It's been a while since we asked, and while we hate to think of dead Wiis and broken nunchuks, we're sure there are a few out there. Some of them probably even belong to you guys. As much as it must hurt to discuss it, tell us your horror stories. We want to hear about your disc read errors and flailing, overzealous friends. Give us your bricks and your replacement stories, and we'll give you sympathy in return.
It's been a while since we asked, and while we hate to think of dead Wiis and broken nunchuks, we're sure there are a few out there. Some of them probably even belong to you guys. As much as it must hurt to discuss it, tell us your horror stories. We want to hear about your disc read errors and flailing, overzealous friends. Give us your bricks and your replacement stories, and we'll give you sympathy in return.
Reader Comments (42)
Posted: May 2nd 2007 9:20AM (Unverified) said
Everything has been flawless since launch!
Posted: May 2nd 2007 9:33AM (Unverified) said
Im not sure if this is a serious problem or not, but almost every time I load a Wii game, the console makes a really loud buzzing sound. The games are still fully playable though, and it doesn't happen at all with Gamecube games.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 9:45AM (Unverified) said
4 Wii consoles... 4!!! I had to go through 4 of them before I got a flawless victory.. Freezing, broke power switch, buggered disc drive...
Read about it here
http://theflynnmeister.blogspot.com/2007/01/wii-ball-sagas-part-1.html
(hunt the other 3 parts down on my blog lol)
Read about it here
http://theflynnmeister.blogspot.com/2007/01/wii-ball-sagas-part-1.html
(hunt the other 3 parts down on my blog lol)
Posted: May 2nd 2007 9:54AM ProfKOS said
I have freezing a lot. Also my controllers will just switch off every once and a while. To fix either I have to unplug the unit and plug back in. The freezing always happens in game, never in the menu. The controller problem occurs when I launch a channel, any channel. Last time it happened it was when I launched the Internet channel.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 9:59AM (Unverified) said
No problems yet except for the mountain of batteries I went through before I got rechargeables last week. I have a question though, I have yet to connect my Wii (named Ella Guru) to the internet. Are there any updates, etc. that are important enough to download that I should actually connect my Wii to the intertubes?
Posted: May 2nd 2007 9:59AM (Unverified) said
I getting freezing issues from time to time as a game is first loading. Also, the speaker on one of my remotes seems to have gone dead :-(
The biggest injury, however, is the large crack in the case that was caused when a friend got a little overexcited while playing Super Smash Brothers, and pulled the whole console down onto the floor. Needless to say, we now play with the console sitting in a drawer to prevent it from happening again.
The biggest injury, however, is the large crack in the case that was caused when a friend got a little overexcited while playing Super Smash Brothers, and pulled the whole console down onto the floor. Needless to say, we now play with the console sitting in a drawer to prevent it from happening again.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 10:03AM (Unverified) said
I get the occasional 'dropped' Remote...where the remote is not recognized by the console...but that is usually fixed by a restart.
I have found that this usually only happens if I eject a disc with the power off and insert a new disc causing the consolr to power on.
Other than that (which has happened maybe 3 or 4 times since early December) the Wii has acted like all of my other Nintendo products...flawlessly.
I have found that this usually only happens if I eject a disc with the power off and insert a new disc causing the consolr to power on.
Other than that (which has happened maybe 3 or 4 times since early December) the Wii has acted like all of my other Nintendo products...flawlessly.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 10:25AM WhiteNoise said
My 2nd player led in one of my Wiimotes seems to be missing or burned out. I also had to unplug the console once to be able to re-sync the remotes.
@Zoob
I long ago banished all wired remotes, Wave birds for all!
@Zoob
I long ago banished all wired remotes, Wave birds for all!
Posted: May 2nd 2007 10:24AM (Unverified) said
Someone said they just unplug the Wii and plug it back in. Just hold down the Power button on the Wii itself for several seconds and it will reboot. A little easier than unplugging. Usually works fine.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 10:35AM (Unverified) said
Only problem I've ever had since launch is the occasional misrecognition of the controllers as someone above mentioned. I dunno how that one guy went through 4 Wiis. Either hes just really unlucky or careless
Posted: May 2nd 2007 10:37AM vidguy said
I had the dreaded Internet error code when I tried to log onto the Wii Shop Channel - until I switched my router channel. I've had two disc read errors since November, but I just shut off the console, turn it back on, and it reads fine.
That's it. No broken anything, no injuries, no problems of any kind. Now, my 360 has scratched more than a few discs and I'm scared to turn it on for fear of the Red Ring of Death.
That's it. No broken anything, no injuries, no problems of any kind. Now, my 360 has scratched more than a few discs and I'm scared to turn it on for fear of the Red Ring of Death.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 10:50AM RyogaVee said
So far, flawless.
I did have an odd problem with my Wii locking up when I tries to access the internet. it would dead lock and it required a restart. Turns out there was a problem with my router that caused it. Reset the router and all was well.
Ive heard about the disk drive sounding funny from one other person. but it causes no real problems.
I did have an odd problem with my Wii locking up when I tries to access the internet. it would dead lock and it required a restart. Turns out there was a problem with my router that caused it. Reset the router and all was well.
Ive heard about the disk drive sounding funny from one other person. but it causes no real problems.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 11:19AM (Unverified) said
My Wii has locked up once while playing ExciteTruck. Just held in the powerbutton to reboot.
One of my Wiimotes gets a wierd tremble in the accelerometer, which causes the bat to shake in baseball. removing and adding the batteries to reset seems to fix.
One of my Wiimotes gets a wierd tremble in the accelerometer, which causes the bat to shake in baseball. removing and adding the batteries to reset seems to fix.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 11:10AM JohnnyTwatFist said
I've had the system freeze once, and the remote not sync up from time to time. the only other problem i had was the system logging onto anything internet. It seems that after an update, I have to re-accept the user agreement before I can use anything having to do with updates. This is also required to log into the shop, the internet channel, and other such goodies.
Posted: May 4th 2007 12:50AM (Unverified) said
I had to send mine in once for repairs since I couldn't get any sound or video.
Good news, they fixed it quite quickly.
Bad news, they couldn't save the data I had in it so all my saved games were lost. Annoying but something minor really and I happy how easy it was to go through the process.
Other than that I had received a few game freezes or controllers not connecting.
Good news, they fixed it quite quickly.
Bad news, they couldn't save the data I had in it so all my saved games were lost. Annoying but something minor really and I happy how easy it was to go through the process.
Other than that I had received a few game freezes or controllers not connecting.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 11:33AM (Unverified) said
Only problem i have been having is freezing while playing. this usualy happens after I have been playing a few hours and the systems has been churning and burning flawlessly up till then.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 11:33AM (Unverified) said
@ #4 Prof_Chaos "Also my controllers will just switch off every once and a while. The controller problem occurs when I launch a channel, any channel."
The controllers go off temporarily (but turn back on within a few seconds) any time you go back to the menu or launch a channel. That is not a technical problem - it is just how it works.
The controllers go off temporarily (but turn back on within a few seconds) any time you go back to the menu or launch a channel. That is not a technical problem - it is just how it works.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 11:49AM (Unverified) said
I've had dropped Wiimote's, locked up console on the Internet Channel, and now I'm noticing graphical (artifacts) on more and more 3rd party (Wii) titles, possibly due to either over heating or a bad GPU. Needless to say, I've been seriously considering giving the big N's support a call.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 2:27PM (Unverified) said
Occasionally I get problems with GameCube games. Once in a while I'll get an audio bug like a buzzing or something like that. Sometimes this actually freezes the game. It's very loud so it can get to worry me, but I've seen no real adverse affects so far. Still plays games fine (other than that) and no scratches on discs or anything like that.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 1:16PM Jamar said
My Wii (Japanese) just won't load the shopping channel. I get to the screen where it asks me for a Club Nintendo login and just won't continue, even when I put in my login info (man, that was a pain- I found someone's blog and pulled an address and other info from there to sign up with but it was so hard to find). Anyone able to help?
Posted: May 2nd 2007 1:29PM (Unverified) said
Well, internet seems to be very hard to rely on, I'm worried about getting disconnected alot when online games come (CHAAAAARGE!!). Other than that there's only a few small bugs here and there but I think those are things that everyone are experiencing. Nothing major.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 1:43PM (Unverified) said
I've only had 2 problems:
- Zelda froze on me one time in game. But I think it was due to the game disc being dirty, not the Wii.
- The Wii would not boot. Power button was one, but the screen was black, remotes would not connect, nothing. had to unplug to reset it. Worked fine ever since. Only thing I can think of is that it was the first time powering back up after the system updated from the Super Paper Mario disc. Dunno.
- Zelda froze on me one time in game. But I think it was due to the game disc being dirty, not the Wii.
- The Wii would not boot. Power button was one, but the screen was black, remotes would not connect, nothing. had to unplug to reset it. Worked fine ever since. Only thing I can think of is that it was the first time powering back up after the system updated from the Super Paper Mario disc. Dunno.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 1:59PM (Unverified) said
my wii gave up on all it's internet function. i will eventully buy a proper router to see if thet works. My wii has bee rotting in the corner since I got my DSlite
Posted: May 2nd 2007 3:51PM (Unverified) said
Sometimes I have to blow in the slot to get it to read...
...oh, wait, my Wii. Right, no problems there, 'cept one or two Opera lockups before I got on to the final version. That, and I can't find my second effin' controller -- my one-year-old likes to hide stuff, and I still have no idea where it is. One day, I was playing a game and when I hit the Home button to pause it, I saw that 2 remotes were connected, so I guess wherever it is I can still accidentally push the buttons... but I already looked under all the couch cushions...
...oh, wait, my Wii. Right, no problems there, 'cept one or two Opera lockups before I got on to the final version. That, and I can't find my second effin' controller -- my one-year-old likes to hide stuff, and I still have no idea where it is. One day, I was playing a game and when I hit the Home button to pause it, I saw that 2 remotes were connected, so I guess wherever it is I can still accidentally push the buttons... but I already looked under all the couch cushions...
Posted: May 2nd 2007 4:05PM (Unverified) said
I had this one error after i first got it in nov. that would keep makin channels freeze, but after i got connect 24 and updated it works good. sometimes i get the occasion of it freezing but still very rare, and it almost never freezes in a game. (other then one time i was playin wii sports tennis)
Posted: May 2nd 2007 4:44PM (Unverified) said
everyonce in a while, a VC game crashes
Posted: May 2nd 2007 4:53PM l2ap3Coug4r said
I have had two cases that ALMOST resulted in broken Wiimotes.
The first was when a friend hit his pinks on the cieling while pitching on wii sports, and the second was when a wiimote flew at my tv due to a bad wrist strap. Luckily, nothing broke
The first was when a friend hit his pinks on the cieling while pitching on wii sports, and the second was when a wiimote flew at my tv due to a bad wrist strap. Luckily, nothing broke
Posted: May 2nd 2007 5:51PM Mr Khan said
Only issue i've ever had was that the console has frozen twice while in standby mode such that i couldn't turn it on at all
Of course, that's easily fixed with a good old-fashioned power cycle
Of course, that's easily fixed with a good old-fashioned power cycle
Posted: May 2nd 2007 6:15PM (Unverified) said
Broken remote battery cover is the only problem I had, but that is what I get when my 4 year old is kicking my but in bowling. I got a little excited and when I got a strike and threw my hands up in the air and then the remote went flying crashing into the floor and breaking the battery cover. Bought a Wii Glove and all is good now.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 9:52PM laserboyjc said
no problems with the system, but I'm bummed that the component cable's audio plugs are so limited in reach...it means I have to choose between progressive display or simulated surround...I would really like to do both
Posted: May 2nd 2007 7:04PM (Unverified) said
Wow, going through 3 Wii's until the 4th one worked, what a nightmare.
I fortunately have not had any problems whatsoever. No freezing, skipping, sticking, buzzing, whirring, sparking, exploding, or any other kind of "ing". Thank God.
I fortunately have not had any problems whatsoever. No freezing, skipping, sticking, buzzing, whirring, sparking, exploding, or any other kind of "ing". Thank God.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 7:32PM (Unverified) said
I bought a wii in late november, played it all the time and around febuary this weird video output thing was going on whereby there was this strange pixelation on the screen. I called nintendo up did the advace return shipment, they waived the shipping and its been all gravy since then.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 9:58PM Thumber said
I myself have had to send my wii in for repair. It all started when the system started to smell like burning plastic on the inside. No there was no smoke. But in fact the system got very warm and smelled really bad. Also, the wii remote did not work sometimes. So maybe it was the sensor bar hardware that was making the system smell like burnt plastic.
Posted: May 2nd 2007 11:24PM (Unverified) said
I've had the "Wiimote doesn't seem to think the Wii is on" issue twice since mid-January, but unplugging it (*not* just turning the Wii off) fixes it.
More worrisome to me is that my cursor started jumping to the left side of the screen randomly while I was playing Zelda a couple of weeks ago. I switched remotes and still had the problem. It was only occasional, but happened throughout a couple of play sessions. It was annoying enough that I stopped playing (and I had just beaten the city in the sky!). I've been busy enough recently that I've only played Wii Sports (which generally doesn't require the cursor), so I'm not sure whether the problem is still extant.
More worrisome to me is that my cursor started jumping to the left side of the screen randomly while I was playing Zelda a couple of weeks ago. I switched remotes and still had the problem. It was only occasional, but happened throughout a couple of play sessions. It was annoying enough that I stopped playing (and I had just beaten the city in the sky!). I've been busy enough recently that I've only played Wii Sports (which generally doesn't require the cursor), so I'm not sure whether the problem is still extant.
Posted: May 3rd 2007 12:36AM (Unverified) said
Re: batteries -- this was my only problem as well, and between this and my camera, I finally gave in and bought rechargeables.
I've had some slowness and random dropped internet, but nothing major. After reading this, I feel quite lucky....
I've had some slowness and random dropped internet, but nothing major. After reading this, I feel quite lucky....
Posted: May 3rd 2007 7:38AM (Unverified) said
I switched my router to WPA-psk mode, and the Wii won't connect to the internet now..... ;(
Posted: May 3rd 2007 7:55AM (Unverified) said
I did have to have it replaced on warranty by Nintendo after about 6 weeks.. prepaid shipping by them, and quick return time.. It started freezing occasionally, but then one day I switched to the source it was on and found it having been on for a while but stuck in a nasty buzzing loop on the menu screen. After that, it started up a few more times before locking up (enough to get my saved files off) and then never progressed past the "push A to continue" screen. They eventually had to replace the whole system. However, the service experience was so painless it doesn't really bother or concern me.
Posted: May 3rd 2007 9:17AM (Unverified) said
I have had my wii freeze twice after I left it paused in mid-game for a while
Posted: May 3rd 2007 10:53PM (Unverified) said
My Wii won't play about 50% of my GCN games, yet they play perfectly in the Cube itself.
Posted: May 4th 2007 8:20AM (Unverified) said
I've had sort of the same problem that Grog had, though not as bad, with the cursor not lining up with the wiimote in Zelda. I've only had it happen in TP, and opening the home menu and re connecting the remote seems to fix the problem for the time being. Don't know what causes it to happen though.
Posted: May 6th 2007 5:39PM TerrifyingTeapot said
I've had artefacts too, they're really annoying so I'm probably gonna have mine replace... Has anyone else replaced theirs, and, if so, can you keep all your Miis, VC, Today messages, etc.?
Posted: May 28th 2007 5:04AM (Unverified) said
I had no problems for a while, but a few days ago i got the 'wii system files corrupt' message.I reset and everthing was fine, but it came up again a few days later.I just have a few questions I need to know the answers to:
1.What will happen if I ignore the messages and keep resetting as they come up,will it cause any damage?
2.Do I need to reboot the Wii,and if so, will it solve the problem?
3.Do I need to send the Wii off for repair?
1.What will happen if I ignore the messages and keep resetting as they come up,will it cause any damage?
2.Do I need to reboot the Wii,and if so, will it solve the problem?
3.Do I need to send the Wii off for repair?
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