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Wii Update 4.2 Tries (and Fails) To Block Homebrew
marcansoft writes "On September 28, Nintendo released a Wii update, titled 4.2. This update was targeted squarely at homebrew, performing sweeping changes throughout the system. It hardly achieved that goal, though, because just two days later a new version of the HackMii installer was released that brings full homebrew capabilities back to all Wii consoles, including unmodified consoles running 4.2. However, as part of their attempt to annoy homebrew users, Nintendo updated the lowest level updateable component of the Wii software stack: boot2 (part of the system bootloader chain). Homebrew users have been using BootMii to patch boot2 in order to gain low level system access and recovery functions (running Linux natively, fixing bricks, etc). The update hasn't hindered this, as users can simply reinstall BootMii after updating (it is compatible with the update). But there's a much bigger problem: Nintendo's boot2 update code is buggy."
Read on for more details.
"Boot2 had never been updated in retail consoles until now. During BootMii's development, its authors noticed that Nintendo's code had critical bugs and could sometimes permanently brick a console by writing incorrect or unchecked data to flash memory, so they decided to write their own, much safer flashing code. Now, Nintendo has pushed a boot2 update to all Wii users, and the results are what was expected: users are reporting bricks after installing 4.2 on unmodified consoles. Nintendo is currently attempting to censor posts and remove references to homebrew. It is worth noting that the new boot2 does not attempt to block anything or offer any additional protection or functionality. Its sole purpose is to simply replace current versions which may or may not have been modified with BootMii. Another interesting tidbit is that Nintendo is not believed to have any method to repair this kind of brick at a factory, short of replacing the entire motherboard."
Hello,
Some of you have reported problems with your Wii console after updating to the Wii System Menu 4.2. The symptoms most people are describing usually occur when the Wii has been modified. However, some of you also mention your system has never been modified.
We'd like to help get your system working properly again. If you're experiencing problems with your Wii console after downloading Wii System Menu 4.2, and you believe your system has not been modified, please give us a call. If we find that you have a normal system and the update caused your system to not work, we'll repair it at no charge.
Please call our Customer Service Department at your earliest convenience, 1-800-255-3700. We are open 6 AM to 7 PM, Pacific Time, 7 days a week.
Thank you,
NOA_Tech_Jane
The Wii has never been sold at a loss, I don't have one & even I know that.
There is a war going on for your mind.
I'm not aware of it even being used for piracy. I have the Homebrew Channel installed and it's great fun to play a few things on, plus occasionally turn the Wii into a media player.
IIRC it can be used to play out-of-region games. Which is a GOOD thing.
What exactly do they have to gain here?
It's optional, provided you don't want to use the shop channel. So far, that's the only time I've gotten complaints from my Wii about the update.
Just DONT accept the 4.2 update when the Wii asks if you would like to upgrade. Simple as that. Unlike the XBox 360 / PS3 they have no way to "force" you to take the update.
Traditionally console are sold at a loss. The Wii breaks with that tradition.
Wii forces you to update as well through some (first party) games. Mario Kart or Wii Fit for instance won't run if you don't install the updates included on their discs. So if you don't stay up to date, you will lock yourself out of an increasing number of games for the platform.
An AC modded +3 Insightful for spouting nonsense ? Wow, just....wow !
Nintendo has always made a profit on its raw hardware.
Squirrel!
Regional tastes have nothing to do with it.
American sugar producers lobbied and got a protectionist tariff on sugar that increased the cost significantly which made it cheaper for all the soft drink companies to switch to corn syrup. Elsewhere in the world sugar is cheap enough that it can be used with out driving up the cost of the product prohibitively.
My sister went to Korea some years ago and the coke there also was made with sugar. It's pretty much only in the US that corn syrup is used. Heck, in South America they use sugarcane as feed stock for the ethanol plants to produce fuel for cars.
Game Genie. They tried to sue them into the ground more than once, iirc. For something that merely redirected or altered memory contents.
For the last time, PIN Number and ATM Machine are redundancies!
... like Serial Numbers? :O That are tracked when they connect on WC24? :O That you register and are bound to your Wii Shop account? :O
Here's a cookie... *psst* it's MAGIC
Oh, it's going to work fine for [b]most[/b] people, but the bricking rate is still going to be much higher than normal. The boot2 flashing code isn't completely borked (I've successfully used it to flash early versions of BootMii 10-20 times), but the fact of the matter is sometimes it'll botch. I'd expect a sizable number of bricks, much higher than for "normal" system updates.
Their system doesn't appear to be designed to accept external driving of the flash. The Hollywood boots and tries to talk to it as soon as you power it on. External NAND flashers need to overdrive the Wii's outputs very hard to properly do their jobs. As far as we can tell, the control outputs to the NAND Flash do not have tristate capability (they always drive hard high or low, even when the system is uninitialized or idle). The NAND power rail is also the 3.3V Hollywood power rail, so it is impossible to power the NAND Flash without powering up the Hollywood.
Nope, pretty sure that's not how they do it.
Simply update your copy of the homebrew channel. The latest version will not be removed by 4.2. Nintendo simply looks for a channel with the homebrew channel's ID to decide what to remove. The latest version has a different ID.
Legal fraud. Nintendo and their like have followed the rules of civility: they hired lobbyists to write the laws. If you want to counter their fraud with your fraud, then you need be civil too. Where's your legislation-writing lobbyist? Because without that, the only other tools you have at your disposal are your votes and persuasive words to get other people to vote too, and I think we all know how that works out: it's too much of a hassle for anyone to bother.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
They just reauthorize those games online on your new console (via the serial numbers). When the system is totally bricked you lose your saves. They only notice homebrew or warez when they get "bricked" consoles that display an error message (which indicates System Menu operation), which they can usually fix by reinstalling stuff with their rescue mode DVDs and a small "flag" tool inserted into a memory card slot to put the menu into recovery mode.
"Waninkoko has released a new build of his SD/USB backup loader for the Wii. This loader will allow you to play backups from an on screen menu using a USB mass storage device or SD card."
^^^^ That should get you on your way. I'm a big fan of not having to use physical disks to play games and when I heard the USB hard-drive would load games faster than the physical disks - I totally wanted to do it.
It didn't work for me though. When I ran it - it didn't recognize my USB drive. The advice I was given was 'Umm, try another USB drive' but I only have the one. Lots of people have more luck.
All of the HomeBrew stuff is....well....buggy. The back-up loaders work pretty good; but not perfectly - so some games don't work and some games fail at certain spots. So, it can be very frustrating if you don't sort of enjoy the headaches and searching the web and trying different things to get the game to work.
You're confusing homebrew with warez. Homebrew usually works pretty well, and HBC has a near zero chance of bricking your console. Applicaions vary in functionality and robustness, but they're safe since they're just applications that won't modify your console.
Loaders, on the other hand, besides typically illegal (they like to ship around chunks of IOS), are very dodgy and unreliable. System modification is required to install loaders, so it's an inherently risky activity. About 50% of the reports of permanent bricks I get from people are due to using Waninkoko's stuff. Stay far away, he never learned what that 'int' thing before function prototypes is for.
Homebrew is home-made software. Homebrew for the wii is software for the wii that wasn't produced by an officially licensed source.
When someone writes a 'loader' that loader is a homebrew application. Whether or not it is available via the homebrew channel.
The homebrew applications I've used (media players, and emulators) were all quite buggy and have locked up my wii many times. The usb loader I've got also seems buggy as it fails to recognize my USB drive. But either way, nothing about a loader requires warez...you can own the software legitimately and want to run it from the USB.
Actually you should just do it the RIGHT way and send the bricked one with an RMA, only took them a week to put in a new MB and have my system back to me in good working order. I payed to ship to them, they payed to ship back to me. Provided me with tracking number and web site I could track the machine through their service department and everything. Give it a try before you attempt something that will get you arrested.