I thought that I would write a FAQ on semi-bricking, seeing as I haven't found any comprehensive ones so far. Many people will probably know most if not all of this, but some will not, and if this helps just one person I will be happy!
What does semi-brick(ing) mean?
If your Wii is semi-bricked, you will not be able to access the 'Settings' menu. Other functions (i.e. reading discs) will still work.
How does semi-bricking occur?
Semi-bricking happens when you update your Wii menu software using an update from a different region (this obviously requires either a Freeloader or a modchip). For example, if you have a PAL Wii at v2.2E, and you put in an NTSC game which updates your console to 3.x (such as Super Smash Bros Brawl or Super Mario Galaxy), you run the risk of a semi-brick.
How can I avoid a semi-brick?
The only way to avoid the risk of a semi-brick completely is to only play games from your region. However other methods are described below.
Update your Wii via the Internet, thus ensuring that you have the latest firmware version for your region. Any disc should therefore not ask you to update. Obviously this is not desirable in all cases, as version 3.x stops things such as GC Action Replays from working on unmodded Wiis.
Use [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register] (requires .NET framework 2.0) to strip the update out of the image before burning if you wish to load a backup from a different region. The software is in French, but it is fairly self explanatory. You can change the language to English by clicking on 'Langue' and then 'Changer la langue', selecting 'English.lng' and then clicking OK. Load the image, click on 'read info' if you wish, and then 'Patch'.
My Wii is already semi-bricked, what do I do!
The options available to you really depend on whether your Wii has a modchip installed:
My Wii is unmodded, what now?
In this case, you will need to find a game from your region with a later firmware update (if you were updated to v3.3 you're out of luck until Nintendo release a new firmware version)
My Wii is modded, what now?
A modded Wii can be un-semi-bricked more easily, using the [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register] released by Bushing at hackmii. Download the correct disk for your region, burn and run on your Wii.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Please remember, however, that this applies only to semi-bricked consoles, none of this will work for fully bricked Wiis.
Hey Mark i think the solution for our problem is as soon as a new update comes out with the game for example (EA Active Sports) *i have no idea when that is* not EA we can just update it and make sure its NTSC... thats what ive found out so far if u have any update on the fix let me know too thanks
Same here - that's the only solution that I have seen or read.
The others require some homebrew to be installed, but I'm not sure if can install HBC... need to read more. *Sigh* There is 1 tutorial that has a solution and it fits to our problem. Send me a PM, I'll sent the URL to you if you want. (I haven't tried it yet, just found it)
Thanks!
Last edited by Bakla si Mark Ryan Ruiz; 06-10-2009 at 07:40 PM.
hi guys...im new here
the facts for me are as follow
1) cant access my wii settings
2) dont know what caused this... i think it was super paper mario
3)if it was super paper mario, this is strange. the site i got the game said it was pal, and it works just fine, but caused my wii to semi brick.
4)obviously,my wii has a modchip (dunno which one) (how do i know which?)
5)i can still play all the games i have so far but the ones i download (supposed to be PAL) wont work
6)i dunno what firmware i have
7)downloaded "wii-system-menu-update-PAL-v290" but my wii wont play it
it says i have some corrupted files
I'm new to this too, but some things I already learned.
1) cant access my wii settings -- Semi-bricked!
2) dont know what caused this... i think it was super paper mario -- Updating firmware that is not in your region. NTSC-US updated to PAL-EU, vice versa.
3)if it was super paper mario, this is strange. the site i got the game said it was pal, and it works just fine, but caused my wii to semi brick.
4)obviously,my wii has a modchip (dunno which one) (how do i know which?) -- You have to open up your Wii. I think you will need one of those special screws.
5)i can still play all the games i have so far but the ones i download (supposed to be PAL) wont work
6)i dunno what firmware i have
7)downloaded "wii-system-menu-update-PAL-v290" but my wii wont play it
it says i have some corrupted files -- Maybe firmware greater than 3.2...
please HELP! -- I also have the same problem. Anyway, from whatI've (we've) read, the easiest way is to wait for a game with a disc update that is greater than the currect firmware installed, of course, must be the correct region. :P
just bricked my wii... When I turned it on I would get a weird msg.... It wasent opera... It was english but It was like many writing on top of each other... The only thing that I manage to access was the pre-loader.. so I when to pre-loader opened the HBC and loaded this tool [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register] and I choose install firmware 3.3u and now my wii is back again!
Hi Quantum. Here's my situation. Started with virgin 4.0U. Used the bannerbomb exploit and 4.0 nociosfix to install the homebrew channel. Everything was working fine until I decided to install preloader v0.29 by crediar. I thought this would give me protection against bricking by upgrades. It started and gave the warrning message and froze for a long time. I pressed 1 and it said something about not being able to find the root and that ios38 already being modded. It then returned me to the homebrew sd card menu. I turned the system off and then rebooted holding the reset button. This had no effect. The wii booted normaly but when I click on the homebrew channel it goes to a black screen and freezes. Another member tried to help and I tried this. I managed to load ios60 using the bannerbomb. Install went without any problems. Reinstalled HBC with latest software. Still get black screen when activated, and shopping channel locks up on the intro (connect) screen. When this didn't work, I used the same trick to load ios36 patcher. It ran the majority of the way thru but said it couldn't patch something and ended saying that ios36 was not installed. If you have any ideas as to what to try next I would sure appreciate the help.....
08-12-2008, 01:17 PM
Linear Mode
