Hacking vWii crashing when USB drive is initialized

[NathanFiscus]

I have been having the strangest error ever since upgrading to a larger harddrive.

Originally I used a 40GB 2.5" drive formatted WBFS. This drive worked perfectly. I was able to leave the drive connected 24/7.

I upgraded to a 160GB 2.5" drive formatted FAT32 (32kb cluster size). Now I am having freezing issues.

Case 1:
Drive is plugged into Wii U. Turn Wii U on, ignore format warning, load vWii. Start cfg usb loader or usb loader GX. Both crash at "initialize USB"

Case 2:
Drive is NOT plugged into Wii U. Turn Wii U on, load vWii. PLUG-IN USB drive. Start cfg or GX. Both work flawlessly (even after hours of play).


Why can't I leave my drive connected 24/7? Anytime I switch from Wii U -> vWii mode I have to make sure it was unplugged the entire time. I don't think the drive is going to sleep, but I could be wrong.


Note 1: I use a Y-Cable, and have tried ios 249, 250, & 251 in both loaders.
Note 2: If I boot the Wii U holding the B button (skip strait to vWii) it still crashed on USB initialize.

 

[Cyan]

I didn't heard of this issue before. Thanks for reporting it, it will be useful to help other users with the same problem.
unfortunately, I don't know how to help you.

There are USB cables with switches, maybe you should try one. You still need to go to the console to switch the drive's power but you don't need to unplug it anymore.

 

[hippojay]

I've had similar issues witha 500Gb 2.5" drive with a y-cable too. In the end, I solved it by using a direct power source from a wall power socket (a USB charger into the y-cable). I've also successfully used a powered USB hub, which suggests that sometimes the power output from the WIIU USB just isn't right for all devices..

 

[NathanFiscus]

Thank you for the replies guys .

HDD Case: Rosewill RX81U-MP-25A-B (not the greatest, got it for free)
HDD: 160GB Hitachi 5400RPM drive. Not sure of model ATM.

Is it possible that the pause between Wii U switching to vWii mode could be sending some sort of head park command? I really don't know much about head parking / sleep mode, but I know that it can be disabled (or at least stopped) within Windows.