Hacking Safe to update Wii ?

[JasmineMay]

I modded my Sisters Wii 2 years ago with a flatmod but have not touched it since then.

She wants to play some of the newer games, but it asked to update the Wii is it safe to do this if so how should l I do this with a retail game or var the internet ?

Her Wii is on 4.2u I asked this in the newbie chat but got scared when I put a Wii game in and it asked to update as it said "if you wii has been modded this update might kill your wii"

 

[.Chris]

You an maybe use Priiloader 0.6's System Menu hacks, and enable "Block Disk Updates."

 

[Riley]

Also enable block online updates.

 

[dilav]

Flatmod is hardware... no? If you didn't mess with the Wii's software, updating it shouldn't be a problem(?)

 

[Sicklyboy]

What above poster said. If it is just chipped, an update shouldnt do anything to it. If it is softmodded as well, you would lose any softmods, but they would be easy to get back so long as you have HBC 1.0.8.

If your chip doesnt support blocking updates (idk if chips even do), I would strongly suggest that you also softmod your Wii using the ModMii program (it runs on Windows and gives you instructions on how to mod it and provides all files necessary. Link should be in a sticky) and install Priiloader and set it to block online and disk updates.

 

[JasmineMay]

Thanks Guys for all the replies, Yes the flatmod is a solder less mod chip, I believe there is a config disk that allows you to boot the Wii and turn on/off a number of options

So should I boot with the config disk turn updates on and then update ? if so what should I update to and how ? (internet, retail game, custom download)

Once it has updated should I reboot and turn updates protection on again with the config disk?


Info about the chip taken from flatmod.com

NO solder required
NO clip required
NO software modification required
Plug and Play 2 Minutes installation
ALL chipsets compatible including EPOXY & D3 boards
Wii/Gamecube & ISO9660 compatible
MultiIsos for Trimmed Isos Compatible
Protect Drive System
DVD and Double Layer media compatible
Region free & Antierror 001
Geckos,Mplayer and Homebrew Compatible
100% FLATMII compatible
Configurable Updates blocker option
Configurable Autoboot disc option
128kb SPI Flash for Upgrades/config storing
CONFIG EXPRESS temporal option
DVD firmware Upgrades and DVD Config Disc
Extra ACTEL Jtag & Spi upgrade JTAG Connector

 

[Sicklyboy]

Well since it asked to update the Wii, it sounds like updates are currently not blocked as it is. With Priiloader update hacks, disk updates never ask, though online SM updates do ask for me (though I never hit yes. They only ask if I want to update if I press "update".)

In other words, if you are not softmodded you really have nothing to lose by updating except methods of hacking. If you update to 4.3, you're gonna need Brawl, Yugioh 5D's Wheelie Breaker or Lego Indiana Jones to softmod it. Pre 4.3, you can just use Bannerbomb which is a lot more convenient. But since you have a modchip, nothing is stopping you from just making your own "backup" disk of one of those aformentioned games unless you have a D3-2 drive that won't play backups.

Personally, I would just launch the config disk and block the updates and then try to play the game. If it doesnt, its your choice whether you want to update it via the disk (disable update blocker, launch disk update, then re-enable (or don't)) or softmod it and add whatever IOS's are needed without updating your SM (if the game will install a SM update.)

 

[JasmineMay]

Thanks Plasma Dragon007 for your help

Thank you for the hint about Prillloader and how it reacts to updates very interesting , I also think you are right about the current mod chip not having the option turned on block updates.

Some of the backups I have tried to play of cause have the updates stripped out of them so when you try and play them they fail (eg COD) I guess because of the missing IOS.

Its a old Wii so does not have a D3-2 drive like my Wii so I will try and grab a retail and update it.

Thanks again for all your tips, I soft moded my wii last week so still just getting in to "Wii modding" and some times you have to ask a question rather than going on old posts.

 

[JasmineMay]

Well I have lost all respect for the flatmod

I booted up with a retail and ran a update, It appeared to carry out 2 updates as after the first update on loading the game it again asked for another update but this time it was pretty quick.I was then able to play a pretty new backup for about 10min after that time it asked to insert the disk. This also happened with blackOps after the intro movie.

I decided to then try an online update and pushed the latest update on to the wii, but still the same problem.

I then burnt off a flatmod config disk as I had heard that the flatmods had a lens protection options and wanted to see if I could turn it off. (Unfortunately its not a option you can turn off) But I found in the config of flatmod it was set to block updates by default, Yet for some reason it had allowed me to update by disk and also online.

I think my problem with this Wii is the lens has gone as most retails will fail after about 10 min of play and backups (Taiyo Yuden) don't always read. This Wii is used by my 2 younger sisters as such most of the games have not been treated very well. On some of the games disks I see round scratch rings I guess dirt has gotten in to the Wii and is the reason why they have so many read errors.

Is it worth trying to replace the lens or should I softmod it and then get them to use a usb drive to load games ? (After I softmodded my Wii this seems liek the best idea but worried with all the updates if I can still softmod it)

 

[Sicklyboy]

Yeah I'm not sure what would cause those rings :\ has the Wii been moved while games have been playing? I am unsure if the Wii has the same problem, but on the 360 if you do that it'll grind the disk and "ring" it.

Kinda does sound like the drive is dead though. Personally, I would still go and get a replacement (Amazon and Ebay carry them). However, while I was looking for a replacement for my friend, I was unable to find a drive that wasn't a D3-2. Not sure if you could just take the laser off of the new drive and put it on the old one, because I believe the inability to read backups on a D3-2 is becase of the chips on the drive, not the laser.

Regardless, I would definitely softmod it and get a USB hdd to play from, regardless of if the drive works or not. Just on a convenience level, it is amazing. Now you said you softmodded it a week ago... do you still have Homebrew Channel? If you do, you don't have to worry about updates screwing anything up (for now) because you're set. You just have to install the right cIOS's and such to enable USB loading.

Lemee know what system menu version you have right now and if you have HBC or not. Also, check out the ModMii program, it is in a sticky at the top of the Wii - Hacking section. ModMii is a program to be used on a Windows computer that will give you a step by step guide tailored to your specific Wii setup on how to hack it and will also provide all necessary files to do so.

 

[JasmineMay]

Hi plasma dragon007, Thank you for your reply

Do you know if you have to do any soldering when replacing the laser ? Not sure if I want to go down that route just yet :-) will need to practice some soldering if I do.

Sorry if I confused you about soft modding. I own a newer black Wii that I soft modded and works with every thing I throw at it (Thanks to this forum and IRC. This wii that I am posting about in this thread is a 3 year old wii that I modded about 2 years ago before going to college with a flatmod chip I have not installed HB on it yet.

I think the version of the system menu is 4.3u but I will check I did not use ModMii when I did my Black Wii I just used a tutorial and downloaded by hand all the files and software. As this older wii ihas a mod chip will I still need to use super smash bros brawl to be able to run the need code.