Busted disk drive, homebrew and Nintendo repair.

Ok, well I started a repair order about a week ago but I am debating on whether or not they will just decline the system. It is out of warranty but it qualified for a drive repair as long as I send in my Brawl disk as well. The system works fine with single layer disks for the most part. The label I printed out says the system is going to be shipped to california.

I had used Smash Stack after I upgraded to 4.3U awhile ago and then I eventually removed it because I wasn't using the system anymore but someone else in my family was. I am pretty sure I did it correctly(removed boot2 via hackmii installer) because when you turn the system on it does not flash twice. After I did that I formatted the system as well to remove traces of homebrew channel from the play log. Since then the system has been used normally to buy games from the Wii Shop and play the occasional Gamecube and wii game.

Should I send it in?

One other thing, someone told me I should update my system but it is already on the latest firmware...What does updating your system do after you remove the homebrew?

Updating will do nothing except install the latest clean set of IOS if you have old, patched IOS. If you have the latest revisions of each IOS, it won't make a difference (regardless of whether they are patched or not). It also doesn't make a difference if you had installed a moronic modification that replaces almost every IOS in your Wii with patched versions, which also have the revision number patched stupidly high, so that they can't be removed "by accident" by updating (with a side effect of making the ridiculously stupid, pointless, invasive mod annoying to remove).

In short, if you had patched any IOS or installed any cIOS while your Wii was on 4.3, you most likely still have those IOS patches or cIOS. And Nintendo will be able to detect that.

In addition, I believe formatting does NOT remove entries from uid.sys, which is basically a file which lists everything that has ever run on your Wii (including HBC), and so Nintendo will most likely still be able to detect that as well, regardless of IOS modifications.

Sadly this means there is a good chance Nintendo will not fix your Wii. If you are having to pay to send it to them (I have thankfully not had experiences with returning any products to Nintendo, not sure how this sort of thing works), you may want to think about how much it is costing and weigh it up against the chances they will not fix it. (Please not I am not 100% sure about the uid.sys thing. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will correct me)

Well, the disk drive repair is free as long as I send the brawl disk in as well.

I guess they run file system checks for every system that goes through the system regardless of the problem? Seems like a waste of time to check the systems that have simple problems like a busted disk drive.

Thanks for the information.

Yeah, I think they check every system.

I think I will just go ahead and send it in. Worst case scenario they just return the system back to me without repairing it.

I have been reading some posts about this online and it seems to be very random on whether or not they will notice the homebrew on the system. As in people with homebrew got their system fixed without a problem and others who have never even used homebrew got denied.

Anybody have any recent experiences regarding this?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2011 01:08AM by ASDFCX.

They have gotten more picky on repairing wii's that have had homebrew on them, if they detect any little sign of HBC they send it back. I know at one time somebody on here had posted a site that parts to repair wii's even had disc drives, if you get ahold of a certain one it will play dvd movies, newer disc drive won't play them. Nintendo even started changing disc drives in working wii's if you sent it in for other repairs.

I doubt they just blindly replace all older drives with newer ones, it would increase their costs (for both parts and labour) unnecessarily. If the drive is the cause of the issue then sure, it will be replaced rather than repaired (and the same thing goes if the entire wii is being replaced, they're not going to swap the old drive into a brand new wii for you).

Dropped the system off today, I will update this thread with the results.


If they detect homebrew do they wipe your VC games or anything like that? I didn't even think about it until now.

If they detect homebrew they will normally refuse to touch it any more (not even giving you the option to pay extra to get the repairs done) and return it as-is. I would say that's what will happen in this case because the system format doesn't do a very good job of removing all traces...

Just got the email!

Failed warranty check and they are giving me the option to get the system repaired for half off due to a error on their end.


I wonder what the process is when they receive a shipment. Obviously they have to unpack them and then I guess they run the warranty check, then the check disk they have?

Weird.

I paid the fee and my repair just switched to

"Repair in Process
Your system has arrived at our facility, and our technicians are currently working on your repair order."

Apparently the repair is done and they have issued a shipping label for UPS Ground. I assume it will go out monday and probably be here within a week. It says "Your repair order is complete"

If they decline your system for repair do they notify you by email before they mail it back?

If they declined I assume they would have given your money back.