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How to identify your Wii's drive! Help everyone see if SSBB will work before buying!
Nyteshade | 2:36 PM on 03.09.2008 22 comments




Since I just went though the deep emotional pain of buying Super Smash Bros Brawl and having my Wii error out reading it, I thought I'd do some matlockery and see if I could pinpoint the serial numbers that seems to be having problems.

My friend stood in the same line as me when we waited for lauch Wiis and bought them right after each other. Now his Wii is playing SSBB without a problem, and mine won't even see the disc. Since we all know "dust" isn't causing this problem, and that SSBB is on a dual-layer disc, it must be hardware.

I found a nice site called WiiTracker which allows you to find out the most likely hardware setup your Wii has, by your serial number.

I've only had 3 systems to test so far, but using this site, we should be able to build a list from those of us that have Wiis.



The first three characters in your serial identify the major revisions:

LU1 = First production run, no longer produced
LU3 = Second run, no longer produced, still may be on shelves
LU5 = Most recent model, in production and on shelves

According to what I've read, all LU3 and LU5 models will have no problems running SSBB, the problem is related to LU1's only.

UPDATE: Now we have a non-reading LU3 too!



Here are the three serials I've tested so far and their results (not putting up the full serials just in case):

Serial Number----------Drive chip-------SSBB Status:


LU1's

LU10231****--------GC2-DMS-------Not reading SSBB
LU10222****--------GC2-DMS-------Not reading SSBB
LU10123****--------GC2-D2B--------Reading SSBB
LU10236****--------GC2-D2B--------Reading SSBB

LU3's

LU30373****--------GC2-DMS--------Reading SSBB
LU30633****--------GC2-DMS--------Not reading

If you own a Wii + SSBB and want to help out, just visit WiiTracker, enter your serial number (bottom/side of Wii), then just post the drive chip and if SSBB runs or errors.
I'm not positive the drive chip is tied into this problem, but if nothing else it's an easy way to identify the different hardware revisions.



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19 comments | showing # 1 to 19

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GoS-CPT-Stewart's Destructoid Blog
LU303734718: GC2-DMS: Reading SSBB
Zeag's Destructoid Blog
Wow, sooooo many people must be pissed off by this!
MaxVest's Destructoid Blog
Great idea! I'm shocked at someone actually doing research instead of just running their mouths!

I got a LU50 model in December 06 (sorry, don't plan on buying Smash to test), so it seems like there wouldn't be too many of the earlier revisions out there.
Johnny Blaze's Destructoid Blog
Umm yea I think you are on to something..

Mine is LU1 and some other shit.. I am at work I can't think of the other numbers but I know the first part is LU 1
jorge's Destructoid Blog
I'm sorry to hear of your traumatic experience. Everybody should be able to enjoy Brawl.

My LU1023..... 92% chance GC2-D2B plays it fine, thank xenu.
mix's Destructoid Blog
What is Nintendo doing about this?
mix's Destructoid Blog
@Reaprar

That's not too shabby I suppose.

I hope my Wii works as I plan to rent this game before I buy to see if I actually like this one.
Alpha 87655320875's Destructoid Blog
Yay for my Lu5
Holyetheline's Destructoid Blog
I have a LU1. I'll know if Brawl works tomorrow morning and then I'll let you know.
killermonkey's Destructoid Blog
u are wrong this is my results:LU30633580boxed number:6 what wii does:unable to read disk
LarkOhiya's Destructoid Blog
you will like it.
killermonkey's Destructoid Blog
also my drive number is RVL-001
AngelicLiver's Destructoid Blog
I also have a LEH1 (in UK), have imported Brawl and invested in a Wii Freeloader. All this news of non-functioning copies of Brawl fills me with dread, if I experience a problem Nintendo will have hell to pay.
Sadie G's Destructoid Blog
since you're the only one reporting on this in the cblogs, you might want to add that Nintendo responded by saying to send your wii in to get cleaned and they are telling people not to try and clean it themselves.


meh, another reason i'm glad i didn't pick the game up.
fish with hat's Destructoid Blog
LU104
drive chip GC2-DMS
picked up on launch day, SSBB runs fine with no errors
YAY!!
Necros's Destructoid Blog
I've got a launch Wii, so definitely LU1, but it's working fine.
Necros's Destructoid Blog
I've got a launch Wii, so definitely LU1, but it's working fine.
dorkus horkus's Destructoid Blog
serial: LU3007455** drive:GC2-DMS
purchased at Wal-Mart 12/6/06 after a 14 hour wait
does not read SSBB
ivc's Destructoid Blog
Try the new Wii Drive Database, www.wiidrives.com. Makes it easy to identify the DVD drive chip model without having to open the console, by simply looking up the serial number.


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I was born in 1984, which means I grew up just a tad late to be an Atari front runner (still got one and played the shit outta it) but I did get to grow up with Nintendo. I've bought every Nintendo console on release day (Wii included, 32 hours outside of Wal-mart).

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