Wii U's bricking if shut down during update.

[Souplex]

I can see the PSA now...

Spoiler

PS3: This yours?

WiiU: What?

PS3: The press found out about it.

WiiU: One of the programmers must have...

PS3: Must have what?

Wii: But, PS3...

PS3: Where did you get it? Who taught you to use an update to brick a console?

WiiU: You! Alright? I learned by watching you!

You forgot the part where PS3 accuses WiiU of hanging out with that 360 boy who had a huge bricking problem back in the day.
He claims he's mostly over it, but you never know with him.

 

[Quaidis]

Well, there you have it.


I'm still waiting for my WiiU. Going to get the black one with the charging station for the tablet controller.

By the time I do get it, even if that ends up being January, I'm sure this problem will have figured itself out. Maybe the Wii developers will make a small update to the systems so the auto shutdown feature turns itself off when an update is in process. Simple bit of code.


As for people that shut down their own system just because they're sick of the update screen? Sucks to be them, hope they got a warranty.

 

[Woodsey]

5 GB?!

So, if you get the base model, you only get 3 GB of memory?

Great job Nintendo, assuming that's the case ¬_¬

HDD space. And yeah, that is the case. Not sure if it's a con or sheer stupidity just yet.

 

[zehydra]

Never buy Anything on day one.

Remember when the Xbox (or was it the Xbox 360?) that was bricking all over the place during its initial release?

The problem will be fixed soon I'm sure

 

[Aarowbeatsdragon]

seems the person who started this thread forgot to mention one important thing, you can turn off the auto shutdown.

As that the auto shut of is disabled while updating (like many vids posted here prove.

Ah okay, my apologies, feel like a dick now XD yes that is quite stupid, coming from a nintendo fan thats getting the WiiU as soon as i have money, but as people have said above, just dont leave the console area for too long!

 

[zehydra]

Never buy Anything on day one.

Remember when the Xbox (or was it the Xbox 360?) that was bricking all over the place during its initial release?

The problem will be fixed soon I'm sure

What fixed? There is really no issue right now... Every system bricks if you shut it off during a firmware update. And the auto-shutdown is deactivated during firmware updates (there is actual video proof for that unlike the assumption that it isn't).

Ah. Sorry, I was misinformed then.

I don't have a WiiU, but I saw this thread and it reminded it me of how consoles tend to face bizarre problems on release.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Anything shut down in the middle of a firmware update will get bricked. Anyone who doesn't realise this already shouldn't be messing with technology. It doesn't matter if it's a console, a motherboard, a phone...interrupting a firmware flash will almost always brick the device being flashed. Unless there's a low-level erase/re-flash feature accessible outside the fancy GUI/OS, it will need to be sent back to the manufacturer.

Though if the update in this case is 5gigs as suggested, and there's a 1hour shutdown feature then that's pretty appalling. Why on earth does it start "flashing" before the update is downloaded in its entirety and therefore able to execute off-line, in an "update mode" that disables any form of auto-shutdown.

 

[Quaidis]

Well, there you have it.


I'm still waiting for my WiiU. Going to get the black one with the charging station for the tablet controller.

By the time I do get it, even if that ends up being January, I'm sure this problem will have figured itself out. Maybe the Wii developers will make a small update to the systems so the auto shutdown feature turns itself off when an update is in process. Simple bit of code.

They already do. People have already posted links to youtube videos showing that during the update, the Wii U automatically turns off the auto-shutdown feature. They even post a little notice saying "The auto-shutdown feature has been temporarily disabled." Meaning, despite what people on this thread are saying, the Wii U won't automatically shutdown halfway through your update.

This issue, this entire fucking issue, comes down to nothing more than certain gamers jumping to conclusions based on anecdotal evidence, and completely ignoring the actual reality of events.

Electronics fuck up if you shut them down during updates. That's why everything from a computer to a smartphone will tell you not to shut down during an update. If you do, you're going to fuck up your machine.

This is part-and-parcel of practically every electronic device out there, yet for some reason people act like Nintendo are the only ones whose electronics do this, and that they should be hung, drawn and quartered because of it. Next thing you know, people will be raging at the Wii U because it doesn't play games if you unplug it from the power, or it won't connect to the internet if your modem's not working. That's the level of stupid that is getting aired here.

I mean, I've seen the Escapist rag on Nintendo for some pretty petty reasons, but this is just taking the piss.

Couldn't agree more. This isn't like a RROD or YLoD (Beware the yellow light of DOOM). I thought there was something more to this than people being stupid, but your quote definitely backs up my suspicions. People are really stupid, and prone to freaking out at the drop of a hat. Gamers need to take a chill pill, go play HarvestMoon or something, don't find the end of the world because other people are being retarded by killing their system halfway through an update. That's what I'd say to them.

Reminds me of the wiimote through the tele issue. One guy with going crazy with bowling and one kid playing with their nunchuck like it was a real one doesn't mean everyone is breaking their tele.

 

[darron13]

Uhhh...

Guys?

Bricking is EXACTLY what will happen in a firmware update power cut.

Like, with ANYTHING.

The Wii U will.

A PS3 would.

My computer would.

Your phone would.

The motherboard I use in school projects will.

That's why all these things have a message saying "Do Not Turn This Device Off" during firmware updates! This isn't rocket surgery! D:<

Seriously, unless the auto-turn-off happens during firmware updates (which I bet a million bucks it doesn't), this is the biggest non-story I've seen all month.

And to everyone saying "What if there's a power outage?"

Well, what if there's an outage while the firmware of your phone/PC/other console/other electronics update? Well, you pull out your shiny warranty and get another one for the cost of shipping. Or, do what the guy above me said, and invest in an uninterruptible power supply.

Seriously, this thread consists of nothing but a bizarrely specific attempt to smear the Wii U, in a manner that is comparable to mocking the kettle for being black when the pot, the cauldron, the stove and the pans are ALSO black.

I think your DP just gave me nightmares. On-topic, really, it should be obvious that you shouldn't EVER turn something off while it's flashing the firmware, that's the one sure fire way to brick your device.

 

[Frezzato]

Someone humor me here:

Why would the system brick during the download phase? Doesn't the entire thing need to finish downloading before installation, or is it divided into packets that are loaded and dumped to compensate for the tiny harddrive sizes?

Recent news shows a bit of hope:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/379680/wii-u-can-update-firmware-in-the-background/

Apparently, if you opt out when the update initially pops up, it will download in the background, so an interruption would just start the download again. It's not readily apparent if the opt-out option is made obvious to people in clear language. Maybe they felt it was mandatory, despite the message.

 

[MBurdock]

The thing I don't understand is that it is bricking if power is lost while downloading. I understand installing, but isn't the WiiU caching the download for installation later? Why would it do it at the same time? It seems to unnecessarily double the window for something to go wrong.