Tom Bennett

This post comes in two sections. The first is a description of the problem / general rant about it, and the second is how I fixed it. Hopefully they’re marked clearly enough so that people can skip ahead if they need to.

Problem / rant
A strange thing happened last night - I’d just configured my new Wii to connect to my wireless network, and was toying around with it’s email function (which is basic to say the least). I sent a couple of test emails to a friend of mine, and all seemed fine. That was until, having got bored with simple one-liners, he decided to reply with an entire copy of Kant’s ‘Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals’ as plain text in the body of the email (don’t ask why, I don’t know myself :)). Despite only being 350k in total size (and the Wii’s maximum email limit being 1MB) it killed the console. And I mean, not just froze it, it properly broke it. Holding the power button down to reset it, and then turning it back on, took me to the black screen where you have to hit A (which I could do without any problems), and then to the channel screen. At this point you can move the cursor for approximately 1 second before everything freezes, the blue cd tray light flashes, and thats it.

A couple of hours online searching for people with similar problems dug up this forum. Needless to say, I wasn’t overly thrilled with the resolution put forward of sending the whole thing back to Nintendo for a complete replacement - can a single email really tank an entire console? I would hope not.

So after google didn’t seem to throw up any answers / suggestions, the next port of call was Nintendo’s own support pages and forums. One word for them. Rubbish.

My next step was to phone Nintendo on their customer support line (UK: 0870 6060 247 | website) - the 247 in the number gave me hope that even though it was 2am on a saturday night, I still be able to get technical support. Not the case, the opening times are 8.30 - 5.30pm, Mon - Fri. Grrr.

Solution
So here’s how I fixed it. Note, these steps worked for me for this particular issue and should be used as a guide only!

1. The Wii actually has a maintenance mode (which I found through this post, which allowed me to get into the channel screen without it freezing up. To access this, on the initial black loading screen (that asks you to push A) hold both the + and - buttons on your Wii controller and then push A. You should be greeted with a message telling you that you’ve entered maintenance mode.
2. Insert an SD card into you Wii, and copy across all of your saved games and channels (instructions can be found here
3. Transfer your Mii’s to your Wiimote through the Mii channel
4. Format the Wii system memory, instructions here

And voila, you should (or at least I did) have a fully working Wii again without having to send the entire thing back to Nintendo. All that’s left to do is copy back your saved games and mii’s from the SD card / controller.

On a side note, you may be able to delete the offending email message through the maintenance mode to save you the hassle of most of the steps. If you can, i’d appreciate it if someone could let me know, and I’ll update this post accordingly.

Bootnote: A lot of forums have suggested that unplugging the Wii and leaving for a duration of anywhere between 30 seconds and 10 minutes will reset it. I’ve found this not to be the case.

I saw the Mooney Suzuki play at the Carling Academy in Islington last night. I think they’ve rocketed to the top of my ‘all-time favourite live bands’ list. They’re were amazing. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen a front man work the crowd as effortlessly as Sammy James Jr. If you get the chance to see them, do it, you won’t regret it.

They’re new album, Have Mercy is out now. It’s good, but not as good as their 2004 album, Alive and Amplified

I’ve been umming and ahhing for nigh on a year about whether to buy a Squeezebox, all because of the price tag. £190 is a hefty sum to shell out for something that does almost exactly what my laptop already does well.

Two days ago I caved in, and ordered it online. It arrived yesterday, and was up and running within 15 minutes of getting home (actually that’s not strictly true - it was more like 45 minutes, but that was entirely down to me being a muppet with my wireless key). Actually, on that note, it’s worth pointing out that the Squeezebox supports both WEP and WPA, but if you do use WEP (which you shouldn’t be) then it will only recognise hex keys, and not ascii ones.

With little more than a few hours worth of use, I think I confidently say that it’s one of the best / coolest / amazing items that I’ve bought. It’s slick, easy to use, and best of all, it’s really quick. Your entire music library is available to you quickly, and the audio quality it great.

Best of all - you can download a plugin for Slim Server called Alien BBC which allows you to listen to all of the BBC’s streams, including podcasts and their ‘listen again’ library. It’s so slick, I love it.

5 stars. Buy one - you won’t regret it!

I’ve just arrived back from a week’s holiday in Kenya. Actually, that’s a lie, I arrived back a week ago and have been too lazy to post. It was absolutely amazing. In that short week, we managed to squeeze in a day’s worth of snorkelling in the Indian Ocean, near Shimoni, and three safari game drives in Tsavo East National Park. There are a sample of some of the photos below, but check out the full Flickr set.

If anyone is looking for a great place to go, with hot weather, wonderful people, and amazing views - make it Kenya.