First time poster here. I decided to make this post since I am having issues with my Wii U. Currently, my Wii U will not boot up to the main menu. It stays stuck on the Wii U logo indefinitely.
There are a few things to note about my console. The console is the black 32 gb model. I believe it was bought during the 2012 holiday season (release) as we were expecting to play Pikmin 3 before it got delayed. The system has never been modded in any fashion. It was not the most heavily played console, and I can't even give a good estimate of when it was last used (at least more than 3 years).
I have already tried doing the UDPIH, however it does not seem to be working. When using the second recovery menu, I get a white screen with some blue lines (see attached image). I believe this is similar to what @fadafwet described in his post. I was able to get the logs from the system, which I have attached to this post. Any idea what the issue may be and how to fix it? Any help would be much appreciated.
As you did a raw dump in hardware, the file system is missing the parts, that are still in the SLC cache. So not all errors you see here need to be true errors.
Flashed a 32 GB Lexar microSD card with my dumped image, soldered the DIS jumper on the Nand-Aid, and it appears the Wii U is booting from the SD card, but still stuck on the Wii U logo screen.
If I eject the SD card, then turn it on, I just get a black screen, so it's gotta be loading from the SD card now.
It wasn't booting initially, until I noticed that the ground line for the Nand-Aid wasn't connected. Seemed that the ground connection under the SD card slot wasn't good enough, so I wired it to the leg of nearby capacitor.
Maybe the broken GND was also the reason why the dump gave you trouble. If the GND joint is broken, be careful to not rip the pads of the signals. The connection provided also mechanical support, which now might be missing. Maybe add glue on the "lose" end.
Yes, but the SLC dumper still has problems, so I wouldn't trust ist. The MLC dump is done through FSA, so it also includes the the cache, giving you a consistent image. If you extract that with wfs-extract, the errors should line up with the mlc_checker errors.
I used the WiiU NAND Tools to check and confirm that my slc.bin had errors, and then the fixer tool which appears to have repaired it. Rerunning the check produces no errors now.
The slc.bin dumped by my dumper in the recovery menu doesn't contain the RAS information. You see it is exactly 512MiB. The fixer regenerates the RAS information, you will see that fixed image is a little bigger (I belive 528MiB)
That would be a bad idea, your slc is probably fine, but by restoring that questionable Image, you might introduce more problems. Also keep in mind the slc has to match the MLC because of the cache.
That was the case just a few weeks ago. Now we have de_fuse and minute_minute. Which works with a pico and requires much less soldering. But we don't need that in your case
What about the mlc.bin image on the SD card, I'm thinking there's a way to use the file injector tool from wfs-tools to fix the broken files listed in the extract and the checker?
The best thing would be to replace the files on the Wii U through the recovery menu. wfs-inject is pretty limited, also if you would just inject it to the SD card, you would bypass the slc cache, which could cause problems. To go that route you would need to work on an Image dumped through FSA (like my recovery menu does), then work on that image and then flash the whole image back through FSA. I tried the flashing back, but I haven't released the code for that. Also the writing back was very slow, much slower than the dump.
I've just managed to configure the wifi with a network.cfg file on the SD card, and blindly started the wupserver after much trial an error. I've got the wupclient.py script connected to my Wii U now. I suppose I can use this to copy some valid files from the SD card to the eMMC?
Here's the contents of the `w.dump_syslog()` command.
You can also upload files with the wupserver, but that is very slow.
The easiest is probably to just just reinstall the broken titles. But we might need the wup server to deal with broken directories.
But if you have it running at the moment, leave it running, we can use it to upload the file it is currently crashing on, maybe you will then get screen output in the recovery menu.
It is crashing on /vol/storage_mlc01/sys/title/0005001b/10042400/content/CafeStd.ttf you should replace that, I would expect that then the screen output would work again.
Post automatically merged:
You have a lot of broken files and also 3 broken directories in the usr section. This shouldn't be too bad, but you should never run a Factory Reset on that console.
But for now we will ignore that.
Our first goal should be to get the console to a point where it can run the browser exploit.
For that we look at the current syslog on which file it is crashing and than reinstall that the title the file belongs to.
We repeat that till the console can run homebrew through the browser exploit.
When we can run homebrew, we can reinstall all the remaining broken system titles in one go, either with NUSPli or WUPInstaller GX.
When that is done you delete the damaged user applications using the data management (you only need to delete the damaged part (Main Game / DLC / Update). When that is done you can reinstall the Games / DLC or Trigger the updates.
You probably won't be able to delete the 3 broken save games. The best we can deal with that is moving the broken directory to some place where it won't cause problems.
I noticed this! So I tried replacing the file using the wupclient.py. I downloaded a copy of it from the decaf-emu repo on github, placed it on my SD card, and ran the command `w.cp("/vol/storage_sdcard/CafeStd.ttf", "/vol/storage_mlc01/sys/title/0005001b/10042400/content/CafeStd.ttf")`. Looks like it went through fine. I rebooted the Wii U, but still stuck at the Wii U logo screen.
check the current log, if it still crashes on that file or if it now fails on another.
You can download the whole title with JNUS and the -dlEncrypted option and install that from the recovery menu.
Noted. Is this because even if I were to fix the Wii U enough to boot again, the filesystem will always be in a broken and unfixable state? Even with the SD card replacing the eMMC? I suppose the Factory Reset doesn't format the mlc.
To delete a folder, you need to be able to read it, so the contents can also be deleted. But because of bits that flipped, it can't be read. A factory reset doesn't format, it just deletes everything expect the system files, or at least it ties. In case of these damaged folders it will crash or hang because it can't delete them.
I already tried formatting the mlc, but IOSU doesn't let me for some reason, even if it is unmounted. For now the only way to deal with these broken folders, is to move them somwere, where they don't cause problems. With enough time and looking at the wfs lib you could probably edit the file system to remove the directory entries for these broken directories. But I am not sure if it is worth the time.And then the space allocated to files, which were in this folder would still be blocked.
Maybe we find a way in the furutre to recreate the file system.
Did you make sure to look at the correct logfile? The meta.bin contains the number of the latest logfile in binary. You have to do mod 100 on that (because the Wii U wraps around after 100 logfiles) which in decimal gives you then the name of the logfile.
If it is really still crashing on that try renaming / moving the old file before copying the new one.
Get the new file from JSNUS. If you don't add the -dlExtracted option, it will extract the title and you get all the files. Don't use files from the cat models.
This is a bit messy and might fail. So instead of doing this put all the .app, .h3, title.tik, title.tmd and so on files into sd:/install/ (no subfolder!) and install through recovery menu (not with WUP Server but the "Install WUP" option).
As always: Great writeup! Just a small addition: WUPClient has a delete_title function which seems to work great for this, too (I used it when the factory reset crashed for me). So instead of deleting the titles at such a late state I would do this as a first step: Delete all games/updates/DLCs (backup savegames before) to reduce the possible error surface. Make sure to call flush_mlc() after deleting all the titles (so no need to flush every title while deleting but a single flush after the last title is enough).
Lastly a bit off-topic but try using this fork of wupclient: - I changed FS handling here so things like flushing the MLC should be a bit faster. Also this has w.mv() implemented (credits to @Maschell, too) which might be needed to move corrupted folders away (before un- or reinstalling the corresponding titles).
//EDIT: Another thing which might be worth to note is that @SDIO and me where able to identify the following quotas on the MLC:
This still needs a bit of confirmation but I think the data is correct. Now why is this worth to note? Cause you can't move folders past quota borders. So keep this in mind when trying to move corrupted folders to some place they won't crash the console (except when doing a factory reset. As SDIO said: Do not try to do a factory reset as it will crash for sure).
Also do not move the corrupted folders into tmp folders as the Wii U tries to delete the contents of these folders at every boot, which would create a crash.
Exactly. Move them away, then reinstall the corresponding titles (as the corrupted folders most likely contained important system files) or deinstall it (in case it's just a game or something other than an important system title). After that try to create a new user.
Look at my example of this:
Sure thing. A quota in a filesystem is to reduce the maximum size of a directory. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_quota for more informations. My guess is that Nintendo used multiple quotas so you can't overfill the system folder by installing games.
But this also means that the sizes of the files and folders are metadata of the quota. Looks like Nintendo didn't add methods to move that metadata from one quota to another, so it's impossible to move things past the borders:
Code:
>>> w.mkdir("/vol/storage_mlc01/test", 0)
0
>>> w.mv("/vol/storage_mlc01/test", "/vol/storage_mlc01/sys/test")
WARNING: MOVING A FILE OR FOLDER CAN BRICK YOUR CONSOLE, ARE YOU SURE (Y/N)?
y
moving /vol/storage_mlc01/test to /vol/storage_mlc01/sys/test failed : 0xfffcffde
As the root of the MLC is a quota and the sys folder is a quota, too, you can't move files/folders between them. You can move files inside of /vol/storage_mlc01/sys/ freely through.
So in case you have a corrupted subfolder like this /vol/storage_mlc01/sys/bla/blub/foo you can move it to /vol/storage_mlc01/sys/corrupted but not to /vol/storage_mlc01/corrupted.
The quota borders are exactly the directories listed above.
Give it a minute. So load the recovery menu, wait a minute and after that try to dump. Also IIRC the newest dumper codes have a delay which I can't see in your screenshot (should say something like "Waiting for the system to settle" before unmounting). With these newer codes you don't have to wait a minute. Maybe @SDIO could give a link?
Good job, well done!
I think you can now try to delete the moves directories of the titles you just reinstalled.
Just remember to not attempt a factory reset or the System transfer (as this would also trigger a factory reset)
EDIT: you could also try to move the corrupted directories to a new folder in the root of the mlc, so they don't get in the way, so they don't get in the way if you ever decide to delete the affected titles. (if quotas don't get in the way ofc, but just try it either it works or it doesn't)
Moving the save folder of a particular title should be be safe
Post automatically merged:
Maybe you can move it to some folder and remove the permissions on that folder. But I would only try this inside the save folder of a title. Without the permissions it might fall more cleanly and the data management will carry on. But I never tried that
You could try adding this to the wupclient class. For example after the FSA_Remove function.
Make sure the indentation is correct.
But I haven't tested it yet. So try it at your own risk
It doesn't seem to produce logs anymore. The last one is from 2015 and you were playing Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Can you try to dump OTP blindly?
After you have dumped otp put the attached recovery (rename to recovery_menu) on a 64GB sdcard. Start it through UDPIH, the led should be purple, even if the screen doesn't change. Press power and wait a minute, the LED should flicker yellow. When it is done it will go back to purple. You should then find a mlc.log file on the SD please upload that and keep the generated backup somewhere safe, in case you need it.
00:00:07:259: FSA: ### DATA CORRUPTION ERROR ###, dev:mlc01, err:-1245211, cmd:25, path:/sys/title/00050030/10017109/code/app.xml
I have a problem with the nand?
Just to add, there is a common problem cropping up that may be related to your issue. For whatever reason, the home menu is getting corrupted on Wii Us. If you can reinstall the home menu, it might fix your issue. not sure what guides are out there, just wanted to raise a potential course of action...if that isn't what y'all have already been talking about. I'm only vaguely aware of the specifics.
Just to add, there is a common problem cropping up that may be related to your issue. For whatever reason, the home menu is getting corrupted on Wii Us. If you can reinstall the home menu, it might fix your issue. not sure what guides are out there, just wanted to raise a potential course of action...if that isn't what y'all have already been talking about. I'm only vaguely aware of the specifics.
Just to add, there is a common problem cropping up that may be related to your issue. For whatever reason, the home menu is getting corrupted on Wii Us. If you can reinstall the home menu, it might fix your issue. not sure what guides are out there, just wanted to raise a potential course of action...if that isn't what y'all have already been talking about. I'm only vaguely aware of the specifics.
The recovery menu works obviousl, or else you wouldn't have the logs. You just don't see it but we can tell you which buttons to press.
We know this file of the system menu is corrupted but we don't know why. It could be bad eMMC but it doesn't need to be.
Could you check the logs for MEDIA ERROR and mmc messages?
Also I would recommend running the dumper just in case something goes more wrong. It will also give you a picture of the health of the eMMC through the log
The recovery menu works obviousl, or else you wouldn't have the logs. You just don't see it but we can tell you which buttons to press.
We know this file of the system menu is corrupted but we don't know why. It could be bad eMMC but it doesn't need to be.
Could you check the logs for MEDIA ERROR and mmc messages?
Also I would recommend running the dumper just in case something goes more wrong. It will also give you a picture of the health of the eMMC through the log
In my log I have 40 .log and .dsc files, have 1 meta.bin file, this is part of the 38.log file content:
Title Id Process Id -> RM Path
00:00:08:928: IFNET_ETH: Link DOWN.
00:00:10:673: FSA: ### DATA CORRUPTION ERROR ###, dev:mlc01, err:-1245211, cmd:11, path: null)
00:00:13:486: Acquired IP address via DHCP client for interface: wl0
00:00:13:487: IP address : 192.168.15.10
00:00:13:487: Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
00:00:13:487: Gateway : 192.168.15.1
00:00:13:681: MCP: life time number of fatal errors - 37
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some people are capable of calmly discussing such things, but on a public forum or anywhere with a large amount of people, you're going to have people who can't
