Hardware Wii SD Card Slot is broken

[BenBlueBlur]

So, this has been a problem for at least 2 years now, and I am deciding that I finally want to get this problem solved. I tried putting and SD card in my Wii console, like normal. When I look on the SD card home menu, it gives me the error message,"The Device Inserted in the SD Card Slot Cannot Be Used." I'm sure you've heard of it. I have tried everything that the Nintendo support page says for this message, and nothing has worked. I assure that there was no problem with the SD card! I've tested it oh so many times! I take it that there is a problem with the SD card reader itself. But, unfortunately, Nintendo no longer offers factory repairs for the Wii console, so I'm stuck here. I really do want my SD card reader to work. I have a bunch of game saves that I am paranoid about being stuck on my Wii. I at least want the option of transferring it over to my Wii U, you know? So, what I'm asking is, is there anyone out there that knows a trustworthy service that can repair my Wii? Without losing my save data? I just... need guidance, because I am just so paranoid about this. "What if my console stops working?", I've asked myself that many times. I don't want to lose these 8 or so years of gaming. Any helpful information would be appreciated.

 

[cracker]

Have you used that SD card in the Wii before? Try using a different card if you can. If you can't then copy the contents of the card and format it in FAT32 with this tool and see if it works then. If that doesn't work then try blowing compressed air in the slot to get rid of dust.

 

[Shadd]

So, this has been a problem for at least 2 years now, and I am deciding that I finally want to get this problem solved. I tried putting and SD card in my Wii console, like normal. When I look on the SD card home menu, it gives me the error message,"The Device Inserted in the SD Card Slot Cannot Be Used." I'm sure you've heard of it. I have tried everything that the Nintendo support page says for this message, and nothing has worked. I assure that there was no problem with the SD card! I've tested it oh so many times! I take it that there is a problem with the SD card reader itself. But, unfortunately, Nintendo no longer offers factory repairs for the Wii console, so I'm stuck here. I really do want my SD card reader to work. I have a bunch of game saves that I am paranoid about being stuck on my Wii. I at least want the option of transferring it over to my Wii U, you know? So, what I'm asking is, is there anyone out there that knows a trustworthy service that can repair my Wii? Without losing my save data? I just... need guidance, because I am just so paranoid about this. "What if my console stops working?", I've asked myself that many times. I don't want to lose these 8 or so years of gaming. Any helpful information would be appreciated.

This might be a format issue. Check that the SD card isn't formatted as NTFS. This might be the issue.

 

[BenBlueBlur]

Have you used that SD card in the Wii before? Try using a different card if you can. If you can't then copy the contents of the card and format it in FAT32 with this tool and see if it works then. If that doesn't work then try blowing compressed air in the slot to get rid of dust.

I have not used this SD card in the Wii before. In fact, I have only once used an SD card in my Wii, and that was a card with pics from my grandma's camera back when I was in elementary school (for clarity, I'm 15 now and in high school). IT DID WORK THEN, THOUGH, come to think of it. But I have tried copying it to another SD card and formatting it to FAT32 before. That didn't work. I never really thought that it might just be dusty in there, though! I'm gonna have to get my hands on a can of compressed air and give that a whirl. Thank you!

 

[BenBlueBlur]

Ugh. Okay. So, I blew out any dust with compressed air and I also tried formatting the SD card to FAT32. It still gave me the error message. I put the card in, it popped up on the home menu like it's supposed to, but when I went into the SD card menu, the same message showed up after about 10 seconds. This is where I've been for a while now. I don't know anything else to do. Is there anything else to do other than just get it replaced?

 

[cracker]

Since it seems to have possibly helped when you used the compressed air; I would make a tool from a credit card, etc. that would fit in the slot and wrap it in a paper towel to try to scrub away anything on the connecters. If you have a screen cleaning cloth that would be even better since you could put some alcohol on it for a better clean. A replacement connector (requires de/soldering) might fix it but usually people will go for buying a new system when it comes to that point.

 

[leerz]

The problem is with the Sdcard size
FW below 4.1 will fail to recognize cards bigger then 2gb afaik
sdcard must not be sdhc iirc FIX94 is your man when it comes to this stuff -

 

[BenBlueBlur]

Since it seems to have possibly helped when you used the compressed air; I would make a tool from a credit card, etc. that would fit in the slot and wrap it in a paper towel to try to scrub away anything on the connecters. If you have a screen cleaning cloth that would be even better since you could put some alcohol on it for a better clean. A replacement connector (requires de/soldering) might fix it but usually people will go for buying a new system when it comes to that point.

Aw, man. Well, I guess I'll try scrubbing out the slot even more. I'm not very confident that it'll work. That's too bad that I'm likely gonna have to resort to getting it repaired. Well, since Nintendo doesn't do factory repairs any more, is there any service that you recommend I use for getting it repaired?

 

[cracker]

Did you check the firmware version regarding leerz' comment? Even if it is 4.1+ it could still be that particular card conflicting with your Wii so trying another SD card is still something to do before you determine it is the Wii.

 

[Cyan]

The problem is with the Sdcard size
FW below 4.1 will fail to recognize cards bigger then 2gb afaik
sdcard must not be sdhc iirc FIX94 is your man when it comes to this stuff -

The SD menu was added in 4.x, so there's no way an older menu version could be "not working with card bigger than 2GB" as there wasn't any SD menu at all.
Second, I'm still on 3.2E, and I always used a 32GB SDHC, even to copy savegames using the official game data menu.
Third, (but probably irrelevant here), the system menu version is completely irrelevant, the console still can read SD and SDHC on Homebrew channel even if you skip system menu completely (bootmii@boot2) whatever system menu version you have installed on your console.


The "must not be SDHC" is only for hackmii installer, and only for specific game exploits.

did you try another sd card, like suggested?
I didn't understand if you just tried to copy the "Sd used for pictures" to another card now or you did it long time ago.
you have only two cards?

 

[leerz]

The SD menu was added in 4.x, so there's no way an older menu version could be "not working with card bigger than 2GB" as there wasn't any SD menu at all.
Second, I'm still on 3.2E, and I always used a 32GB SDHC, even to copy savegames using the official game data menu.
Third, (but probably irrelevant here), you can bypass the system menu completely, the console still can read SD and SDHC on Homebrew channel, whatever system menu version you have installed on your console.


The "must not be SDHC" is only for hackmii installer, and only for specific game exploits.

did you try another sd card, like suggested?
I didn't understand if you just tried to copy the "Sd used for pictures" to another card now or you did it long time ago.
you have only two cards?

Thanks for the correction, forgot to say "please don't quote that as a fact lol"
I know smashstack doesn't work with big cards.