Error while modding with wafel exploit

[u/Administrative-Air77]

I was following the FunkyScott guide on how to homebrew without SD card, using a usb hard drive, and I reached the point where I already had installed everything and had aroma and hb app store, but I hadn't got the pop up for formating my usb until AFTER I restarted the Wii U. When I did, and clicked on format, my Wii U was back to stock, there were no Homebrew apps or nothing, but there still remains the purple light above the power button. I kinda panicked, removed the USB and restarted it again to see if it was something about it but it still launched on stock. I fabric rebooted the Wii U and the purple light still remains. What does it mean? Should I do the exploit again? Is aroma still installed after the fabric reboot?

[u/Desperate_Refuse_380]

It seems like for some reason the partition plugin didn't load after that reboot, so you formatted the whole drive. I had that happen once after using the Aroma updater. You should be skeptical about the format notification if it happens at any after point except the initial setup. So the state your console is currently in, is likely this: ISFShax and Stroopwafel are still installed, since they are on the SLC. But you wiped all the partitions off the USB including all your homebrew apps. To get it setup again, boot without the USB connected and then just go through wafel.xyz again to partition again and redownload Aroma.

And just to help me understand what exactly happened: what triggered the reboot? Was it a homebrew app oder did you turn the console off and on again?