black screen without SD card - new SD with priiloader / BootMii works

Hi,

I got an old wii from a friend, which did not turn on (only red light). he said that the Wii shut down during a game and never turned on again. he also said the Wii was softmoded and he played games using USB. I did not get the Wii remotes or the SD card.
I replaced the power supply and the Wii turned on (green light + flashing blue from the disk) - but nothing showed up on the screen (black screen).
I tried to read some more in the forum and found about priiloader sequence (turn on the Wii and then hold reset) to load priiloader - and it works: priiloader loads.
however, since I have new remote that is not synced I cannot navigate or do anything (moreover - should I do anything here?)

then I tried to download BootMii files to a new SD card - BootMii starts and I can see some icons and navigate with power/reset buttons.
if I choose to start Wii Menu - I get again to black screen
if I choose Homebrew channel - Hombrew is loading (blue screen with bubbles rising from bottom) but stays empty
through BootMii I got some more information such as the software version - 4.1E

In each of these cases I cannot sync the remote with the Wii (I read that only during a game or wii menu I can sync)
the question is how to proceed from here - what to do or install (in the SD card or Wii) to make the Wii work again and load games.

I don't have the original SD card that was used in this Wii - nor the NAND backup of this Wii

Gonna move this to the brick section with an expiring redirect.

Guessing you don't have a Gamecube controller. If you did you could use that to run a game loader from the homebrew channel. Gamecube controllers also work with Bootmii and priiloader.

EDIT: I think the only way to fix it is with a Gamecube controller. I'm guessing that your friend had it setup to boot into a game loader (using Priiloader) and exit to the game loader. You need to change the Priiloader settings so that it boots to the system menu.

so if I can restore the loader in the SD card - is it going to work? I can try to put few such as "USB loader GX" or "wiiflow" somewhere on the SD?
I dont have Gamecube controller, but if this is the only solution I thought about buying from ebay an adaptor such as "playstation to gamecube adapter" since I have playstation controler. what should I do then (when I have it)?

Haime:

You will definitely need a GC controller, I do believe (no other way to sync a wiimote). The empty bubbles screen on Homebrew is completely normal. If you had a formatted SD card with apps on it in the SD slot, you would see things you could load through it other than an empty screen with bubbles.

The other poster may well be correct in that Priiloader could (you don't know, I don't know) have been set by the previous owner to load a dol file off the SD card (that is now absent). With a GC controller, you could at least navigate the Priiloader menu and then verify.

Mauifrog certainly would be able to direct you far better than I.

If you put an apps folder on your SD card with apps in it, they will/should show up in the Homebrew channel. You will need Bootmii on the SD card as well, either set to boot into bootmii or the homebrew channel.

I wouldn't recommend using an adaptor. If you get a Gamecube controller, all you have to do is plug it in. Turn on the Wii. Hold reset while its booting, to boot into Priiloader. Then scroll down to settings at the bottom with the Gamecube controller. Press A to select. The first option will say autoboot and is probably set to installed file. Change this to system menu. The next option will say return to. Set this to autoboot or system menu. Now scroll down to save setting at the bottom. Press A to save. Then press B to back step. Then run the system menu. It should now boot into the system menu every time you switch it on unless you have Bootmii on your SD card set to boot the homebrew channel or boot into Bootmii.

EDIT: You could try putting some game loaders in the apps folder. Hopefully one of them will be set to autoboot. It should then boot to that loader.

Update: I put apps folder with few apps (as described in the tutorial page) and I do see the apps in homebrew channel when loaded from Bootmii (however I cannot navigate to them - as I expected)

Thank you for the detailed explanation above - I just need to get a gamecube controller, which I tried without success. I need to buy a controller or an adapter from ebay - which will take about 3 week to arrive to my country. why isn't an adapter recomended? isn't it the same? it will be easier to get in term of shipping.

I've never tried an adaptor. Not sure how well it would work. I think the Trigger buttons work in a different way. I would get a Gamecube controller.

If you delete the Bootmii folder (or rename it, or put it in another folder) but leave the apps folder on your SD card. Then it might boot into one of those loaders. You could ask your friend what game loader he used. You won't be able to do anything else until you get a Gamecube controller but it would be good to see if it will run the loader.

Download this and follow the directions in the readme
ppcskel.tar

I susspect you probably have a bad bluetooth module.


Also, when you load priiloader, let it sit for a bit, then hold reset again. The system menu should load, but in your case will probably just load a black screen.

For benefit of the OP, a .tar file (mauifrog's download) can be unpacked via WinRar.

The readme for your benefit (so you can certainly see maui knows his stuff):

This is a small set of efls designed to autoboot certain TIDs that must already be installed on the wii. The purpose here is to use bootmii (as boot2) to autoboot a certain official channel. Some peole have installed a system menu replacement and then have had the wiimote decync for whatever reason and find that they are locked out of the wii. So, get into the wii and get a wiimote synced, just put one of these in place of the current ppcboot.elf in your bootmii folder, depending on what channels you have on your wii. DO NOT DELETE the current one. Just rename it. Also, make sure that your bootmii.ini file is not booting the system menu. So, if you have everything set up correctly, heres how shit should go down...

turn on the wii-> blablabla-> bootmii-> mini-> this elf -> skip the system menu and preloader right to a channel.

Once the channel has started, you can USE THE RED BUTTONS TO SYNC WIIMOTES. DON'T DO THE 1+2 SHIT BECAUSE IT IS TEMPORARY AND WON'T FIX ANYTHING FOR YOU. If you have to, you can do the 1+2 shit to temporarily sync a Wiimote. Then use that to exit to the system menu, then do the red button sync.

Then just rename the files on your SD card back to the way they were before you started and youre all set.


They are based on the PPCskel posted by bushing, which contains code from several others as well. So all the credit goes to them.