Hacking USB Hdd Died Overnight

[WiiZ]

I have an issue with cIOS finding my USB drive. It had worked for me for months, then (overnight) suddenly quit working.
I've tried different different cIOS versions (13b, 14, hermes, and I believe 12 based on my BootMii backup), many different loaders, different partitioning schemes, and even different USB drives (same model WD 320GB portable- though both had worked previously). Also tried toggling the active bit between partitions.
I suspected USB issues, but now tested GeeXbox (Wii linux tool), and that sees/accesses my drives with no issues.
I'm on 4.1 atm, but the problem originated while I was on 3.4U.
i have done a BootMii restore from about 2 months ago. Didn't help.
Apart from Waninkoko's cIOS mods, the Homebrew channel, BootMii, and loaders, I haven't really installed anything abnormal [until this happened - now I'm trying anything]

IOS Loader 1.5 tells me no partitions exist after trying to format from the Wii. All other loaders just attempt to access the drive for 30 seconds then timeout.

And yes - I've also tried the other USB port, though I like to think I know better.

Any suggestions are appreciated, though I won't be able to respond till Monday.

--Wiiz

 

[icebrg5]

When is the hard drive getting turned on?

Is it plugged into the wii and when the wii gets powered on it gets powered on?

Or

Are you turning the wii on and then once the wii has started then plugging in the usb hard drive?


I've had issues with drives that if turned on at the same time as the wii like in example one no usb loaders would find the drive,but if i changed it to example to and waited for the wii to startup and then plug in the drive everything worked just fine.

 

[Deleted-171178]

WD Portables dont support partitions with the USB Loader, I have one and it only picks it up as one big partition.

 

[jono@home]

WD Portables dont support partitions with the USB Loader, I have one and it only picks it up as one big partition.

you sure ?

try using a decent partition manager and format partitions as both primary....

sounds like to me you have one as logical...

 

[9th_Sage]

I had something similar happen to me recently, in my case the drive was just dead. Wouldn't work in the Wii or on my PC. I even managed to get the enclosure (that you shouldn't be able to get open) apart and got the drive out and into my computer (bypassing the enclosure itself), and yep, still dead. Hope you have better luck.

My suggestion is to get an enclousre and HD seperately next time...that's what I did, that way I can replace the drive itself if need be.

 

[olliepop2000]

I take it you have tried it on a PC and it can you not see the wbfs games?

 

[WiiZ]

The drive is not dead - it works in PC's with no issues, and I can access the WBFS partition from two separate PC's. I can also access the non-WBFS partitions from GeeXbox. I have tried it with both plugged into the Wii before turning on, as well as plugging the drive in during the search routine. I had been using the drive plugged into the Wii before turning anything on for months with no issues.

I have tried both a single (primary, active) partition and multiple partitions - both give me the same result. Works well through WBFS manager, but the Wii doesn't see the wbfs partition at all.

I also get the exact same symptoms using a different drive and cable all together - so I'm assuming at this point that it's not a hardware issue with the drive itself.

Other ideas?

 

[retKHAAAN]

It might help to know which backup loader you're using and if you've tested it with others.

 

[WiiZ]

I've tried it with virtually every USB Loader I could find. NeoGamma, USB Loader GX, Configurable USB Loader, Waninkoko's USB Loader 1.5, etc... Went through about 10 of them, all with the same results. Some tell me there's no device connected, others tell me there's no wbfs partition found. Some retry for 30 seconds (i.e. NeoGamma), others just instantly give up.

Posts merged

Let me also add that I'm able to boot games from the SDHC card with no issues - just not from the USB Hdd.

 

[UranusKiller]

is it in correct port? is it getting enough power?

 

[G0dLiKe]

Like the ^poster said, this can be the key to your problem, when your HD suffers power input, it wont be seen by the Wii... came it originally with a extra USB power cable?

I am using a Fujitsu USB HD and it came with such a cable...

 

[G0dLiKe]

Like the ^poster said, this can be the key to your problem, when your HD suffers power input, it wont be seen by the Wii... came it originally with a extra USB power cable?

I am using a Fujitsu USB HD and it came with such a cable...

 

[WiiZ]

It does not have an external power input. I believe it is getting enough power because the drive is usable in the GeeXbox app built upon Wii Linux. It's also usable in the PC with no issues, and I have the exact same symptoms using a different (previously working) drive and cable. I had been using this same drive for about 6 months with no issues.

I have tried both USB ports on the back of the Wii - despite believing that only the outter most port would work.

The drive does spin up, and when connected to the correct port, the loaders to create activity on the drive.

 

[WiiZ]

Update - I've now installed the newest USBLoader (http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=147638) that supports FAT32 loading, along with Hermes 222 (mload) from http://www.elotrolado.net/hilo_utilidad-ul...-idioma_1217626. I then created 2 200 GB partitions on my USB drive and formatted both as FAT32 using Fat32GUI from http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm. I copied the contents of my SD card (loaders) to the USB drive, along with a few .wbfs converted games (games into the /wbfs/ dir under root, of course - on both partitions even).

End result - I can load the loader off the FAT32 drive in the homebrew channel. It tells me it's using 222-mload v4... but it's still unable to access anything from the USB drive at this point. SD and SDHC continue to work fine - even accessing WBFS formatted SDHC cards with no issues. Based on the loader screenshots I've seen posted, it looks like it should give me an option to select the partition on the usb drive, but I never see such an option. Selecting the USB drive causes the loader to count up to 30 and timeout (with some drive activity during that time).

I had really hoped a FAT32 version of the loader would solve my issues - especially since I can get to the loader using the same USB drive. No such luck though...

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[FenrirWolf]

Make sure you've given a drive letter to the FAT32 partition and marked it as primary and active.

 

[WiiZ]

Yep - both partitions have drive letters and are primary, and the first partition is marked active.

There isn't a certain block size I need to be formatting with, is there? I just used the default when I formatted initially.

 

[shepe]

I had this issue with rev 5 of hermes cios dont know if this is the one you are using? I solved it by using rev 4 and choosing to merge it with ios 36 when installing it I think!