Long Term Nintendo Wii U Owners Experiencing Bricked Systems

[lexluthermiester]

Note to self: Never "collect" a brand new unopened WiiU unit.

Bad advice. New units are not the problem.

It's the 32X all over again xD

No, it isn't. If you're going to make a joke, make sure the context works, otherwise it just makes you sound silly.

 

[Tartaros]

Bad 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.

 

[etayorius]

Will this also happen to Nintendo Switch? i think it also uses eMMC Nand Flash.

 

[Tartaros]

Will 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.

 

[Mussels]

You'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

Bad 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

 

[lexluthermiester]

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.

Seriously with that? What's the difference between used 32x's and new ones?

 

[Mussels]

Seriously with that? What's the difference between used 32x's and new ones?
View attachment 287633

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

 

[lexluthermiester]

They 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.

 

[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.

 

[Mussels]

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.

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

 

[lexluthermiester]

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

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.

 

[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

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

battery is for RTC only, doesn't prevent the nand charge loss.

 

[Tartaros]

Seriously 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

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.

 

[lexluthermiester]

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.

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.