Wii U not booting - Next Steps?

[lolorlofl]

I'm pretty sure I've made a post or 2 about this in the past, but there have been a lot of breakthroughs in the hacking space with regards to NAND recovery and expansion since I last posted.
I have a Wii U that does not boot to the System Menu. When it's powered on, it immediately goes to the Factory Reset page then the system crashes after a few seconds. I've tried using Gary's Recovery Menu tool multiple times to get logs, but the logs do not generate. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong. I do not have a NAND backup of the Wii U since it was given to me already broken.


At this point in time, I do not know if the NAND is corrupted (I remember reading somewhere there was a tool to check for NAND corruption, how do I go about using that tool?). It was not mine to begin with so I don't care about losing any of the data. As far as I'm aware, these are my options:

1. Assuming NAND IS NOT corrupted, is it as simple as just downloading all the system titles and re-installing them? If so, do I need a Raspberry Pi for this? I was using a Switch to get access to the Recovery Menu before, assuming the Recovery Menu is what I use.
2. Assuming NAND IS corrupted, I'd like to try out expanding the memory to 64GB. I think I will need a Raspberry Pi Pico and the NAND-AID board to do this. I was trying to follow along in the thread that goes through how to increase NAND size, however I was having a hard time finding information on how to wire up the Pico to the Wii U to install de_fuse.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the relationship between the SLC/MLC. Will I have a problem with the SLC if I go through with any of these steps without a NAND backup?
Please let me know if there is anything else I'm missing or misunderstanding.

Thanks!

 

[V10lator]

You're in a factory reset loop cause the factory reset fails to remove something from NAND. If the gamepad would be connected and you would look onto it you would even see that it's not frozen but shows an error message. No idea why Nintendo decided to freeze the TV screen and show the message on the gamepad only but it is how it is.

The problem why you have no logs is that the factory reset removes them, too.

So yes, your best bet now would be to check the eMMC (MLC) for errors. I'm pretty sure we see corrupted folders here as they are impossible to remove.

There's a fork of Garys recovery menu including MLC tools, like the MLC checker: https://github.com/jan-hofmeier/recovery_menu/releases/latest so run the MLC checker, please, then show the result (it logs to the SD card).

Also start reading into https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-upgrading-rebuilding-wii-u-internal-memory-mlc.636309/ as this is most likely what will be the next steps (but don't do anything of that yet, we have to inspect the result of the checker first and in case there are no corrupted folders a more simple way may work).

For getting a NAND-AID have a look at https://gbatemp.net/threads/selling-nand-aids-pre-order-for-just-3-eur-available-now.637225 , I'm almost ready to ship them. Just need to go to german Post tomorrow to see if it works like I hope it does (and need more stamps). Don't think you'll be able to get a NAND-AID with this high quality but more cheap anywhere else.

//EDIT: But also don't order a NAND-AID now. Wait until the MLC checker result has been inspected by us.

 

[SDIO]

Here you can see how to wire up the Pico: https://github.com/jan-hofmeier/wii_u_modchip/tree/wiring-diagram/pico_defuse
Please don't connect 3V3.

I am almost certain this is a bad eMMC. Can you go to System Information in the recovery and look for the MLC Manufacturer and date?

 

[viper_2k2009]

Sorry for hijacking a post, I currently have a black 32gb model (Hynix) that can boot to the main menu but as soon as I try to access anything at all (From System Settings to Web Browser) I am faced with the dreaded 160-0103 error.
I have managed to access the recovery menu and have dumpted OTP, SEEPROM and currently in the process of dumping the Nand, once this has been done could I possibly get some assistance with helping to see if it is only file corruption I have got or if it is also folder corruption.

Would also like to possibly get some assistance to help create the image required to write back to an SD Card and have it replace the nand.

I understand there are tutorials on here covering lots of different steps to this but I would rather not mess anything up and cause further issues if it can be helped.

I also understand that this is a big ask and would like to apologise in advance if I am wasting anybody's time.

 

[SDIO]

could I possibly get some assistance with helping to see if it is only file corruption I have got or if it is also folder corruption

Sure, but I would suggest you open your own thread for that, so things don't get mixed up.
When the dump is done, remove power from your Wii U.
Get the NAND extractor: https://github.com/koolkdev/wiiu-nandextract/releases/tag/0.1.0 and extract the logs from the slc and show them to us.
Then you merge your mlc dump, how depends on your OS and use wfs-extract to extract it. wfs-extract will list you corrupted files and folders in the process.

 

[viper_2k2009]

Sure, but I would suggest you open your own thread for that, so things don't get mixed up.
When the dump is done, remove power from your Wii U.

Thank you I will open my own post just now

 

[lolorlofl]

Just wanted to give you guys an update. After not using the Wii U in some time, the console just gets stuck at the Wii U logo instead of going to the factory reset menu like it used to. Now I think it's more likely to be NAND corruption like SDIO suggests. I tried the Recovery Menu fork that Violator posted, but I can't seem to get it to work. The best outcome I get it is a black screen and a purple LED on the console. Pressing the Power and Eject buttons does not seem to do anything. I will try the original Recovery Menu to see if that works.

EDIT: Right after posing this, I checked the Wii U and now it's showing an Orange light. Screen is still black, but there's definitely still a signal going to the monitor.

 

[SDIO]

Now the fonts probably corrupted, that's why it is stuck on the Wii U logo and you don't see output.
When you use my recovery, just press power an give it a minute, then the LED should start blinking, indicating that the dump is running

 

[lolorlofl]

Now the fonts probably corrupted, that's why it is stuck on the Wii U logo and you don't see output.
When you use my recovery, just press power an give it a minute, then the LED should start blinking, indicating that the dump is running

Not sure if it matters, but I was also getting black screen/purple LED with the original recovery_menu.
I will go back to the fork and try what you suggest.

EDIT: Pressed the power button when I saw purple LED, now it's showing orange LED again. I will wait a couple minutes and see what happens.

EDIT 2: Left it on the orange LED for at least 5 minutes, nothing changed on the screen. When I take out the SD card on the orange LED, the LED goes back to purple. I wonder if this SD card is no good.

EDIT 3: Just noticed that it creates an slc.log and slc1.bin after the light turns orange and I take out the SD card. However, nothing is generated in the log file and the sizes of both files is 0KB. I'm going to leave it running on the orange LED for a while and check it out later to see if anything changes.

Post automatically merged: Aug 14, 2023

The dump finished, I've attached logs of both the MLC and SLC

 

[SDIO]

Lots of media errors, emmc is failing

 

[lolorlofl]

Ok so I guess I'll be looking into NAND-AID and rebuilding the internal memory. I'll purchase a NAND-AID and Raspberry PI Pico later today. Once I have everything together I'll update this thread asking about next steps. Is there anything I'm missing or something I should be aware of?

 

[V10lator]

You are already able to use the recovery menu (even if just blindly) so what would the Pico be good for? I don't think you'll need one, just a NAND-AID.

 

[lolorlofl]

I guess I'm confused. Using NAND-AID, I would like to upgrade the internal storage to 64GB. The guide made it seem like I would need a Pico for de_fuse, which I thought it required to increase the internal storage. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[SDIO]

How do you launch UDPIH?

 

[V10lator]

I would like to upgrade the internal storage to 64GB.

Whoops, sorry, I overlooked that and ofc. you're right.

 

[lolorlofl]

How do you launch UDPIH?

Using a Nintendo Switch. If I can use a Switch for de_fuse that would be great, but I thought I could only use a Raspberry Pi.

 

[SDIO]

Then you need a pico fo rthe defuse. I thought you maybe already had a pico for the udpih

 

[lolorlofl]

Noticed a couple things when I read through the storage upgrade guide

I don't know what firmware this Wii U is on. It mentions something about finding the SLC titles if it's not up to date. This Wii U has been busted since I picked it up in 2020, so it's likely on 5.5.3. How do I find the SLC titles?

Also read that I can go larger than 64GB if I keep the Pico permanently installed. I think I will go that route and aim for a 512GB SD card. If I get the Pico W, are there any good uses for the wireless feature while it's installed in the Wii U?

 

[SDIO]

You can get the SLC titles also with the MLCRestoreDownloader.
I am using my wii u currently with a 128GB card without defuse, but isfshax. But that isn't ready for release now. Just so you know where things are going. I think I posted it somwhere in the rebuild thread.
But honestly I am just doing that for testing, for my normal console I would just use 64GB, as that doesn't rely on any software hacks. But you decide.

 

[lolorlofl]

You can get the SLC titles also with the MLCRestoreDownloader.
I am using my wii u currently with a 128GB card without defuse, but isfshax. But that isn't ready for release now. Just so you know where things are going. I think I posted it somwhere in the rebuild thread.
But honestly I am just doing that for testing, for my normal console I would just use 64GB, as that doesn't rely on any software hacks. But you decide.

This isn't my main Wii U, this is one I've had for a while that I was hoping to one day be able to fix. So I'm willing to Frankenstein the crap out of it if I have to
Maybe I'll try isfshax on my main Wii U when it's ready.