Difference between revisions of "Wii factory process"

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This article presents known information concerning the factory process of the Nintendo Wii.
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'''Note''': This article is very old and inaccurate, mostly based on guesses and speculation from before data from the [[Zammis Clark Breach]] was available.
  
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Please note that our information on this topic is limited. It is mostly based on information from old HackMii articles, assumptions, [[uid.sys]] dumps, and the few pieces of the process ([[RVL_DIAG]], [[RVL_UJI_DIAG]], & [[Data Check & Log Check]]) that have leaked publicly. Since most pieces of this process are not publicly available, we can only piece together how the entire process works from the information which is available, so this may not be a perfect description of the process.  
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This article describes the process of how production Wii consoles are set up at the factory, from initial manufacturing of the chips to retail shipment.
  
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=== Basic Overview ===  
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===Basic Overview===  
  
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* During hardware manufacturing, [[boot0]] is imprinted into the Mask ROM inside the [[Starlet]].
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*[[boot0]] is imprinted into the Mask ROM inside the [[Hollywood]]/[[Bollywood]] during hardware production.
  
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* During initial programming of the NAND chip, unknown versions of [[boot1]] and [[boot2]] are flashed to NAND provisionally, along with an unknown (likely [[NDEV Menu|NDEV]]) System Menu and a corresponding [[IOS]] version.
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*A "prewrite" image is flashed to NAND containing [[boot1]] and a special [[boot2]] known as "sd_boot" during initial programming of the NAND.
  
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* Setup begins by inserting a disc with the game ID of "123J". This disc most likely generates the console-unique NAND keys and other console-unique data, and writes them to the [[OTP]] chip along with encrypting the NAND with said keys. It may also update boot1, since this can only be done before the NAND keys are written to OTP.
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*At the packaging plant, the Wii is powered on for the first time with SD card number 1 inserted. This SD card contains an image with a series of [[WAD]] files; sd_<nowiki/>boot will load one of these WADs, which is an installer program that installs the remaining WADs to NAND. These WADs typically include a System Menu, IOS4, and IOS9.
  
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* Another disc is ran. This disc is known as "0000dead" or "DE AD" in hex as it appears in [[uid.sys]]. This disc's TMD content index matches that of [[RVL_DIAG]] as dumped from an [[RVT-H Reader]]; while the development version of RVL_DIAG uses the IDs "100J" and "0000", it is likely to be the same as the retail 0000dead disc. This disc runs a variety of stress tests known as "aging tests" on the system, and registers the system's serial number over a [[Waikiki]] using PC software.
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*Once the System Menu is installed, the "123J" disc is inserted. It is unknown what the actual title of this disc is, however it may be responsible for encrypting the NAND filesystem, updating [[boot1]], and setting the console's [[EFuse|eFuses]]. This disc seems to contain an additional partition with the Title ID "0000dead", which has been speculated to contain the program used to encrypt the NAND's filesystem.
  
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* Another disc known as [[RVL_UJI_DIAG]] (or 121J) is inserted. It is unknown what role this disc serves during the manufacturing process exactly, as the publicly available version sourced from an [[RVT-H Reader]] is similar to the aforementioned 100J, but with a few more test programs and newer software. 121J includes programs which perform tests on the system and write the results to [[testlog.txt]] in addition to checking this file, so it can be assumed that it is at this phase of the setup process where these tests are executed.
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*Next, a disc known as [[RVL_UJI_DIAG]] (with the Title ID 121J) is inserted, along with another SD card ("#1.5"). This disc runs test programs on the system to validate the operation of the hardware, writing logs to [[testlog.txt]] in the process; it then registers the console's serial number (over [[Waikiki]]), generates the system's [[Setting.txt]], and prepares for the next step of the process.
  
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* Then, [[Data Check & Log Check]] (aka 0002) is installed to NAND via "DataChk.wad". This program checks the logs written by RVL_UJI_DIAG, as well as other test data, to ensure that the testing process was successful.
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*The final disc, known as 122E, is then inserted; this disc installs a WAD called "DataChk.wad" from the SD card, which contains [[Data Check and Log Check]].
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*Data Check and Log Check (Title ID 0002) verifies the results of 121J, to ensure that the logs and console information on the system are correct.
  
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* 122E is then ran, an update partition-only disc which installs the base set of software (retail System Menu, channels, IOS, etc.) before the Wii is shipped.
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*The contents of 122E's update partition are then installed, containing the standard set of channels found on a retail console along with the production [[Wii System Menu]].
  
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* Some [[LU64+]] Wiis have a disc ID of "0003" in their [[uid.sys]] as well. It's currently unknown what it does, but it is generally found immediately after 122E and right before any signs of retail usage (typically seen as the 00010000-00555045 of a disc's UPDATE partition.)  
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Some [[Bollywood]] Wiis have a disc ID of "0003" in their [[uid.sys]] as well. It's currently unknown what it does, but it is generally found immediately after 122E and right before any signs of retail usage (typically seen as the 00010000-00555045 of a disc's UPDATE partition.)
  
 
__TOC__
 
__TOC__
  
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== Preloading ==
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==Preloading==
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Every Wii is preloaded at the hardware level with a couple pieces of software; these are already present on the Wii and will run when the Wii is powered on at the factory. The first of these pieces of software is boot0, the first piece of code ran on the Wii after power-on (which will stay the same from when it is physically programmed onto the chip to after factory setup, since it cannot physically be modified), which will check the Wii's OTP (one-time programmable) memory chip, and seeing that it is blank (as it is written to later in the process, using up its one opportunity to program it), determines that it is in the factory and continues with boot by loading boot1 from the NAND; after factory setup, there are keys present within this area, which boot0 uses to verify your copy of boot1, but during first factory boot this is neither possible nor needed, so boot0 skips it. Next, boot1 loads from the NAND. Boot1 works as usual by verifying the signature of the boot2 on the NAND, then loading it; this process is identical as long as the console has a properly signed boot2, so there's no special factory behavior that boot1 has here.
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Every Wii is preloaded at the hardware level with a few pieces of software; these are already present on the Wii and will run when the Wii is powered on at the factory. The first of these pieces of software is [[boot0]], which is the first piece of code that runs on the Wii after it powers on. This code always stays the same from when it is physically programmed onto the chip during manufacturing, since it cannot physically be modified. boot0 then checks the hash of the [[boot1]], which is stored in the Wii's [[eFuse]]<nowiki/>s, and at this point sees that they are blank, and determines that the Wii is currently in the factory and loads boot1 from NAND without a matching hash. This is because the eFuses are written to later during setup, using up the only opportunity to do so. boot1 works as usual by verifying the signature of [[boot2]] on the NAND, and then loading it.
  
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Next, [[boot2]] loads; the version of boot2 installed on a Wii once it comes out of the factory can only handle an encrypted NAND filesystem; the problem with that in the factory is that at this point the OTP has not been programmed, and since the OTP contains the console-unique NAND keys, it is impossible to have the NAND encrypted at this point. As such, the NAND is unencrypted, which the production version of boot2 cannot handle; presumably, a special factory version of boot2 (possibly boot2v0) is programmed on Wiis at this point, which can boot from unencrypted NAND filesystems and as such will continue boot as normal. The next thing to be loaded is the System Menu. While it isn't clear what exactly this System Menu is, it is most likely a version of the [[NDEV Menu]]. It's unknown what version of the NDEV menu is used or what IOS is associated with it; it is possible that this changed over the Wii's lifespan with updates to the menu and its associated IOS.
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This version of boot2 being loaded at the factory is called "sd_boot", a special boot2 which does not read or write to NAND and instead boots from the SD card. An SD card (designated as SD#1) is prepared containing a number of [[WAD]] files (stored raw with no filesystem). One of these files contains an ARM binary that is then run on the [[IOP]], being an installer program which will install the other WADs on the SD card to the NAND. On production systems, this typically includes an [[NDEV Menu]], [[IOS]]4, and IOS9, although other variations have been seen such as images that install [[BC]] and [[MIOS]]. The NDEV Menu will then be booted, allowing for the next phase of setup to occur when a disc is inserted.
  
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== Setup ==
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==123J==
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At this point, a disc would be inserted to begin the process of setting up the system. While this disc presumably has an official name which is currently unknown, it will be referred to as "123J", as 123J is the [[GameID]] of the disc (as evidenced by its presence in the [[uid.sys]] logs of all Wiis, as well as other NAND remnants). This disc most likely runs on IOS4 or IOS9 (it is possible that this changed over the Wii's lifecycle as well with updates to the disc), and, as far as we are aware, serves one main purpose; writing to the OTP chip and encrypting the NAND filesystem. However, there is one other possible task that 123J may have performed, which is updating boot1. As Nintendo issued various updates to boot1 throughout the Wii's lifecycle (most infamously the update that fixed the trucha bug within it, aka disabling bootmii/boot2 on newer Wiis), the most logical way to issue these updates would be by implementing a function to update boot1 within 123J before writing to the OTP area (since the OTP area contains the hash of boot1, if you want to update boot1, you have to update it before writing the hash). Nintendo also could have simply updated the boot1 version in their pre-prepared set of files programmed onto the system physically before it even hits the factory stations, although doing this through 123J seems more logical.
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At this point, a disc would be inserted to begin the process of setting up the system. While this disc presumably has an official name which is currently unknown, it will be referred to as "123J", as 123J is the [[GameID]] of the disc (as evidenced by its presence in the [[uid.sys]] logs of all Wiis, as well as other NAND remnants). This disc's exact purpose is unknown as no code from it has been recovered, but it is presumed that it plays the role of setting [[eFuse]] bits (which results in setting console-unique keys and finalizing the installed boot1 version), and possibly also updating boot1 and boot2 to prepare for the Wii to boot from a production encrypted NAND filesystem. This process likely would be done using a [[Waikiki]] from a PC host. This disc may contain a second partition with ID "0000dead".
  
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After writing data to the OTP (therefore locking boot1, and setting all of the sysem's console-unique encryption keys), 123J encrypts the console's NAND filesystem using the newly generated NAND keys; these are the very same keys you get in your keys.bin file along with a BootMii dump, which are needed to decrypt the NAND. Next, [[RVL_DIAG|a disc known as 100J, also titled 0000dead and RVL_DIAG]] is inserted. This disc contains several test programs which could be used to verify the Wii's hardware as part of a quality control process. However, it is unknown what purpose this disc serves exactly during the retail Wii manufacturing process, as the [[RVL_UJI_DIAG]] (121J) disc which runs next has almost all of the same content as 100J, with a few extra programs and more recent software revisions. As the publicly available copies of both of these discs were dumped from [[RVT-H Reader]] units, it could be that the manufacturing & testing process for development kits differs from that of retail units, and as such, this ID could represent a completely different disc during the retail manufacturing process.
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==RVL_UJI_DIAG==
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The next disc inserted is [[RVL_UJI_DIAG]], with [[GameID]] 121J. A copy of this disc was obtained from an RVT-H Reader, and includes several testing programs which could be used to ensure the integrity of a unit's hardware, as well as programs that run pre-defined tests, the results of which are then written to [[testlog.txt]]. It also contains [[serNoReg]], the program which registers the console's serial number using a mentioned but unseen piece of PC software, and "PreWrite.dol", a program which seems to write data to NAND over [[EXI]] (Waikiki); it is unknown if this is used in retail system production or not.
  
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The next disc inserted is the aforementioned [[RVL_UJI_DIAG]], with [[GameID]] 121J. The copy of this disc obtained from an RVT-H Reader includes several testing programs which could be used to ensure the integrity of a unit's hardware, as well as programs that run pre-defined tests, the results of which are then written to [[testlog.txt]]. It also contains [[serNoReg]], the program which registers the console's serial number using a mentioned but unseen piece of PC software. The retail version of 121J appears to include an additional step not present in the RVT-H version, as it installs a WAD titled 'DataChk.wad' to the NAND via a second partition with the ID '0002'. While this title is normally deleted from NAND after it is used, it is left behind on some Wiis for unknown reasons, and as such it has been obtained publicly and its behavior is detailed below.
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==122E==  
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== Data Check and Log Check's role ==  
 
 
[[File:0002-2.png|thumb|PUSH SD CARD, THEN REMOVE IT]]
 
[[File:0002-2.png|thumb|PUSH SD CARD, THEN REMOVE IT]]
 
[[File:0002-3.png|thumb|PUSH RESET BUTTON]]
 
[[File:0002-3.png|thumb|PUSH RESET BUTTON]]
 
''See also: [[Data Check and Log Check]]''
 
''See also: [[Data Check and Log Check]]''
  
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This disc and accompanying WAD file are known as "0002", but the in-program name is "DATA CHECK & LOG CHECK".  There are two known versions of this file, both dumped from separate Wiis; 1.5.0 and 1.5.1.
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122E is a disc which has a game partition and an update partition; the game partition installs the title "0002" from the SD card (with filename "DataChk.wad"), and the update partition contains the final set of retail [[Wii System Menu]]/IOS/Channel data for production.
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0002's exact purpose is unknown; it appears to verify the results of 121J by checking files on NAND as well as files from an SD card, in particular [[all.ini]]. all.ini is a list of tests near-identical to that which is present in 121J under the filename "master.dat"; it is unknown why 0002 requests this file, or why it was copied to NAND and therefore able to be retrieved from a retail Wii system.
 
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== 122E ==
 
  
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The final step is to install the System Menu, IOSes, and channels. This process is akin to a standard disc update, where a disc is inserted, the contents of it are read, and WAD files are installed from those contents. The disc that handles this is known as 122E. This disc appears to simply be an update partition, as the [[main.dol]] file which it leaves behind in the [[cache.dat]] of a system after it is inserted is a non-functional DOL file similar to those which are found in the update partitions of retail Wii discs. It can be presumed that Nintendo may have pressed several versions of this disc to keep the Wii's preinstalled software updated throughout its production run; however, none have been found publicly, nor is it known what the actual name or appearance of the disc is.
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==0002==
  
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Once 122E has finished installing the base set of titles, the system's initial manufacturing & testing process is complete, and on the next boot the system will be running the retail [[Wii Menu]] on the initial setup screen.
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0002 ('''DATA CHECK & LOG CHECK''') is a program which checks the results of 121J to ensure that diagnostics passed and data was written correctly. While this program is meant to be deleted before the process finishes, for unknown reasons it is still present intact on some Wiis and versions 1.5.0 and 1.5.1 have been recovered.
  
 
{{Template:WiiNavbox}}
 
{{Template:WiiNavbox}}

Latest revision as of 03:02, 17 December 2023

Note: This article is very old and inaccurate, mostly based on guesses and speculation from before data from the Zammis Clark Breach was available.

This article describes the process of how production Wii consoles are set up at the factory, from initial manufacturing of the chips to retail shipment.

Basic Overview

  • A "prewrite" image is flashed to NAND containing boot1 and a special boot2 known as "sd_boot" during initial programming of the NAND.
  • At the packaging plant, the Wii is powered on for the first time with SD card number 1 inserted. This SD card contains an image with a series of WAD files; sd_boot will load one of these WADs, which is an installer program that installs the remaining WADs to NAND. These WADs typically include a System Menu, IOS4, and IOS9.
  • Once the System Menu is installed, the "123J" disc is inserted. It is unknown what the actual title of this disc is, however it may be responsible for encrypting the NAND filesystem, updating boot1, and setting the console's eFuses. This disc seems to contain an additional partition with the Title ID "0000dead", which has been speculated to contain the program used to encrypt the NAND's filesystem.
  • Next, a disc known as RVL_UJI_DIAG (with the Title ID 121J) is inserted, along with another SD card ("#1.5"). This disc runs test programs on the system to validate the operation of the hardware, writing logs to testlog.txt in the process; it then registers the console's serial number (over Waikiki), generates the system's Setting.txt, and prepares for the next step of the process.
  • The final disc, known as 122E, is then inserted; this disc installs a WAD called "DataChk.wad" from the SD card, which contains Data Check and Log Check.
  • Data Check and Log Check (Title ID 0002) verifies the results of 121J, to ensure that the logs and console information on the system are correct.
  • The contents of 122E's update partition are then installed, containing the standard set of channels found on a retail console along with the production Wii System Menu.

Some Bollywood Wiis have a disc ID of "0003" in their uid.sys as well. It's currently unknown what it does, but it is generally found immediately after 122E and right before any signs of retail usage (typically seen as the 00010000-00555045 of a disc's UPDATE partition.)

Preloading

Every Wii is preloaded at the hardware level with a few pieces of software; these are already present on the Wii and will run when the Wii is powered on at the factory. The first of these pieces of software is boot0, which is the first piece of code that runs on the Wii after it powers on. This code always stays the same from when it is physically programmed onto the chip during manufacturing, since it cannot physically be modified. boot0 then checks the hash of the boot1, which is stored in the Wii's eFuses, and at this point sees that they are blank, and determines that the Wii is currently in the factory and loads boot1 from NAND without a matching hash. This is because the eFuses are written to later during setup, using up the only opportunity to do so. boot1 works as usual by verifying the signature of boot2 on the NAND, and then loading it.

This version of boot2 being loaded at the factory is called "sd_boot", a special boot2 which does not read or write to NAND and instead boots from the SD card. An SD card (designated as SD#1) is prepared containing a number of WAD files (stored raw with no filesystem). One of these files contains an ARM binary that is then run on the IOP, being an installer program which will install the other WADs on the SD card to the NAND. On production systems, this typically includes an NDEV Menu, IOS4, and IOS9, although other variations have been seen such as images that install BC and MIOS. The NDEV Menu will then be booted, allowing for the next phase of setup to occur when a disc is inserted.

123J

At this point, a disc would be inserted to begin the process of setting up the system. While this disc presumably has an official name which is currently unknown, it will be referred to as "123J", as 123J is the GameID of the disc (as evidenced by its presence in the uid.sys logs of all Wiis, as well as other NAND remnants). This disc's exact purpose is unknown as no code from it has been recovered, but it is presumed that it plays the role of setting eFuse bits (which results in setting console-unique keys and finalizing the installed boot1 version), and possibly also updating boot1 and boot2 to prepare for the Wii to boot from a production encrypted NAND filesystem. This process likely would be done using a Waikiki from a PC host. This disc may contain a second partition with ID "0000dead".

RVL_UJI_DIAG

The next disc inserted is RVL_UJI_DIAG, with GameID 121J. A copy of this disc was obtained from an RVT-H Reader, and includes several testing programs which could be used to ensure the integrity of a unit's hardware, as well as programs that run pre-defined tests, the results of which are then written to testlog.txt. It also contains serNoReg, the program which registers the console's serial number using a mentioned but unseen piece of PC software, and "PreWrite.dol", a program which seems to write data to NAND over EXI (Waikiki); it is unknown if this is used in retail system production or not.

122E

PUSH SD CARD, THEN REMOVE IT
PUSH RESET BUTTON

See also: Data Check and Log Check

122E is a disc which has a game partition and an update partition; the game partition installs the title "0002" from the SD card (with filename "DataChk.wad"), and the update partition contains the final set of retail Wii System Menu/IOS/Channel data for production.

0002

0002 (DATA CHECK & LOG CHECK) is a program which checks the results of 121J to ensure that diagnostics passed and data was written correctly. While this program is meant to be deleted before the process finishes, for unknown reasons it is still present intact on some Wiis and versions 1.5.0 and 1.5.1 have been recovered.

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