I have bricked my Wii

Greetings. Some of you may remember, I posted a topic a few months ago describing my situation leading to the brick.

I had had the Homebrew Channel installed, and downgraded to 2.2E (for some reason I cannot remember). The homebrew Channel was still installed, but weirdly I had 2 photo channels - the 3.4 one and the older one. I thought nothing of it, failing to uninstall one of them using the official nintendo system menu channel remover thing. Using this official channel remover I got rid of the Homebrew Channel, wanting to have a clean system again, without hacks. After having used this version for a while, without other fault, and discovering all my discs wanted me to update, I updated using Mario Kart to, I think, 3.4E, or perhaps 3.3E (I can't recall). Anyway, the message came up, saying 'Update complete', and the screen went blank, as it usually does before returning to the wii menu. Whilst I expected it to return to the wii menu, it remained blank and black. At this point I switched off the console, and rebooted it. The black, blank screen again showed up, and nothing else (not the japanese web error thingy many seem to get).

I have since tried savemii, without success. The problem is now that I have applied to send the Wii into nintendo, but am worried that if I send it off I may have to pay £200 because of the homebrew I once had installed. Obviously, it is probably due to the downgrades I have previously done to the Wii that have caused the failure, and I will have to pay a lot because of this, even though, ironically, I wanted to upgrade to get rid of any hacks I had done to the system.

The question I have is: will Nintendo actually be able to detect my use of homebrew? I uninstalled the HBC before I downgraded, but some of the system files could have been altered (I am no expert). Note that it did say that the update had completed before it went blank.

They will be able to see it if they really want, but there is only one isolated case of them charging more because of homebrew.

FIXED that:

Quote
SifJar
but there is only one UNPROVEN case of them charging more because of homebrew.

If you send it in, and they charge you way more then the usual fee (IIRC 89€), then you would be trhe first proven case.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2009 10:44PM by daniel_c_w.

Oh, I assumed that was real seeing as it was on HackMii. Still, even if it was real, its only one isolated case. But as you say its unproven, so you should be safe. I have read of people since that who have had HBC on their Wii and sent it in with no extra costs.

I have sent off for the repair and they have given a lost of prices. To fix a hack wii "Homebrew or Software Hack" it costs £200. The wii itself costs £180, so this seems a bit pointless. I would be surprised if they could restore my save data, so it would be better, probably, to get a new wii. But , of course, I don't really want to spend that much on it. I've heard about damaging the NAND chip or something, because in the end it will not cost me as much, and they won't know I hacked the wii. Where is this chip, what does it look like, and how can I find and break it, once I have taken the wii apart?

Quote
Dragonsclaw
I have sent off for the repair and they have given a lost of prices. To fix a hack wii "Homebrew or Software Hack" it costs £200.

So in two days, you send in the Wii, and already got an answer, with a price that is even higher than the "case" mentionend about.
Sounds fishy...

If you take the wii apart that also counts as unlisenced modifications I believe. And how do you know the price already?

Because on the Nintendo Service site it said the following (after I had entered details on this website) it said this:

Warranty Status

Proof of purchase included with return: NO
You will be charged for repair without proof of purchase

The prices below are for guidance only.
You will be notified of any charge before work commences.

* Wii Scart Adapter - £ 9.80
* Wii AV Cable - £ 9.80
* Wii Sensor Bar - £ 11.70
* Wii Classic Controller RVL - £ 16.65
* Wii Nunchuck RVL - £ 17.60
* Wii RGB Cable RVL - £ 21.55
* Wii Component AV Cable RVL - £ 21.55
* Wii AC Adapter - £ 22.50
* Wii PSU - £ 22.50
* Wii Minor Fault - £ 27.40
* Wii Remote Controller RVL - £ 27.40
* Wii Disc - £ 27.40
* Wii Fit Board - £ 49.20
* Wii Major Fault - £ 65.50
* Wii HW White - £ 68.50
* Wii Homebrew / Modified - £ 199.99

Amongst other things.

I can assure you that this is the official Nintendo site. The only reason I can see them offering me the £200 charge instead of buying a new wii is if they can keep my saves.

Well, there seem to be quite a few other things there - sure you need ALL of them fixed? If so, buy a new Wii.

EDIT: Oh wait, thats a price list, my bad. Anyway, they say you will be notified of any charges before work commences, so why not send it in and if they tell you that you have to pay the £200, just say you dont want to bother.

EDIT: Quote from the FAQ on that site:

Quote

What happens if I am advised of a charge for my Nintendo console to be repaired but I don't want to pay?
We will return your Nintendo console back to you unrepaired at no cost to you.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2009 09:06PM by SifJar.

So Nintendo outsourced repairs in the UK to another firm?

@ SifJar: Yeah, but as I said, I would like to keep the saves. I will obviously pay for a new wii if they can't mend it and keep my saved games, whilst trying to charge me £200 - but it may cost me less if I could get rid of the thing that they would scan for hacks, which would be replaced for a lot less than the whole console, I assume, since I think it is only the data that is corrupt, not the machinery broken.

I could then take my wii apart and try and destroy the offender, so they could replace just that single component, if only I knew what it was I would have to get rid of.

The only thing you could physically do to remove all traces is break the NAND chip, and thats where save games are stored. Just send it to them, and if they're gonna charge over the odds for it, ask them to send it back. Then buy a Wii with a broken DVD drive cheap on eBay, put the DVD drive from your current wii in the working one with a broken DVD drive and you got a nice working wii. Then you can sell parts of the old one which is bricked. Like bluetooth module, wifi module, etc. And the new one may come with wiimotes and nunchucks, perhaps even games. Anything you dont want/need, you can sell. You'll probably be able to cover the cost of the new wii with broken dvd drive by selling all the crap you dont need. But you wont be able to keep your saves. so i'd advise sending it to nintendo first, and only do this if they say they are going to charge loads.

Thanks for everyone's help. I sent the Wii in, and to my tremendous relief I only had to pay £27.40 (about $45), compared to £179.99 for a new Wii, or £200 for my current Wii's reparation. A 'minor fault: no/bad picture'. I assume this was due to the removal of homebrew before it bricked. For the record, I don't think the homebrew-checkers Nintendo have to check for modded Wiis can be that comprehensive, since I had previously removed one of the IOSs to install some channel or other (although that said the update may have restored broken or removed files). Thanks especially to Sifjar, without whom I would not have sent it in, and would have gone with a broken Wii for many more months!