Help! 4.0u Wii banner-bricked from (bad?) WAD install

Ok.... so I'm not proud of it but I banner-bricked my Wii by installing a NeoGamma (r7?) WAD via WadManager 1.5. I'm more addicted to installing stuff than using it - which is why I find myself with a bricked Wii - because I install first, research later :'(. I've learned my lesson but question now is - can I save my Wii or do I have to buy a new one.

Here's my info formatted as the "READ FIRST" guide in this forum requests.

What happens when your Wii boots up?
1.) Normal Boot
- Health Warning Appears
- If [A] button on Wiimote is pressed the screen goes black indefinitely
- Wii Menu music/sound effects is *NOT* heard in the background
- When I insert a Wii game at the Health Warning one of two things happens:
A.) Nothing, Health Warning remains on screen
B.) "An error has occurred. Please eject..." message appears. This is just a generic message - not a 001 or 002 error.

2.) Rescue Mode Boot (via Gamecube Controller SaveMiiFrii method)
- 4.0U appears in lower right corner of screen
- None of my Wii games boot (Mario Galaxy, Zelda TP, WiiFit to name few)
- Homemade rescue discs do not boot - and produce either "An Error has occurred. Please eject and ..." message or nothing happens at all.
- Homemade discs tested - Ultimate Unbrick Disc V2, Last Chance Unbrick Disc, Pink Fish, Wad Manager 1.x

What Version of the System Menu is installed on the Wii?
If this means firmware? 4.0U (?)

Is the Homebrew Channel or the Twilight Hack installed on the system?
- Both are installed
- HBC auto-updated maybe 5 months ago

Does your Wii have a Drivechip?
- Testing with a WiiKey solderless right now
- I have a DriveKey on the way

Have you been able to boot homebrew in any way?
- Not since the brick

Other Info
- My Wii is a newer model LU63... so in order to try fixing with a WiiKey I swapped out the DVD drive with an older Wii DVD drive with a WiiKey attached. Sadly, not much difference with WiiKey - at most I get more "An error occurred" messages with homemade discs - with the non-chipped/newer DVD drive my homemade discs weren't even read obviously.

- I don't have BootMii, Bannerbomb, Starfall or any other kind of "salvation app" that I'm now well educated of. The only goods my Wii has on it at the moment are: HBC, Zelda TP Hack and Gecko OS with some apps installed.

- I've never backed up my NAND or anything like it.

Thanks in advance for anyone willing to chime in with advice/thoughts/etc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2009 07:42PM by chrisemersonnc.

Your Wii does not have Twilight Hack on it. And anyway, it would only be useful if you had a way to boot Zelda. Without a modchip, there's not much you can do but send it to Nintendo. You can't boot homemade discs without one. You could try maintence mode, and if that doesn't work, it's off to Nintendo I'm afraid.

Oh, and when you get it back, don't use warez like WADs, and dont use "backup" launchers. We frown upon piracy and illegal activity such as custom channels on this forum.

And I guess 9 out of 10 bricks we hear about are piracy/WAD/cIOS related

Thanks SifJar - I have to admit I didn't know about the "legal" homebrew scene until recently - so yes all I've known about is WADs/cIOS stuff.

1.) Why do you say I don't have Twilight Hack? That's how I got HBC installed way back when. Sadly, my legit Zelda TP disc won't boot for me so I can't use it.

2.) And as I mentioned, I *DO* have a modchip (WiiKey for now, and DriveKey arriving shortly).

1) Twilight Hack is simply a save file. It is no longer on your Wii because System Menu 4.0 auto-deletes it. And 3.4 probably auto-deletes the version you have
2) Sorry, didn't notice that. You should then be able to boot an autoboot disc from Recovery Menu. You just need to find one.

Quote
SifJar
...You should then be able to boot an autoboot disc from Recovery Menu. You just need to find one.

Yeah - that's what I thought - but nothing works. All autoboot discs either spin forever or stop spinning after couple seconds. I have the Wii-Clip V3 chip (fairly old) and my new Wii is a D2E - not sure if that's playing a role or not. Hard to find good info on Wii-Clip V3 these days - I can't even confirm if it can (or could) ever boot autoboot discs or not. I'm hoping the DriveKey chip (in the mail) will be able to.

Could it ever load burnt discs? If so, there should be no problem...Have you tried ripping a game you own and changing it to autoboot (there's a tool on WiiBrew) and burning it, see if it launches?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2009 10:54AM by SifJar.

Well on my original Wii the Wii-Clip V3 *DID* boot burnt discs yeah (including Wii-Clip flash/config disc). But that was a D2B Wii (which my wife tripped over the cord and permanently broke it). My current Wii is a D2E and I've swapped in the D2B's DVD drive + Wii-Clip V3 to try to boot burnt rescue discs (Unbricker ISOs, AnyTitleDeleter etc) until the DriveKey arrives.

While I can't guarentee I'm doing it all right, Yes I have tried ripping+setting-to-autoboot (via BootMe) a couple of my Wii games yes (Zelda, Tiger Woods) - neither attempt worked.

So far - the only things that happens when in Rescue Mode (with burnt discs or actual Wii game discs) are:
1.) Disc stops spinning and the "4.0U" never goes away from bottom right corner
2.) "4.0U" goes away from bottom right corner, screen stays black and disc never stops spinning
3.) Occasionally I'll get the standard error message - "An error has occurred. Press eject button and remove the disc, then turn the Wii Console off and refer to the wii operations manual for help troubleshooting."

... And the only things that happen from the "Health Warning" screen (with burnt discs or actual Wii game discs) are:
1.) Nothing - disc stops spinning almost instantly
2.) Disc never stops spinning - even after pressing [A] button (though screen stays black)
3.) Occasionally I'll get the standard error message - "An error has occurred. Press eject button and remove the disc, then turn the Wii Console off and refer to the wii operations manual for help troubleshooting."

So I guess a side question is - "Can a chipped D2B dvd drive work inside a D2E Wii?"

In any case - I'll report back once the DriveKey arrives and I have a chance to test that. Thanks again for your help/replies - they're like getting a message in a bottle while I'm stranded on an island all by myself.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2009 12:01PM by chrisemersonnc.

Couldn't you fit the modchip to the original drive from the D2E wii?

The D2E Wii's have that epoxy nonsense... can't get it in there sadly. I'll report back when the Drivekey arrives.