Hacking Usb loader gx resets back to homebrew channel even after installing cIos

[Lightenergy]

I have a pal Wii and have recently tried to softmod my Wii so i can play a ntsc game using USB loader gx but everytime i try all i get is the Wii resetting me back to the homebrew page, i have tried swapping my USB to the other drive but all that does is freeze the Wii on a black screen without resetting, i have tried following video tutorials on how to install custom cIos, written tutorials and none have worked, i don't know if its my loaders settings or faulty ios/cios anymore
Here is my syscheck log if there is anything in it that can help

Spoiler

SysCheck HDE v2.4.0 HacksDen Edition by JoostinOnline, Double_A, R2-D2199, and Nano
...runs on IOS58 (rev 6176).
Region: PAL
System Menu 4.3E (v514)
Priiloader installed
Drive date: 07.14.2008
Homebrew Channel 1.1.2 running on IOS58
Hollywood v0x21
Console ID: 99034787
Console Type: Wii
Shop Channel Country: United Kingdom (110)
Boot2 v4
Found 115 titles.
Found 51 IOS on this console. 5 of them are stubs.
IOS3 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS4 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS9 (rev 1034): No Patches
IOS10 (rev 768): Stub
IOS11 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS12 (rev 526): No Patches
IOS13 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS14 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS15 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS16 (rev 512): Stub
IOS17 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS20 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS21 (rev 1039): No Patches
IOS22 (rev 1294): No Patches
IOS28 (rev 1807): No Patches
IOS30 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS31 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS33 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS34 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS35 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS36 (rev 3608): No Patches
IOS37 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS38 (rev 4124): No Patches
IOS40 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS41 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS43 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS45 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS46 (rev 3607): No Patches
IOS48 (rev 4124): No Patches
IOS50 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS51 (rev 4864): Stub
IOS52 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS53 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS55 (rev 5663): No Patches
IOS56 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS57 (rev 5919): No Patches
IOS58 (rev 6176): USB 2.0
IOS60 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS61 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS62 (rev 6430): No Patches
IOS70 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS80 (rev 16174): Trucha Bug, NAND Access
IOS202[60] (rev 65535, Info: hermesrodries-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS222[38] (rev 4, Info: hermes-v4): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS223[38+37] (rev 4, Info: hermes-v4): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS224[57] (rev 65535, Info: hermesrodries-v6): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS236[36] (rev 65535, Info: rev 3351): Trucha Bug, ES Identify, NAND Access
IOS249[56] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS250[57] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS251[58] (rev 65535, Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug, NAND Access, USB 2.0
IOS254 (rev 65281): BootMii
BC v6
MIOS v10
Report generated on 07/02/2019.

 

[Cyan]

do you have a real HDD, or a flashdrive ?
Flash drive don't work. I repeat it at least once a week. a simple search for the same symptom would have given you that answer.

my USB to the other drive

Let me decode it :
My Flashdrive to the other USB port.


USB doesn't mean flashdrive, it mean USB !
please, stop using the "cable/plug type" to talk about a device model.
HDD are also USB.
Microphone and mouse and keyboards are ALSO USB.


Or you really meant you tried your USB Port to the other drive ? you have more than one Hard Disk Drive ?

you must plug your HDD to USB Port 0.
Port 0 is at the bottom on Wii, back-top on WiiU.

following video tutorials

video tutorial are the worst. only people with no knowledge make them, and can't provide support for issues because they don't know a thing. video are always bad and wrong. never follow a video tutorial for something like hacking. at best, it won't work, at worse you'll break it.

 

[Lightenergy]

Yeah, its because it was a flashdrive and sorry about bothering you

 

[Cyan]

some flashdrive can work, so you could try other ones. but you should get a HDD if you plan to use it regularly and with other games.
flashdrives can work better if formatted to WBFS format, but it's old and deprecated, and works only for Wii games (no other homebrew, gamecube, etc.)

 

[Lightenergy]

i did get it to work not too long after i replied to you by using wiiflow and setting the format of the drive to ntfs, however it would crash my wii after changing scenes and corrupted the flash drive each time, so im just going to get a HDD because the flash drive has too many issues

 

[alivebacon]

Flash drive don't work.

I have used a Sandisk 16GB USB stick with GX without any issues.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Yeah, its because it was a flashdrive and sorry about bothering you

No it isn't. You need to use the bottom port on the back of your Wii. The top port doesn't work.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

do you have a real HDD, or a flashdrive ?
Flash drive don't work. I repeat it at least once a week. a simple search for the same symptom would have given you that answer.


Let me decode it :
My Flashdrive to the other USB port.


USB doesn't mean flashdrive, it mean USB !
please, stop using the "cable/plug type" to talk about a device model.
HDD are also USB.
Microphone and mouse and keyboards are ALSO USB.


Or you really meant you tried your USB Port to the other drive ? you have more than one Hard Disk Drive ?

you must plug your HDD to USB Port 0.
Port 0 is at the bottom on Wii, back-top on WiiU.


video tutorial are the worst. only people with no knowledge make them, and can't provide support for issues because they don't know a thing. video are always bad and wrong. never follow a video tutorial for something like hacking. at best, it won't work, at worse you'll break it.

None of this stuff other than the Port 0 stuff means anything.
Also, I get video tutorials suck, but ALL VIDEOS ARE WRONG? That would mean that YouTube doesn't have a single true video, and we know that's untrue.
Video tutorials suck because they can't be updated and are less clear. Mostly the former.

 

[Cyan]

video tuto are bad because most I seen are done by users who don't take all the possibilities in account, and just force users to do things the way they did and worked for them. one big concern is also because they don't provide support, and users have to come here to seek help.
Most video are done by noobs, for noobs.
I agree that I talked generally and it's sometime different, like flashdrives are not working, but you had a working one. the problem is most don't. if you have a working one, that's great for you, but if you based your tutorial on YOUR result, you'd tell everyone to use flashdrive because you had good experience with them. (there were some youtube video tutorial telling users to use flashdrives, we had a very very very big increase of help request at the start of the year)
That's what I mean when I say video are bad, they consider what worked for them will work for everyone else, even if it's wrong (like giving Wii tutorial for WiiU, etc.), most people seek notoriety and views and monetization of their channels instead of really teaching and sharing knowledge.

 

[alivebacon]

video tuto are bad because most I seen are done by users who don't take all the possibilities in account, and just force users to do things the way they did and worked for them. one big concern is also because they don't provide support, and users have to come here to seek help.
Most video are done by noobs, for noobs.
I agree that I talked generally and it's sometime different, like flashdrives are not working, but you had a working one. the problem is most don't. if you have a working one, that's great for you, but if you based your tutorial on YOUR result, you'd tell everyone to use flashdrive because you had good experience with them. (there were some youtube video tutorial telling users to use flashdrives, we had a very very very big increase of help request at the start of the year)
That's what I mean when I say video are bad, they consider what worked for them will work for everyone else, even if it's wrong (like giving Wii tutorial for WiiU, etc.), most people seek notoriety and views and monetization of their channels instead of really teaching and sharing knowledge.

Why wouldn't flashdrives work?

 

[Cyan]

I'm not 100% sure, and it's only a supposition based on what I see.
I think the new hardware (both flashdrive and new HDDs) contains USB interface with specific (and new?) commands that the cIOS's small USBLib module doesn't have.
due to IOS size constrain, the USB module added to the IOS had to be a custom and small one. it might not be complete.

The USB interface is the motherboard converting commands received from the host (Wii, computer, etc.) to the flash chipset microcontroller (NAND, or MMC).
that interface might wait specific command to write or init the content of the chipset, but the cIOS doesn't send the expecting ones.

The official IOS58 contains a more complete and official version of USB drivers, and that IOS can init drives not working with cIOS.
That's why using IOS58 inside the homebrew loader help initializing the problematic HDD, and once they are initialized and rotating, the loader can reload to cIOS before launching a game.

There are two different issues I could gather:
1 - old flashdrives had issues only with write mode (dump disc, download cover) even with IOS58, but could function properly in read mode (init/list/play game). old flashdrive was mainly used when WBFS was still a thing, it seems LibFAT is also linked to that write problem (no idea why). Maybe more a libFAT issue than what I think about missing commands from USBLib. I often recommend to revert back to WBFS partition format to get these flashdrive a working state. read only, but it's good enough, right

2 - new flashdrives (and Toshiba drives) are not working at all with cIOS. they are not seen, they can't be initialized, nor even mounted after IOS58 initialized them. reloading to cIOS to load the game just hang on black screen. These one don't even work in read mode.


Again, without real proper analysis of the USB communication protocol, it's only supposition.
there are tools to analyze the transmitted data over USB on a low level (bits by bits), but I never tried that.

 

[alivebacon]

I'm not 100% sure, and it's only a supposition based on what I see.
I think the new hardware (both flashdrive and new HDDs) contains USB interface with specific (and new?) commands that the cIOS's small USBLib module doesn't have.
due to IOS size constrain, the USB module added to the IOS had to be a custom and small one. it might not be complete.

The USB interface is the motherboard converting commands received from the host (Wii, computer, etc.) to the flash chipset microcontroller (NAND, or MMC).
that interface might wait specific command to write or init the content of the chipset, but the cIOS doesn't send the expecting ones.

The official IOS58 contains a more complete and official version of USB drivers, and that IOS can init drives not working with cIOS.
That's why using IOS58 inside the homebrew loader help initializing the problematic HDD, and once they are initialized and rotating, the loader can reload to cIOS before launching a game.

There are two different issues I could gather:
1 - old flashdrives had issues only with write (dump disc, download cover) mode even with IOS58, but could function properly in read mode (list/play game). old flashdrive was mainly used when WBFS was still a thing, it seems LibFAT is also linked to that write problem (no idea why). Maybe more a libFAT issue than what I think about missing commands from USBLib.

2 - new flashdrives (and Toshiba drives) are not working at all with cIOS. they are not seen, they can't be initialized, nor even mounted after IOS58 initialized them. reloading to cIOS to load the game just hang on black screen. These one don't even work in read mode.


Again, without real proper analysis of the USB communication protocol, it's only supposition.
there are tools to analyze the transmitted data over USB on a low level (bits by bits), but I never tried that.

Interesting. Why does only the bottom port work on a modded Wii?

 

[Cyan]

Not only.

It's also based on the way the custom IOS is working.
cIOS contains new added code to init the USB (which is usually not used when playing a game from disc), and Waninkoko added support only for one USB Port when he developed his patches for IOS (to make cIOS), because that was enough to load games from USB. No need to add more code than necessary in a very small space available into the IOS (few Kb).
Hermes was also a known cIOS developer, and she wrote her own functions instead of reusing Waninkoko's work. Hermes's cIOS had both USB Port working! (for reference, Hermes cIOS are usually installed in slot 222/223/224, while Waninkoko's cIOS are in 249/250/251)


Later, when Waninkoko stopped developing the patches for IOS at rev21, Davebaol continued his work and started the "rev21 mod" nicknamed "d2x".
d2x cIOS is actually a mod of rev21 cIOS, which is why the version is "21 008" or "21 010"
d2x cIOS v9 added support for USB Port0 AND Port1, along with Plug&Play support! But it was a beta and work had never been completed, and added lot of issues, both hardware and software. games were not working, emuNAND was not working, some device are not working, etc.

At the same time, before v9 was completed, the WiiU was released.
that's when a decision had to be made.

Release v8 (stable) for WiiU ?
release v9 (beta) for WiiU ?
But v9 had new fixes that v8 didn't have.... releasing v8 would be like reverting the work done on v9.

It was decided to increase the version number and release two different versions, a v9+fix+Port1 (but with bugs) and a v9+fix without Port1 to have a stable version of new cIOS.
instead of naming them 8+fix and 9, the version has been increased in v10 (r52, stable, identical to v8+fix) and v10-alternative (identical to latest v9, contains both usb port support, but had bugs!).
The Wii also had the cIOS v10, because users wouldn't understand that a new release was available (higher than v8) and they might try to install them on Wii, so Davebaol actually released 4 versions:

Wii v10 (revision 52)
Wii v10-alt (revision 53)
vWii v10 (revision 52)
vWii v10-alt (revision 53)

You can use v10-alt if you want support for USB Port1, or if you are on Wii, also Hermes cIOS, or d2x v9 beta.
just know that d2x v9 and v10 r53 are not stable, can freeze, can not see hardware, some games don't work.
And don't just "throw" v10-alt into your console, without understanding how it works and the differences. that's also a VERY big part of the help we (I?) provide on the forum.
I finally managed to make very well known guides (completeSoftmodGuide) to stop telling users to install r53 !
Finally I can breath a little, there are a LOOOT less help request on the forum now.
for years, lot of guides just copied themselves to new guides (not only video tutorials), continuing the loop of wrong setup

The problem is the same than video, users who made the guides didn't know better, and just gave a wrong setup forcing users to ask for help almost 100% of the time, and guides rarely or never provide support. gbatemp did. I did.
I don't even talk about wrong IOS base....

 

[Alexander1970]

Not only.

It's also based on the way the custom IOS is working.
cIOS contains new added code to init the USB (which is usually not used when playing a game from disc), and Waninkoko added support only for one USB Port when he developed his patches for IOS (to make cIOS), because that was enough to load games from USB. No need to add more code than necessary in a very small space available into the IOS (few Kb).
Hermes was also a known cIOS developer, and she wrote her own functions instead of reusing Waninkoko's work. Hermes's cIOS had both USB Port working! (for reference, Hermes cIOS are usually installed in slot 222/223/224, while Waninkoko's cIOS are in 249/250/251)


Later, when Waninkoko stopped developing the patches for IOS at rev21, Davebaol continued his work and started the "rev21 mod" nicknamed "d2x".
d2x cIOS is actually a mod of rev21 cIOS, which is why the version is "21 008" or "21 010"
d2x cIOS v9 added support for USB Port0 AND Port1, along with Plug&Play support! But it was a beta and work had never been completed, and added lot of issues, both hardware and software. games were not working, emuNAND was not working, some device are not working, etc.

At the same time, before v9 was completed, the WiiU was released.
that's when a decision had to be made.

Release v8 (stable) for WiiU ?
release v9 (beta) for WiiU ?
But v9 had new fixes that v8 didn't have.... releasing v8 would be like reverting the work done on v9.

It was decided to increase the version number and release two different versions, a v9+fix+Port1 (but with bugs) and a v9+fix without Port1 to have a stable version of new cIOS.
instead of naming them 8+fix and 9, the version has been increased in v10 (r52, stable, identical to v8+fix) and v10-alternative (identical to latest v9, contains both usb port support, but had bugs!).
The Wii also had the cIOS v10, because users wouldn't understand that a new release was available (higher than v8) and they might try to install them on Wii, so Davebaol actually released 4 versions:

Wii v10 (revision 52)
Wii v10-alt (revision 53)
vWii v10 (revision 52)
vWii v10-alt (revision 53)

You can use v10-alt if you want support for USB Port1, or if you are on Wii, also Hermes cIOS, or d2x v9 beta.
just know that d2x v9 and v10 r53 are not stable, can freeze, can not see hardware, some games don't work.
And don't just "throw" v10-alt into your console, without understanding how it works and the differences. that's also a VERY big part of the help we (I?) provide on the forum.
I finally managed to make very well known guides (completeSoftmodGuide) to stop telling users to install r53 !
Finally I can breath a little, there are a LOOOT less help request on the forum now.
for years, lot of guides just copied themselves to new guides (not only video tutorials), continuing the loop of wrong setup

The problem is the same than video, users who made the guides didn't know better, and just gave a wrong setup forcing users to ask for help almost 100% of the time, and guides rarely or never provide support. gbatemp did. I did.
I don't even talk about wrong IOS base....

And again a really great explanation from @Cyan .Now I understand also the USB Port thing correct.
I thinked before only the one USB port is supported correctly.
That maybe helps me on my Rockband 3/Guitar issues.
...and learned something again !

THANK YOU !!

 

[Cyan]

This is all part of the hacking and development history, which is being lost little by little because nobody remember, and new member don't know about it.
this is also what I tried to achieve by writing the Wii hacking guide, which I never completed

If you read it, you'd understand better how IOS and cIOS and slot and base are working together.
I didn't explain about the usb port yet, so I thought it'd be a good idea to "refresh the memories" a little here

I'm glad you found that interesting.


While I'm talking about hermes IOS, I might tell that it was the only patcher to have a "mixed base" option.
we could create a new IOS based on two different IOS's modules.
instead of patching IOS36 to cIOS base36, and IOS37 to cIOS base37, there were a new cIOS base 36+37, which contains both individual modules in one. that dual base had great result for game compatibility, having a single slot with two different IOS's functionalities.
an IOS contains few different modules in it (nand communication, sd access, disc access, etc.), and some IOS don't have the same modules (for example IOS58 having a USB2.0 module, which other IOS don't have). this "mixed base" is a result of mixing different modules.

 

[Alexander1970]

This is all part of the hacking and development history, which is being lost little by little because nobody remember, and new member don't know about it.
this is also what I tried to achieve by writing the Wii hacking guide, which I never completed

If you read it, you'd understand better how IOS and cIOS and slot and base are working together.
I didn't explain about the usb port yet, so I thought it'd be a good idea to "refresh the memories" a little here

I'm glad you found that interesting.

Sadly as you say: THIS knowledge is slowly going to be lost in case of going better and better "SELF and READY to GO Modding solutions".
Easy for the NEW one,not very informative for those who WILL understand the functions and want to learn from them.

THANK YOU to have you on OUR side.

 

[Cyan]

that's why I always try to explain why something is done that way, instead of just providing "single press buttons" guides.
it helps the user understand why he does it, prevent doing mistakes in future, and even help providing knowledge and support to other users! (please, continue helping others )