Wode Jukebox

External HD / WODE issues
by Finley

From what I can tell, you have two main issues with the WODE and your external USB drive.

1) Power Consumption.
Your Wii can only supply so much power through the USB port.
Drives with external power are good, and don't draw much, if any, power from your Wii.
Drives without external power MAY or MAY NOT work properly, depending on how much power they require to operate properly.
Generally speaking, the 2.5" (laptop) type non-powered drives seem to work, most of the time.

Note: NO WORRIES if your laptop drive doesn't work with the single USB connection.
You can get around the non-powered drive limitation with a powered USB hub (right way), or a dual connect (power+USB) cable for the drive (not recommended, as you lose both USB connections on your Wii, and then how are you going to play Rock Band? :D ).

1b) USB Cable length.
Some drives are picky about the length of the USB cable. Too long, and you get bad results.
Again, generally speaking, anything less than 1m in length seems to work, shorter is better.
This ties into the above issue with regard to power. If you have a laptop drive that doesn't seem to work, try it with a shorter cable -- can't hurt to try.

2) Drive sleep issues.
Some external drives are set up to sleep after a period of non-use.
Most of these use the drive's firmware to set a period of inactivity that defines when to sleep.

Note: This is generally advertised as a "feature", but for WODE use it's a "bug"!

Why it's a bad thing: If your drive spins down while you're running a game, and then you go for another read, you get the black "Disk Error" screen.
That said, almost all drives can be configured to NOT sleep, and most manufacturers provide windows utilities that can set the firmware into non-sleep mode.
Linux users can use hdparm or sdparm to disable sleep mode (for a Free Agent disk, the command is sdparm –clear STANDBY -6 -S /dev/BLAH You want to replace /dev/BLAH with the actual disk device ;)

Recommendations:
I've had complete success with the Cavalry series of external drives (powered), the IOmega Prestige (powered), and Seagate Free Agent Desk (powered) units. You can see I like powered drives in this application.

That said, I believe that ANY drive will work, if you follow these recommendations:

1) Disable Sleep Mode.
2) Use a Powered Drive, if this is not possible, use a powered USB hub between the WODE and the drive.
3) Use a reasonable length USB cable.

Good luck!

Seagate Freeagent HD with game error
by DeathFA

Summary: Turn off the power save features on your drive to avoid problems.
Note: Some have left them on and report no problems.
[http://www.wodejukebox.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1431&start=0]

So my theory is that when I tried to turn off the power management from Linux it set the register for off but could not actually turn it off without the windows software. So when I installed the Windows software and plugged in the drive it saw that it should be off and turned it off automatically. So that when I went to that section of the program it already said it was off.

OK I have duplicated the process and my theory is correct. Activating the power saver caused the problem to occur. Disabling it from Linux still had the problem. Connected the drive to windows and launched the Seagate software and it said it was already off. I connected the drive to the Wode and tried again and no errors.

Prior to changing that setting the game would give the error every time and only a few minutes into play. After changing the setting I played the same game for 30 minutes with no error.

I downloaded the FreeAgent Desk software from this link. [http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=freeagent-downloads&vgnextoid=3723b5b59b7d5110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD]

User manual is here [http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/freeagent/fa_win_ug_en.pdf]

'Select Game x/x' returns to main menu
by c1916

This sounds very similar to (parts of) the issue that hung me up for a month back in January. In the end, although I was never able to prove it, loading an .iso from SD seemed to release the logjam that I was having with loading from HDD. In other words, I had a dozen .iso files on my HDD, the WODE recognized them, but never allowed me to load them. I put an .iso file on SD, WAS able to load it, and then...like magic, I was able to load from HDD, and it has worked perfectly since then.

From: [http://www.wodejukebox.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1472&p=14482#p14482]

Channel and out of region games with gecko.
by Zephyr

The best way I see to to launch out of region games via Gecko is - even in the new WODE Channel:

WODE Settngs

[Region Patching]
Game Patch: ON
Updates: NO
AutoBoot: OFF

I have the Wii Channel set as AutoLoad
I then select the HBC then the WODE Channel
I then select my Out of Region Game
Wii Restarts and the Out of Region Game will be loaded into the WODE LCD
(You will not get Region Mismatch because Region Patch is ON)
Select HBC - Gecko - Launch - Game Starts

Though for PAL Wii's 4.2E I have had to set the option in Gecko Force NTSC: YES for the games to load instead of crash at a green screen or the like. I believe this is because of the Region Patch ON in WODE Settings.

Give that a try - works sweet and yes you have to use Gecko still BUT you do not need to use the JStick

Using EXT3 in Windows
by Zephyr

From [http://www.wodejukebox.org/viewtopic.php?p=15098#p15098]

Windows based partition software was used to make an EXT3 partition. I then used http://www.ext2fsd.com/ software to give the EXT3 partition a drive letter.

I can now see the EXT3 partition under My Computer in WinXP and I have full access to the drive as if it were a NTFS or FAT/FAT32 partition.

I know there are MANY ways you could install and do the setup of the Ext2Fsd but below is what I have done and it works flawlessly for me. Experiment if you want as other ways also work but I am only explaining ONE way that works.

Have your USB Drive connected with EXT3 partition already created before you click Finish in Step 9

Visit - http://www.ext2fsd.com/ click http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/files/ click Download Now and save to your desktop


1. Execute Ext2Fsd-0.48.exe
2. Next
3. Next
4. Next
5. Next
6. Tick Enable force writing support on Ext3 partitions
- This will Auto Tick Enable force writing support on Ext2 partitions
7. Next
8. Would you like Ext2Mgr automatically start when booting
- YES
9. Finish
10. To Assign your Ext3 a drive letter
- Highlight Partition, F4, Add, Select Driver letter
- Automatic Mount via Ext2 Manager is ticked - leave it ticked
11. Ok
12. Done
13. File - Exit - Yes
14. Restart your computer
15. Open Ext2 Volume Manager
- Start, Programs, Ext2sd, Ext2 Volume Manager
- Or Double Click Ext2 icon in system tray near the clock
16. Double Click your EXT3 Drive/Partition
17. Leave Automatically mount via Ext2Mgr Ticked
18. Select a Drive Letter
- Use same one you chose in step 10.
19. Click Apply
20. Click OK
21. File - Exit - Yes

You can now view your Ext3 Drive in windows as a normal drive.
You have full functionality over the drive
You should never have to change any settings in the Ext2 Volume manager again
If you do not have Ext2 Volume Manager auto start in step 8 you will have to start it before you can see the Ext3 Partition.

A side note - it seems when you plug your HDD into the PC sometimes you get a different drive letter - this does not matter :)

Hope this helps someone :)

SD Card Information
by Yooperdave

Here is some basic information on SD cards:

If an SD card has a capacity of 2GB or less, it is a 'normal' SD Card. If an SD card has a capacity of more than 2GB, it is most likely a 'SDHC' or Secure Digital High Capacity card.

If your Wii has firmware 4.0 or greater, it can read SDHC cards. If it has less than 4.0 firmware, it cannot.
[http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/sdCards.jsp]

Your WODE can read SDHC cards.

If you have a Micro SD/Micro SDHC card with an adapter, it will be read by your Wii/WODE the same as an SD/SDHC card.

I have tested 2 different file systems on my SD/SDHC cards for compatibility in the WODE. FAT32 is a standard format which can support up to 4GB filesizes which works. EXT3 also works with SD/SDHC cards and the WODE. More file systems are probably supported, but those are the only two I have tested.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext3]

All of the SD/SDHC cards pictured below work without any problems in my 4.0U Wii and also in my WODE.


If you are having trouble updating your WODE with a SD card, try the following:

• Format the card
• Re-download the update
• Re-unzip the update
• Copy to SD card, put in WODE, power on
• If all else fails, use a different SD Card

Note that it was reported in one case (by Rexlaw) that the SD card would not update the WODE. However, it did show up as a usable partition when put into the WODE after the WODE was powered up. Another SD Card was needed to perform the update.
[http://www.wodejukebox.org/viewtopic.php?p=15285#p15285]

Wode Menu Channel placement within the Home Brew Channel
by Zephyr

If you have a lot of apps in the HBC and want the wode menu on the top, follow this tip from Zephyr.

In the wodemenu folder that you placed in the APPS dircetory on the SD card you will find a file called meta.xml
Open the meta.xml file in something like notepad (right click - Edit in Windows )
Find the line <name>WODE Menu (DVDX beta)</name>
Place a SPACE before the W so it looks like <name> WODE Menu (DVDX beta)</name>
Or you can place a 1 like <name>1WODE Menu (DVDX beta)</name>
Save

Or you can press "2" in the HBC and it will show a grid display of all your channels and you just click the Channel from there

Gecko Cheat codes and how to get them to work with WODE
by sadamsa1

This reportedly worked in one case, but others have reported it not working. If you are having problems, it's worth a shot.

All games played through the WODE have an ID that begins with the number '0' instead of the letter 'R'. Change this in your cheat and they will work. My son figured this out last weekend.

[http://www.wodejukebox.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1664]

Wode Game Codes: What do they mean?
by Yooperdave

On the display of your WODE, there is a code preceding the filename/Title/(whatever your settings are set to display).

The first letter is a "G" or a "W".

• G stands for Gamecube
• W stands for Wii

The second letter is a U, J, E, or K.

• U stands for USA region (NTSC output format)
• E stands for European region (PAL output format)
• J stands for Japan region (NTSC output format)
• K stands for Korean region (NTSC output format)

If there is a code other than one of the above, such as a lone "I", it is probable that you have a bad rip / corrupted iso. For example, in this photo, there are 8 games. The first 7 are Wii games in USA region format. The last game ("I") is an error which represents a bad rip / corrupted iso. This is unplayable. You will need to re-rip your game.



In this photo, the WODE lists 6 games. In order, they mean:

• Gamecube game in Japan region format
• Gamecube game in European region format
• Gamecube game in USA region format
• ...repeat...

WODE Install Tip
by nenowode

During installation, if flat cable towards the wode stand is squezed, unstability and freezing may occur (on wode LCD) . I have done 2 things in order to prevent this unstability. I have put a protection tape around cable towards wode stand item, and also, take a bit of a plastic from wii box (to not squize the cable). Now it is stable and works. Hope this might help for similar behaviour to someone. (this is NOT connected with freezing in selecting the game title)