Hacking Help required. Gamepad region locked?

[theincredableyes]

hey all i had a problem when replacing the lcd on a friends wii u gamepad one of the tiny clips snapped off( they are held in to tight) so i thought i would just replace the motherboard of the gamepad ...long story short i found one on ebay ...from canada didnt think nothing off it got it home replaced it..turned it on and it light up and that i thought perfect so i gave it back to the kids dad 3 weeks later i get a message saying he tried syncing the game pad but its saying its not in the right region etc/ i have scanned forums and figured out i cant use it like that cos the pad being nstc now because the board is from canada..so the question im trying to ask is i have another wii u and gamepad my own one if i use my pal gamepad to change the region of his wii u to ntsc would his gamepad work then??

 

[ThatNintendoNerd]

You can't change the region of your Wii U.

 

[theincredableyes]

You can't change the region of your Wii U.

not even by reseting it and choosing usa?

 

[rw-r-r_0644]

not even by reseting it and choosing usa?

No. Unfortunately, it would just change the system language

 

[mitroux]

you need to buy another gamepad board or just replace the clip from one board to another

 

[RepeatingDigits]

Gamepads are region locked. You're out of luck.

 

[Bug_Checker_]

No. Currently, there is no public way to change a region of a console from JPN,EUR,USA
The GamePad connects via WiFi and as you might know there are different ranges available. This could be part of the conflict.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

Now, not having any idea what firmware:
the original Wii U had
the original GamePad had
the replacement motherboard of the Gamepad had.

It would be very difficult to recommend the best choice.

For others reading this thread later:
Not only are Wifi formats different in different regions but so are video formats.
In addition, changes to the GamePad LCD and i2c controller have been made since the first version.
So you have to mix and match correctly.

Since you seem to have above average skills, If you still have the original GamePad motherboard I would try to make that fit.
But without good pictures I cannot make a good recommendation.
If you cannot make it work by reinstalling the original motherboard but still have access to it. You could try dumping the firmware off the original PAL region motherboard.
Your dump should be nearly if not identical to drc_fw.bin file from the NUS.

The first 4 bytes should tell you the version
Title ID
00050010-10043200
0005001010043200
DRC firmware EUR

v5126, 14 06 01 13

Spoiler

2012-10-26 - version 14060113
Shipped in system update
None, initial release.
NUS version number
5126

v5382, 15 06 01 13

Spoiler

2012-10-28 - version 15060113
Shipped in system update
2.0.0
NUS version number
5382

v5406, 15 1E 01 13

Spoiler

2013-04-26 - version 151e0113
Shipped in system update
3.0.0
NUS version number
5406

v5896, 17 08 01 14
(version NOT listed on http://wiiubrew.org/wiki/Title_database )

Spoiler

2013-10-01 - version 17080114
Shipped in system update
4.0.0
NUS version number
5896

v6164, 18 14 01 16

Spoiler

2014-06-02 - version 18140116
Shipped in system update
5.0.0
NUS version number
6164

v6412, 19 0C 01 17

Spoiler

2014-09-29 - version 190C0117
Shipped in system update
5.2.0
NUS version number
6412

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Wii+U+GamePad+Motherboard+Replacement/57150
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Wii+U+GamePad+LCD+Display+Replacement/57152
All GamePad Guides
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Wii_U_GamePad

Spoiler

U10 Micron 25Q256A 256 Mb Serial Flash

 

[GizmoTheGreen]

sorry if I might be necro-posting

I've gotten myself a EU console, and I'm in japan so I bought my wii u gamepad here, and ofcourse after setup it wants to update the gamepad which it refuses to do resulting in a loop of sorts I can't get out of.

I have a raspberry pi and I will try to read the pads SPI flash with flashrom.

now should I
1. try to replace the firmware with EU fw
2. just update to latest JP fw

I will ofcourse make a backup first of all.

edit: no luck with flashrom, it couldn't read the chip :/