Hacking Well, I feel sheepish...

[AptMadooms]

This past week I obtained a Japanese Wii for free. The Wii worked fine enough, but I otherwise wanted to be able to play US/English games so I started looking around and found out about Homebrew. After a bit of reading I discovered that it goes easier when the system is updated (especially if updated to 4.3). Since the Wii was running 2.0J I connected it to the internet and tried to run the update. I can't read Japanese but I'm pretty sure it wasn't successful. I found out about updates being on the CDs so I figured, without reading further, that I could just put one of my US games into the system to update it - I chose Wii Sports Resort. That went well enough, until I tried to access settings and discovered I had semi-bricked the thing .The CD drive still read the games, but I couldn't pull my MAC address off the Wii itself.

Thankfully, since I had connected to the internet I pulled the MAC address from the router. However, I still didn't have 4.3 on the system so I decided to put Super Mario Galaxy 2 into the system and go for broke. I'm not sure if that update took 100%, but it now doesn't read any discs (not even the Japanese version of Wii Sports that came with it). Well, I tried to do the letterbomb/hackmii but would always freeze when I clicked on the message (tried both 4.3U and 4.3J). Neither of those worked so I moved onto ModMii and tried that process - this time the letters opened and it presented the internal "code" as the letter, so not very helpful.

Last night I was going to try to letterbomb it further and then discovered that the Wii was no longer in my list of recent router "clients". I was looking back in the log but couldn't identify which one was the Wii. Because I'm not yet ready to open up the Wii, I decided to try Bluebomb. I could get the terminal to show "got connection handle" but it stopped at "stack 0" and wouldn't go any further after a few minutes.

So I've decided that it's about time I ask people who know more about this than me as my decision to "update" the Wii sounds to have been the most foolish one I could have made and all of my other problems likely stem from that.

Any help/advice is appreciated!

 

[XFlak]

Did you try both U and J using modmii/wilbrand as well? If u didn't finish updating to 4.3 then it won't work, letterbomb and wilbrand are for 4.3 only.

Are you not able to access the wii settings at all? U said u were not sure if the 4.3 update worked, and u can't see your Mac address from the wii settings, so I'm assuming u can't even check your firmware version the normal way. Since u were on 2.x before trying to update, u wouldn't have had the SD card button in the bottom left of the main system menu, but u would if you updated successfully, is this now present on your system menu?

Str2hax should work regardless of what version your on, so if u can get your wii on the internet I would just do that exploit instead.

U could also try one of the many disc based exploits available in modmii (which is all of them).

If u are able to launch the hackmii installer, but it doesn't work, use Modmii's hackmii solutions wizard.

 

[AptMadooms]

Thanks for the response!

I cannot remember if I tried both 4.3U and 4.3J on Modmii.

Cannot access settings as the Opera error comes up. I think the update from Wii Sports Resort (WSR) worked since the games still played after (I understand WSR has 3.4 on it). It's just the 4.3 update that I'm not sure about. I believe the SD card is on the menu (I attached a picture), but I think that was already on there when I did the WSR update.

Since I cannot get into the settings I presume the Str2hax is not an option (although I wish I had known about that before - really should have posted on here before trying anything...)

Disc based exploits seem to not be an option because it won't read discs currently? (although I am going to acquire Brawl anyway)

I will be trying to scour my router to find the MAC address today on the hopes that I can retry the letterbomb with a 2GB SD card instead of a 4GB SDHC card. I may also retry the Bluebomb - it just seems like I'm missing something in the process (there are references to other apps...).

 

[AptMadooms]

So, I tracked down my MAC address again and tried Letterbombing things again from hackmii, both 4.3J and 4.3U, with no success (freezes once I click on the letter).

I tried ModMii, but I honestly don't understand how that works (I get confused with references to Wii's that have homebrew and then not being able to tell what I do if I don't already have homebrew).

I have tried to Bluebomb it again but cannot get it to go past "Stage 0" (I tried 3.4U letterbomb most recently, but after some reading it appears I may definitely have 4.3U???, but then why wouldn't letterbomb work...?)

I have a copy of smash, and it won't load it (yes it's an english version, but I was hopeful given that Japanese games are hard to come by here).

Is there a video or something I can watch for how to use ModMii? (The videos linked in the guide seem to be broken [or region restricted]).

 

[XFlak]

Update to the latest version of modmii, videos should be working again, and guides much enhanced

Edit: for your purpose though u just need to launch some kind of homebrew through any kind of exploit! If u can do that, we can fix this. Modmii's hackmii solutions can help u try a bunch of different exploits, but bluebomb may be a solid bet, and it's not currently supported by modmii.

Just double checking, you don't have the homebrew channel, a forwarder channel, or bootmii boot2 installed do you? All of these could be used in place of an exploit

 

[AptMadooms]

Thanks so much for the new ModMii! It's a lot clearer now. (I didn't realize it was your program, awesome!)

Unfortunately, when I go into the message board and find the "bomb" it only opens the "text" allowing me to scroll and then freezes when I try to exit the message board. (I was using 4.3U since I have the SD card icon and I used SMGalaxy 2 - I also double checked the formatting of the SD card to be FAT32 and did a "non-quick method" format of the card)

No, I don't believe I have any of those alternate methods for an exploit. I checked for the Priiloader by holding down the reset button when starting it and I don't see any homebrew channel.

I realized just now that the error message I indicated for the bluebomb in my first post is incorrect. It should say "waiting for response from Stage0" (confirmed when trying the bluebomb again tonight) Seems like no matter what exploit I do I can easily get access to the Wii, but cannot run the exploit...

 

[XFlak]

I would ask for help in the bluebomb thread, sorry I'm not personally familar with how to set it up

 

[AptMadooms]

Back to trying to use ModMii and still no success so I wanted to lay out more detail.

I am using a 4GB SDHC card. This is what the card looks like when I copy things over. Is this correct?

 

[XFlak]

Correct. Also make sure your sd card is fat32

 

[AptMadooms]

Well, I feel like something of an idiot. Everything you did worked, it was strictly me who didn't understand.

I found out last night that Super Mario Galaxy 2 updates to 4.2U, not 4.3U so I was trying to wrong method the whole time. Additionally, I was trying to access bannerbomb via message board instead of using the SD card menu.

All this to say, your program actually worked like a charm. Thank you so much!!!!

 

[AptMadooms]

Well, I feel like something of an idiot. Everything you did worked, it was strictly me who didn't understand.

I found out last night that Super Mario Galaxy 2 updates to 4.2U, not 4.3U so I was trying to wrong method the whole time. Additionally, I was trying to access bannerbomb via message board instead of using the SD card menu.

All this to say, your program actually worked like a charm. Thank you so much!!!!

It turns out I have one more hiccup - I went through your whole process to install homebrew and bootmii and priloader and custom skins etc., but the Wii was still in Japanese. So I used your ModMii program to do a region change (skipped the priiloader section of your helpful guide since I had already done that) and that fixed the language on the system menu, but I still have a problem (or two?).

When I try to access settings, instead of giving me the Opera screen, it now loads a black screen and continues to play the menu music in the background while nothing else happens. Additionally, the optical drive still won't read discs. Could it just be a bad optical drive?

 

[raxadian]

It turns out I have one more hiccup - I went through your whole process to install homebrew and bootmii and priloader and custom skins etc., but the Wii was still in Japanese. So I used your ModMii program to do a region change (skipped the priiloader section of your helpful guide since I had already done that) and that fixed the language on the system menu, but I still have a problem (or two?).

When I try to access settings, instead of giving me the Opera screen, it now loads a black screen and continues to play the menu music in the background while nothing else happens. Additionally, the optical drive still won't read discs. Could it just be a bad optical drive?

before u do anything else, reinstall priiloader!!!

Your Wii is still bricked.

Anyway after you do that, BACKUP YOUR NAND. And be sure to make a copy of that backup or several and store them somewhere safe or better yet; several different safe places.

Then restore from that backup, while making sure for the love of Pi that the power doesn't go down.

If that doesn't work; reinstall the exact firmware you have making sure it has the right region.

About the broken disc reader:

If you can now use SD cards you can just load roms from there or from a USB hard disk. Remember both the card and the hard disk have to be in fat32 format to avoid trouble. You may use usb sticks but they overheat easily and some loaders really don't like them.

 

[XFlak]

It turns out I have one more hiccup - I went through your whole process to install homebrew and bootmii and priloader and custom skins etc., but the Wii was still in Japanese. So I used your ModMii program to do a region change (skipped the priiloader section of your helpful guide since I had already done that) and that fixed the language on the system menu, but I still have a problem (or two?).

When I try to access settings, instead of giving me the Opera screen, it now loads a black screen and continues to play the menu music in the background while nothing else happens. Additionally, the optical drive still won't read discs. Could it just be a bad optical drive?

You broke my heart when you said you skipped (re)installing priiloader, this is uninstalled when installing a new system menu, which is stated multiple times in your modmii guide. I didn't even finish reading, but before u do anything else, reinstall priiloader!!!

Edit: you know I never considered this before as part of the region change guide... surprisingly, I guess no one ever commented on it before. So thank you for bringing (the following) to my attention

Your wii channels that are not region free (I. E mii channel) are still the region you had before. You would need to very carefully uninstall these (or leave them), then install the channels for your new U system menu version. See modmii classic's download page 1.

To uninstall your old channels u will need to do some steps that could result in brick if u do not know what u are doing. As long as you follow everything I'm going to say carefully you will be fine. There's 2 (or more) ways to accomplish this, first, just carefully use some yawmm mod to uninstall ONLY the old Jap Wii channels/wads, which u may have left over if u used ModMii to softmod the console when it was still J. Or another way which doesn't involve sourcing the wads is to use a homebrew app called any title deleter to delete ONLY the old J channels that are broken now that you are on U.

Edit2: don't act rashly and do anything raxadian suggested! First thing, install priiloader. 2nd thing, create and share a Syscheck log for us to see. 3rd thing, probably what I said above about installing new channels for your new shiny firmware. Some of these channels don't work anymore, like news and weather (due to lack of Nintendo service). For that you want to use RiiConnect24 to install their IOS31 and the channel in question, and an app for mail, etc. Basically do whatever they suggest but skip installing their IOS80 if you've already used ModMii 6.6.0 or higher (which you can tell by sharing a syscheck log)

Edit3: If u remove the wrong title with with any title deleter you can brick! If u uninstall the wrong wad you can brick (same goes for installing)! I said to use some yawmm mod specifically because it will prevent u from doing potentially catastrophic things like uninstalling your system menu or system menu IOS. So if you ever decide to even attempt to uninstall a wad, you should not use MMM or another WAD manager, you should use Some YAWMM Mod.

Edit4: @raxadian, thanks for editing your post with my quote to suggest he reinstall priiloader first

God I hope this is my last edit in this message

 

[AptMadooms]

To make sure I understand this - do I reinstall the Priiloader on the SD card? Do I completely redo the SD card? (when I was going to do the region change I only copied over the files I didn't already see on the SD card). Do I just use the guide for the priiloader install that was generated from the region change setup in ModMii?

You said don't do anything rashly so I want to take baby steps here...

Edit: None of this will happen for at least 5 hours as I will be out of the house for a while.

 

[XFlak]

Do I just use the guide for the priiloader install that was generated from the region change setup in ModMii?

This.

all you need is sd:/apps/priiloader, and just follow the step you skipped

 

[raxadian]

To make sure I understand this - do I reinstall the Priiloader on the SD card?

Ehem.

before u do anything else, reinstall priiloader!!!

Anyway after you do that, BACKUP YOUR NAND And be sure to make a copy of that backup or several and store them somewhere safe.

 

[XFlak]

Always good advice, but that too should have been done before unless more steps were skipped

 

[raxadian]

Always good advice, but that too should have been done before unless more steps were skipped

If it was done, the old Nand backup was the one from the failed update that bricked the console. So while good to keep just in case, a backup of the now less bricked firmware is also a good idea.

 

[Spandaman]

If you're ever in UK near me I'll give you a wii (EU) unpacking my devices, from a house move sounds faster than your route to a modded wii lol

 

[AptMadooms]

Edit2: don't act rashly and do anything raxadian suggested! First thing, install priiloader. 2nd thing, create and share a Syscheck log for us to see. 3rd thing, probably what I said above about installing new channels for your new shiny firmware. Some of these channels don't work anymore, like news and weather (due to lack of Nintendo service). For that you want to use RiiConnect24 to install their IOS31 and the channel in question, and an app for mail, etc. Basically do whatever they suggest but skip installing their IOS80 if you've already used ModMii 6.6.0 or higher (which you can tell by sharing a syscheck log)

Edit3: If u remove the wrong title with with any title deleter you can brick! If u uninstall the wrong wad you can brick (same goes for installing)! I said to use some yawmm mod specifically because it will prevent u from doing potentially catastrophic things like uninstalling your system menu or system menu IOS. So if you ever decide to even attempt to uninstall a wad, you should not use MMM or another WAD manager, you should use Some YAWMM Mod.

Edit4: @raxadian, thanks for editing your post with my quote to suggest he reinstall priiloader first

God I hope this is my last edit in this message

Priiloader installed as per your directions

Syscheck log here:

Spoiler

SysCheck HDE v2.4.0 HacksDen Edition by JoostinOnline Double_A R2-D2199 and Nano
...runs on IOS58 (rev 6176).
Region: NTSC-U
System Menu 4.2U (v481)
Priiloader installed
Drive date: 09.07.2006
Homebrew Channel 1.1.2 running on IOS58
Hollywood v0x11
Console ID: 44355299
Console Type: Wii
Shop Channel Country: United States (49)
Boot2 v4
Found 92 titles.
Found 43 IOS on this console. 2 of them are stubs.
IOS4 (rev 65280): Stub
IOS9 (rev 1034): No Patches
IOS10 (rev 768): Stub
IOS11[60] (rev 65535 Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug NAND Access
IOS12 (rev 526): No Patches
IOS13 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS14 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS15 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS17 (rev 1032): No Patches
IOS20[60] (rev 65535 Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug NAND Access
IOS21 (rev 1039): No Patches
IOS22 (rev 1294): No Patches
IOS28 (rev 1807): No Patches
IOS30[60] (rev 65535 Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): 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[60] (rev 65535 Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): 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[60] (rev 65535 Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug NAND Access
IOS52[60] (rev 65535 Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): 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 65535 Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug NAND Access
IOS61 (rev 5662): No Patches
IOS62 (rev 6430): No Patches
IOS70[60] (rev 65535 Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug NAND Access
IOS80[60] (rev 65535 Info: ModMii-IOS60-v6174): Trucha Bug NAND Access
IOS249[57] (rev 65535 Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug NAND Access USB 2.0
IOS250[56] (rev 65535 Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug NAND Access USB 2.0
IOS251[38] (rev 65535 Info: d2x-v10beta52): Trucha Bug ES Identify NAND Access
IOS254 (rev 65281): BootMii
BC v5
MIOS v10
Report generated on 03/10/2021.

Edit: I have not backed up the NAND again yet.

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

If you're ever in UK near me I'll give you a wii (EU) unpacking my devices, from a house move sounds faster than your route to a modded wii lol

You're telling me! I will be extremely frustrated if this thing now decides to give out in a short period of time... My only consolation would be if someone can learn what not to do by reading my post.