If you are not careful enough, you can brick your Wii. Depending on the kind of brick, we need to use different methods to unbrick the Wii.
Common causes of Wii bricks:
- Installing a channel (with wad manager) that has a bad banner size (aka banner brick)
- Installing a faulty theme
- Uninstalling (c)IOS or the system menu (aka Full brick)
- ...
Some bricks cannot be restored if you don't have preloader or bootmii as boot2 installed, so watch out!
- Cause: malformed banner. System menu crashes when it tries to load it.
- Symptoms: Will not load system menu. Maintenance mode fails.
Required:
* AnyTitle Deleter
* Preloader/Bootmii as Boot2 (you should already have it before the brick)
Guide:
1. Boot into preloader or Bootmii
2. Launch the Homebrew Channel
3. Run the AnyTitle Deleter and uninstall the bad wad that causes the brick
Theme brick- Cause: Installing bad theme (one that is not for your Region/Version).
- Symptoms: Will not load system menu. Maintenance mode fails.
Required:
* NUS Downloader
* Wad manager (or YAWMM)
* Preloader/Bootmii as boot2
Guide:
1. Download your system menu version with NUSD (check pack->wad). Put the wad in the Wad folder on the SD card
2. Boot into preloader or Bootmii
3. Launch the Homebrew Channel
4. Run the wad manager, let it use IOS36 (or 249) if it asks and install the system menu Wad.
Full brick- Cause: uninstalling (c)IOS or system menu, or theme/banner brick.
- Symptoms: Will not load system menu. Maintenance mode fails.
Required:
* NUS Downloader
* Wad manager (or YAWMM)
* Preloader/Bootmii as boot2 (note: priiloader will only work if you set it to use another IOS than the removed one before the brick!)
Guide:
1. Run NUSD and check pack->wad. Now download the wads of all files you deleted.
2. Copy the wads of each folder to the wad folder on the SD card (empty the folder if it exists already)
3. Boot into preloader or Bootmii and launch the Homebrew Channel
4. Run the wad manager and install every wad.
Semi brick- Cause: Usually a wrong region update.
- Symptoms: System menu works, but when going to the Settings, you get an error.
Required:
* NUS Downloader
* Wad manager (or YAWMM)
Guide:
1. Download your system menu version with NUSD (check pack->wad). Put the wad in the Wad folder on the SD card
2. Launch the Homebrew Channel
3. Run the wad manager and install the system menu Wad
Error 003- Cause: Korean region changed wii, updated to 4.2
- Symptoms: Black screen with 'Error: 003, Unauthorized device Detected' at boot.
It only occurs when a Korean region changed Wii (a wii that was originally Korean) updates to
4.2. Once you get the error, there is
no way (yet) to restore from it (since BootMii as boot2 gets overwritten as well!).
So since you can't restore from it, lets see how to prevent it.
Required* [Method 1] Korean Wii softmodding requirements
* [Method 2] Wii.py and WAD editing/Python knowledge
* [Method 3] Priiloader, Wad manager (or YAWMM)
Method 1
- Use this guide to softmod your Korean wii without region changing
Method 2
- Patch the System Menu 4.2 TMD to use as IOS other than IOS70 (IOS60 for example)
Method 3
- Install IOS 70 and System Menu 4.2 via WAD manager
- Install Priiloader without restarting the console
- Use Priiloader to boot the System Menu with IOS60 (for example)
Other Bricks
These are various 'issues' that could be the cause of unwanted behavior in a Wii software environment.
Low-Level
Simple software corruption
System Menu checks/failure
Mail Brick- Cause: Receiving a corrupt Wii message on the Wii Message Board - Symptoms: Will not load system menu. Maintenance mode works.
These bricks are VERY rare, as the only way to get it is by receiving a corrupt message on your message board.Like that, it would seem like it bricked on itself.
Required* System menu installed (with its IOS)
Guide- The only way to know if its a mail brick is to accessMaintenance mode (see below). As this disables the message board, amail bricked wii will boot now.
- The first thing you want to do is to uninstall preloader ifyou have it (since it bricks the Wii if you format). You can do this by downloading your system menu wad with NUS Downloader and installing it or by installing Priiloader (which doesn't have this problem).
- If you got rid of preloader, boot the wii into maintenance mode, go to the wii settings and format the wii (make backups of your save files first!)
Other Unbricking Methods
Maintenance ModeMaintenance mode is asecret mode that is build-in to every Wii console. Noone knows the realuse of it, but sometimes, it seems to be accessible on a bricked Wii.This is why we recommend trying it before trying another method.
Required:
* Wii with working Health screen
Guide:1. Turn on the Wii and you will see the
Health Screen. Now instead of pressing
A, hold
+ and -, then press
A. (keep holding till the screen changes!)
2.If you did it correctly (and your Wii isn't bricked enough to ruin it),you will see a message on the screen saying the Wii is in
Maintenance Mode.
3.This mode allows you to do everything except using the Wii messageboard, so make use of that to backup saves or to run the HBC!
SaveMiiFriiSaveMiiFrii is not a kind of brick, but a build-in unbricking system of the Wii. Only use this when you can't unbrick with any other method!
Required:
* Wii with System menu (so it won't work if you deleted the system menu)
* Official Gamecube Controller
* Modchip or cIOSCorp
* A DVD disc to burn files on
Guide:1. The first step is also the hardest one. To be able to use
SaveMiiFrii, you need to open up your
gamecube controller and remove the
protective sheet under the
D-Pad. By doing this, you are able to press all 4 directions of the
D-Pad at the same time.
2. Plug your GC controller in the
4th slot on the Wii. Now turn the wii on and Hold the 4 directions of the D-Pad down. If you did this correctly, you will be in th
recovery menu.
3. Of course, we need something to boot. In most cases, you'll need to create an auto-booting version of
wad manager or
AnyTitleDeleter.
Whatever you did, undo it with one of these apps.
SDDM (SD -> Data Management)SDDM is a method you can use to recover from BannerBricks
Required* The ability to use SaveMiiFrii
* The ability to use Indiana Pwns (You need to have the game, and the save must be on the console)
* One of the following games:
- Rabbids Go Home (You need less than 77 blocks free)
- MySims Agent (You need less than 96 blocks free)
- Mysims Kingdom (You need less than 200 blocks free)
- Mysims racing (You need less than 3 blocks free)
- Any other Mysims game
Guide1. Use SaveMiiFrii to boot one of the aforementioned games. For this guide we'll use Rabbids Go Home.
2. Navigate to the Save Screen where you choose your save file.
3. Try to install the Rabbids Go Home channel.
4. Eject the game when it tells you that you don't have enough free space to install the channel.
5. Click go to Data Management.
6. Now transfer Indiana Pwns to your Wii.
7. Use Indiana Pwns to fix your Banner BrickWhatever you did, undo it with one of these apps.
