Hacking Wii works with a specific flash drive but nothing else, cIOS issue?

[Legendgamer800]

Hey guys



So after years (like 2017-2018?), I decided to get my old Wii out my dad modded for me like 12 years ago, to find my external HDD we used for games had stopped working in that time (nothing would recognize it and the power light eventually stopped working) so I knew I needed a new device.



My friend has a SanDisk Cruizer Blade flash drive that they say worked a couple of years ago, so I tried that. Despite what I've read about flash drives, this seems to work perfectly, all the games show up, and the couple I've tried run as expected.



So I decided to order the same one, copy over a couple games to find it does not work for me. USB Loader GX gets stuck on 'reinitializing devices' for a minute and then just refuses to initialize the device. No matter what I tried I couldn't get the games to appear in either USB loader or USB Loader GX. Except: if I force USB Loader GX to use ios58 to load, then the games DO appear, but they refuse to run, even if I try to make the games manually run from cIOS 249 (which is what it uses to load itself by default)



Writing it off as my drive having a newer chipset than my friends and that being funny, I decided to order this maxone external HDD. This has the exact same issue. Nothing appears when using cIOS 249, and things do appear but can't launch when using IOS58.



Does anyone know why this could be, and if there is a software fix? I don't know how it could be because it does work with that one specific drive, and I can't really afford to keep risking new ones, but also using my friends isn't a long-term solution because they might want it back at some point.



I can't run a syscheck because it gives me the error "failed to get the stored TMD size for IOS46). I could install this, but as I have never needed it I didn't see the point unless you guys say so because I don't want to get sent down a rabbit hole of having to install every IOS version (feels like it kinda defeats the point of the check if I know for a fact I have manually installed every version).



What I can say is I'm on Wii menu 4.3, the latest hbc and USB Loader GX, and I've tried launching USB Loader GX through hbc and the forwarder. I have also tried USB Loader, and that can't find the wbfs partition on either and refuses to format it for one. I have tried both of my drives in FAT32 and WBFS (via Wii backup manager), it doesn't make a difference.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hey guys



So after years (like 2017-2018?), I decided to get my old Wii out my dad modded for me like 12 years ago, to find my external HDD we used for games had stopped working in that time (nothing would recognize it and the power light eventually stopped working) so I knew I needed a new device.



My friend has a SanDisk Cruizer Blade flash drive that they say worked a couple of years ago, so I tried that. Despite what I've read about flash drives, this seems to work perfectly, all the games show up, and the couple I've tried run as expected.



So I decided to order the same one, copy over a couple games to find it does not work for me. USB Loader GX gets stuck on 'reinitializing devices' for a minute and then just refuses to initialize the device. No matter what I tried I couldn't get the games to appear in either USB loader or USB Loader GX. Except: if I force USB Loader GX to use ios58 to load, then the games DO appear, but they refuse to run, even if I try to make the games manually run from cIOS 249 (which is what it uses to load itself by default)



Writing it off as my drive having a newer chipset than my friends and that being funny, I decided to order this maxone external HDD. This has the exact same issue. Nothing appears when using cIOS 249, and things do appear but can't launch when using IOS58.



Does anyone know why this could be, and if there is a software fix? I don't know how it could be because it does work with that one specific drive, and I can't really afford to keep risking new ones, but also using my friends isn't a long-term solution because they might want it back at some point.



I can't run a syscheck because it gives me the error "failed to get the stored TMD size for IOS46). I could install this, but as I have never needed it I didn't see the point unless you guys say so because I don't want to get sent down a rabbit hole of having to install every IOS version (feels like it kinda defeats the point of the check if I know for a fact I have manually installed every version).



What I can say is I'm on Wii menu 4.3, the latest hbc and USB Loader GX, and I've tried launching USB Loader GX through hbc and the forwarder. I have also tried USB Loader, and that can't find the wbfs partition on either and refuses to format it for one. I have tried both of my drives in FAT32 and WBFS (via Wii backup manager), it doesn't make a difference.

External HDDs/SSDs usually work without problems, I've never had any issues with them (except needing a Y-cable on Wii U since it provides less power to self-powered HDDs)
Flash drives, as you noticed, are problematic, but there are indeed some that work. Finding one that does is a gamble though so people don't recommend buying one specifically to use with USB loaders.

Are you sure that Maxone external HDD is legit? I ask because there are many fake external HDDs/SSDs online which are just one or more USB flash drives inside (usually with fake capacity)
Looking at search results the price seems legit so the brand is probably legit but you could still have bought it from a seller that sells fake versions.

Try the version of sysCheck from here: https://wii.guide/syscheck.html

IOS46 is a Korean only IOS, was your Wii region changed from Korean? Korean titles are encrypted with a different key which could be why sysCheck doesn't know how to handle it.
Only 3 Korean region games use that IOS, so you can safely uninstall it assuming you don't play Korean games, but it's not available on NUS so you won't be able to reinstall it at a later point easily, unless you make a backup with BlueDump (https://github.com/DarkMatterCore/bluedump-mod) beforehand. If you don't have a .wad file of the IOS the only way to get it back later is to get it from someone who dumped it from their own console.
Be careful! Deleting the wrong IOS will brick or semibrick your console. DON'T delete any other IOS. You should be able to uninstall IOS with Wii Mod Lite. MMM (Multi-Mod Manager) can also do it.
There might be other Korean IOS installed that will cause issues for sysCheck, reply and let me know if the same issue occurs on other IOS, but don't delete any others without confirmation that it's safe.

I recently got an A-Data 480 GB SSD for my aunt's Wii U since the old HDD was failing, specifically this model (SD600Q) although I didn't buy it from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ADATA-SD600Q-Ultra-Speed-External-ASD600Q-480GU31-CBK/dp/B07PLPBX5
The price was not that much more compared to an external HDD and should be more reliable long term.
I can recommend it. Works without a Y-cable on Wii U, should work perfectly on Wii as well.

 

[Legendgamer800]

The HDD makes noises like it is a mechanical drive so I'm inclined to believe it is legitimate.

I was already using that version of syscheck.

I don't have ios46 installed, and my Wii has always been a European region so there is no reason it should be there

 

[XFlak]

Add the argument to skip the problem ios as per this syscheck guide
https://gbatemp.net/threads/posting-a-system-check.300279/

Then share, or drag and drop your syscheck.csv onto modmii.exe and it will tell you what to
modmii.github.io

If u haven't updated your mods since u dusted off the wii then certainly there are updates you should do to your softmod.

The working flash drive is formatted as fat32 (or wbfs)? Could very well be different internals, manufacturers do that with hdds and flash drives sometimes/often

You could try a different USB loader as well. Until the next GX update is released cfg usb loader works with my fat32 128gb pny flash drive. Blackb0x sent me a gx beta that got it working so I know improvements will be included in his next official release

 

[Legendgamer800]

Both my flash drive and external HDD have been formatted as FAT32 and WBFS, and have the same issue. My friend's drive which is working fine is in WBFS format.

I tried CFG USB loader but unfortunately ran into a similar issue, same with SD/USB loader v1.5. It tries to mount the drive and fails to.

I did however manage to do a sys check after using that guide, thank you for that! I've attached it

Post automatically merged: Feb 9, 2024

Apparently it didn’t like uploading a CSV file to here, I’ve copied it out below

SysCheck ME v2.5.0 by blackb0xJoostinOnlineDouble_AR2-D2199 and Nano...runs on IOS58 (rev 6176).Region: PALSystem Menu 4.3E (v514)Drive date: 02.13.2007Homebrew Channel 1.1.2 running on IOS58Hollywood v0x11Console ID: 111435592Console Type: WiiShop Channel Country: United Kingdom (110)Boot2 v4Found 143 titles.Found 37 IOS on this console. 9 of them are stubs.IOS4 (rev 65280): StubIOS9 (rev 1034): No PatchesIOS10 (rev 768): StubIOS11 (rev 256): StubIOS12 (rev 526): No PatchesIOS13 (rev 1032): No PatchesIOS14 (rev 1032): No PatchesIOS15 (rev 1032): No PatchesIOS16 (rev 512): StubIOS17 (rev 1032): No PatchesIOS20 (rev 256): StubIOS21 (rev 1039): No PatchesIOS22 (rev 1294): No PatchesIOS28 (rev 1807): No PatchesIOS30 (rev 2816): StubIOS31 (rev 3608): No PatchesIOS33 (rev 3608): No PatchesIOS34 (rev 3608): No PatchesIOS35 (rev 3608): No PatchesIOS36 (rev 3608): No PatchesIOS37 (rev 5663): No PatchesIOS38 (rev 4124): No PatchesIOS40 (rev 3072): StubIOS41 (rev 3607): No PatchesIOS43 (rev 3607): No PatchesIOS45 (rev 3607): No PatchesIOS46: SkippedIOS50 (rev 5120): StubIOS51 (rev 4864): StubIOS53 (rev 5149): No PatchesIOS55 (rev 5149): No PatchesIOS58 (rev 6176): USB 2.0IOS60 (rev 6174): No PatchesIOS61 (rev 4890): No PatchesIOS80 (rev 6944): No PatchesIOS249 (rev 10): Trucha BugES IdentifyFlash AccessNAND AccessUSB 2.0IOS250 (rev 65535): Trucha BugES IdentifyFlash AccessNAND AccessUSB 2.0IOS254 (rev 65281): BootMiiBC v5MIOS v9Report generated on 02/09/2024.

 

[XFlak]

Your cios is ancient, v10? It went all the way up to v21, then d2x v1 etc, now we're at d2x v11 beta 1. So you're like 22 releases behind. And v10 won't support fat32 iirc, so no surprise that didn't work for u

 

[Legendgamer800]

Your cios is ancient, v10? It went all the way up to v21, then d2x v1 etc, now we're at d2x v11 beta 1. So you're like 22 releases behind. And v10 won't support fat32 iirc, so no surprise that didn't work for u

Yeah I'll get it updated then lol, can I just run the d2x installer with an up to date guide or do I need to start from new?

 

[Ditto_Link]

What is your partition table?MBR or GPT?

 

[jeannotte]

Yeah I'll get it updated then lol, can I just run the d2x installer with an up to date guide or do I need to start from new?

here ==>
https://wii.hacks.guide/cios.html

or here ==>
MODMII ===>>> use Modmii to update your hack, by dragging your syscheck report into Modmii and it will tell you what to update.

 

[Legendgamer800]

What is your partition table?MBR or GPT?

MBR

Post automatically merged: Feb 10, 2024

Update: I reinstalled all the cIOS (turns out he also never did Bootmii or Priiloader, so I did them too) and now it works perfectly with all 3 drives. Thank you all for the help!!