Installing HBC on Wii with System Menu 2.1E [Resolved]

Hi all!

I came across a Wii from a friend of a friend who was selling it as is. The DVD drive was removed from it, but other than that he said it was working fine. It's a European Wii (I live in Canada) with System Menu 2.1E. I have a Wii with a working DVD drive, but it's from a North American console.

I got it home, threw my drive in it and it boots up fine, system menu works, remotes sync up without trouble. So I took it apart, threw in a drivechip I bought for trying to fix bricked Wiis (using an autoboot disc with AnyRegion Changer), and I changed the switches to Europe (I wasn't sure if it's the drive that does the region checking of the console itself), and put it all back together. My problem I think starts here.

I want to install BootMii/HBC on the Wii, but I don't own any European/PAL Wii games, only NTSC. I have Twilight Princess which I used for my first Wii without any issue. When I throw in my Twilight Princess disc, it shows the icon in the Disc Channel, but when I start it all I get is a black screen. I also tried burning off some discs with AnyRegion Changer (to try to update to 3.x, then Bannerbomb it), tried the old HBC Beta 8 ISO, but I get the same thing, just a black screen after launching.

I'm going to try flipping the switches on the drivechip back to North America to see if it launches my TP, and failing that try removing the chip altogether and launching the game, but wanted to check with you guys to see if you had any more suggestions. Thanks in advance!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2010 06:11AM by Skellums.

Bannerbomb [v1] probably works on 2.1E as well so you could possibly use Bannerbomb to run DOP-Mii: WiiBrew Edition and install IOS58. After that, the HackMii Installer should work to install the HBC.

Edit: you could also use DOP-Mii to update to 3.2 or whatever version you want.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2010 10:19PM by bg4545.

I tried 4 versions of bannerbomb, the system just freezes as soon as I insert the SD card.

I'll try a few more versions, see what I get. If nothing else works, I'll see if I can buy a PAL copy of TP or Mario Kart (then I'd be at 3.1) off eBay or somewhere.

Bannerbomb does not work on 2.x at all. Is it possible that the mod chip is blocking disc updates? If you are missing an IOS, that could explain the black screen. Switching the chip to NTSC-U should allow you to launch your NTSC-U games. Of course, do not update from any non-PAL games, as this would brick the wii.

Edit: Misinformation



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2010 03:27AM by jbc007.

I have the disc updates enabled. I had originally set it to block updates from Imports Only, but then as a test disabled it altogether to see if it made a difference and at least prompted for updates (it didn't, hahaha). I'll try flipping it back to NTSC. I wasn't sure if it was the drive that did the region checking or the Wii itself so I figured when I put it in there I'd set it to PAL.

Off I go to rip it apart again :)

Sorry, I was not thinking clearly when I wrote that. The chip should make the wii think that any game inserted is of the region that the chip is set to. Therefore, it should be set to PAL as you have it (unless I misunderstand how your chip is configured). By the way, the system menu performs the region checking. It is done entirely in software, and has nothing to do with the drive.

The black screen when launching a disc is either due to a problem with your chip or a missing IOS. Ideally, you would be able to modify a disc ISO to run on an IOS that is known to be working, such as IOS 11 (the IOS used by system menu 2.1). I think that there is an application that can do this, but I can't remember what it is. Though, if someone finds it, you can test whether the problem is you chip or a missing IOS.

One more possibility. Perhaps the region conversion feature of the chip is defective. If it is possible to disable this feature, do so. Then try the AnyRegion Changer disc again (AFAIK, this is region free, so it should work).

Another thought I just had.. Would the old semi-brick fixer disc work? If I burnt off the v290 DVD, set it to autoboot with BootMe should it work? I know the Wii isn't bricked, but should it work to install 3.2E, and from there I can just bannerbomb it? I'll have to take my GC controller apart and give it a shot. The AnyRegion Changer disc just won't boot (It did work with another Wii, but the other one was on 3.2, so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it).

Edit: Of course, I hope I don't use the "unbricker" disc and end up bricking the Wii. I've never used the disc before so I don't know what I'll run into.

Edit Edit: I just thought again.. I won't really have any way of knowing whether it worked or not, as I get a black screen regardless of what disc I use. Oh well, I'll give it a shot and see what I get. I only spent $20 on the console anyway. If I brick it, it will be a lesson learned ;)

Edit Edit Edit: I guess it's always good to go on instincts :), I used the semi-brick fix disc released by bushing way back in 2008, threw it in the drive and went to the disc channel. It performed the update. Now I've got a 3.2E Wii that's currently performing a full NAND dump with RealWnD after being bannerbombed. Next stop, BootMii as boot2, HBC etc. :)

Thanks for the help, you all pointed me in the right direction!



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2010 06:09AM by Skellums.