOS boot process, etc...
From my understanding, the wii keys are stored in Hollywood, and the nand.bin would come from the TSOP48 NAND chip.

I am aware that desoldering the NAND chip will probably be difficult (I have a medium amount of soldering knowledge and experience), but if I were to get the nandchip, would I be able to dump the files via hardware (i'm not sure if i need my wii codes to dump)? What does that even mean/look like? I am aware of tools like Infectus, but I can't find any for purchase now. Would that even be the right tool for this kind of job? What kind of tool would I need and what is this process called?

If i can dump my nand, can I extract my wii keys from that nand dump? With access to both a nand dump and my wii keys, would it be possible to then create a new nand.bin and inject it into the nand chip? Would I then be able to solder the chip back on and continue on my wii?

I apologize for the insane amount of questions-- I have been researching for a few days and feel like I have only seen the surface of research done on the Wii's architecture.

Please advise if any of this would work, or if there are other ways!
Thank you for your time!

 

[master801]

This was covered some in a different thread: https://gbatemp.net/threads/help-wrong-ios58-interested-and-wii-is-dead.625673/

But to reiterate: For dumping and flashing the NAND, you can use a Teensy++ 2.0 (which was proven to work with minor code modifications) or probably a Raspberry Pi Pico since those are used for the Xbox 360.

I'm not too familiar with unbricking a Wii, but this thread may also help you: https://gbatemp.net/threads/repaired-my-fully-bricked-wii-without-a-infectus-nand-dump.418627/

You might also be able to check for BootMii boot2 compatibility from the serial number with this: https://gbatemp.net/threads/bootmii-boot2-wii-serial-numbers.205180/

 

[XFlak]

If the wii is capable of installing bootmii boot2, it's possible to add it using a nand flasher & PC. However this is outside my realm of expertise.

If you can add bootmii boot2, you can launch it, and dump the nand & keys. And if you can access bootmii boot2 u can probably unbrick it, especially if you recall what caused the brick in the first place. You could also use the wii's nand and keys to either create a new virgin nand.bin to restore your broken wii to a factory-like state. Or you can use the nand & keys and punetwiin to convert the nand for another wii, but be careful because if you don't resolve the brick before making the nand backup you will likely just put your new wii into the same situtation as the old one. You can also retrieve game saves from the nand, or convert it to an emunand and use it with usbloaders to store saves\miis off a hard drive instead of the internal nand memory.

In all likelihood you're out of luck though, sorry. Good luck.

 

[jazzytazzy]

Thank you so much! I've skimmed through these threads and it looks like there's some really valuable information here that may help me! I really appreciate the links!

Post automatically merged: Feb 23, 2023

If the wii is capable of installing bootmii boot2, it's possible to add it using a nand flasher & PC. However this is outside my realm of expertise.

If you can add bootmii boot2, you can launch it, and dump the nand & keys. And if you can access bootmii boot2 u can probably unbrick it, especially if you recall what caused the brick in the first place. You could also use the wii's nand and keys to either create a new virgin nand.bin to restore your broken wii to a factory-like state. Or you can use the nand & keys and punetwiin to convert the nand for another wii, but be careful because if you don't resolve the brick before making the nand backup you will likely just put your new wii into the same situtation as the old one. You can also retrieve game saves from the nand, or convert it to an emunand and use it with usbloaders to store saves\miis off a hard drive instead of the internal nand memory.

In all likelihood you're out of luck though, sorry. Good luck.

I will definitely keep this in mind when considering any options I have-- thank you for taking a look!