Hacking Wii Downgrade Bricked non-Lu64 Wii?

[creedda]

Hi, I recently decided to upgrade my Softmii installation on my Wii from 2.9.5 to the more stable 3.0. I was able to install 2.9.5 successfully before people started telling us not to use it. I Wanted to do as clean of a installation as possible, so i uninstalled all the VC games, wiiware, forwarder channels, and all other channels on my wii except the hombrew channel and started the instillation. In the process of doing this I also uninstalled Ios16 using the not custom Wad Manager because I remember having installed it for my forwarder channels. I then tried to install Bootmii but it would not let me. (Boy am I sad that it did not even let me run the instillation) I then went to install DVDx_fw3.4_comex, but accidentally clicked on CIOS Corp above it and loaded that. It then proceeded (without asking me if I wanted them) to install CIOS Corp again. I just decided to wait till then end and continue where I left off, but near the end of the instillation the install process stopped and an error message came up telling me to consult my wii operations manual. I was able to get into preloader .29 since I had that installed and from there the homebrew channel. I then tried using the downgrader that was supplied to us in 2.9.5 to downgrade my wii to 3.4 so that I could reinstall the system menu with a fresh update. After the upgrade was complete and it restarted, my wii refuses to display anything. I turn it on and there is a black screen. I am bricked. I cannot seem to get to preloader because of the firmware downgrade and I dont have bootmii installed. Am I boned or can savemii, some nifty piece of software, or something else help me?

I was running 4.0 with the homebrew channel and preloader at the beginning of all of this. The most recent complete softmii package that I installed and got working was 2.9.5 although I have installed every softmii revision on my wii since 2.0.

I have been trying to get the wii to boot into a diagnostic mode by holding down all the dpad buttons on a gamecube controller in the 4th player slot, but I have been unsuccessful in doing so. Either I am not doing it right, or my wii is so far gone that it cant even go into the correct maintenance mode.

Here is a video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nF8QYx6MaM

And I called Nintendo up and they said they would charge $85 for a replacement with no hidden fees or raises. And I asked them to clarify several times. Do you guys think it is worth it to try and send it in? I have homebrew channel installed and thats it, but I might also have cioscorp and other ios files changed around a bit. But again, they did assured me that no matter what the price would not be raised. Any thoughts?

 

[nabster92]

Since you installed CIOSCORP before I doubt this has anything to do at all with LU64 type Wii's first off. Second the reason why the bootmii installer didn't load is BECAUSE of CIOSCORP. The hackmii installer doesn't like it when all of your IOS's are tampered with retardedly. In order to fix that all you had to do was either get rid of CIOSCORP via IOS downgrader or just install at least a normal IOS36 and it would have ran fine.

I'm not positive, but I think the brick is most likely caused by having CIOSCORP and then trying to downgrade to 3.4 without running IOS downgrader first to prepare your IOS's to downgrade the actual firmware. If not from just having CIOSCORP at all when doing that, then it was at least most likely the fault of the error you had when you accidentally ran it again. CIOSCORP is way too dangerous of a thing to do to your Wii for what little it does espescially without fully knowing what it does.

As for fixing your situation, are you using an official GC controller and just trying to press down the whole d-pad? You have to take the controller apart and press down all four buttons for the d-pad from inside if you weren't already.

I'm not exactly sure what downgrader you used and what it may have done to CIOSCORP, but maybe if it's still there you may be able to autoboot some trucha signed disc to run something to fix it, but I'm not sure how to go about that myself. Someone else that knows may chime in soon enough.

 

[creedda]

I know that CIOScorp is not good for my Wii (hence why I was trying to install the new 3.0 which I understand uses a better CIOScorp)

My wii is not a Lu-64 wii just to be clear.

I have tried with a official gamecube controller and a wavebird as well, but I am not able to open them up because I do not have the 3 pronged screwdriver that is required. I am looking into a way to do that now.

I modified the one unofficial controller I have to press down on all 4 at once, but that does not seem to work either (see video).

Any help you can give me on the topic of autobooting trucha signed disc on my wii would be appreciated, as I am not quite sure how to do that. But if I do recall correctly it will probably mean opening up my wii and/or buying a modchip of some sort. As I don't think savemii supports that.

 

[nabster92]

I don't think ANY CIOSCORP is good for your Wii. I think pretty much the only thing that 3.0 does better about it is make it legal by patching things on the fly or something. The very IDEA behind CIOSCORP is what is dangerous, as it modifies EVERY IOS on your system.

And as I said I'm not too familiar about autobooting discs either, but heres a topic on brick fixing discs i googled:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=123708&st=0

And you might as well just check this first to see just how boned you are if you haven't:
http://savemii.net/troubleshooting.html

 

[creedda]

So i think my wii is dead here. I think I am just going to send it in and hope that they don't find the homebrew, if they do I will go from there.

The only thing that I think MIGHT work is savemii, but even then I would still have to either replace parts in the wii or mess with the nand neither of which I can do very easily and cheaply. I might as well get a new(ish) one from nintendo at a 40$ discount. or at best for just $85.

So unless anyone has any other suggestions I will just be sending it in to Nintendo Wed. or Thurs.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[WiiCrazy]

So i think my wii is dead here. I think I am just going to send it in and hope that they don't find the homebrew, if they do I will go from there.

The only thing that I think MIGHT work is savemii, but even then I would still have to either replace parts in the wii or mess with the nand neither of which I can do very easily and cheaply. I might as well get a new(ish) one from nintendo at a 40$ discount. or at best for just $85.

So unless anyone has any other suggestions I will just be sending it in to Nintendo Wed. or Thurs.

Thanks for all your help.

What did you used to downgrade to 3.4?
Possibly similar case in the http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=164197
Installation of 3.4 over stub IOS 50....

Here is a detailed info about it : http://gbatemp.net/index.php?act=findpost&pid=2087315

If that downgrader really installs 3.4 without touching the stub IOS 50 then there is a great risk in current downgraders...

 

[creedda]

I used the downgrader that came with softmii 2.9.6.

I originally updated my wii to 4.0 via nintendo, but I downgraded to 3.2 when softmii 2.9.5 came out as part of the instructions, then upgraded back to 4.0 again as part of the instructions.

Recently, as said above I accidentally launched CIOScorp causing a brick, but I was still ablet to get to preloader, I tried downgrading to 3.2U but in my haste and stupidity picked 3.4U (in retrospect I probably should have waited and done a bit of research on the best way to fix a brick with preloader) so I believe that the issue you have described and the one in that other forum might actually be what has caused the brick.

But no matter what I try, I cannot get into a recovery menu of any kind through savemiifrii. So I am not sure how I can fix the problem. Do you have any suggestions?

If I can get the recovery menu working, then I hope to be able to autoboot into a program I can use to upgrade the firmware back to 4.0(since it might be a IOS50 problem) or downgrade to 3.2 (since it uses IOS30) then go from there.

I can upload the downgrader I used if that will help you any, but most people have been warned off of 2.9.5/6 by now so I am not sure it is that big of a problem.

 

[WiiCrazy]

I used the downgrader that came with softmii 2.9.6.

I originally updated my wii to 4.0 via nintendo, but I downgraded to 3.2 when softmii 2.9.5 came out as part of the instructions, then upgraded back to 4.0 again as part of the instructions.

Recently, as said above I accidentally launched CIOScorp causing a brick, but I was still ablet to get to preloader, I tried downgrading to 3.2U but in my haste and stupidity picked 3.4U (in retrospect I probably should have waited and done a bit of research on the best way to fix a brick with preloader) so I believe that the issue you have described and the one in that other forum might actually be what has caused the brick.

But no matter what I try, I cannot get into a recovery menu of any kind through savemiifrii. So I am not sure how I can fix the problem. Do you have any suggestions?

If I can get the recovery menu working, then I hope to be able to autoboot into a program I can use to upgrade the firmware back to 4.0(since it might be a IOS50 problem) or downgrade to 3.2 (since it uses IOS30) then go from there.

I can upload the downgrader I used if that will help you any, but most people have been warned off of 2.9.5/6 by now so I am not sure it is that big of a problem.

Savemiifrii will not help you if the type of brick I described and the one you have are the same...

I checked waninkoko's firmware downgrader and it seems to be doing it's business correctly... installing IOS 50 v4889 and then installing System Menu 3.4.

softmii one possibly is the same with the waninkoko's... though I just analyzed the code with my eyes, one with bootmii should actually test the case... maybe with both wanin's and softmii's downgrader...

here is the test case,
1. make a nand backup with bootmii
2. upgrade to 4.0, make sure that you have stub ios 50 (not v4889)
3. downgrade using waninkoko's downgrader
4. check if your wii bricked
5. flash your good dump

Wish I had the time to test it...yet... Just have a look at waninkoko's downgrader source and it touches BC title too... that may be too dangerous to try, dunno how that will interact with bootmii. latest post by bushing at hackmii just talks about the boot process and BC corresponds to boot1...

http://github.com/waninkoko/firmware-downg...urce/firmware.c