Your Nintendo Wii U Will DIE If You Don't Use It?! BRICKED & Destined For The DUMP?

[@Madlittlepixel]

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[@FreeVibes1]

"Sega Genesis and NES are indestructible as long as you don't keep them in a sewer." The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are in an absolute panic now...

[@tboatrig]

Caps might need to be replaced eventually though.

[@shadowflash705]

@@tboatrig I've seen never used new old stock NES and AV Famicom with dead PPU, Genesis with dead RAM. Right now it's not that much of a problem. Fast forward 20-30 years and chips will be nearly impossible to find and it will be like C64 situation with ARM-based SID etc. replacements that bring the question of the point at which there's not much left of the original hardware and isn't it better to just use software emulators.

[@clydefrosch]

I mean, the simpler the tech, the less points of failure.

[@MischiefMaverick]

I’m sure Donatello has a set up with a good ventilation system for the consoles.

[@coreyatherley8903]

Add N64 to the list.

[@jaymethysell5111]

My takeaway from this is to ensure that your Wii U doesn't brick, you have to hack the system so you can back up the NAND. And if you bothered to hack the system, well, that opens a whole other world of possibilities.

[@LennyQUMFIF]

Doesn't make sense because how can we restore our backup?

[@sunnohh]

@@LennyQUMFIF dolphin or nand programmer if you want to be really stuck on the troll you are shooting for

[@LennyQUMFIF]

@@sunnohh are those hardware mod methods or via homebrew? (Also isnt Dolphin a Wii emulator?)

[@seanm1738]

Looked into this and it requires desoldering the chip and writing the backup to it. Question is, isn't the chip faulty and doomed to just happen again unless it's a new replacement.

[@CynHicks]

My take is that you just make sure it doesn't stay in the off position for years. 🤣

[@tyrannus8914]

As far as I know this has not been an issue with original Wii (not yet, anyway), so it's real disappointing if this really is a widespread issue with Wii U consoles. I know nothing lasts forever, but the Wii U is not even THAT old. This should not be happening unless Nintendo cheaped out on component quality. We'll probably get a better idea of how big this issue is after the initial hysteria from the news article dies down a little, and we get more input from people who actually know what they are talking about.

[@andrewdupuis1151]

my wii works fine to

[@Khan93j]

​@@andrewdupuis1151 here a first generation wii (RVL-001)'s user... and the system still okay after been shut down from...2009-2010 (the console was a gift, and the last activity of the system registered was that year)

[@new_simsons]

Nintendo didn't cheap out on the emmcs. This was just because hynix made faulty emmcs. Kinda like the capacitor "plague" in the 2000's

[@mrgbasp]

Steve Carell: "Is it true that if you don't use it, you lose it?!"

[@bamvideo]

I know this happens with USB memory sticks also. From what I’ve read was that (in simple paraphrasing) the microchips needed some electric current to keep the data in memory. And if the device wasn’t used in years and no longer had a charge, the memory would be lost.

[@jeff15]

This happened to me several time with ssd and usb flash drive. It needs some power once in a while to keep the data. It doesn't happen on conventional hard drive, though. I don't have a wii u to know for sure if this is going to happen. I would be on it. It will.

[@pceslayer6815]

This isn't how flash memory works. More than likely some little component around the microcontoller gets fried from a sudden power up and zap you no longer can read the flash memory.

[@piratesephiroth]

@@pceslayer6815 yeah the data decays in flash memory but it takes a very long time, at least a decade, I think

[@rockykhan6338]

yes due to tunneling phenonenon in quantum mechanics it happens..ssd corrupting not used also due to it...the degrade takes few years

[@pceslayer6815]

Hmmm... Looks like longevity in a powered down state largely depends on how worn down your SSD and at what temp it's stored at. If true, just powering it on won't help because the data has to be read to be refreshed? I still think it's more than likely a bad component than a corrupt flash. I guess we shall see over time.

[@UAF_ViVi]

I'm filled with dread after hearing of this article. My WiiU console has been boxed and in storage for at least 5 years (maybe more). Going to have to take it out and fire it up with fingers crossed. I really hope it still works. I plan to get some games off the E-Shop before it closes.

[@clydefrosch]

If you didn't use it for 5 years, why are you even worried? And why would you pay nintendo extra money over fomo when the console has possibly an expiry date now and wii u games are archived and free anyways.

[@tmpardi77]

@@clydefrosch by that logic might as well just throw it in the trash right? I've had some of my old consoles in storage for as much as 15 years before deciding to take them out and play them again. We hold on to things in storage because we know we may want to use them again someday.

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

​@@clydefroscheverything has a expiry date

[@clydefrosch]

@@tmpardi77 i mean, if it turns out to be true that the chip WILL degrade and hackers wont find a way around it (i.e. by looking into an emunand on sd card) then yeah, kinda. people are in an uprage now, but you know most people checking their beloved wii u now, would have never put the thing on for another decade. i am more worried about the thousands of videos pushing people to waste money on the eshop right now though. especially with the wii u in the state it apparently is in.

[@therealjason52798]

Was the Wii U able to turn on?

[@GamingwithTai]

I hope this means the WiiU modding scene is going to find a fix for this.

[@debeb5148]

It miiiiiight

[@TheYambino]

Its a physical issue that would require a motherboard mod. Not something software mods can fix.

[@michaelcochran9685]

@@TheYambino Depends on if it is modded or not. You can backup the NAND or even order a new NAND back to install I believe

[@jasonburt5404]

@@michaelcochran9685 It’s dependent on the manufacturer of the nand. Sk Hynix will definitely brick.

[@JGKingCrusher]

This got me a little worried, so I pulled out my WiiU and made sure all was well. Works fine. Did an update and then plays just fine.

[@hypersonicfox]

This is not an issue that affects Wii U exclusively. This affects all modern devices using flash memory: game consoles (and their game cards/cartridges), storage media (thumbdrives, SD cards, SSDs), apliances (microwave ovens, washing machines), TVs, smartphones, cars... Only old devices using good old MaskROMs won't suffer from this issue. Manufacturers lied to us telling that flash memory is non-volatile: data eventually fades over time due to _electron dettrapping_ if not refreshed.

[@SilverX95]

this really doesn't effect game cards/cartridges as they use a solid state chip because there would be a lot of dead games by now NES,SNES,N64,GB/GBA,DS,3DS, this mostly has to do with NAND chips and chips like in Sd cards and flash drives not all chip are the same some can last forever look at the NES, sega genesis and atari 2600 also there are old computers with SOC(system on a chip) that are still working fine that run DOS or commodore 64

[@hypersonicfox]

​@@SilverX95 As I said in my comment, any modern card-based console utilizes flash chips inside its cards/cartridges and they are susceptible to the same issue. PS Vita or Nintendo Switch game cards are just fancy SD cards that will loose their data if you shelf them for years before you play them again. Old systems' cartridges (like NES or Genesis ones) utilize MaskROM chips i.e. the data is "etched" into the silicon when the chip is being made. This ones are susceptible to phisical or electrical damage, but their data won't be lost even if you don't power them for decades. Game consoles, in the other hand, they can contain no code at all (the CPU boots directly from the cartridge), they can contain a bootloader or a small BIOS (the CPU boots from the internal memory and then "jumps" to the cartridge) in a MaskROM or they can have a large BIOS and a fully fledged operating system inside a flash chip (plus a hard drive in some instances).

[@Galgomite]

Reasonable PSA. People have had experiences with SSD’s that are lying around and powered up for the first time in years. A good question would be, when the device is modded, does it still rely on that nand?

[@GenesHand]

I believe there is a way to mod the system to make it have like some sort of bios menu, that way you can boot from the SD card and probably be safe from a problem like this one.

[@jaymethysell5111]

I think you have to hack it or mod it just so that you can back-up the NAND.

[@bhk7898]

@@jaymethysell5111 But if you do back up the nand, how do you restore it in case it does get bricked?

[@GenesHand]

@@bhk7898 you can flash it to the SD card and boot from there

[@bhk7898]

@@GenesHand So just save it somewhere on the computer, and if a brick happens, just put it back on the the SD card? I thought I would have to open the console open up or something

[@lunaraura2828]

if we can't backup and restore the nand without modding the console, maybe this is a good time to mod the console

[@fernandosepulveda7297]

Especially with the service shutting off.

[@alishameyer3868]

Very good point! I need to do this but I only have one system so I don’t want to risk bricking it

[@nicodalusong149]

​@@alishameyer3868 Same. I want to keep using it but I don't want to accidentally brick it.

[@TheShoe1990]

Oddly enough, I keep my Wii U plugged up in our main TV. I modded it & we play it frequently. It's still a great way to play Wii & DS games, as well as other systems

[@randybobandy9828]

My wii u has been In storage since 2018 😭

[@UpwardOpossum9]

@@randybobandy9828 legit just put mine in storage a month ago now this is going around so time to bring it back out..

[@randybobandy9828]

@UpwardOpossum9 I own a bunch of acreage where I have a large shipping container with all my storage stuff in.. I'm going there today to get out my wii U to make sure it's not bricked 😭 wish me luck.

[@UpwardOpossum9]

@@randybobandy9828 wishing the best of luck to you man 🤞🏻

[@lackallo7324]

SAME HERE! 🤟

[@qactustick]

It sounds like the Wii U's memory is lost if it's not receiving any electricity for an extended period of time. Going off of that, I guess you gotta keep the thing plugged in if you want it to last, or at least remember to hook it up a few times a year to ensure the memory's always charged.

[@alishameyer3868]

Hmm okay, well I’ve got mine plugged in so I guess I don’t have to worry too much? Is that right?

[@JacobNintendoNerd99]

I don't actively turn mine on but it's left plugged in. That good enough?

[@qactustick]

I'd say so, yeah. If it's plugged in, even if the console's never actually powered on, it's still receiving electricity so the memory shouldn't lose its charge. This is still just assuming that's what causes the problem, though!

[@Madscientist9898]

NAND does not need a power source to maintain its stored data

[@JacobNintendoNerd99]

@@Madscientist9898 So what's the issue then with the Wii U?

[@tecpaocelotl]

I'm not a Wii U owner, but hopefully, some people resolve it.

[@VeloxusGaming]

Unfortunately I am one of those victims whose WIi U has died after 5+ years of not turning it on. It happened just last week too when I tried turning it on. I was so confused because I took good care of it and there was no reason for it to have died. It was pure coincidence for me that this article released today shortly after this happened to me, giving me answers when I was just really confused as to why my console with no prior issues just suddenly died when the last time I used it back in 2018 it was perfectly normal and functional.

[@CMONCMON007]

I'm sorry man wish Nintendo could try and fix it at least

[@manicminer1976]

Finally I read about similar cases! My Wii U died two years ago. I hadn't used it for months and one day I wanted to play on it and it wouldn't turn on. It never did. Bricked. When I tell people about this they are always surprised. Now I know it's a known issue.

[@dustinharrison3491]

Nintendo is a multi-billion dollar company! You should be refunded in full for the cost of a launch day system and any first party games or accessories that you had purchased as well. This is unacceptable that there's no fix to this (as in a ribbon fix for Game Gear's to become working systems again). Especially when way older Atari systems still continue to function well.

[@rockykhan6338]

​​@@dustinharrison3491 no company will refund amount after 10 years of launch this is totally childish you keep your latest bought brand new ssds unused even they will stop working in few years due to a quantum mechanics phenomenon called tunneling...during warranty period they change it for free...and nothing is forever..eventually every device fail one day..its like people asking refund for n64 from nintendo they bought in 1990s since today it failed ..best solution is mod the system that opens up possibilities and play games on it once a while...even if some one powers on system in many months for even 5 minutes that will be enough for stopping the possiblle phenomenon of tunneling to occur since powering on charges the electrons

[@Sunglasses_Emoji]

Is it modded and do you have a nand backup? If no to either question try UDPIH however it has to use a raspberry pi pico to inject the payload which costs money but it's much better than losing a wii u.

[@polocatfan]

​​@@rockykhan6338 they had to have known about this issue.

[@davidmedearis3126]

Just a heads up for anybody that's paying attention I have a Wii U and I keep it plugged in all the time I have rearranged my game room 3 times and every single time I unplug it and plug it back in it tries to not power on I have to pull out the thumb drive and the SD card to get it to power on every time. If you don't know about this you will freak out like I did

[@Nikjamesz]

I appreciate this info, getting ready to re-arrange my office and the Wii U was going to be moved and has an hdd plugged in.

[@davidmedearis3126]

@Nikjames no problem and yes everytime I move it and plug it back in the light doesn't come on or anything. After some playing around with should start working. It's very annoying

[@vhamer123]

Don’t get too scared, if this does become more wide spread the modding community is gonna find a fix for it, also this a great time to mod your Wii U and back it up and do whatever it takes to preserve it, modders are gonna keep finding ways to preserve these older consoles more then some of these goofy ass companies ever will….now I’m gonna hook up my Wii U that I got at a local retro shops months again when I have time to make sure it’s till fine lmao

[@carlgreene538]

Modding the Wii U is too difficult for most people.

[@WantBadtime]

They can try, but since this is likely a hardware issue and not relating to software, it may require some hard wiring inside the console to fix the save data chip.

[@SeleDreams]

the issue is that if it breaks, even if you repair it, if you do not have a prior nand backup of your console, you cannot just use a nand dump you found online because the nand of the console is encrypted with device specific keys, so it wouldn't be able with any other nand than the one it originally came with

[@carlgreene538]

Yes I realise that.

[@newalbacore8352]

@@carlgreene538 funny thing is i find it to be 10 times easier to mod than the switch and other stuff ppl hack all the time

[@rheck86]

When my system bricked, I dug around on the internet for a long while. Found a guy who determined that the specific flash memory they used (I think he said it was Samsung) had a firmware issue that caused corruption that was patched on phones, but not on Wii U. He was guessing all Wii Us would die of this eventually. He figured he could probably push the patch to the Wii U NAND if he had an android dev kit. At that point, he had run out of time/money/interest in doing any additional mods. The corruption issue goes all the way back to when games like Smash/Zelda/Wii U Sports Club first came out, but Nintendo was still repairing them, so it wasn't a big deal. Now, there are no options.

[@Nikjamesz]

This is interesting, my brother gave me his Wii U over a year ago and he had not used it in 2 years. When I 1st powered it on the UI was incredibly slow, the store and a few other programs would take forever to load into or had what looked like skips/lag it was different from what I remembered when I had my Wii U. After a week or 2 of use the UI and apps were back to the snappiness I remembered. This may have nothing to do with the issue being discussed but thats my expereince with a Wii U that had been in storage.

[@DarthGylcolious]

This slowdown bug sometimes happens with the use of an exernal HDD on the WiiU. All I do is power cycle the HDD and the WiiU, and the slowdown disappears.

[@NotRealChandlerBing]

This is typical behave of Wii U. Don't worry 😁

[@CheatFreak47]

This info is not backed up by hardware testing, just some basic understandings of the "moving parts" of a Wii U and why something like this could be happening. - The Wii U is very sensitive to poor data integrity because it is heavily encrypted system. This means that if even one critical file has data integrity issues due to hardware issues, it will throw the infamous error code. - The Wii U has high capacity eMMC from a period of time where high capacity emmc was known to be more prone to failures. Teslas from the time had issues with 8GB NAND flash of the same type, and you might remember Nintendo having a bit of a PR nightmare around the launch of Smash 4 because people were somehow bricking their consoles installing it. This is likely related. - High density eMMC does sometimes lose data integrity when not powered up for extremely long times, ever opened an SD card from a decade ago and found some of the JPGs are corrupt? This is why. So technically speaking, the eMMC isn't "failing" so much as it is losing it's data integrity due to being of relatively poor quality and not receiving power for a long period of time. I have some good news though: the Wii U attempts to phone home to network services for various tasks, even while powered off, so long as it is plugged in. This phoning home powers up the Wii U's eMMC NAND Flash and, this repeated powering up of the eMMC is theoretically good for it's long term maintenance of it's data integrity. So my proposed solution? Keep your Wii U's plugged in!

[@realjaytruth]

I haven't used mine in at least 5 years. I'm going to get it and plug it in to see what happens and I'll let you know.

[@delsings]

Good luck!

[@arturtherufian3953]

I have not used it in 3 years, until this year 2023 when I am buying games in the eshop, so far everything is fine with my Wii U

[@luchoortega-vl7ng]

Have a fire extinguisher handy!!!

[@realjaytruth]

*Update* My Wii U powered up fine.

[@michealfunickrr3717]

Have you ever used an amiibo this might be the cause. Whether you have or have not. Let's see

[@alfredocanas6802]

this NAND brick will skyrocket the price of the WII U since I bet many units will be gone in a couple of years.

[@alfredocanas6802]

@John Sampson Not exactly, I'm just saying that scarcity will increase if anyone want's to experience a WII U so now it's the time, but to be honest most important games are already on the switch and perhaps only if you want to play Xenoblade Chronicles X it might be worth it.

[@RickyRockstarTNS]

At the same time, it would be foolish to knowingly buy a ticking time bomb, so who knows if it would even sell when the few exclusive games could just be emulated on Dolphin. It would be better to just put the money into a gaming PC to emulate Wii U if they're all going to die who knows when.

[@8bitnation419]

Hopefully the nand gets reverse engineered. Along with some kind of programmer.

[@alfredocanas6802]

@@RickyRockstarTNS yeah, it's not wise to buy a WII U since now Dolphin runs great on Xbox Series S.

[@EvilDed788]

I currently have a Wii U that wasn’t used for about 3 years. Recently plugged it in and it seems to work fine. It’s possibly referring to people that bought when it released and haven’t played it since recently to find out it’s bricked

[@hikaru9624]

Seems possible. Mine is second hand and I got it in about 2018, it boots up fine. It could be a release model issue much like how release models of consoles today are riddled with issues.

[@thefastesthedgehog6795]

@@hikaru9624 That seems far more likely. I have a black 2014 32 GB NA it can go months to a year without the start up screen just fine. Remember all these testimonies are early adopters. First testimonies in 2014 and 2015

[@ZeroPointSpirituality]

My WiiU is a launch unit, and wasn't used for two years while I were away, and it works just fine

[@prisoneralex2752]

This is truly sad. I sent this video to two of my friends that have a Wii U, and both their systems are dead. They’ve basically been off since the switch came out and they have the error code.

[@Brando_Cookiedough]

funny how i heard a rumor that the wii would self-destruct. who would’ve guessed it was actually the wii u that’s gonna self-destruct.

[@proffesorchaos]

mad times lol

[@djvader666]

Up until a year ago I hadn't used my Wii U in years. Then last year when they announced ending the e-shop I pulled it out from storage and started buying digital games turning it into my ultimate Nintendo retro console. Never had a problem with my Wii U. This month is Wii U month. I'll be buying the rest of my wishlist til the last day.

[@Bears9McMahon]

This KZbinr is the biggest 🤡

[@VincentVegas]

This is something everyone has to be aware of, data that is stored on nand flash can go corrupt if not plugged in. SSDs can lose stored data within a year of sitting on the shelve. So better keep them running and always do backups of important stuff.

[@Bo_Knows_Tecmo]

Hack your Wii U and you will never have an issue with not using it. It is one of the best emulation options for all major retro systems and arcade emulation.

[@onewhitedude]

I literally had a dream last night about my childhood Wii U breaking down with this error, I plugged it in today and thank god...

[@conzpiracy9382]

If Nintendo doesn’t do something with it, they’re basically saying “they aren’t worried about longevity” and that’s a red flag for a lot of us collectors.

[@Kost135]

The question is if they can actually do anything about it. It might actually be a hardware problem.

[@conzpiracy9382]

@@Kost135 idk if you have seen the quick fix for a lot of it, just takes a RasPi Pico with a payload.

[@clearvus]

Super Nintendos are starting to have issues where their video RAM is no longer working properly and you get weird graphical behaviors or even the console not working properly. Nothing lasts forever, sadly.

[@ghkillah1995]

I would like to know where you got this information from. Do you have a link or page to support what you're saying, because I have had SEVERAL SNES and NES systems, none to do what you're saying unless capacitors or Picos need to be replaced.

[@vram1974]

​@@ghkillah1995 I think he means the PPU that's failing. I've read about it in various places.

[@GUCFan]

Yep that's what happened with mine. Bought from a used game store and Top Gear worked great! Fast forward a year later, Top Gear boots up to a black screen and only music plays

[@retronemesis7064]

@Z Thompson a couple of years ago I was playing my super and the signal went fuzzy and disappeared entirely. I thought it was my crt at first but it was my console. It was basically bricked although the led was still coming on. I was about to buy a new one but I hooked it up again rq and it miraculously worked again. Sounds kinda like what this guy was saying.

[@clearvus]

@@vram1974 Yeah, PPU and VRAM are the things I hear cited. Not sure where my comment from before went when responding to @ghkillah1995 but I've seen various reports in forums and also a few friends of mine who are modders have seen it too. I have two other SNES consoles that work fine, but one that I got recently had weird graphical glitches and behavior that nothing seemed to fix, even recapping, and the consensus was that it was another, sadly, failing SNES.

[@Nic5Cyprus]

This can be fixed by backing up the nand via hacking the console

[@ianeons9278]

As someone who owns 3 Wii Us this is concerning. One I use every week, one I haven't used in almost 1 1/2 years, and one I haven't used in nearly 8 years.

[@fenix_tx_1342]

I'm on the exact same boat, I have 3 Wii Us too, the main one I used recently to finally play Galaxy 2, but the other 2 backups I bought for crazy cheap haven't been turned on in almost 2 years at this point. I guess I will open the box I have them on and check

[@sharebear421]

Check it and see what happens? Let us know

[@fenix_tx_1342]

@@sharebear421 not sure if you were asking me or the guy above, but at least in my case, all Wii U were in perfect working order, tested both read and write operations by playing mario 3d world first's level installed on the system's nand, plays perfectly and saves progress normally as well.

[@dmcpcrt]

Absolutely had this happen to me and it's getting more and more frequent on boards. I had gotten a Wii U in a lot as well, tested it, worked great and no problems for a week. Brought it to a reputable store to trade in and it bricked when they went to test it, right in front of me. Just turning it on. Same thing that happens to many reports, just won't get past the initial splash screen. Absolutely blew my mind but due to these failure rates and the ports to the switch, I completely dumped my Wii U accessories, games, and systems. Only Nintendo system I've completely divested from. What a bummer.

[@davidmedearis3126]

Mines done this a few times most likely it didn't brick. You have to unplug any SD cards or thumb drives and it will power on. This is a hidden problem that I found through Google I thought my console was bricked as well you can actually get it to work

[@mikey2toes966]

Replace the battery. My pad bricked and it was the battery

[@dmcpcrt]

@@mikey2toes966 it's not the pad that's the problem. The pad was totally fine as it turns out

[@dmcpcrt]

@@davidmedearis3126 There was nothing plugged in externally.

[@ThatOldSchoolMagic]

This feels like a nail in a coffin for the Wii U. I really hope they didn’t design the switch the same way.

[@supermariof0521]

Knowing how the joycons go bad within a matter of days after purchase, I'm willing to bet all Switches are gonna fry in the next 2 years.

[@notmyrealname1526]

Hate to break it to you, but the Hynix eMMC used in the Switch is known to cause issues.

[@5.99USD]

The switch has terrible build quality so I wouldn't be surprised if they start dying 5 years from now. The Switch I bought back in 2017 had a loose screen digitizer out of the box and developed some dead pixels within a few months. All my joy cons have had drift issues too. The switch just feels fragile compared to something like the N64 or gamecube which were built like tanks.

[@GamingintoEternity]

Wow! Great reporting this issue. You are at the forefront in gaming news.

[@DataHombre]

Sounds like standard nand eol issues that plagued cheap / old nand tech. Xbox 360 for instance had similar issues. Personal example of how I would discover this…when you try and rgh it you may get a failure in the flashing process because not enough space is available… not all nand space is useable as the software dump requires slightly more space than what the original software needs and this is how you find out that the entirety of your nand storage has degraded. Some hacking xbox tools can actually confirm this after scanning your storage.

[@GoddDamn]

The GPU and CPU chips on the SNES can die at any given moment. I have see a lot of bricked Super Nintendo consoles.

[@technologyanimals]

This is bit rot. Affects all forms of storage like HDDs and SSDs. It means someone needs to figure out a way to reflash the NAND on the device, bypassing CPU security and encryption methods, because the chip itself is still perfectly good. It's just that the data is degraded from passing time. Otherwise, it's going to become junk.

[@-lord1754]

Translation: It will never be done lol

[@edurevelfood]

It is being frustrating to keep our collections alive.

[@jimmyrcg4966]

Thankfully I got my NAND backed up and still use it often to play my physical wii games Feel bad for those this could effect but the idea of a wii u summoning ritual to make sure it doesn't die is a little funny

[@Die_Helden_Sind_Tot]

Possible to get a copy of that backup?

[@jimmyrcg4966]

@@Die_Helden_Sind_Tot Every NAND backup is tied to that console specifically so grabbing someone else's won't do much good

[@Die_Helden_Sind_Tot]

@Jimmy RCG willing to give it a shot.

[@SeleDreams]

@@Die_Helden_Sind_Tot they are encrypted with hardware specific keys, so it's not just "likely" to not work, it just will not work as the console will not have the appropriate decryption keys

[@acdc09]

Just turned on my WiiU after almost a year and it still works.

[@jameshenderson4089]

Dam! I never play mine and it’s in its box. I have 60 physical and an external hard drive full of games so this would suck bag. I’m going to pull mine out and giver her a run.

[@MegaManNeo]

Holy moly! I moved few months back and only touched my WiiU before that once. Pretendo is a thing now which brings back Splatoon 1 splatfests and Miiverse too. I hope my console still functions properly, definitely going to make another NAND backup soon.

[@-lord1754]

do you know any good tutorials to back up NAND?

[@JolliAllGenGamer]

They don't make them like they used to. Planned obsolescence

[@rodney1666]

Saw the story yesterday...took down my years old non played Wii U...blew the dust off...no issues...

[@robertbarker5802]

I bit the bullet and finally retired my Wii and use the WiiU in Wii mode. And then there's still the few WiiU games that haven't been or never will be ported to the Switch. So I guess for the time being I'm not too worried.

[@Amoshuryu]

This happened to me a few months ago. Took the Wii U out of the box for the first time in a couple years and put it on my entertainment center. Plugged it in, turned it on, and it played SM3DW without issue. Turned it on again a week later and it had died completely. It would turn on but had no video signal and didn't respond to any input from the Gamepad. Called Nintendo and of course they didn't offer repairs anymore. Ended up buying another one on eBay for around $60 and it came with a Smash 4 disc inside, so the story doesn't have *too* bad an ending. Still, it was kind of disappointing. Up until that point, I was used to Nintendo hardware being built *like* bricks, not becoming them.

[@GamingForst1]

mod it and back up the nands

[@sladejosephwilson2300]

@@GamingForst1 Will modding save it?

[@GamingForst1]

@@sladejosephwilson2300 yes its not that hard to mod just need an sd card

[@sladejosephwilson2300]

@@GamingForst1 How does it save it?

[@GamingForst1]

@@sladejosephwilson2300 nands get corrupted and the only way to save it is replace it so it can be revived again

[@greenzeldayoshi4192]

I never had this happen to me because I still use my Wii U regularly since I had it back in 2012. It does make sense because while it might or might not be rare to happen, some electronics are like this. I don’t know if this is true, but it’s not a huge worry because from what I heard you probably only need to turn it on and use it like maybe once or twice a year at least to avoid it but who knows? I think one thing that helps is that even though there’s really probably not going to be any more system updates and is probably not needed anymore, I keep the standby feature turned on from the system settings where every set amount of hours the power light turns orange and checks for updates. I’m pretty sure that when that feature is turned on in the OS is still running in the background in some way even if the power light is red because when you turn it on the blue light doesn’t flash once or twice unless if you unplug it and then plug it back in. And if you plug it back in without turning the console on, the standby functions won’t take affect again until you actually turn the console on again from what I think I noticed. But that is just a theory I have with it.

[@VictorClearwood]

So what is the best option to buy on the eshop before it shuts down completely?

[@M64bros]

Thankfully I still pick up and play both of my Wii Us to make sure they're awake and alive

[@DemetriosVaroumas]

As an IT professional. It’s true and false. With everything we use today, Solid state drives have errors happening all the time. Even on a system that may seem it’s working perfectly fine. It is not because a system has not been used. It’s because they caused the issue from shutting off a system during an update/upgrade or firmware update Nintendo has periodically pushed to our systems over the years since the Wii. That can possibly cause it to brick because you just can’t install the OS. Lots of variables, but it’s not a system that reads and writes all day and night like a desktop or even enterprise level hard drives. The possibility is so low and don’t worry.

[@leon4000]

This is for the Wii U correct? I did put my system away from a few months, not close to a year yet. I just had to get my room clean from dust that's all.

[@TheOswards306]

This never happened to me when I haven't used my WiiU for a while. But that's really fucked up for a console to have when it's been sitting there for days or so.

[@MagicTheKrakening]

Day one wii u buyer. Went to my storage unit and pulled my wii u which i haven't used in over 10 years. Started up and played mario bros u without issue.

[@puchomagic1872]

My WiiU did die for not being used it will not pass the starting menu. try everything and anything. Had to pick up another console

[@jonathankulesa]

Damn, I have two Wii U consoles; One I have hooked up, and the other is mint and CIB, stored away - Wondering whether it’s even worth holding on to at this point… 😢

[@ZenithMusicNet]

Of course they are, as long as they still work and don't become bricks. Which I'm now also becoming anxious about...

[@NeonNightmares]

Could this happen with the Switch too? Haven’t used mine in at least two years

[@Madlittlepixel]

The Switch can be finicky if you havent charged it in a while, but thats due to the battery losing its ability to retain a charge. As far as it bricking due to anything else it may be too soon to know for sure.

[@pockybandit]

haven't turned mine on since around switch launch. Turned it on today, works great.

[@Justin_W]

Man! I haven't turned on my WiiU since I got my Switch in 2017! I pray mine still works! I've got a Zelda WiiU and I'd hate for that to be bricked!!!

[@Austinredstoner]

Same except I haven't used my Wii U since 2018 or 2019 can't remember exact date but I remember that I haven't used my Wii U in a few years.

[@Justin_W]

@@Austinredstoner Hopefully it still works! Let us know. I'll try mine as soon as I can and update.

[@Justin_W]

Mine still works. Everything boots up and behaves as normal! I hadn't turned my WiiU on in around 6 years so... Mine is the Black Zelda edition, so not sure if that makes any difference. I don't think the internals are different, but I don't know for sure, but I just wanted to put that out there just in case.

[@Mutato-]

I have 3 Wii U's 1 modded and 2 stock. Have had no issues with them. I think it might have something to do with how they were stored.

[@hailstorm1986]

I'm plugging mine in today and making sure it still works. 🙏

[@benv8185]

No problem my hacked Wii u gets used at least weekly.

[@carlgreene538]

The problem for most people is they won't know how to do this back up!

[@pgcroat6112]

Seems to have happened to me. Never hacked, never opened up the console itself, dusted it off after 5 years and now it’s just stuck on the Wii U logo

[@notmyrealname1526]

Early Wii U have faulty eMMC chips that essentially deadlock themselves due to a firmware bug. The issue can be avoided by making a NAND backup (before things go south), flashing it to a good, fresh eMMC and replacing it. Later models got different eMMC that don't have that issue, but the only way to tell for sure us opening the console and checking what chip is on the mainboard. The corruption issue can be avoided by using a USB HDD for installs and save games. However, eMMC is flash storage. If they aren't used in years, they lose charge and the data with it. It's not a Wii U issue, but an issue with flash technology altogether. Even modern SSD can corrupt if they haven't been used for 5+ years. Only problem is that Wii U firmware is encrypted and tied to a hardware key. Means simply replacing the chip and doing a fresh install is not an option. When it corrupts and you got no backup, it's essentially a door stop.

[@polybius22]

Can I just dump the nand for now, and if bricks flash that to an emmc later? I'm definitely going to back things up but I'm not sure what I would do if it did wipe my data someday.

[@notmyrealname1526]

@@polybius22 That's the idea.

[@JeraldOsborn]

This is true, i bought a wii U from a couple who said they hadn't plugged it in for years and when I went to plug it up I got an error code. Turned it off and on again still same error message. Nintendo must have cheaped out on the NAND storage for the internal memory.

[@KMJ187]

Turned mine on last night, first time in a year or so. Ill make sure its on regular - I have my entire wii-library backed up on the wii-u

[@agentorange8530]

dang, I did a factory reset on mine thinking I'd sell it to get a Switch but never did. Only bought a couple games from the eshop.

[@Horrordelic]

will the hacked store still work ? Like wii u usb helper ?

[@BKopps]

my console corrupted in 2019 right before they discontinued the Wii Shop support (not sure if related to this error, but it was a similar memory error after I used the Shovel Knight amiibo in that game out of curiosity). luckily they were able to fix it (unless they just gave me a different refurbished one) and I was able to redownload everything, I cringe thinking about potentially having to go thru that with all the shops down and no official support anymore.

[@michealfunickrr3717]

So is it good or bad you used the amiibo? Is this the sole reason it bricks or the amiibo prevents bricks?! If so Splatoon owners likely all have a Wii u that has had amiibo connected at some point...

[@arturtherufian3953]

I have not used it in 3 years, until this year 2023 when I am buying games in the eshop, so far everything is fine with my Wii U

[@therealfornicus]

For all of the collectors who live and die by the ethos "games are meant to be played" The Wii U is your flagship console now. It MUST be played. No shelf collectors for this bad boy.

[@mikey2toes966]

My WiiU game pad at one time bricked. Turned out that it just needed the battery to be replaced. Haven’t had a problem since

[@lordmegawin1.5superultrame85]

I pulled my GameCube out from under my bed after years and it works perfectly

[@56jsking]

Just plugged mine up and updated it for the first time in about 3 years, so far so good...

[@usedtruckemporiumusedtruck4166]

20 years in the future? dude capaciters leaking out and bricking the device has been a problem since capaciters were invented. Your new in box sega saturn is still 28 years old.

[@hurricane7727]

That's Older than a Ps2.

[@quietyoutuber]

Homebrew your console and back up the memory so when it crashes you have a reboot disk. Or usb in this case

[@TheLadsBandLive]

My SNES was bought day-1 and well cared for. Kept the box and all packaging in mint condition. Had it packed away for years in the closet, safely inside its box. Unpacked it around 2019 and hooked it up... the audio was distorted and staticky on all games. Completely inaudible. Tried the games in a different SNES and they worked just fine. 😕

[@systematicallyshocked]

I use my Wii U often as it's still plugged in. Didn't even think about this being an issue anytime soon.

[@ike-2357]

Raspberry pi Pico's are used for injecting swiss unto the IPL chip on the GC, I'm sure that a solution for the wiiu will eventually come that is similar in function, Think about using an SD card and storing a stock instance and a modded wiiu instance.

[@michealfunickrr3717]

You are knowledgeable. Let me explain the Bo1 disk. And dlc I found on it. I used expresszip on MAC trial or paid application. I extracted the rar01-rar61 or whatever and saw bo1 dlc maps zombie maps sound files to dlc and more. Please help find out how to add more RAM and to reroute network hidden from Nintendo & Treyarch. Bo1 requires both USB ports to be not disabled this is an option when creating NAND backup or when setting up your homebrew. It's not wads it called something else c or something I forgot badly. Please if you can create one it is essentially a type of cheat code. But it is a way to reroute network we've seen it for games like Mario Kart 7.

[@adamgardner28]

Well, shit...I bought a WiiU in 2013 when the PS4 released. Never opened it because I never had the time; figured I'd just leave it sealed when the Switch released...but now it could just be worthless??

[@Tomsonic41]

I mostly play Switch now, but I still have the Wii U hooked up to the TV (although turned off at the outlet). Once in a while I still like to play a bit of Minecraft, some of the old VC games that aren't on Switch, or even start it up in Wii mode to play some old WiiWare. After this announcement, I'll probably be powering it up every couple of months!

[@spirallight1337]

The reason this happens with the wii u is the nand losing its charge and it will erase itself, this will happen to ALL consoles with nand flash memory to store the UI.. That means the DS, 3DS, Wii U, Wii, etc on up.. Its why collecting for the DS, 3DS and esp the Switch is kinda useless unless you play the things frequently. If there are people here who are sealed collectors that stuff at some point will be junk and useless because of the nand flash.. The older NES carts and Genesis ones dont use nand they use ROM, that is actually coded into the chip itself. Its hard wired so to speak, so if you store it correctly, it should last forever really. Nand is faster but it is not reliable at all.. I would even put up money if anyone has a day one brand new copy of say steel diver for 3ds and opens it up and tried to play it, I would bet it wont work at all due to the nand flash erasing itself. People are not thinking about this kind of thing.. at the end of the day nothing truly lasts forever, but all these ds, 3ds, and switch games are gonna be junk in the future in mass.. mark these words. Maybe in 5 years I will sell all my stuff while it works and still has value, because once reports start going up of peoples consoles and carts not working anymore, the value will TANK, that is unless you can prove the item actually works, but people wont do that with brand new sealed games lol. So the PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Wii, Wii u, anything with a system memory that uses a menu, will have a very strong chance of not working anymore if you leave it unplugged and unused for many years... I will just have to sit back and see people panic left and right because their game collection is erasing itself from non use because people are looking at this stuff as an investment. I suggest you sell and get some money out before things get bad IF you are the type that looks at this as an investment. Last note... There is different kinds of nand flash as well, so not ALL of it is the same. Meaning some will erase faster than others, but at the end of the day ALL nand will erase itself with nonuse over time.

[@leon4000]

I play my Wii U plenty. Although I had to put my console away just to clean up my room. I'm still not done with the games so I play them often. I need to get a backup and external memory for all my save data. Then I'm going to have to dump the nand. This is as worse as the Xbox360.

[@ModzvilleUSA]

Mod it and back up the nand to be safe. Swapping a nand shouldn't be too hard for anyone with a hot air station.

[@nancyfrycklundchan2753]

Many years ago our Wii U was working just fine & then suddenly bricked up on us one day during a game of Splatoon. We had been using our Wii U pretty much daily & unfortunately it was past the warranty on it. Recently we tried to have it repaired after it sat bricked & unusable for many years with the Splatoon disc still stuck inside. It could not be repaired so we have bought another used Wii U console which works okay for now but I still have that looming fear that this one will also brick up on us for who knows whatever reason.

[@aldentetheplatypus7258]

could be a design flaw honestly something nintendo never noticed or didn't want to fix hopefully the switch will never have this happen

[@flamingosarerad9362]

This error just seems to happen to me in one mini game in Nintendo Land. From what I’m ascertaining the issue could get worse beyond what it is currently and “brick” my console?

[@crazyoldschool6342]

So if the wii u is destined to die, why even buy a new one or used for that matter?

[@kawaineko7402]

“Warm up that Wii U, stare at it for 5 minutes, Wii U Fridays!” 😂😂 Hilarious, you’re killin’ me, dude. Thanks for making me laugh about this because it sucks and worries me that my Wii U is gonna be toast when I plug it in! I’m certainly no Wii U engineer or NAND specialist either, so…guess I gotta prepare for some Wii U Friday nights, baby, woo! 😂😂😂👍🏻

[@SoundToxin]

Can you do a video on the Wii U NAND backup process?

[@lucscarabaeus]

This just made me take my wii u, clean the dust away, and plug it in my messy "setup". Going to keep it on as I do homework. I wonder how often I do have to actually do this, as I don't play wiiu often as much

[@8bitnation419]

Looks like the Nand back up has to be reverse engineered along with a programer made for this. That seems like the only fix. But the good news is it would be the perfect time to upgrade the Nand memory. I wouldn’t mind a 128gb Wii U console.

[@deusvlad2.083]

I think that as long as you can backup save data that's the most important, you can always get a sequel console that will be eventually backwards compatible. Save data is the most important.

[@vinniecastino3102]

2 years ago I turned my wii u on and wanted to play a game. There was an update. I downloaded the update and the update bricked my system. There was a hiccup with the update and now I can't get out of the wii u logo screen

[@TangoWithTheCobra]

I’ve been turning mine on every Monday to log into the e-shop to get my Nintendo points. I guess that won’t be happening any more after this month. I actually have games such as Paper Mario Color Splash and BOTW on it I’d like to revisit some day, so it better not brick.

[@AP-go1ks]

My Wii U bricked due to NAND flash corruption from not being used. It is due to NAND wear leveling process which is time based. The memory management needs to move to different NAND memory locations as NAND flash has limited read/write cycles through a complex algorith of conditions that is based on time (how many days has gone by w/o read/write, move the pointer address to a different location in NAND. It is common in poorly designed systems where the memory management at the OS causes an exception in the boot process. We had a similar problem in our engineering product and took a while to fix the code. Tesla had the same issue. It boils down to awful Nintendo engineering in memory management.

[@DixieBoy380]

I actually had a video ram chip go bad in a SNES. It was the one I bought from Kmart as a kid back in the day. Ironically I found another one with the case all best to hell and back that worked fine. Did a shell swap and that's the SNES. I use today

[@slimbroco572]

Thank god I sold mine a while back. Barely used it.