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I have a Wii U and I once updated it. Though suddenly, the power went out and the console was bricked.

That was the initial update (I think, since I couldn't access the normal Wii menu) and I'm not sure if things changed.

I want to update my Wii U but in my country theres a high chance that the power will go out. If it does, will it brick my Wii U?

What about if I'm updating a game? Will a power outage cause my device to brick during a game update?

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    Likely not - usually software has checks in place for situations like this. You can get an uninterrupted-battery backup power supply unit that you can plug the Wii U into and should the power go out, it will have a battery to run off of for at least a few minutes (depending on the size).
    – Timmy Jim ♦
    May 18, 2017 at 16:05
  • @TimmyJim that "likely not" bricked my console last time. Is there something official that proves that it won't get bricked?
    – Ali Bdeir
    May 18, 2017 at 16:19
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    With only a 50% reliable power grid, why don't you already have a UPS handy?
    – Iszi
    May 18, 2017 at 16:26
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    Never ever update your firmware, if you can't provide a reliable power supply. That does also count for devices other than consoles. Power outages during firmware updates can always break your devices.
    – dly
    May 18, 2017 at 16:36

1 Answer 1

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You answered your own question already since you already lost a console to a power outage.

No. Seriously, don't do that.

Never update your console or any other device's firmware (system software), without a reliable power supply.

While simple software updates (apps, games, ..) are not prone to kill your console the system software is. You can always restart a game installation, but it is hard to restart a system installation if it's already dead.

Also, while it is pretty safe for your console to update games and maybe get thrown out of power it is still not recommended to update them without good power supply either. You could still break your game installation.

With an outage chance of 50% you should seriously get yourself an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) as constant outages can also damage your electrical devices even when they're not being updated.

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  • Even with a UPS, if power goes out, Internet likely does as well. It would just further complicate things, especially if the firmware update is downloading in progress.
    – nightsurfer
    May 18, 2017 at 17:00
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    @Kaizerwolf not necessarily, since interrupted downloads are not lethal to the system. At this point the old firmware is still intact as the installation itself will start after the download is completed.
    – dly
    May 18, 2017 at 17:16
  • Theoretically the old firmware is still intact, you never know with some devices :p but I'm inclined to agree with you.
    – nightsurfer
    May 18, 2017 at 17:16
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    Pretty sure that the download and install of the patch are separate process, and the install waits for download to finish. So if it crashes in middle of the download, the download will probably reset without problem. If it crashes during update, UPS will stay on for at least half an hour, letting you cancel/finish. Or you could wait for whatever can cut your electricity to pass (don't update in a lighting storm, for instance.)
    – Fredy31 ♦
    May 18, 2017 at 18:25
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    No remotely competent firmware patching system would start patching a device with data streamed directly from a network source. In the best of conditions the potential for interruption or transmission errors/corruption is significant. I've never encountered a patching system that didn't verify the complete presence and integrity of all required data before writing it to the device. Even horrible systems that let you apply device-bricking incompatible patches validate that much.
    – HonoredMule
    May 18, 2017 at 19:11

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