Friday, March 10th 2023

Long Term Nintendo Wii U Owners Experiencing Bricked Systems

by
T0@st
 Discuss (38 Comments)
It has been reported by multiple users across several online communities that their Wii U consoles are no longer functioning properly. The error codes 160-0103 and 160-2155 are the dreaded indicators of memory corruption. It has been discovered that the NAND Flash within the Wii U's internal eMMC is prone to failure. According to details gleaned from teardowns of the console's hardware, Nintendo has implemented either Toshiba or Samsung flash storage boards for the various revisions of the console. There has been an uptick in the rate of bricked Wii U consoles across recent months, but the problems seem to have occurred as far back as 2015, according to archived posts on the GBA Temp forum. It is speculated that leaving the Wii U inactive for long periods of time can lead to the memory corruption issues.
It will be interesting to observe whether any official solution will be outlined and implemented in the near future. Nintendo ended technical support and repairs for the system many years ago, and the Wii U Nintendo eShop is set to shutdown on March 27, 2023.
It is notable that the console remains the sole legal platform to play HD remasters of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Twilight Princess on. A personal favorite of mine, Xenoblade Chronicles X, is yet to get the Switch port treatment. It seems that it will be eternally tied to the Wii U ecosystem, outside of emulation - for example via Cemu on PC.
I am tempted to dust off and power up my 2012 vintage Wii U Deluxe Edition 32 GB model this weekend, to discover whether I have not won the NAND lottery.
Sources: My Nintendo News, GBA Temp, Wii U Subreddit

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38 Comments on Long Term Nintendo Wii U Owners Experiencing Bricked Systems

#26
Tartaros
lexluthermiesterBad advice. New units are not the problem.


No, it isn't. If you're going to make a joke, make sure the context works, otherwise it just makes you sound silly.
Ok dude, go buy a "boxed mint condition 32X" and if you get one that hasn't bricked then buy a lotto ticket because sure you got lucky.
Posted on Reply
#27
etayorius
Will this also happen to Nintendo Switch? i think it also uses eMMC Nand Flash.
Posted on Reply
#28
Tartaros
etayoriusWill this also happen to Nintendo Switch? i think it also uses eMMC Nand Flash.
Could happen. The switch had also some other problems like the chip controlling battery charge going bad on old models an other problems related of using 3rd party docks not approved by Nintendo.
Posted on Reply
#29
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
lexluthermiesterYou're right, that is true. However, the flash that Nintendo used in the WiiU was not the low quality crap. Remember, these failure are not the flash dying, just losing data. IF reflashed with a factory firmware, they would be fine.

True. A firmware reflash would recover most of those phones & tablets.
In this case it didnt - but i recall some scandals about the phones having issues with overheating and desoldering their NAND flash modules, people had a LOT of theories as to what was failing and why without any real answer - but it could also have simply been users running the phones to 0% and the NAND being unhappy about hours/days/weeks with zero power, since it was the early smartphone days and the rush was on for a new phone every 15 minutes
lexluthermiesterBad advice. New units are not the problem.
They could be here - that's the whole point. Not being used results in data corruption the user cant fix with a reflash.
I assume they have a CMOS battery of some sort that also helped out here, much like the various game console cartidges of the prior era used
Posted on Reply
#30
lexluthermiester
TartarosOk dude, go buy a "boxed mint condition 32X" and if you get one that hasn't bricked then buy a lotto ticket because sure you got lucky.
Seriously with that? What's the difference between used 32x's and new ones?
Posted on Reply
#31
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
lexluthermiesterSeriously with that? What's the difference between used 32x's and new ones?
the used ones have had power to the NAND to keep the data intact more recently?

How'd you miss that, it's the entire problem
Posted on Reply
#32
lexluthermiester
MusselsThey could be here - that's the whole point. Not being used results in data corruption the user cant fix with a reflash.
If the understanding of the problem is correct, an unused WiiU would unaffected as it runs a first run check on first bootup. Any errors would be corrected during that first run setup phase.
Posted on Reply
#33
chrcoluk
I dont have the error, but it keeps freezing hard on its dash, so is broken, but in a different way. :(

Been powered off for years. Worked when last turned on.
Posted on Reply
#34
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
lexluthermiesterIf the understanding of the problem is correct, an unused WiiU would unaffected as it runs a first run check on first bootup. Any errors would be corrected during that first run setup phase.
That first check still relies on having uncorrupt data - it too needs power to keep that data intact, flash memory doesnt have extreme storage longevity without power
Posted on Reply
#35
lexluthermiester
MusselsThat first check still relies on having uncorrupt data - it too needs power to keep that data intact, flash memory doesnt have extreme storage longevity without power
Like every other computer, the WiiU has a "BIOS" it boots from before handing off to the OS. This does not suffer from the same problem. See below;

The corruption happening on the emmc flash can not effect the system BIOS as they are two different chips using two different data storage technologies.
After doing more research on the matter, it is my conclusion that if this problem became serious enough, Nintendo can and likely would effect a solution that involved a form of recovery media. The down side is that all data on the system flash would be wiped, but at least the system would recover.
Posted on Reply
#36
Sora
can happen to any nand storage, including PC SSD/NVME

the charge trap isn't perfect and electrons leak with time, eventually the data corrupts, trouble is theres no way for a user to easily re-write the system data so the console is rendered a brick without the necessary tools
MusselsI assume they have a CMOS battery of some sort that also helped out here, much like the various game console cartidges of the prior era used
battery is for RTC only, doesn't prevent the nand charge loss.
Posted on Reply
#37
Tartaros
lexluthermiesterSeriously with that? What's the difference between used 32x's and new ones?
Musselsthe used ones have had power to the NAND to keep the data intact more recently?

How'd you miss that, it's the entire problem
They are failing a lot lately, because they designed a watered down Saturn to fit in a cramped space with a poor power circuit. I'm saying is the situation of numbers of an old console model failing for some bad decision in the design, not the same exact problem.
Posted on Reply
#38
lexluthermiester
TartarosThey are failing a lot lately, because they designed a watered down Saturn to fit in a cramped space with a poor power circuit. I'm saying is the situation of numbers of an old console model failing for some bad decision in the design, not the same exact problem.
That's called normal capacitor aging. Many retro gaming systems from the 80's and 90's need cap jobs. That has nothing to do with the problem these WiiUs are having.
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