Hacking Some Bootmii related questions

[addy2k]

Hi. I have some questions about bootmii. My Wii runs on 4.2 (updatet through Nintendo just Minutes after it was released

I expected to be on 4.1 but was surprised to see 4.2E after updating). By now I have installed the basics via Hackmii installer / Bannerbomb. My question now is, if I had an older NAND dump from Bootmii (before the update), could I restore it and the Wii would be downgraded to the firmware, the dump was created with?

If this would be possible, is there a chance to use a NAND dump from another Wii. I could get hands on a 3.2E NAND dump from a friends Wii. If this was possible, what steps would I have to do to achieve this (I think the dump must be manipulated in some way to corespond with my Wii).

 

[FenrirWolf]

There is a method of converting NAND dumps from one Wii to another... but you don't need to do that. 4.2 is easily softmoddable now. Look through one of the dozens of guides on this page alone.

Also, downgrading to anything below 3.4 after receiving the boot2 update = brick. So yeah, no need for that.

 

[addy2k]

I know that 4.2 is just as open as any previous Firmware. But thats not the point here. I have interest in these things for more theoretical reasons.

If I understand everything right, the Bootmii dump should include the complete state of NAND at the moment, the dump was made. Now the question is, wheter boot2 is part of this or not. If thats the case, recovering a previous dump or a dump from a differen Wii (with a Firmware lower than 4.2), should also downgrade boot2 back to a previous Version. Which then means, there are no limitations regarding downgrading.

I just want to know if thats true, or if I forget something important or i misunderstood anything.

Btw. Where can I find information about that possibility to manipulate a dump to fit in another Wii?

 

[MagusDraco]

The nand dump does not include boot2.


The nand dump is everything in the nand. Boot2 is in something before the nand if I'm thinking correctly.

Boot2 is part of the bootloader code.

 

[raptir]

The closest comparison to a PC would be that Boot1/Boot2 are in your BIOS' internal memory, completely separate from the NAND. BootMii is stored in Boot2, so if the NAND dumps included boot2 it would have to overwrite itself. You could even theoretically lose bootmii by doing that, if the NAND dump was from a BootMii/IOS.

 

[FenrirWolf]

Well, both boot1 and boot2 are on the NAND, but BootMii doesn't include them in the dumps it makes. So if you try downgrading to 3.2 using a NAND dump you'll still have boot2v4 and a briick.

But at the same time, in order to use another Wii's NAND dump the donor and recipient consoles need to have the same version of boot1 and the recipient Wii needs a boot2 of equal or higher version number. And since there are no Wiis out there with 3.2 AND boot2v4 (the thing would have been bricked right from the factory), there is no way to do what you want.

So there you have it. What you're looking for is impossible and you should move onto the next thing.

 

[addy2k]

Ok. Thanks for clarifying this.