This issue is inevitable, even if you use your WiiU regularly. Those memory cells in the NAND flash will deteriorate if no write action/reflash is being performed. I really hope the modding community can find a way to boot the wiiU from the SD card slot using some custom OS that overrules the NAND flash. Kinda how free mcboot works on PS2.
Now we know that a NAND Flash memory needs to be connected to current constantly to prevent this but prior to this issue I knew that only as a theory, sadly is true…
@@Rowri88 yeah i think the nand goin bad due to non use is cap. as others have pointed out it seems that the people who's wii u's are having this issues likely just had a faulty nand to begin with since this is an issue that has been happening to some people since the wii u launched
I am one of those people that had this error during the Super Smash Bros WiiU release. Had an original 32gb launch WiiU that would crash with this error if you played 8 playersmash or certain combinations of characters. Sent it back to Nintendo at that time and was repaired. Haven't used my wiiu in like 4 years so I tested it and booted up just fine.
@The Champagne Room I did not for either of those. Router info was changed in the last few years so it didnt auto update and I don't have any new games that would update it either
@thechampagneroom1really?? I was reading an article on how to retire you Wii U properly before the store shuts down and it said to update all your physics games. Maybe I shouldn’t now?
Wii U: WHY YOU DON'T PWAY ME😠 REAL GAMER: cause you don't have any games I care about, you shitbag console Wii U: YOU BETTA PWAY ME!!😠 REAL GAMER: No, go fuck yourself Wii U. Wii U: IF YOU DON'T PWAY ME. I SELF DELETE😡 REAL GAMER: PFFT. YEAH RIGHT. LATER CRAP ASS. WII U: 😤😡😡🤬🤬🤬🤯🤯🤯😵😵😵 REAL GAMER TURNS ON WII U 7 YEARS LATER): Wii U: 😵 (REAL GAMER THROWS IT OUT IN THE TRASH) THE END.
Prior to recent, I hadn't used my Wii U and played it. When I checked to see if it was hooked up to my new Samsung Smart TV by turning it on with the Gamepad, it worked. Yes, my Wii U is pretty much still in mint condition and still works, which is a good thing.
It's probably so the average person doesn't unscrew it, every household has a Phillips head or flathead screwdriver set. I would have tinkered with it as a kid if it was a Phillips head lol
It's a pretty accessible bit but not as accessible as a Philips or flathead. Makes it so tinkering kids can't access it as easily. God knows I tried to as a kid
So I guess its only a matter of time that we have someone create a 'retail' conversion kit where the BGA chip is removed and an adapter is re-balled in its place that has a MicroSD slot. This would indeed permanently fix this issue! 👍
@@M-Batman So true and if that does occur, I hope to pick up a few of those repair kits before its removed! Even better, if someone finds a way that forces new replacement data in the Nand chip through some kind of diagnostic software, almost like when you update the BIOS in our computers.
High Key, id love to see a peripheral for PC that essentially acts like a Wii U gamepad, that'd be a good way to keep the games playable the way they were intended, even while the original hardware starts to wither away
As mentionned by houdinico, the Steam Deck can do that with an external monitor connected to it with a (long) usb C cable, I think this would be the easiest way to play Wii U games with the original controls (SD supports Wiimotes) and with better resolution on both screens as an added bonus !
Yep, it's not really a new method. You can bring to life bricked systems like DSi too, for example. Though soldering an SD card adapter instead of an SD card would be a smarter idea. It's cheaper and you can replace the microSD card inside of it without resoldering.
On the point of if someone would spend the time to make a workaround for this issue despite a low customer pool, I would say there are,definitely going to be people out there who would be willing to do so no matter how niche it would be. I think this because in the last year we have seen reprints for Nuon games and a Bluetooth controller adapter for the Phillips CDi. If those systems can get new things made to fix issues or improve their experiences then a major Nintendo system is almost guaranteed to get attention to address this issue.
EVERYTHING, no matter HOW NICHE, will have a devoted community that will contribute to addressing or IMPROVING upon shortcomings that the manufacturer no longer sees as financially feasible to do.
@@SilverStormShadow Jesus, the NUON-that’s an obscure piece of console history right there (honestly, BARELY EVEN A CONSOLE). That thing was hyped at a few E3s in the late 90s to early 2000s (I remember reading about it in an old EGM issue), then disappeared for a little while, and then finally re-emerged when the product ACTUALLY launched (it was basically a glorified DVD player that had a very SMALL selection of like 5-10 NUON games that could be bought and played on it).
Memory corruption is not restricted to the WiiU. My advice is to boot up and use whatever consoles are in your possession from time to time. And make sure you store them is in conditions that don't promote the corrosion of the circuitry inside and free from dust. I think this issue with the Wii U has been overstated, but I will say when a device gets many decades old it is harder to keep them going - any number of components can fail.
I like the Wii U and i try to turn mine on and play something every now and then lol. Sucks there’s an issue like this though. I try to make my consoles last as long as possibke
Strange how this is suddenly happening once I discovered recently how to Mod both my 3DS/Wii U. I am totally not playing my Switch anymore. So much games from previous gen to catch up on.
I wonder if there's a way to see if specific model numbers/ranges have the Samsung chip included so more casual consumers can check to see if their console is at risk, or if it's merely luck of the draw that has unfortunately inflicted a good number of Wii U's with that chip.
U can homebrew it, not very hard and then download a program that gives u info about what chip u have in. Mine has the affected chip but it is what it is.
Crazy idea, but someone could just write a custom boot code to redirect the WiiU to boot from external storage media...and make sure the code gets placed on clean sectors of the eMMC???
Took my Wii U out yesterday and booted it up and played some Xenoblade Chronicles X THANK GOD it works. I would have cried if i couldn't play my Xenoblade. Bought a few games too before the store shuts.
@@awildcyclistappears What is the case for me, it's _Mario Party 10_ (and _Yoshi's Woolly World,_ once I find a copy of it second-hand at a video game store that sells retro video games).
Sad to see, even if the WiiU was never huge. I haven't played mine since June or something, was fine then after over a year of storage, but haven't checked now. I have a bunch of GBA and DS titles I downloaded to it from the eShop, but apart from that I think I only ever had two games, Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD. Would be sad to see a system go in a way I haven't experienced any other Nintendo console to do (my parents NES worked fine after 15 years of storage when I played it last and my GBA SP powers on no problem and keeps battery for several hours after several years of not being used or charged), but for my personal enjoyment of the console I'd be happy to let it go, or put it up on a shelf as a memento, if Nintendo will just port the HD Zelda games, I'll find other ways to play those GBA and DS games, several of them I even have on cartridge already, it was just a fun idea to play them on the TV.
Someone will definitely come up with a ribbon connector that will allow soldering directly to those contact points if I'm looking at this right 07:08 . I've done mods to all my retro consoles but I'm definitely not at the point where I'm ready to reball a BGA NAND package. At worst, maybe some people with the tools and skills can do a mod service where the NAND package is replaced with a little PCB with a micro SD card slot on it.
@The Champagne Room nintendo may as well throw in the towel with consoles like SEGA did and just become a game studio with mario on xbox and playstation
I really wish nintendo would port over zelda twilight princess and windwaker to the switch because that's only reason I break out the wii u every few years. It's still a bummer for these issues to be happening on a console that's not that old . My 25 year old n64 still runs perfectly lol.
I don't think this has anything to do with NAND "losing charge" over time. I think it's a manufacturing defect with a certain model of chip, that not all of the systems have. Thankfully my Wii U is still fine. I just tested it last night. (I do keep it plugged in, and I turn it on once a month to check the clock even if I'm not playing games.)
I also think the same a lot of information about this issue now seems even contradicting also claims from people mixing other bugs too, people talking about systems not being used for years and trying them out and not having a problem (I've read a dude say he had its console stored for 8 years or sum and trying it now without a problem) I'm mostly waiting for the histeria to worn down, but yeah i also think it may have to do with some models and their chips being defective
What I don't understand is other consoles use similar flash memory and don't seem to have this problem. Nothing lasts forever, but I don't think Wii Us are old enough to be dying like this just yet. Very fishy. Fortunately my 32GB Deluxe Wii U seems to be working, just gotta find the time to format my SD and mod/back up the nand. Hopefully a software method to flash will come, if that's even possible. I sense Wii Us will drop in value pretty quickly on at this rate
I think it’s obvious that Nintendo deliberately updated the Wii U to fail and be thrown out. If you notice the library for the Wii U’s virtual console, it allows users to own games. Now Nintendo is renting their old games out through subscription service. I think it’s an attempt to limit players’ access to old games
It’s the companies that made them, mostly Toshiba or Hynix and I think there’s another company that made them for the Wii U. With Hynix having the most problems
@@Laughy-Flaaffy I think you're giving them a little too much credit. To me it seems like cheap/bad eMMC chips on top of a closed down operating system that puts up a lot of roadblocks. Nintendo is really good at making your life harder at fixing broken things with their weird design philosophies.
I started up my Wii U for the first time in a long while after reading about this. It booted fine but it wanted me to do a system update, so I did, and after it restarted I almost had a heart attack because it gave me an error message. Thankfully, it turned out to be the external HDD I have hooked up to it that was having issues, so the Wii U itself is still fine.
Sadly, My Wii U did end up with corrupted memory, so now it'll never be repairable. I'm also not keen on the idea of getting a replacement console to dump the NAND from, to prepare for a possible future fix. Wii Us are too rare and expensive.
Hi, I am the guy with the SD card. I agree with most what you said, except one thing. You said there were many claims that Samsung chips are the problematic ones. Where did you find the claims? From the data we collected so far the problem seems to by with Hynix chips from 2012 and early 2013. In the picture you showed of my mod you can even see it's a hynix. It would be interesting to see the CID of your Hynix as it contains the date it was made. From the date code I saw on the Package I believe yours could be outside the problematic time frame, but I can't tell for sure as I nowhere found how to decode it properly.
I'm wondering if this has happened to people who kept their Wii U consoles in storage and not plugged in for an extended period of time. Upon watching this video, I powered on my Wii U after not touching it for a few years because life gets in the way. In the time it's been inactive, I've kept it plugged in and on standby, intending to power it on when I have a chance to play my Wii U games. When I powered it on, it asked me to update the system and it did that with no problem. I started up Yoshi's Wooly World and all is well with my system. I'm just surprised that I haven't touched this game in almost 6 years since I bought it.
Just booted mine up yesterday to play through Breath of the Wild again before Tears of the Kingdom releases. Everything seemed to be ok with mine. It's been about 6 months since the last time I played.
Never knew I'd be thankful to have gotten the 8GB at launch because the 32GB sold out, but here we are. Just backed up all my eshop stuff, and need to look up how I softmodded it so I can NAND backup just in case (and to play stuff I never bought) Thanks for the video explaining what we know!
Same. I also have a 2TB External hooked up to it so most if not all my saves are on the Hard Drive anyways. I wonder if it's safe to assume that'll expand the lifespan of the NAND memory?
Monster Hunter on the Wii U was absolutely amazing. Hundreds of hours were spent by my friends and I yelling at each other with the game pad while playing online. It was to the point that we were all pissed that MH4 was 3DS exclusive
The Wii U is definitely gonna be expensive in the future. I mean it’s already popular for modding and homebrew and once it hits its inevitable nostalgic renaissance around 2030 when people wanna rebuy their childhood it will go wayyy up in price. Sure most popular games are on Switch but once again the Wii U is where these games originated and it feels much more unique on there. This is why I’m trying to get a full set within the next 2 years!
This is why I decided to keep my Wii U and all the games instead of selling everything when the Switch came out. In like 5-7 years it's probably gonna be really hard to come by since not many people had one and people are gonna wanna play the original versions of what will be considered classic games at the time
I’ll say this the Wii U mods are great but in my imo u can also get a Wii cause it’s basically the same thing it’s just the Wii U it’s on HD but there’s a Wii chip mod to make the thing run in HD the Wii U games are on switch and some titles are even worth owning a U I have one I barely modded i believe was 4 days ago cause I was bored and sorta wanted to play Batman Arkham city Armored edition and Origins on the U but tbh if u really want to played some old games like NES and SNES and so on get a Wii and get someone to put that HD chip in it I like the U and all but the mods are similar to the Wii and I doubt many would like to come back to Super smash bros U when Ultimate exist or Super Mario 3D world when the switch version runs better and has extras
@@kokotheclown2588 It you ask me the modding scene for the Wii will only make the Wii U more valuable because it can emulate everything the Wii can but better, it will be like a double emulation beast. Not to mention the Wii U can emulate PSP, PS2, DS, and more.
@@brkbtjunkie even cfw can’t really help since its on a sd card. The internal storage is part of the nand flash and i don’t think anyone has figured a way to backup the nand, modify it so it thinks there’s more available space then reflash it on the wii u chip.
Always backup all the system NAND of every Nintendo console as soon as possible. That shit fails all the time on the Wii, Wii U, 3DS and Switch, and on none of them, there's a way to restore it without a backup as soon as it's out of warranty.
I’m beyond happy I’ve been able to keep my Wii U in pristine condition all these years, especially since I got it when I was 12 yrs old. Runs perfectly
@@debeb5148 yea every piece of tech eventually dies. Thats just the way things are, but mine for now, is working perfectly and the gamepad is in perfect condition
Emulation is improving year on year. No more need for original hardware like the Wii U. Since we pirate games, physical copy of games are also obsolete. Looking at how well the Steam Deck already runs Switch titles, this bodes well for the future.
This is gonna be like the PS3 ylod. Gonna be a good few years before someone like RIP Felix shows up to actually prove what the problem is, and how to fix it(if at all)
I had a wii u that I hadn't touched in 5 years, as in playing. I did take care of it and stored it properly, kept my screen touchpad clean and that sort over the years. I did pull it out and hook it up, it runs fine however my touchpad no longer functions normally. It was never dropped, at any point... I can't stress this enough. But the ability to navigate the icons becomes hard because the thing that scrolls across the the games for you to pick, simply disappears... I have found the only way to make it function normally is to apply some pressure to the bottom of the screen. Which is very worrysome....
If it's just your gamepad giving you problems then that's not so concerning as you can just get another Wii U and easily sync that ganepad to it. If your main base unit goes, then it's redownloading etc in which the option to download may not always be available.
Would enabling the standby functions prolong the system's life, since it would perform read/write operations more frequently? Or will that damage in the long run any external memory device?
This happened to me. Took it out of storage a few weeks ago after years of it being not used. I replaced the CMOS battery, updated the OS, and tested my games out. After awhile most games got the error - Either right away, when loading a save file, or just randomly in a game. My solve was to delete the game completely and redownload it from the Nintendo shop. If the system allowed me to keep the game saves then I choose to keep them, but the remaining game files were deleted and then redownloaded.
I know nothing last forever, but these aren’t even 11 years old! My older brother’s NES from the late 80’s still works! Things like this is why I support emulation of backed up games.
NES and SNES use Mask instead of Nand, which is why they still work. Nand has substantially more storage than Mask (I think 3 bytes per cell instead of 1 per cell) which is why so many devices use it. The shorter life cycle is somewhat of a fair tradeoff when you consider just how large games are. Mask rom cartridges will most likely outlive every single nand cartridge on the market today, and thats including mask roms from the 80s and 90s.
@@deadturret4049NAND, due to it being Flash, just doesn’t last long at all, unfortunately. However, the Wii we have has gone through daily use for years, and it still works great! I guess this chip model was just faulty.
@@sethbessinger2025 The wii also has the advantage of homebrew. Iirc you can run custom firmware off the SD card and bypass internal flash memory entirely. Plus, BootMii has built in Nand backup tools, and you can dump games to a usb stick or sd card with USBLoader GX. I think as long enough of your flash memory is intact to bypass the bootloader, you can still use a corrupted wii with homebrew.
I used my Wii U a lot back in the day, up until the launch of the Switch actually. After retiring it for a bit I decided to replay LoZ:WW HD and it ran just fun for a few weeks, retired it again until earlier this year when I decided to fire it up again to see what I can get from the eShop before it officially shut down. Everything seemed normal, was able to navigate through the eShop, launch a few Virtual Console games, and navigate through the setting to apply one of the newer updates. It was until I tried to launch LoZ:WW HD again that I encountered that 160-0103 error code. Only happens when launching games though, hopefully someone's able to find a fix for this.
Same for me. Mine seems kinda random at times, as well. Some games (VC) I try to start up and it goes straight to error code. Other times I can load up games and play them no problem, but when I try to exit those games back to the menu screen, I get the error code. I did the same as you, went to nab VC games before eshop shut down. I also had updated the system at the time as well. Really unfortunate. After all my years playing video games over 30+ years, my Wii U is the first and, as yet, only console that has given me unplayability issues. :(.
@@kirkgibson6223 I'm seeing a few people mention updating the system. I know it's probably not the cause but I think I might leave my wiiU disconnected from the internet.o_O
This is concerning as someone who owns 3 Wii Us. One I use almost daily, one I haven’t used in over a year, and one I haven’t in almost 8 years! Hopefully the homebrew community will easily fix this.
Make sure you keep an eye on your game pad. There Is a wireless chip in their that may go bad meaning it won't be able to connect to your wii u anymore
I’m not sure if it’s been posted here if not, but the Wii U does have an internal clock battery. It is hidden under a cover with a Phillips screw. I have a feeling that it is like the PS3 issue we saw. I could be wrong, don’t crucify me if I am, but it’s something to wonder?
Mine has not been used for 4 years. I just plugged it in, works fine lol. There is no logic behind it having to do with the console being off for an extended period of time. People just have faulty NAND, which has been a thing for the Wii U since it launched.
This is an interesting hardware flaw, because unlike the 360 Red Ring or PS3 Yellow Light, we know exactly what it is. Since it is the NAND, we do have a way to back that up and restore it later, but the major issue is the chip itself. Ball Grid Array chips aren't really meant to be replaced, this isn't a PC motherboard CPU slot we're talking about. So the only real solution we have right now is to back up the NAND and just cross your fingers each time you boot the console until it shits and dies, and then either get a new Wii U or an emulator and then restore your NAND to that.
I’ve had this same issue. It happened to me when I tried to update the software to the latest version I stopped it around the halfway point of the update because it was over 2 hours and it wasn’t moving. Once I cancelled it the system crashed and gave me that error code. I force shut down the system and powered it back on and it kept on freezing right before I could get to the main menu. I did the same thing multiple times afterwards but the same thing kept happening.
maybe this is the real cause of the error, people stopping an update, forgetting they did this, and then wondering why they're getting this error code.
@@RetroCheats maybe so, but still it shouldn’t be doing that after canceling it. It should just restart the system and go back to the previous version before the update.
I owned the black Wii U but then didn’t like the glossy black finish and sold it and went with the white Wii U which came with skylanders. Haven’t used it in years I hope it still works!
I play my Wii U for a few hours every few months. I haven't had a problem yet. I have a lot of Virtual Console games downloaded to it, and I'm scared of getting this error and losing all of them.
Strange that it fails from inactivity. Emmc suffers from very low write endurance, so I would assume a more active system would stress it out with more writes than a console sitting inactive.
Nintendo Switch has a similar problem. The issues comes from Nintendo going with cheap Nand-components. The same Nand components on cartridges that may become corrupt over time.. Yes you can reflash those, but in my opinion that goes beyond the knowledge and or equipment that people posses at home.. I had mine Launch edition give up with corrupt nand at which point wasn't worth fixing it.
This is the first I’m hearing of this, so I decided to pul my WiiU out and check after so many years. At the moment, everything seems fine and I’m updating the software. I have most game data on a separate hard drive, so I hope that keeps things ok.
I'm sure someone out there will make some kind of flex PCB to replace the EMMC with a MicroSD slot that can be installed by filing part of the case. As you said, it would be incredibly niche, but the moment that's available, I'd probably do it even with a functional WiiU anyway just to preserve my system in the long run. Games that have been ported will probably be most unique on WiiU (Fatal Frame), plus there's still exclusives for it that will likely not be ported (Xenoblade X and Devil's Third), so it's not like the console will become useless even years down the line.
I literally found out about this and actually had my Wii U collecting dust for a good 5 years. Luckily enough It didn’t brick, now I’m constantly using it.
When I first heard about this I literally ran to my Wii U turned it on and had a sigh of relief when everything seemed totally fine. Mine was a late 2014 Wii U so I'm hoping I've avoided this Samsung nand flash or whatever issue. I mean at this point I guess it's time to go down the rabbit hole of doing the full jail breaking/hacking. It's about to lose pretty much all support from Nintendo so I'm not too worried at this point.
I am one of those people being faced with this error code at sporadic intervals. Would it still be possible to get a new Wii U and do a normal system transfer? or would this transfer over the error? I really hope someone comes up with a solution... honestly had fun with the Wii U.
@@breadloaf2438 yes, I can get to the OS 50% of the time, the other times it freezes up and or gives that error. Especially if I try to download a game.
I got the 106-0103 error when trying to play games but eventually got it to work after inserting Xenoblade Chronicles X, but I had to redownload the digital games. My guess is portions of the system memory are physically degraded. Hopefully I can transfer my account to another Wii U or at least backup the NAND before it gets worse.
I wonder/really hope it would be possible to install an SD reader socket in lieu of another chip. Might be totally talking out of my ass but this scenario is really less than ideal.
@@winlover37 well if you can solder an SD card directly to the board I don't see why you can't solder a slot instead lol, at the rnd of the day as long as the appropriate connections are made it should function perfectly fine, no?
Actually it's not exactly the same, for instance emmc supports an 8 but interface for higher throughput than the 4 bit interface on SD cards. There are other differences too, but in many systems they're interchangeable
I was a staunch defender of the Wii U during it's life, and my black 32GB Wii U with Super Mario 3D World pre-installed is still running well... ...but now that I have a Switch and as more issues with the Wii U pop up now a decade after its launch, I'm starting to see that tech-wise: the Wii U was a _horribly designed_ machine by Nintendo standards. Take upgrading memory storage, for instance: The Switch, 3DS and the OG Wii all use generic SD cards that you can pop in and out of the system to expand save space. For the most part, not a hassle and doesn't get in the way of anything. _But not the Wii U!_ The Wii U only gives you 32GB to start with (8GB if you only have the white model) on a proprietary permanently soldered-in chip, then makes you hook up bulky external hard drives with their own A/C adapters and everything. And now we know that very same internal NAND is a ticking time bomb. Brilliant. One really has to really wonder what was Nintendo thinking with that, and what corners were cut when designing the Wii U. That's annoying in and of itself, but what really turns storage into a nightmare is Nintendo Network ID - All purchases on NNID consoles (Wii U and 3DS) are _locked to the original console only._ A disk-based game will work on any Wii U, but downloadable games and DLC that you backed up to said external drive will only work on _your_ console. The only way to transfer those purchases to another Wii U or 3DS is by using your original system to do a System Transfer. But if your Wii U is bricked and Nintendo will no longer service them - well, your Shit Out Of Luck. You would've had to rebuy everything, but now that Wii U and 3DS eShop is closing you can't even do _that._ (The OG Wii also has this problem, though 80%+ of it's games were all physical with no DLC anyway. Other than Virtual Console and a few standouts, there's not much lost tbh. Plus there's 100 million Wii's out in the wild, so it's easy to replace.) People love to complain about Nintendo Accounts and Switch Online, but it's a godsend over what the Wii U and 3DS had. Switch purchases are all tied to online accounts just like Steam and Microsoft, so you can at least redownload your games onto a new Switch if your current one bricks. I loved it during it's time, but frankly the Wii U is a bad system with bad infrastructure. And if Nintendo finds a way to port the last remaining standouts, it won't surprise me to see the system fall off the face of the earth entirely.
I have one CIB Mario Maker Edition and one that is connected to my TV setup. I think Jon forgot to mention, if you get the error after staring a game, do not do a factory reset. There are tutorials that can fix it by making a second user. I think Jon had links to it in a previous video.
Modded mine back in 2014 and had it ever since. I pulled it out last year or the year before and ran through wind waker again since it's the best way to play the game currently on actual hardware. No issues. Guess I'm just lucky
I have a bricked WiiU, it was a modded 32gb. Now, it just has a red blinking light when it powers on, no screens, no input responses. The only possibility of a fix that I have found involves using a modded Switch.
Re Game Preservation: many of the WiiU titles that have gotten ports feel DRASTICALLY different when played on Switch. Heck, the original Splatoon has completely different mechanics than Splatoon2, including how the map and superjump work during matches. And yes, some of us do still play the OG. Pretendo Network has done amazing work to get online play functional again.
Some people have been able to fix this with UDPIH, which is a way to enter a sort of recovery mode, using a raspberry pi pico and putting some files on an sd card This error can come up with some common software issues. It doesnt nessorcarily mean your nand is dead-
Nintendo didn't wanted to make a videogame that lasted long. I believe this is how Nintendo thinks: When the console is discontinued they don't get any more money from it but people still spends money on them, money that could be used on the newest Nintendo hardware.
I would love to see a 100% sure solution for this problem. I have a spare Wii U 8GB that has this problem. It will boot, but gives this error when you try to do anything.
I've had this since day 1. It happens randomly in every app (usually just when powering on though). Weirdest thing of all is it consistently got that error at a certain point during the credits of New Super Mario Bros U. Too bad I was too young back then to know what a warranty was
I just turned my wii u on for the first time since 2017 and everything is good so far, I updated it and it seems fine. I hope this isn't something that will eventually happen to ALL of the systems... i done have the knowledge to fix it if it bricks. BTW, Resident evil 4 is $2.99 on the eshop to anyone who doesn't have it yet!
Kinda related, but I've had a couple of perfectly fine Wii U games just QUIT WORKING. The discs are completely fine, but the games won't play. The games appear on the Wii U menu, and they'll even show the title screen when launched, maybe. But after that, the error code pops up: 150-1031. Happened with Super Smash Bros. years ago and slightly more recently, 3D World. I've tried formatting the Wii U, deleting save data (ouch!), and nothing worked. Even though that was years ago, I'm still kinda ticked.
I'm in the market to buy a wii u again..but after this video I'm not so sure anymore..is it a common issue? The seller did tell me the unit I'm interested in functions 100% but now I'm not convinced
3 games to get a Wii U for. Xenoblade Chronicles X, Wind Walter HD & Twilight Princess HD. I’d say it’s worth the risk if you’re getting a deal. Mine still boots up fine. Also, it plays all Wii games too.
I'm one of those rare Wii U consumers. It’s mainly because I already had a working GameCube, and I'll admit some resentment for the Wii due to the time it came out and what was happening in my life at the time (my brothers took all the GameCube games we all played to their dad's house and just left them there for the Wii he bought). So I chose to skip the Wii and buy a Wii U during my setup to be able to buy and play the games. I'll eventually buy a Wii most likely, but as long as my console holds up, that's a ways away with me using my Wii U until then. My choice was made because, at the time, most of the Wii U's library hadn't been ported yet, and the thing will just turn into a Wii to play my Wii games. Also money. I could only afford one console, didn't need the GameCube back compatability of the Wii and the Wii U again can just turn itself into a Wii to play that entire library.
I'm still not very happy. The Wii U eShop is winding down in a few weeks and I'm afraid if something like this were to happen, that's it! You're done with your 'purchased' software.
Glad that I finally decided to do nand/data buckups for my consoles last year. I was always scared to mod/hack my consoles but if you just want a buckup is not that hard.
@@logan007hi NAND backup is a backup of the console's onboard memory. If your console fails, for example the flash chip dies, you can just reprogram a new chip and solder it in. In Wii U's case if you didn't have a NAND backup and your flash chip dies, its dead.
My Wii U didn’t work when I started it up after a few years but I just had to swap the battery in the console. They luckily made it easy to access and that fixed it. I think even having no battery in was better than the battery that had been in there iirc.
From the 7th Gen onward, we've really been seeing a problem with just how tightly consoles cut corners on parts to get their costs down. Having to do mods/repairs like this completely defeats the purpose of getting a console rather than a PC in the first place.
Definately. I'm just enjoying the system for aslong as it lasts. Thing is for me I have too many games and consoles so if it dies and I can't get a replacement then I just sell of my games for that system and make room. No big deal. They're just games anyway though I will be sad when this happens that I won't be able to play sonic boom rol anymore. I know it's deemed a bad game but due to that it'll never be ported. I like it personally so yeah I'll be sad not to be able to play it.
@@Shinepikavee I get the physical space being an issue, but I admit, I really hate that console-makers intentionally make our accumulated library harder and harder to access by every new console release that can't play more than a fraction of it. Having the consoles die with timebomb issues on top of it makes it even worse.
@@LoveTheGiant all Nand catridge games will die. Mask cartridges (nes, snes, etc) is totally up in the air, but the general consensus is that they will still outlast brand new nand carts. I could be wrong but im pretty sure switch carts use both nand and mask. Homebrew will probably solve this though. Idk what switch homebrew is like, but if it has something like usbloader gx in wii, we should eventually be able to dump our cartridges onto sd cards and then back them up onto an HDD.
Are there any good/easy guides to follow just to back it up? I don't care about homebrew, but I use my Wii U for both Wii and the Wii U library and want to make sure it stays that way years from now.
I’m devastated and this has quite frankly shook my commitment to collect physical games only. I tried plugging my WiiU in last month and discovered it was bricked 😢 .
Dang.. Im sorry bro. I own one as well with many games i recently downloaded due to its store closing. Now im hit with this problem. Im going to lose all my games one day.
@@jeffro9252 Just becuase it has a shelf life of playability. It's nice to be able to play childhood games on original hardware. If you're buying to keep long term, or reselling, it means the game can basically expire and become unplayable after 15-25 years, maybe longer. Might not matter to some people but longevity is important to collectors. Some people prefer physical precisely because it is more reliable (or was) than using a digital license with a digital shop that will close down at some point, usually the end of the console's life.
This issue is inevitable, even if you use your WiiU regularly. Those memory cells in the NAND flash will deteriorate if no write action/reflash is being performed. I really hope the modding community can find a way to boot the wiiU from the SD card slot using some custom OS that overrules the NAND flash. Kinda how free mcboot works on PS2.
I dodged some bullets using it, holyyyyy moly
Scam do not respond to this
Now we know that a NAND Flash memory needs to be connected to current constantly to prevent this but prior to this issue I knew that only as a theory, sadly is true…
I didnt use my wii u for 7 years, used it today and it was all fine lol
@@Rowri88 yeah i think the nand goin bad due to non use is cap. as others have pointed out it seems that the people who's wii u's are having this issues likely just had a faulty nand to begin with since this is an issue that has been happening to some people since the wii u launched
I am one of those people that had this error during the Super Smash Bros WiiU release. Had an original 32gb launch WiiU that would crash with this error if you played 8 playersmash or certain combinations of characters. Sent it back to Nintendo at that time and was repaired. Haven't used my wiiu in like 4 years so I tested it and booted up just fine.
@The Champagne Room I did not for either of those. Router info was changed in the last few years so it didnt auto update and I don't have any new games that would update it either
@thechampagneroom1really?? I was reading an article on how to retire you Wii U properly before the store shuts down and it said to update all your physics games. Maybe I shouldn’t now?
Wii U: WHY YOU DON'T PWAY ME😠
REAL GAMER: cause you don't have any games I care about, you shitbag console
Wii U: YOU BETTA PWAY ME!!😠
REAL GAMER: No, go fuck yourself Wii U.
Wii U: IF YOU DON'T PWAY ME. I SELF DELETE😡
REAL GAMER: PFFT. YEAH RIGHT. LATER CRAP ASS.
WII U: 😤😡😡🤬🤬🤬🤯🤯🤯😵😵😵
REAL GAMER TURNS ON WII U 7 YEARS LATER):
Wii U: 😵
(REAL GAMER THROWS IT OUT IN THE TRASH)
THE END.
Prior to recent, I hadn't used my Wii U and played it. When I checked to see if it was hooked up to my new Samsung Smart TV by turning it on with the Gamepad, it worked. Yes, my Wii U is pretty much still in mint condition and still works, which is a good thing.
I’ll never understand why Nintendo is so obsessed with triwing screws
It's probably so the average person doesn't unscrew it, every household has a Phillips head or flathead screwdriver set.
I would have tinkered with it as a kid if it was a Phillips head lol
It's so kids can't just bust open their consoles with regular screwdrivers.
@@legendaryhero90 Oh I’m sure it’s more than just "kids"… 🙄
It's a pretty accessible bit but not as accessible as a Philips or flathead. Makes it so tinkering kids can't access it as easily. God knows I tried to as a kid
@@Girzzlyঐু but the NES was all phillips head though. but the cartridges wasn't though
So I guess its only a matter of time that we have someone create a 'retail' conversion kit where the BGA chip is removed and an adapter is re-balled in its place that has a MicroSD slot. This would indeed permanently fix this issue! 👍
Yep, unfortunately the person selling those will get a cease and desist from Nintendo Ninjas.
@@M-Batman So true and if that does occur, I hope to pick up a few of those repair kits before its removed! Even better, if someone finds a way that forces new replacement data in the Nand chip through some kind of diagnostic software, almost like when you update the BIOS in our computers.
@@M-Batman couldn't they only stop it from selling If they have the actual OS installed on the system. Unless it's a part owned by Nintendo
Yeah just kiss your downloaded games goodbye.
@@kr4t0sg.28 True, but as an 'oldie' gamer that prefers physical media, I wouldn't care lol 😁
High Key, id love to see a peripheral for PC that essentially acts like a Wii U gamepad, that'd be a good way to keep the games playable the way they were intended, even while the original hardware starts to wither away
Great for 3/DS emulation as well!
There's ways to do this with the Steam Deck IIRC
As mentionned by houdinico, the Steam Deck can do that with an external monitor connected to it with a (long) usb C cable, I think this would be the easiest way to play Wii U games with the original controls (SD supports Wiimotes) and with better resolution on both screens as an added bonus !
@@whyishoudini, that's good to know thanks!!!
I'm possibly the only person who's favourite console is the WiiU!
@@aaronjames7266 yeah, that and "low key"
The SD card mod made me giggle a bit, then I remembered you can essentially do the same with the PS2 with the 2nd memory card slot.
I remember having an og ps2 that was modded
Yep, it's not really a new method. You can bring to life bricked systems like DSi too, for example. Though soldering an SD card adapter instead of an SD card would be a smarter idea. It's cheaper and you can replace the microSD card inside of it without resoldering.
On the point of if someone would spend the time to make a workaround for this issue despite a low customer pool, I would say there are,definitely going to be people out there who would be willing to do so no matter how niche it would be. I think this because in the last year we have seen reprints for Nuon games and a Bluetooth controller adapter for the Phillips CDi. If those systems can get new things made to fix issues or improve their experiences then a major Nintendo system is almost guaranteed to get attention to address this issue.
Has there been things done for the Wondervision?
EVERYTHING, no matter HOW NICHE, will have a devoted community that will contribute to addressing or IMPROVING upon shortcomings that the manufacturer no longer sees as financially feasible to do.
@@jaythomas468 Exactly. If the Nuon can get new support, anything can.
@@SilverStormShadow
Jesus, the NUON-that’s an obscure piece of console history right there (honestly, BARELY EVEN A CONSOLE).
That thing was hyped at a few E3s in the late 90s to early 2000s (I remember reading about it in an old EGM issue), then disappeared for a little while, and then finally re-emerged when the product ACTUALLY launched (it was basically a glorified DVD player that had a very SMALL selection of like 5-10 NUON games that could be bought and played on it).
Memory corruption is not restricted to the WiiU. My advice is to boot up and use whatever consoles are in your possession from time to time. And make sure you store them is in conditions that don't promote the corrosion of the circuitry inside and free from dust. I think this issue with the Wii U has been overstated, but I will say when a device gets many decades old it is harder to keep them going - any number of components can fail.
I like the Wii U and i try to turn mine on and play something every now and then lol. Sucks there’s an issue like this though. I try to make my consoles last as long as possibke
Strange how this is suddenly happening once I discovered recently how to Mod both my 3DS/Wii U. I am totally not playing my Switch anymore. So much games from previous gen to catch up on.
I wonder if there's a way to see if specific model numbers/ranges have the Samsung chip included so more casual consumers can check to see if their console is at risk, or if it's merely luck of the draw that has unfortunately inflicted a good number of Wii U's with that chip.
Yes pls that would help me sleep better
There's a homebrew called mdinfo. Anyway, it isn't Samsung chips who are affected but Hynix.
U can homebrew it, not very hard and then download a program that gives u info about what chip u have in. Mine has the affected chip but it is what it is.
Crazy idea, but someone could just write a custom boot code to redirect the WiiU to boot from external storage media...and make sure the code gets placed on clean sectors of the eMMC???
Took my Wii U out yesterday and booted it up and played some Xenoblade Chronicles X THANK GOD it works. I would have cried if i couldn't play my Xenoblade. Bought a few games too before the store shuts.
Xenoblade X - my reason for owning a WiiU.
@@awildcyclistappears I literally did the same thing lol.
@@awildcyclistappears What is the case for me, it's _Mario Party 10_ (and _Yoshi's Woolly World,_ once I find a copy of it second-hand at a video game store that sells retro video games).
I bought xenoblade chronicles 1 on the eshop just in time for the closure
Im sure you guys must be ecstatic with the recent announcement😁
Sad to see, even if the WiiU was never huge. I haven't played mine since June or something, was fine then after over a year of storage, but haven't checked now. I have a bunch of GBA and DS titles I downloaded to it from the eShop, but apart from that I think I only ever had two games, Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD. Would be sad to see a system go in a way I haven't experienced any other Nintendo console to do (my parents NES worked fine after 15 years of storage when I played it last and my GBA SP powers on no problem and keeps battery for several hours after several years of not being used or charged), but for my personal enjoyment of the console I'd be happy to let it go, or put it up on a shelf as a memento, if Nintendo will just port the HD Zelda games, I'll find other ways to play those GBA and DS games, several of them I even have on cartridge already, it was just a fun idea to play them on the TV.
Someone will definitely come up with a ribbon connector that will allow soldering directly to those contact points if I'm looking at this right 07:08 . I've done mods to all my retro consoles but I'm definitely not at the point where I'm ready to reball a BGA NAND package. At worst, maybe some people with the tools and skills can do a mod service where the NAND package is replaced with a little PCB with a micro SD card slot on it.
@The Champagne Room nintendo may as well throw in the towel with consoles like SEGA did and just become a game studio with mario on xbox and playstation
@@t_eli_s not a bad idea.
It's a good thing I genuinely still use my Wii U as a regular console.
Truly wish I still had mine 💔
Mine is still hooked up to the TV to this day, never put it away. I love Splatoon 1.
I booted mine up from it's grave, so far zero issues
The online still works?
@@luichinplaystation610 COD BLOPS2 lobbies still work, though there is never more than 20 people online at a time
I had this problem with my Wii U and it was very frustrating. I could not play Smash Wii U online and certain games would randomly crash.
I really wish nintendo would port over zelda twilight princess and windwaker to the switch because that's only reason I break out the wii u every few years. It's still a bummer for these issues to be happening on a console that's not that old . My 25 year old n64 still runs perfectly lol.
I don't think this has anything to do with NAND "losing charge" over time. I think it's a manufacturing defect with a certain model of chip, that not all of the systems have. Thankfully my Wii U is still fine. I just tested it last night. (I do keep it plugged in, and I turn it on once a month to check the clock even if I'm not playing games.)
I also think the same a lot of information about this issue now seems even contradicting also claims from people mixing other bugs too, people talking about systems not being used for years and trying them out and not having a problem (I've read a dude say he had its console stored for 8 years or sum and trying it now without a problem) I'm mostly waiting for the histeria to worn down, but yeah i also think it may have to do with some models and their chips being defective
It would be fun to see Spawn wave atempt this replacing emmc chip with a SD card and make a guide for others to do so as well.
Its not a DIY thing you can do at home...not even close. The Wii U board and firmware won't support adding larger storage than 32GB
What I don't understand is other consoles use similar flash memory and don't seem to have this problem. Nothing lasts forever, but I don't think Wii Us are old enough to be dying like this just yet. Very fishy.
Fortunately my 32GB Deluxe Wii U seems to be working, just gotta find the time to format my SD and mod/back up the nand. Hopefully a software method to flash will come, if that's even possible. I sense Wii Us will drop in value pretty quickly on at this rate
I think it’s obvious that Nintendo deliberately updated the Wii U to fail and be thrown out. If you notice the library for the Wii U’s virtual console, it allows users to own games. Now Nintendo is renting their old games out through subscription service.
I think it’s an attempt to limit players’ access to old games
@@Laughy-Flaaffy nah I don't think so Nintendo is too lazy to do that lol
It’s the companies that made them, mostly Toshiba or Hynix and I think there’s another company that made them for the Wii U. With Hynix having the most problems
@@Laughy-Flaaffy I think you're giving them a little too much credit. To me it seems like cheap/bad eMMC chips on top of a closed down operating system that puts up a lot of roadblocks. Nintendo is really good at making your life harder at fixing broken things with their weird design philosophies.
@@Laughy-Flaaffy Flimsy conspiracy. If that's the case, then why isn't this happening to the original Wii, which also has a Virtual Console?
That's why I play all my systems once in a while. Was a little too late with my neo geo pocket color and Gamegear systems.
I still use my dark Wii U and my white Wii U use still to this day and they have no problems whatsoever so far and as of right now
I started up my Wii U for the first time in a long while after reading about this. It booted fine but it wanted me to do a system update, so I did, and after it restarted I almost had a heart attack because it gave me an error message. Thankfully, it turned out to be the external HDD I have hooked up to it that was having issues, so the Wii U itself is still fine.
Same with me, booted the system after 7 years, and its fine
Sadly, My Wii U did end up with corrupted memory, so now it'll never be repairable. I'm also not keen on the idea of getting a replacement console to dump the NAND from, to prepare for a possible future fix. Wii Us are too rare and expensive.
Hi, I am the guy with the SD card. I agree with most what you said, except one thing. You said there were many claims that Samsung chips are the problematic ones. Where did you find the claims? From the data we collected so far the problem seems to by with Hynix chips from 2012 and early 2013. In the picture you showed of my mod you can even see it's a hynix. It would be interesting to see the CID of your Hynix as it contains the date it was made. From the date code I saw on the Package I believe yours could be outside the problematic time frame, but I can't tell for sure as I nowhere found how to decode it properly.
This is the kind of obsolescence that we SHOULD be suing Nintendo over.
I'm wondering if this has happened to people who kept their Wii U consoles in storage and not plugged in for an extended period of time. Upon watching this video, I powered on my Wii U after not touching it for a few years because life gets in the way. In the time it's been inactive, I've kept it plugged in and on standby, intending to power it on when I have a chance to play my Wii U games. When I powered it on, it asked me to update the system and it did that with no problem. I started up Yoshi's Wooly World and all is well with my system. I'm just surprised that I haven't touched this game in almost 6 years since I bought it.
Just booted mine up yesterday to play through Breath of the Wild again before Tears of the Kingdom releases. Everything seemed to be ok with mine. It's been about 6 months since the last time I played.
Never knew I'd be thankful to have gotten the 8GB at launch because the 32GB sold out, but here we are. Just backed up all my eshop stuff, and need to look up how I softmodded it so I can NAND backup just in case (and to play stuff I never bought) Thanks for the video explaining what we know!
Same. I also have a 2TB External hooked up to it so most if not all my saves are on the Hard Drive anyways. I wonder if it's safe to assume that'll expand the lifespan of the NAND memory?
How do you back that up?
How do you back up the games?
@@S.J.C._Entertainment Homebrew it with Tiramisu and proceed a Nandbackup on an SD card, there's vids of it
@@Rexicojone cool. Thanks
Monster Hunter on the Wii U was absolutely amazing. Hundreds of hours were spent by my friends and I yelling at each other with the game pad while playing online. It was to the point that we were all pissed that MH4 was 3DS exclusive
I’m wanting to get into MH3U after jumping into learning gunlance recently. Apparently it’s pretty good in that title from what I’ve read.
@@Hibernial gunlance gang gunlance gang
560 hours on 3U. Amazing game.
The Wii U is definitely gonna be expensive in the future. I mean it’s already popular for modding and homebrew and once it hits its inevitable nostalgic renaissance around 2030 when people wanna rebuy their childhood it will go wayyy up in price. Sure most popular games are on Switch but once again the Wii U is where these games originated and it feels much more unique on there. This is why I’m trying to get a full set within the next 2 years!
This is why I decided to keep my Wii U and all the games instead of selling everything when the Switch came out. In like 5-7 years it's probably gonna be really hard to come by since not many people had one and people are gonna wanna play the original versions of what will be considered classic games at the time
Nobody will give a flying fuck by 2030. We will be too busy just trying to survive.
Yeah, modding the Wii U is basically mandatory, especially now considering the eShop is closed LOL
I’ll say this the Wii U mods are great but in my imo u can also get a Wii cause it’s basically the same thing it’s just the Wii U it’s on HD but there’s a Wii chip mod to make the thing run in HD the Wii U games are on switch and some titles are even worth owning a U I have one I barely modded i believe was 4 days ago cause I was bored and sorta wanted to play Batman Arkham city Armored edition and Origins on the U but tbh if u really want to played some old games like NES and SNES and so on get a Wii and get someone to put that HD chip in it I like the U and all but the mods are similar to the Wii and I doubt many would like to come back to Super smash bros U when Ultimate exist or Super Mario 3D world when the switch version runs better and has extras
@@kokotheclown2588
It you ask me the modding scene for the Wii will only make the Wii U more valuable because it can emulate everything the Wii can but better, it will be like a double emulation beast. Not to mention the Wii U can emulate PSP, PS2, DS, and more.
I just booted up my Wii U to check and it's working. Always sad to see the Mii Verse home screen so barren though.
the ssd solution opens the possibility to put a ssd reader on its place and them expand the internall memory of the wii u, this is awesome.
I’m sure the software would still only recognize 8 or 32gb
@@samuraiedge9761 that’s why CFW is essential for hardware modding
SD card not SSD
@@brkbtjunkie even cfw can’t really help since its on a sd card. The internal storage is part of the nand flash and i don’t think anyone has figured a way to backup the nand, modify it so it thinks there’s more available space then reflash it on the wii u chip.
@@bern9642 I meant sd, not ssd, 🙄
Always backup all the system NAND of every Nintendo console as soon as possible. That shit fails all the time on the Wii, Wii U, 3DS and Switch, and on none of them, there's a way to restore it without a backup as soon as it's out of warranty.
I'm kinda dreading bringing my early wii u 32gb model out of storage, just have to pray that it still works and mod it immediately.
I’m beyond happy I’ve been able to keep my Wii U in pristine condition all these years, especially since I got it when I was 12 yrs old. Runs perfectly
Unfortunately it won't last. I own one as well and poured hard money in downloadable games. Im thinking of just selling it before it bricks on me now.
@@kr4t0sg.28 That's paranoia speaking dude. When it happens, it happens
@@debeb5148 exactly. Nothing last forever. My modded Wii u is going on strong tho.
@@debeb5148 yea every piece of tech eventually dies. Thats just the way things are, but mine for now, is working perfectly and the gamepad is in perfect condition
Emulation is improving year on year. No more need for original hardware like the Wii U. Since we pirate games, physical copy of games are also obsolete. Looking at how well the Steam Deck already runs Switch titles, this bodes well for the future.
This is gonna be like the PS3 ylod. Gonna be a good few years before someone like RIP Felix shows up to actually prove what the problem is, and how to fix it(if at all)
Mine sat in my closet unused for probably 4-5 years. Just plugged it in and charged it up and mine still worked fine, thankfully.
Mines been plugged in for like 7 years but haven’t actually switched it on, played it yesterday and it fired straight up
Maybe because it’s been plugged in?
@@Plaegu yes but it wasn’t switched on at the wall 💁🏻♂️
@@OTwinSnakesO oh, then idk. I was just suggesting a theory
Nintendo Land is a legit great game and I'm shocked Nintendo hasn't ported it to Switch.
That's something more for multi-player though, right? That's why I haven't bought it.
@@dapperfan44 Yes it's one of the best asymmetric co-op games ever made, so in singleplayer it's good but not great.
I assume because certain aspects of it could be hard to replicate without the game pad. But yeah some of the games could work on Switch.
It would work, but it'd need a minimum of two Switchs. Online multiplayer might also potentially be a fix if things were reworked.
I homebrew mine so I’m good. Is a shame this is happening to them since normally they are the top brand having systems that last for decades.
Mine is modded but what can I do to prevent this issue?
@@paul-nj1ig Well seems like the issue is on non modded wii U. I back up my NAND so I think that the best way to be cover.
I had a wii u that I hadn't touched in 5 years, as in playing.
I did take care of it and stored it properly, kept my screen touchpad clean and that sort over the years.
I did pull it out and hook it up, it runs fine however my touchpad no longer functions normally. It was never dropped, at any point...
I can't stress this enough. But the ability to navigate the icons becomes hard because the thing that scrolls across the the games for you to pick, simply disappears... I have found the only way to make it function normally is to apply some pressure to the bottom of the screen. Which is very worrysome....
If it's just your gamepad giving you problems then that's not so concerning as you can just get another Wii U and easily sync that ganepad to it. If your main base unit goes, then it's redownloading etc in which the option to download may not always be available.
Would enabling the standby functions prolong the system's life, since it would perform read/write operations more frequently? Or will that damage in the long run any external memory device?
This happened to me. Took it out of storage a few weeks ago after years of it being not used. I replaced the CMOS battery, updated the OS, and tested my games out. After awhile most games got the error - Either right away, when loading a save file, or just randomly in a game. My solve was to delete the game completely and redownload it from the Nintendo shop. If the system allowed me to keep the game saves then I choose to keep them, but the remaining game files were deleted and then redownloaded.
I know nothing last forever, but these aren’t even 11 years old! My older brother’s NES from the late 80’s still works! Things like this is why I support emulation of backed up games.
NES and SNES use Mask instead of Nand, which is why they still work. Nand has substantially more storage than Mask (I think 3 bytes per cell instead of 1 per cell) which is why so many devices use it. The shorter life cycle is somewhat of a fair tradeoff when you consider just how large games are.
Mask rom cartridges will most likely outlive every single nand cartridge on the market today, and thats including mask roms from the 80s and 90s.
@@deadturret4049NAND, due to it being Flash, just doesn’t last long at all, unfortunately. However, the Wii we have has gone through daily use for years, and it still works great! I guess this chip model was just faulty.
@@sethbessinger2025 The wii also has the advantage of homebrew. Iirc you can run custom firmware off the SD card and bypass internal flash memory entirely. Plus, BootMii has built in Nand backup tools, and you can dump games to a usb stick or sd card with USBLoader GX. I think as long enough of your flash memory is intact to bypass the bootloader, you can still use a corrupted wii with homebrew.
I used my Wii U a lot back in the day, up until the launch of the Switch actually. After retiring it for a bit I decided to replay LoZ:WW HD and it ran just fun for a few weeks, retired it again until earlier this year when I decided to fire it up again to see what I can get from the eShop before it officially shut down. Everything seemed normal, was able to navigate through the eShop, launch a few Virtual Console games, and navigate through the setting to apply one of the newer updates. It was until I tried to launch LoZ:WW HD again that I encountered that 160-0103 error code. Only happens when launching games though, hopefully someone's able to find a fix for this.
Same for me. Mine seems kinda random at times, as well. Some games (VC) I try to start up and it goes straight to error code. Other times I can load up games and play them no problem, but when I try to exit those games back to the menu screen, I get the error code. I did the same as you, went to nab VC games before eshop shut down. I also had updated the system at the time as well. Really unfortunate. After all my years playing video games over 30+ years, my Wii U is the first and, as yet, only console that has given me unplayability issues. :(.
Your Wii U is dying 😔
@@kirkgibson6223 I'm seeing a few people mention updating the system. I know it's probably not the cause but I think I might leave my wiiU disconnected from the internet.o_O
This is concerning as someone who owns 3 Wii Us. One I use almost daily, one I haven’t used in over a year, and one I haven’t in almost 8 years! Hopefully the homebrew community will easily fix this.
Make sure you keep an eye on your game pad. There Is a wireless chip in their that may go bad meaning it won't be able to connect to your wii u anymore
I’m not sure if it’s been posted here if not, but the Wii U does have an internal clock battery. It is hidden under a cover with a Phillips screw. I have a feeling that it is like the PS3 issue we saw. I could be wrong, don’t crucify me if I am, but it’s something to wonder?
Mine has not been used for 4 years. I just plugged it in, works fine lol.
There is no logic behind it having to do with the console being off for an extended period of time. People just have faulty NAND, which has been a thing for the Wii U since it launched.
This is an interesting hardware flaw, because unlike the 360 Red Ring or PS3 Yellow Light, we know exactly what it is.
Since it is the NAND, we do have a way to back that up and restore it later, but the major issue is the chip itself. Ball Grid Array chips aren't really meant to be replaced, this isn't a PC motherboard CPU slot we're talking about.
So the only real solution we have right now is to back up the NAND and just cross your fingers each time you boot the console until it shits and dies, and then either get a new Wii U or an emulator and then restore your NAND to that.
This happened to me a few months ago. It was unrecoverable…had to buy a second unit.
I haven't used mine for 5+ years until last night because I wanted to play a backup copy of Twilight Princess HD. Haven't had any issues thankfully.
I’ve had this same issue. It happened to me when I tried to update the software to the latest version I stopped it around the halfway point of the update because it was over 2 hours and it wasn’t moving. Once I cancelled it the system crashed and gave me that error code. I force shut down the system and powered it back on and it kept on freezing right before I could get to the main menu. I did the same thing multiple times afterwards but the same thing kept happening.
maybe this is the real cause of the error, people stopping an update, forgetting they did this, and then wondering why they're getting this error code.
@@RetroCheats maybe so, but still it shouldn’t be doing that after canceling it. It should just restart the system and go back to the previous version before the update.
The Wii U’s longest update firm took more than 24 hours
@@therealjaystone2344 that’s insane
@@Mariolxl from launch day
I owned the black Wii U but then didn’t like the glossy black finish and sold it and went with the white Wii U which came with skylanders. Haven’t used it in years I hope it still works!
I play my Wii U for a few hours every few months. I haven't had a problem yet. I have a lot of Virtual Console games downloaded to it, and I'm scared of getting this error and losing all of them.
Strange that it fails from inactivity. Emmc suffers from very low write endurance, so I would assume a more active system would stress it out with more writes than a console sitting inactive.
Nintendo Switch has a similar problem. The issues comes from Nintendo going with cheap Nand-components. The same Nand components on cartridges that may become corrupt over time.. Yes you can reflash those, but in my opinion that goes beyond the knowledge and or equipment that people posses at home.. I had mine Launch edition give up with corrupt nand at which point wasn't worth fixing it.
This is the first I’m hearing of this, so I decided to pul my WiiU out and check after so many years. At the moment, everything seems fine and I’m updating the software. I have most game data on a separate hard drive, so I hope that keeps things ok.
I'm sure someone out there will make some kind of flex PCB to replace the EMMC with a MicroSD slot that can be installed by filing part of the case. As you said, it would be incredibly niche, but the moment that's available, I'd probably do it even with a functional WiiU anyway just to preserve my system in the long run. Games that have been ported will probably be most unique on WiiU (Fatal Frame), plus there's still exclusives for it that will likely not be ported (Xenoblade X and Devil's Third), so it's not like the console will become useless even years down the line.
still wouldn't work if your nand was already corrupt. it would only keep it becoming corrupted.
I literally found out about this and actually had my Wii U collecting dust for a good 5 years. Luckily enough It didn’t brick, now I’m constantly using it.
I feel like the Wii U is too underrated and unappreciated. If not for that the Switch probably wouldn’t existed
When I first heard about this I literally ran to my Wii U turned it on and had a sigh of relief when everything seemed totally fine. Mine was a late 2014 Wii U so I'm hoping I've avoided this Samsung nand flash or whatever issue.
I mean at this point I guess it's time to go down the rabbit hole of doing the full jail breaking/hacking.
It's about to lose pretty much all support from Nintendo so I'm not too worried at this point.
I am one of those people being faced with this error code at sporadic intervals. Would it still be possible to get a new Wii U and do a normal system transfer? or would this transfer over the error? I really hope someone comes up with a solution... honestly had fun with the Wii U.
What do you mean by sporadic intervals? Can you get into the OS for a decent amount of time ever?
@@breadloaf2438 yes, I can get to the OS 50% of the time, the other times it freezes up and or gives that error. Especially if I try to download a game.
I got the 106-0103 error when trying to play games but eventually got it to work after inserting Xenoblade Chronicles X, but I had to redownload the digital games. My guess is portions of the system memory are physically degraded. Hopefully I can transfer my account to another Wii U or at least backup the NAND before it gets worse.
Fun fact: emmc flash is exactly the same as an sd card, it's just in a different package.
I wonder/really hope it would be possible to install an SD reader socket in lieu of another chip. Might be totally talking out of my ass but this scenario is really less than ideal.
@@winlover37 well if you can solder an SD card directly to the board I don't see why you can't solder a slot instead lol, at the rnd of the day as long as the appropriate connections are made it should function perfectly fine, no?
@@dooplon5083 Sounds right to me, I just have no experience to back it. Yet... Lol
Actually it's not exactly the same, for instance emmc supports an 8 but interface for higher throughput than the 4 bit interface on SD cards. There are other differences too, but in many systems they're interchangeable
@@DavidRobertsonUK would the 4 bit interface cause any issues other than a speed loss?
Thank you for this PSA. I'm going to look into backing up my NAND. I was going to "jailbreak" my Wii U anyway once the eShop shut down.
I was a staunch defender of the Wii U during it's life, and my black 32GB Wii U with Super Mario 3D World pre-installed is still running well...
...but now that I have a Switch and as more issues with the Wii U pop up now a decade after its launch, I'm starting to see that tech-wise: the Wii U was a _horribly designed_ machine by Nintendo standards.
Take upgrading memory storage, for instance: The Switch, 3DS and the OG Wii all use generic SD cards that you can pop in and out of the system to expand save space. For the most part, not a hassle and doesn't get in the way of anything.
_But not the Wii U!_ The Wii U only gives you 32GB to start with (8GB if you only have the white model) on a proprietary permanently soldered-in chip, then makes you hook up bulky external hard drives with their own A/C adapters and everything.
And now we know that very same internal NAND is a ticking time bomb. Brilliant. One really has to really wonder what was Nintendo thinking with that, and what corners were cut when designing the Wii U.
That's annoying in and of itself, but what really turns storage into a nightmare is Nintendo Network ID - All purchases on NNID consoles (Wii U and 3DS) are _locked to the original console only._ A disk-based game will work on any Wii U, but downloadable games and DLC that you backed up to said external drive will only work on _your_ console.
The only way to transfer those purchases to another Wii U or 3DS is by using your original system to do a System Transfer. But if your Wii U is bricked and Nintendo will no longer service them - well, your Shit Out Of Luck. You would've had to rebuy everything, but now that Wii U and 3DS eShop is closing you can't even do _that._
(The OG Wii also has this problem, though 80%+ of it's games were all physical with no DLC anyway. Other than Virtual Console and a few standouts, there's not much lost tbh. Plus there's 100 million Wii's out in the wild, so it's easy to replace.)
People love to complain about Nintendo Accounts and Switch Online, but it's a godsend over what the Wii U and 3DS had. Switch purchases are all tied to online accounts just like Steam and Microsoft, so you can at least redownload your games onto a new Switch if your current one bricks.
I loved it during it's time, but frankly the Wii U is a bad system with bad infrastructure.
And if Nintendo finds a way to port the last remaining standouts, it won't surprise me to see the system fall off the face of the earth entirely.
I have one CIB Mario Maker Edition and one that is connected to my TV setup. I think Jon forgot to mention, if you get the error after staring a game, do not do a factory reset. There are tutorials that can fix it by making a second user. I think Jon had links to it in a previous video.
🤓
Also remember to go to title screen before closing a game, especially Super Smash Bros for Wii U.
My Wii U was u touched for almost 2 years and when I booted it up 4 months ago, ALL OF MY SAVES were gone?!? What???
Poor Wii U, never seems able to catch a break 🥺
Especially the excessive formatting that might be top secret within the Wii U home brewing community
Modded mine back in 2014 and had it ever since. I pulled it out last year or the year before and ran through wind waker again since it's the best way to play the game currently on actual hardware. No issues. Guess I'm just lucky
I have a bricked WiiU, it was a modded 32gb. Now, it just has a red blinking light when it powers on, no screens, no input responses. The only possibility of a fix that I have found involves using a modded Switch.
Re Game Preservation: many of the WiiU titles that have gotten ports feel DRASTICALLY different when played on Switch. Heck, the original Splatoon has completely different mechanics than Splatoon2, including how the map and superjump work during matches. And yes, some of us do still play the OG. Pretendo Network has done amazing work to get online play functional again.
I bought a used Wii U. Modded the console really fast and started to use it
Some people have been able to fix this with UDPIH,
which is a way to enter a sort of recovery mode, using a raspberry pi pico and putting some files on an sd card
This error can come up with some common software issues. It doesnt nessorcarily mean your nand is dead-
Nintendo didn't wanted to make a videogame that lasted long.
I believe this is how Nintendo thinks: When the console is discontinued they don't get any more money from it but people still spends money on them, money that could be used on the newest Nintendo hardware.
“Wii U is already a problem because it’s a Wii U”
Mii: Hey U, are Wii going to have a problem?
I would love to see a 100% sure solution for this problem. I have a spare Wii U 8GB that has this problem. It will boot, but gives this error when you try to do anything.
I've had this since day 1. It happens randomly in every app (usually just when powering on though). Weirdest thing of all is it consistently got that error at a certain point during the credits of New Super Mario Bros U.
Too bad I was too young back then to know what a warranty was
I just turned my wii u on for the first time since 2017 and everything is good so far, I updated it and it seems fine. I hope this isn't something that will eventually happen to ALL of the systems... i done have the knowledge to fix it if it bricks.
BTW, Resident evil 4 is $2.99 on the eshop to anyone who doesn't have it yet!
Kinda related, but I've had a couple of perfectly fine Wii U games just QUIT WORKING. The discs are completely fine, but the games won't play. The games appear on the Wii U menu, and they'll even show the title screen when launched, maybe. But after that, the error code pops up: 150-1031. Happened with Super Smash Bros. years ago and slightly more recently, 3D World.
I've tried formatting the Wii U, deleting save data (ouch!), and nothing worked. Even though that was years ago, I'm still kinda ticked.
I'm in the market to buy a wii u again..but after this video I'm not so sure anymore..is it a common issue? The seller did tell me the unit I'm interested in functions 100% but now I'm not convinced
3 games to get a Wii U for. Xenoblade Chronicles X, Wind Walter HD & Twilight Princess HD. I’d say it’s worth the risk if you’re getting a deal. Mine still boots up fine. Also, it plays all Wii games too.
I'm one of those rare Wii U consumers. It’s mainly because I already had a working GameCube, and I'll admit some resentment for the Wii due to the time it came out and what was happening in my life at the time (my brothers took all the GameCube games we all played to their dad's house and just left them there for the Wii he bought). So I chose to skip the Wii and buy a Wii U during my setup to be able to buy and play the games. I'll eventually buy a Wii most likely, but as long as my console holds up, that's a ways away with me using my Wii U until then. My choice was made because, at the time, most of the Wii U's library hadn't been ported yet, and the thing will just turn into a Wii to play my Wii games. Also money. I could only afford one console, didn't need the GameCube back compatability of the Wii and the Wii U again can just turn itself into a Wii to play that entire library.
$1200 I put into this system, including games.
RIP
Lol, I havent found where I stashed my games to see if it still works
I'm still not very happy. The Wii U eShop is winding down in a few weeks and I'm afraid if something like this were to happen, that's it! You're done with your 'purchased' software.
Glad that I finally decided to do nand/data buckups for my consoles last year. I was always scared to mod/hack my consoles but if you just want a buckup is not that hard.
What is a back up Nan or data? I know I could Google it but I want to hear somebody expert opinion lol
@@logan007hi NAND backup is a backup of the console's onboard memory. If your console fails, for example the flash chip dies, you can just reprogram a new chip and solder it in. In Wii U's case if you didn't have a NAND backup and your flash chip dies, its dead.
@The Champagne Room Wii u has alot of games that are impossible to be played on the switch, mainly games that make alot of use of the gamepad
My Nintendo Wii U is still working just fine and hasn’t shown any signs of not working.
I loved the Wii U. That screen controller felt so good! Don't hate or sleep on it. It will be collectable.
Wait... It just dies if untouched? That's not cool...
My Wii U didn’t work when I started it up after a few years but I just had to swap the battery in the console. They luckily made it easy to access and that fixed it. I think even having no battery in was better than the battery that had been in there iirc.
From the 7th Gen onward, we've really been seeing a problem with just how tightly consoles cut corners on parts to get their costs down. Having to do mods/repairs like this completely defeats the purpose of getting a console rather than a PC in the first place.
Definately. I'm just enjoying the system for aslong as it lasts. Thing is for me I have too many games and consoles so if it dies and I can't get a replacement then I just sell of my games for that system and make room. No big deal. They're just games anyway though I will be sad when this happens that I won't be able to play sonic boom rol anymore. I know it's deemed a bad game but due to that it'll never be ported. I like it personally so yeah I'll be sad not to be able to play it.
@@Shinepikavee I get the physical space being an issue, but I admit, I really hate that console-makers intentionally make our accumulated library harder and harder to access by every new console release that can't play more than a fraction of it. Having the consoles die with timebomb issues on top of it makes it even worse.
Points for the Wii U for having an actually retro store. RIP
Seems to me like this error has nothing to do with “not playing for a certain amount of time”. Seems the chip could just fail at any time.
What’s the likelihood that this problem eventually occurs with the switch?
All the cartridges will eventually die and be unusable.
@@LoveTheGiant all Nand catridge games will die. Mask cartridges (nes, snes, etc) is totally up in the air, but the general consensus is that they will still outlast brand new nand carts. I could be wrong but im pretty sure switch carts use both nand and mask.
Homebrew will probably solve this though. Idk what switch homebrew is like, but if it has something like usbloader gx in wii, we should eventually be able to dump our cartridges onto sd cards and then back them up onto an HDD.
Imagine the uproar if this was happening to the PS4
Are there any good/easy guides to follow just to back it up? I don't care about homebrew, but I use my Wii U for both Wii and the Wii U library and want to make sure it stays that way years from now.
Homebrew it then. In the guide you can back it up
I really miss having the WiiU in active rotation. Tv remote gets lost all the time, lemme just grab the gamepad, nobody losing that
I’m devastated and this has quite frankly shook my commitment to collect physical games only.
I tried plugging my WiiU in last month and discovered it was bricked 😢 .
Dang.. Im sorry bro. I own one as well with many games i recently downloaded due to its store closing. Now im hit with this problem. Im going to lose all my games one day.
Me too. Switch games also use Nand, though a different type that's supposed to have longer life
What’s that have to do with physical games? You still have the game don’t you?
@@jeffro9252 Just becuase it has a shelf life of playability. It's nice to be able to play childhood games on original hardware. If you're buying to keep long term, or reselling, it means the game can basically expire and become unplayable after 15-25 years, maybe longer. Might not matter to some people but longevity is important to collectors. Some people prefer physical precisely because it is more reliable (or was) than using a digital license with a digital shop that will close down at some point, usually the end of the console's life.
So is this only for Samsung chips? What model numbers are the ones with this error or does this affect ALL Wii Us?