Hacking Stuck at Wii U logo screen (1st boot in 2 years; Loadiine)

[CanIHazWarez]

So I just turned on my Wii U after about two years of non-use and it's just sitting at the Wii U logo screen and the gamepad plays elevator music on an infinite loop. I know I had Loadiine on it and I think I had a few games installed using the method that came afterward also. My SD card is in the system. I formatted an external hard drive for use on the system at one point, but I'm not sure if I actually put any games on it. It's not connected, if that matters, and I already reformatted it for PC use. I'm not running a Loadiine server if that makes a difference (I can't remember at what point in the process that becomes necessary). Any ideas?

 

[EmulateLife]

You're talking about the Wii U logo when you first boot it up right? Could be something wrong with your console. You might need to try a different power cord but it could also be something more serious.

If you happen to have an original Wii I believe the power cord from it works you might try it. If not you'll have to buy one but again that may not even be the issue.

Even if you don't have an sd card in the system it should completely boot up so it's not an sd card issue.

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See if you can get into vWii try this

Power on the Wii U console and then press and hold down the B Button on the Wii U GamePad, Wii Remote, or Wii U Pro Controller when you see the Wii U logo splash screen.

If you're successful at getting into vWii try to launch Wii U from the Wii U icon on the vWii menu.

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Hate to give bad news but here's someone that had this same issue and from reading the thread it looks like it was dead. The only solution was hardmod but you need a nand backup.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/wii-u-stuck-on-boot-screen.499714/

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Sorry for so many edits I kept reading that thread and someone said to try to power on the console but keep the gamepad far away, and it seemed to solve the issue.

 

[uyjulian]

Have you waited at least 30 minutes on the loading Wii U logo screen?

 

[CanIHazWarez]

Have you waited at least 30 minutes on the loading Wii U logo screen?

I've let it sit a while, but idk if it's been at least 30 minutes. Probably not. Does something special happen after 30 min?

someone said to try to power on the console but keep the gamepad far away, and it seemed to solve the issue.

I read that also. My gamepad was about to die, so I just let the battery die and then turn on the system. It didn't do anything different.

Power on the Wii U console and then press and hold down the B Button on the Wii U GamePad, Wii Remote, or Wii U Pro Controller when you see the Wii U logo splash screen.

Holding down the B button does nothing.

You're talking about the Wii U logo when you first boot it up right?

Yes

You might need to try a different power cord but it could also be something more serious.
If you happen to have an original Wii I believe the power cord from it works you might try it. If not you'll have to buy one but again that may not even be the issue.

I'm not sure why this would make a difference, but I do have my original Wii power cord. I'll give it a try after I let this sit for 30 minutes.

I haven't made any progress so far, but thank you @EmulateLife and @uyjulian for your replies!

 

[EmulateLife]

Because the power cord could be the issue but try to take the gamepad as far away as possible like the other side of your house and turn it on from the console itself that seemed to fix that problem in the thread i posted. And if it works resync your gamepad.

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Sorry I see that didn't work. If the power cord doesn't help seems like bad news to me do you have a nand backup? If not you may be fucked. Might have to buy another console but the most expensive part is the gamepad at least could buy a used console only on Ebay for maybe $80-$100 just a guess.

 

[uyjulian]

It may be possible that the eMMC has an error or is attempting to error correct. I have only used Haxchi to boot directly into vWii Homebrew Channel, not using the Wii U side for ~1 year. After I started to boot into Wii U system menu, loading times are longer than usual (~5min to load the menu), and starting games on internal memory also took longer than usual. However, I restarted the system, and loading times are usual now.

 

[CanIHazWarez]

Have you waited at least 30 minutes on the loading Wii U logo screen?

I tried leaving it on for 50+ minutes and it didn't do anything

You might need to try a different power cord but it could also be something more serious.
If you happen to have an original Wii I believe the power cord from it works you might try it.

I got the power cord out for the original Wii but it does not work with the Wii U. Not that I tried the cord and it didn't work, I mean that you can't physically connect the cord to the system.

 

[EmulateLife]

I haven't used my Wii in years I guess I was remembering wrong.

You could try buying a new power cord if you want but I'm betting you're going to need to buy another console assuming you don't have a nand backup. Even with a backup you'd have to have it hardmodded to fix it.

 

[CanIHazWarez]

I'm now remembering a little more about what I did to the system before. I installed Haxchi using a legit DS game. I formatted an external hard drive for use on the Wii U at some point. I recently formatted that hard drive for PC use and wrote 90gb worth of data to it. I was reading at this link (https://wiiu.hacks.guide/coldboot-haxchi) that if you have coldboot Haxchi and you move the DS game to a usb drive or delete it, it will brick your system. I'm not sure if I had the coldboot portion done on my system or not. I don't remember explicitly moving the DS to my external hard drive but it's possible that I moved all my games over to it in one lump, so I could justify having the external hard drive. Hypothetically, suppose that I had coldboot and also moved the DS game to the external hard drive, would the system boot if I am able to fully recover that data that was formatted (highly unlikely)? The guide says that just moving the game to an external drive will brick, but it might just be saying that because it makes it likely that you will brick by removing the drive. I guess what I'm asking is whether it's worth the effort to try to recover data from that external drive. Again, I don't even know if I had coldboot installed or if I moved the DS game. My Wii U was working fine, the last I remember, so that makes me think that I didn't have coldboot/move the DS game, but it's the only explanation I can think of for why my system isn't working.

 

[EmulateLife]

I think it's over man, but good luck.

 

[CanIHazWarez]

I read up a little more on coldboot Haxchi and it sounds like it has protections in place to prevent it from being moved to an external drive. Also, I found a reddit post where the guy had the same problem as me and he said his console was never hacked (also, his console and my console were both refurbs from Nintendo). Given those two things, I don't that my issue is cbhc related. My system may still be bricked, but I would feel better knowing it wasn't something stupid that I did.

 

[toxic9]

You cannot recover any data on that HDD because it's not PC readable... even if it was, you could not revert it on the PC to match the same file system and encryption like the WIiU do.

 

[Dust2dust]

Best option is probably to look for another console. You have a working gamepad, which is the most expensive part. Just getting a used Wii U console with no gamepad should not be expensive at all. Check your local pawnshop (or marketplace on Facebook). Even garage sales. Also consider that most good games on the Wii U also came out on the Switch, and they run better, so if you haven't got one, that might be a good idea. Look for an unpatched Switch, and by reselling your Wii U gamepad, you can offset the price a good bit.