Greetings everyone~
I have recently come in a possession of a Wii that hasn't been used in give or take 4 years.
It has 3.2E version installed and from what I am told a WiiKey modchip (Not sure what Firmware version, since I can't find a way where/how to check.
My questions are the following:
1) What will happen if I allow it to update itself?
2) What will happen to the modchip if I update?
Overall, I am mainly wondering how do I proceed, so I will be able to play (newer) games again (be it with the chip or installing homebrew channel), without fearing of bricking the Wii.
I hope my questions aren't too difficult and I look forward to seeing your replies.
There's no "rehack" element to this; his wii was never hacked, it was hardmodded.
It's probably a WiiKey 1.1.9c. Hardmodding is rubbish now, I also chipped mine but rely exclusively on software now. You can use pretty much any hack for that, for old times sake I'd personally Twilight hack it. Definitely install bootmii as boot2 and do a NAND dump, and keep that safe, then it's essentially safe from everything. Installing Bootmii to boot2 means you have a low level operating system before the system menu boots, so regardless of how terribly you manage to banner brick your wii or install corrupt wads or overwrite IOS you can always restore from a NAND dump (easy to do from Bootmii, put in an SD card, click a button, done), and even if you lose it you can generally use anytitledeleter and anyregionchanger to restore your wii to its original condition.
Install DVDX as a stub IOS and the HBC. Restore the trucha bug to IOS36 and Install Hermes cIOS 222 from 37 and 228 from 38 and Waninkoko's cIOS249 from 36. I'm still on 3.2e and I've never had to update it. If you don't want the SD menu which is pretty crap anyway and you can just use Triiforce or something if you really want to run a lot of wads. If you're unfamiliar with this stuff it's worth doing a little googling. Check hackmii.com for their bootmii/HBC/dvdx installer, get the twilight hack if you have Twilight Princess (you're going to need an SD card whichever method you use) and waninkoko's blog (just google his name) for his cIOS. Older mod guides like Softmii etc. can be useful for this as well and make it a breeze if you don't want to put any effort in, but I must say, dedicating time into hacking a wii properly yourself is a really fun and rewarding experience.
After that if you really want disc channel loading from the home menu use CIOSCORP or a Preloader System Menu tweak, but I would personally recommend you get a loader channel like Gamma, which there are plenty of, and if you want Gamecube loading, install MIOS and then Wiigator's GC loader. I also would never refrain from installing Gecko OS. If you want USB loading, GX is pretty good but I'd personally recommend Configurable USB Loader.
CIOSCORP BRICKS YOUR WII REALLY EASILY AND TEAM TWIIZERS MADE ALL THEIR SOFTWARE INCOMPATIBLE WITH WIIS WITH CIOSCORP INSTALLED. Preloader's pretty gash too and just increases the boot up time of your wii most of the time. Loaders are best.
If you update it.. you'll still be able to mod it but I just wouldn't. There's no need. You can update specific IOS anyway with DOPMii and cIOS249 on the latest rev will basically work with anything anyway. Your modchip will stop working but it was useless compared to softmodding anyway, it's completely obsolete, so that's a moot point (I don't even think it's possible to play newer games at all with your modchip if the software was on its latest edition, unless it screens and installs specific IOS off the disc).
So basically, I recommend you go get started on that right now. If you have any issues just ask here or PM me and I'll be happy to help.