Hacking Wii U System restore disc/image/hack

[Pepois]

Hi everyone,

I thought it would be a good idea to open a thread where we could all try to provide useful information in regards to working out or start pursuing a possible Wii U System restore option/hack. I'll give you a brief scenario of my situation, which sadly, I'm very positive many others already had, have or will have; so as to try to just give you a very real and feasible impression of what could happen to just about anyone that owns a Wii U... yes, including you! Having said that, I would like to mention that the sole purpose of this thread is to bring to notice the real need for a backup/restore hack that hopefully would/could prevent further bricks/semi bricks or fix either.

I bought a Wii U deluxe console last July at Best Buy California and had a relative bring it to Argentina where I currently live only to brick it after less than 24hrs due to a power outage (edited) during the initial download/install update. I didn't even get the chance to play any of the games I had purchased (Nintendo Land, Black Ops II)... much less to hack the vWii and use it with my 500gb HD full with all my backups!

I obviously called Nintendo USA, since there is NO Nintendo in Argentina, and was told that I would need to bring it back to the States and they would either fix it or replace it. Shipping it to the USA from Argentina (oneway) costs US$250+ (UPS). So that's not an option for me since I would end up paying US$500+ including the return. What really upsets me though, is the fact that Nintendo has this system update downloading and installing all AT THE SAME TIME, which raises the failure rate significantly! since the update takes between 1hr-3hrs depending on your ISP and Nintendo's servers. I can imagine how many people had to return their bricked Wii Us beacuse of this. I asked them if they had a disc or a downloadable fix or if they could connect to my Wii U (since it does turn on either with the power button from the console or the Gamepad but there's no video output only the constant power-indicator blue light (NOT blinking) and a screen in the Gamepad that says it couldn't connect, etc.)... they said NO!

Now, this is not just a firmware issue but a SYSTEM update issue... so Nintendo should provide/have provided some sort of SYSTEM backup/restore disc/partition/flash/downloadable image, specially, since you are substantially at risk of bricking your Wii U not just with the initial update but any further updates.

To conclude, luckily I will travel to the States in December and I have already contacted Best Buy and they will replace my Wii U for a new one but then again I'd have to wait... and I will. But just wondered, now that the Wii U has been apparently hacked by overfl0w, would it be possilbe to have a system restore option? even for those that have already hacked their vWiis or want to... wouldn't it be great to have the ability to restore the system in case a future update semibricks your vWii or in a worse scenario, if you have a similar situation like mine and end up with a bricked Wii U?

Anyway,
I hope the right persons read this and that something can be done.

Best Regards
Pepois

 

[uyjulian]

No, you will have to replace it, sorry. Wii U mode isn't hacked yet.

About updating:
Why didn't you have a surge protector..? There's like tons of those in the US.
If that's not enough, how about a UPS?

I think some games have an update on them, not sure which ones through.

 

[yuyuyup]

am brasil hacks pls

 

[PolloDiablo]

ohhh... I can almost feel your pain. Power outages are very common here.
$250 to ship to USA?! you mean pesos or dollars?

Sadly, I don't think there is anything you can do. The vWii being hacked doesn't mean you have full control of the Wii U.
I find really weird that both install and download of the update runs at the same time. IIRC, the Wii doesn't do that.

 

[Taleweaver]

Sorry to hear it, man. But I've got to mention it's not entirely that way: the firmware installation is harmless while it is downloading. It's only during the actual installation that it's very brick-vulnerable. It sucks that the power went out at exactly that time.

...but at least it happened then and not after you hacked it. You know that hacking your wiiu (or any console) voids the warranty, right?

That little fact kinda loses my empathy for you. They offer to replace it for no charge, and you complain that you should ship it to the country where you bought the thing. What do you expect? that Miyamoto comes over, hands you his personal wiiu and then commits hara kiri in front of your doorstep with the gamepad?

 

[Pepois]

No, you will have to replace it, sorry. Wii U mode isn't hacked yet.

About updating:
Why didn't you have a surge protector..? There's like tons of those in the US.
If that's not enough, how about a UPS?

I think some games have an update on them, not sure which ones through.

Hi, thanks for your reply,

If I had known I would have, I will next time! I believe you can find surge protectors just about anywhere in the world.
In regards to the Wii U not being hacked, that's exactly the point of this thread... has it beeen hacked? will it? is it within grasp?
I will look into games that may have system updates on them, that sounds promising.

Thank you for the input Julialy
Pepois

 

[trumpet-205]

What really upsets me though, is the fact that Nintendo has this system update downloading and installing all AT THE SAME TIME, which raises the failure rate since the update takes between 1hr-3hrs depending on your ISP and Nintendo's servers.

You are confused. Wii U downloads the update first then proceed to install it. When you experienced power surge, you experienced what we called voltage spike. In simple term, a very strong electricity that'll fry any electronic device.

System update did NOT kill your Wii U, power surge did. Even if you didn't update power surge would've kill your Wii U anyway.

 

[Pepois]

ohhh... I can almost feel your pain. Power outages are very common here.
$250 to ship to USA?! you mean pesos or dollars?

Sadly, I don't think there is anything you can do. The vWii being hacked doesn't mean you have full control of the Wii U.
I find really weird that both install and download of the update runs at the same time. IIRC, the Wii doesn't do that.

Hi there,

I meant US dollars, those are UPS fees. I am well aware of the difference between hacking the vWii and the Wii U, actually that's the point of this thread, since having a Wii U system backup should/could include a vWii system backup too, shouldn't/couldn't it?

I found it weird too, but again my Wii U was about 30% done downloading the update when the power outage happened. I have also read similar situations where people's Wii Us were in the middle of an update and had similar results.

Best regards

Pepois

 

[JPnintendo]

Oh Man! I really feel your pain! WII Us ares too expensive here, everytime I update the console its like time is on slow motion!

 

[Pepois]

Sorry to hear it, man. But I've got to mention it's not entirely that way: the firmware installation is harmless while it is downloading. It's only during the actual installation that it's very brick-vulnerable. It sucks that the power went out at exactly that time.

...but at least it happened then and not after you hacked it. You know that hacking your wiiu (or any console) voids the warranty, right?

That little fact kinda loses my empathy for you. They offer to replace it for no charge, and you complain that you should ship it to the country where you bought the thing. What do you expect? that Miyamoto comes over, hands you his personal wiiu and then commits hara kiri in front of your doorstep with the gamepad?

Hi there,

Thank you for the quick reply. Just for the record, I'm not looking for empathy, that is not the purpose of this thread. I am hoping that it will get the needed attention and perhaps as a result, something can be done in the near future to PREVENT similar situations happening to me or anyone, including you. I haven't complained about having the Wii U shipped back to the States persay. I did mention the cost it would represent and how it was not a solution for me, hence, I will have to wait until December. However, what I did/do complain to Nintendo was/is for something totally reasonable, at least for me... and that has to do, for a start, to have paid for something that shouldn't have needed an update for it to work 100% in terms of functionality, far less for it to be so bricking-vulnerable (no pund intended). And again, since we are talking about a SYSTEM update, I would expect for it to have a system backup/restore/partition/you name it! option. In the end, the Wii U is a computer in terms of hardware... and when you buy one you should get just that.

Still, please don't get me wrong, I am not complaining to you, my fellow gamers, Wii and Wii U owners. I do own a Wii and I'm very happy with it specially for all the great things about it: its community, Homebrew support, the games, Nintendo. I love Nintendo. I have owned almost every console they've made.

Best regards

Pepois

 

[Pepois]

You are confused. Wii U downloads the update first then proceed to install it. When you experienced power surge, you experienced what we called voltage spike. In simple term, a very strong electricity that'll fry any electronic device.

System update did NOT kill your Wii U, power surge did. Even if you didn't update power surge would've kill your Wii U anyway.

Hi there,

I really wish I was! Oh, and just to get the record straight, it was not a surge, it was a power outage! Sorry for the confusion, I used the wrong term.

Wii U does download and install software periodically! the Nintendo technician who I talked to over the phone confirmed this. And from my own experience; the download was at 30% within the downloading stage but again, I'm sure it was installing something. Otherwise, the power outage wouldn't have bricked my Wii U nor the many other bricked Wii Us which have suffered a similar fate and have ended up being sent to Nintendo for repairs. You can google it and I'm sure you will find many others having similar issues. Which is totally unbelieavable, wouldn't you agree? That's what I meant by having a "substantial failure rate". And btw, here in Argentina we use 220v and the AC adaptor says 110v only.... that's a total lie, I suppose Nintendo missinforms customers in order to control importation/exportation etc. but again that's off the topic.

Best regards

Pepois

 

[ShadowSoldier]

Hi there,

I really wish I was!!! I promise! Oh and just to make the record straight it was not a surge, it was a power outage! sorry for the confusion I used the wrong term.

Wii U downloads and installs software... the technician at Nintendo who I talked to over the phone confirmed this. And from my own experience the download was at 30% so it was in the downloading stage... but again it sure was installing. You can google it and you will find many others saying the same thing. Which is totally unbelieavable, wouldn't you agree. That's what I meant by having a "substantial failure rate" Oh and btw, here in Argentina we use 220v and the AC adaptor says 110v only.... that's a total lie, I suppose Nintendo missinforms customers in order to control importation/exportation etc. but again that's off the topic.

Best regards

Pepois

Uh no. It even says on the GamePad: Downloading Update. Then it says "Installing Update"

Also, we're not hackers, nobody knows about the hacking progress of a WiiU. Also don't talk as if Nintendo is the only one that does this. Majority of the bricked consoles, have been consumer fault. "Oh I just got my launch day WiiU along with a million other people. I'm going to download this big update." Servers get overloaded. People think the console freezes, and then they unplug the WiiU and boom, bricked console. It's not just the WiiU that does that. Any console does.

Power Outage? Legit reason. But it's out of Nintendo's control. The best you can do is ship it to them. Though I wonder why you bought a North American WiiU... that's just weird.

 

[Pepois]

Uh no. It even says on the GamePad: Downloading Update. Then it says "Installing Update"

Also, we're not hackers, nobody knows about the hacking progress of a WiiU. Also don't talk as if Nintendo is the only one that does this. Majority of the bricked consoles, have been consumer fault. "Oh I just got my launch day WiiU along with a million other people. I'm going to download this big update." Servers get overloaded. People think the console freezes, and then they unplug the WiiU and boom, bricked console. It's not just the WiiU that does that. Any console does.

Power Outage? Legit reason. But it's out of Nintendo's control. The best you can do is ship it to them. Though I wonder why you bought a North American WiiU... that's just weird.

Wow, that was fast!

You've really got to love this community! Btw, this is the Wii U Hacking & Homebrew forum, isn't it?

I couldn't agree more with you when it comes to bricking your Wii U by unplugging it, that surely is pure negligence! But even so, if you bought a MacBook Pro, and you were updating your system and decided to shut down your laptop for whatever reason, you would come to expect a backup/restore option that would enable you to reinstall the system, wouldn't you? That was my point.

Why would I buy a Wii U in the States... let me think about it for a second... maybe because you CAN'T buy one here? and you think... "well I buy most of my gear in the States because for once its 80-100% cheaper since incredibly, customs duties here rip you off with 50% of the total price, then taxes take 15% and lastlly, inflation and currency devaluation take up the rest". Also, you'd expect gear to work and yes, to come with a system restore option! Finally, to top that off, surely you would expect from any respected international company to include a 100% international warranty in all their products, like Apple products do. Did I mention that Chile, Uruguay and Brazil do have official Nintendo stores/repair shops? I contacted them all but was briefly told by Nintendo Uruguay, who were the only ones that bothered replying to just one of my several emails; that the Wii U wasn't still available, and even if it were, I would still need to send it back to the States, etc. Maybe it would be just a tad too much to expect Mr. Miyamoto himself appearing at my doorstep to hand me in his own personal Wii U, as someone earlier suggested; but perhaps sending mine to one of the above mentioned countries? Or maybe Walmart? Yes, we have Walmart stores here too, you know, and likewise, they sell Nintendo products (at twice the price) except for the Wii U... perhaps any of these wouldn't be asking too much, now would it? Specially, now in 2013 where globalization has taken a steep climb in today's world. Anyway, I do hope, that after spending some valuable minutes here, I may have answered your thoughtful question.

I do appreciate your time and input but what I'm trying to achieve here with this thread is not to discuss if I should/shouldn't have bought a North American Wii U or if you should or shouldn't feel empathy for me; nor concentrating in what I should/shouldn't do with my particular situation. I would much rather prefer to have this beloved Hacking & Homebrew community focusing, centering and coming to the full realization of such a need, and perhaps just then, together we could try to shed some light in regards to what could be done to prevent future bricks and semi bricks from happening and strive together in trying to figure out a way to obtain a restore/backup hack. I am also aware that the possibility of having Wii U Homebrew support/channel has been debated and sadly it may never happen, which I believe is very unfortunate since that's one of the greatest assets the Wii had to offer. But regardless of whether Homebrew should be supported or not due to piracy issues that have been discussed here, or any other reasons; I would strongly encourage all of you to appreciate the need for having such a restore hack! That is really the intention of this thread! I hope you can grasp it! Or as others would put it, hope you can dig it!

Needless to say, if all of these could be done before December... it would be great! (just kidding)

Best regards

Pepois

 

[Slartibartfast42]

That same brick happened to me. Power loss due to faulty powerstrip, and wouldn't output any signal at all. Nintendo are idiots for not putting in a decent restore system. I got a new one, but didn't have to pay any shipping, as I was in the US.

Overflow only hacked Wii U Mode in theory. They haven't developed any of the software needed to actually fix a broken wii u. They are being lazy and they think piracy is actually bad for a system.

You have zero attachment to that particular Wii U. You have no games, no system transfer, or anything on it right? Nintendo is just gonna send you a brand new one anyways.

What you could do is buy a new Wii U, if you can get a good price on one. Then, after you get yours replaced, sell it back in Argentina. I bet you could find someone to pay good money for a fully updated Wii U. You should make most of your money back. That is, if you can afford to do this. This way, you can play it sooner.

 

[jefffisher]

have you thought about trying regular mail rather than UPS, USPS a WII U console only to another country from USA would cost $60, so i'd think sending it here would cost about the same. UPS's prices are just insane for international mail.

 

[PolloDiablo]

you should listen to jefffisher , UPS is a ripoff
also... Correo Argentino is shit, go with OCA instead

Though I wonder why you bought a North American WiiU... that's just weird.

here in Argentina, stores only sells NTSC american games

 

[Pepois]

It's me again,

I was thinking, maybe for a start, we could try to figure out how Nintendo fixes a bricked Wii U. I mean, which method do they use? a restore disc, flash, USB, SD? I know there was a Wii repair disc loose on the internet, I grabbed one some time ago. Another thing that comes to mind... Why doesn't/wouldn't Nintendo or any other console manufacturer provide a restore disc? Would that jeopardize the vulnerability for their systems being hacked?

I hope we can acquire some revelant feedback to these questions.

Best regards

Pepois

 

[Yepi69]

I find really weird that both install and download of the update runs at the same time. IIRC, the Wii doesn't do that.

Actually it does.

 

[nl255]

You are confused. Wii U downloads the update first then proceed to install it. When you experienced power surge, you experienced what we called voltage spike. In simple term, a very strong electricity that'll fry any electronic device.

System update did NOT kill your Wii U, power surge did. Even if you didn't update power surge would've kill your Wii U anyway.

Actually, that is the case with the 3DS transfer tool. If your Internet connection goes out even for a second it will brick at least one if not both systems. Doesn't matter if you have both the DSi and 3DS plugged into a UPS or anything like that, even having your DHCP lease expire is enough to cause a brick.

 

[Pepois]

have you thought about trying regular mail rather than UPS, USPS a WII U console only to another country from USA would cost $60, so i'd think sending it here would cost about the same. UPS's prices are just insane for international mail.

Hi,

Thank you for your suggestion, I overlooked your response. As you might imagine, I'm not Argentinian and I really don't trust their mail system nor their costums duty policies. I rather wait. Thankfully, I have the option to travel back and forward to the States though not as often as I wish. If I didn't have that option I would really consider your suggestion. Perhaps other Wii U owners with a similar situation that lack the ability to travel might be interested in your very reasonable suggestion!

Best regards

Pepois