Installation


Requirements

  • Homebrew-enabled Wii

Checkout WiiBrew if you have no idea what this means.

[IOS version] This document assumes that Homebrew Channel (HBC) is used for loading homebrew applications. For other loaders, please consult their documentation and make necessay changes to what is written here.

[MINI version] Bootmii should be installed as either boot2 or IOS, or if you wish, both.

  • SD card

[IOS version] Both SD and (some) SDHC cards can be used. Whether a particular card can be used mostly depends on whether it can be recognized by your version of HBC. For instance, HBC beta 9 or higher is required for SDHC booting. (Note that SDHC support in HBC is achieved in a somewhat hackish fashion and as a result, not all SDHC cards are usable. A list of user-verified compatible cards is available here.

For non-SDHC, it is probably better not to use cards larger than 2GB.

[MINI version] Both SD and (some) SDHC cards can be used.

The card should be formatted in FAT/FAT16 or FAT32. It is not necessay to use ‘special’ formatting software, unless media defect is suspected or the card has been previously manipulated by certain boot managers, in which cases the Panasonic tool could be tried. If a digital device (mobile phone, DC, DV, etc.) that can use the card in question is available, formatting the card in such a device sometimes gives the most reliable result.

Setup

  • Download

Go to the Download page for links to the latest version.

  • Extract to SD card

The downloaded package is usually a compressed archive. Open the archive and extract ALL the contents to the root folder of the SD card. There is NO need to manually move any file or folder around. If you have a previously installed GeeXboX for Wii version on the SD card, it is STRONGLY advised that the GEEXBOX folder is deleted before extracting a new version to the card.

  • Boot GeeXboX for Wii

[IOS version] Power up Wii, insert the SD card, launch HBC and GeeXboX for Wii (IOS) application banner will be displayed (among other applications if there are any on the card). Select the banner and click on ‘OK’ to load GeeXboX for Wii (IOS).

[MINI version] In Bootmii GUI, choose the SD card icon, browse to the /bootmii folder and select geexbox.elf file. Video modes other than 480i(NTSC) are untested. If the elf file fails to boot into GeeXboX for Wii splash screen, you might consider hex-editing the elf file to change the gcnfb parameters (see this link).

If you wish to make MINI start GeeXboX for Wii (MINI) automatically instead of going through Bootmii GUI, where wiimote is not supported, or if your card suffers from a bug described here, you could hex-edit the geexbox.elf file to set correct gcnfb parameters and rename it to ppcboot.elf.

Debugging booting problem

  • [IOS version] GeeXboX for Wii not loaded by HBC

Typical symptoms include: GeeXboX for Wii banner not displayed by HBC; HBC refuses to load GeeXboX for Wii after the banner is clicked; HBC loads GeeXboX for Wii but HBC progress bar (NOT the GeeXboX splash screen progress bar) stalls midway.

All of the above are caused, almost without exception, either by a card that has not been properly inserted in place, or by corruption of GeeXboX for Wii files in /apps/geexbox folder, which is usually fixed by re-extracting the files.

Please note, it is absolutely NOT necessary to convert the boot.elf file to dol format, whichever version of HBC is being used. Doing this can result in HBC refusing to load GeeXboX for Wii.

  • [IOS version] Black screen after HBC loading success

It has been noted that with recent HBC versions (post-1.0.5), sometimes HBC loads GeeXboX for Wii boot.elf fine (progress bar reaches 100%) but GeeXboX for Wii boot screen fails to come up, only a black screen is displayed.

How this happens is not very clear at the moment, but one possible solution to try is using an older version of HBC. Yes, it IS possible to have two different versions of HBC installed side by side, as long as they have different title IDs. For instance, HBC 1.0.1 (HAXX) alongside HBC 1.0.6 (JODI) works fine. It is mandatory to install JODI version first, otherwise HAXX version will be removed during installation. Note that GeeXboX for Wii will always return to, or launch, to be exact, the JODI version if it is installed.

  • GeeXboX for Wii booting aborts or stalls

Here ‘abort’ refers to those situatiosn where GeeXboX booting process stops before completion and drops into console (text) mode, whereas ‘stall’ refers to those situations where GeeXboX boot splash progress bar stalls midway, but without dropping into console mode.

Such problems are caused, almost without exception, either by corruption of GeeXboX for Wii files in /GEEXBOX folder, or by corruption and/or errors in the SD card file system. If re-extracting the files does not fix the problem, re-formatting the card should be considered.

  • Black screen or wrong color

[IOS version] Interlaced mode over progressive-capable component cables does not work. In other words, display devices set to 480i and connected to Wii using component cables may display black screen (loss of signal), garbled colors or split screen when GeeXboX for Wii is booted. This is caused by wii-linux kernel forcing 480p display when progressive-capable cables are detected. Set the display device to 480p or use S-video/composite cables to work around this. Note that this issue may have been fixed since 0.1alpha7.

Black Screen after boot success is usually caused by corrupt or incorrectly modified /GEEXBOX/etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf.

10 Responses to Installation

  1. Tanja says:

    hi,
    I was hoping to install geexbox. But I’m not very succesfull so far. The mini version doesn’t work at all. Although I’m quite sure I’ve got bootmii installed as boot2.

    so I trided the other version. This one i can find in the homebrew menu. but when i load it. i get a lot of text. and in the end a bright blue screen because the wii switched itself of.

    the problem is not the sd card. the card is the right kind and formatted several times. to fat 32.

    I also unpakket the download several times (both of them) but every time i tried to install gave the same effect.

    I hope you have a solution. thank you.

    Tanja.

    • farter says:

      Hi,

      MINI: how does it ‘not work’? do you see Bootmii GUI at all?

      IOS: do you see GeeXboX splash screen at all?

      The simplest thing to try is to use composite cable and NTSC, see if anything changes.

      • Tanja says:

        the problem is -of course- that I know a little what I’m doing, but not really enough.
        I remember when i was instaling bootmii, i had to choose the option of boot2.
        When I unzip geexbox mini to my sd card I only have a geexbox folder on the root, but none in the app folder. Is that okay? because when I extract the IOS version I have also one in the app folder.
        Then, when I open homebrew channel I don’t see a geexbox banner. ( Ido when I’ve got the IOS version on the sd card, but that’s probably because it’s in the app folder?)

        So I push home and choose launch bootmii. then the screen goes black. and the light of the diskdrive of the wii is going berserk.
        nothing happens untill Ishut the wii down.

        I thought it might have something to do with me being instructed to format the disk again several times during installing homebrew and apps. So I put the original programme on de sd card again for installing homebrew and bootmii. this package has a bootmii folder. a wad folder. boot.dol, startup.elf and a modpack-PAL-E.md5
        when I put de sd card in the wii, start up homebrew, press home and choose bootmii; i get this black sceen with directories. when i selectwad manager en then press b. i see a folder named geexbox. when i select it i see a couple of directories. but whatever i choose i always end up in a dead end.
        then I choose the geexbox folder and pressed + to select all. and got a geexbox.elf directory. so i pushed 1 to install.

        then i got a whole screen full of text like it was installing. but it stopped soon. i still see a screen full of instalation text. and a bleeping cursor in the left corner. but nothing is hapening. the last sentence is: mmc/sd card block driver for the nintendo gamecube/wii – version 4.1i rvl-mem2: nintendo wii mem2 block driver- version 0.1 isobel
        rvl-di: nintendo wii disk interface (DI) driver – version 0.1i

        I hope you can explain me where i go wrong. I’m sorry I didn’t react sooner, but I’m pretty cramped at work. S hope you didn’t lose interest yet.

        thanks for your help so far.

        Tanja

        • farter says:

          There is no ‘apps’ folder in MINI version, only ‘GEEXBOX’ and ‘bootmii’ folders. You have to put bootmii files (ppcboot.elf, armboot.bin, bootmii.ini) in the ‘bootmii’ folder before trying to boot MINI, otherwise you will see “the light of the diskdrive of the wii is going berserk” because MINI can not find these files.

          When you have booted MINI, browse into ‘bootmii’ folder and launch ‘geexbox.elf’.

          Remember: pretty much all the necessary steps required for successful installation and booting are already documented here. So if you find yourself doing something not mentioned here, you most likely needn’t, or even shouldn’t, be doing it.

  2. horses says:

    I just installed the IOS version following your steps and once the program is succesfully showing up and launched trough the HBC but once loaded the main screen seems frozen or at least there is no way to go up or down the categories with the arrows.

    This has nothing to do with files corrupted cause i tried a dozen times, as well as i formatted the SD card twice to fat 32, so there is either a bug in the program or there needs to be some ISOs installed which are not mentioned in the post above.

    Please let me know what to do, i have been adviced geexbox is way better than Mplayer but the fact is i have been able to install, run and use properly Mplayer but haven’t been able to use geexbox so far and I would like to.

    Expecting your tips. Thanks.

    • farter says:

      Hi,

      Did you connect your wiimote and felt the wiimote vibrating, which meant the connection is successful?

      This software does not need any IOS other than those required to install HBC. So if you have already installed this, you should need nothing else.

  3. Ron says:

    -Is there any way to configure GeeXBox to look for itself in the usb1 slot instead of the SD card slot?

    -Also when i try to load from the HBC, I am able to go through the splash/load screen of GeeXBox, but after the progress bar hits 100% or very near it, it reverts to ‘console’ and displays an error about failing to load a specific lib directory file.

    -My HBC and all other HB software is located in the usb1 slot. So far this is the only software I’ve HAD to put on the sd card to even get it to try to load. When I put the GeeXBox folder on the USB drive it shows the splash screen for a couple seconds then it flat out turns off the Wii (Red light). However when I put the GEEXBOX folder and it’s corresponding app folder on an SD card, I get the a fore mentioned result which is better but still not functional.

    Any advice as to how to resolve this?
    Thanks

    • farter says:

      Hi,

      It is sort of hardcoded into the boot.elf to look for /GEEXBOX in (first partition of) front SD. You will have to modify sources and recompile to make it search other locations.

      If you can’t get it to work using the front SD, something is wrong, like IOS/MINI versions getting mixed up, file corruption, etc.

  4. gcman says:

    can you run geexbox on an actual gamecube?

Comments are closed.