Since the release of the Wii, we've gotten a few e-mails from people reporting that they've had various problems with their systems -- and we're not talking straps here, but actual technical difficulties. In light of that, we figured it was a good time to open the floor to everyone and ask: have you had any issues with your Wii? Controllers not working, discs not reading, tears, recriminations, explosions ... any problems at all? If so, we want to hear about it.Wii Warm Up: Technical difficulties
Since the release of the Wii, we've gotten a few e-mails from people reporting that they've had various problems with their systems -- and we're not talking straps here, but actual technical difficulties. In light of that, we figured it was a good time to open the floor to everyone and ask: have you had any issues with your Wii? Controllers not working, discs not reading, tears, recriminations, explosions ... any problems at all? If so, we want to hear about it.




Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-12-2007 @ 9:14AM
Jonathan Cox said...
I can't use standby mode or wiiconnect 24—any time the yellow LED on my wii shows up, about 30 minutes later the console loses all power and can only be reset by being unplugged.
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2-12-2007 @ 9:22AM
Bruce Deschacht said...
Nope, not one. My Wii works perfectly :D
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2-12-2007 @ 9:23AM
Andrew Herron said...
Mine seems to be having a problem with the wireless connection recently... I leave it in standby mode and after turning it on, it takes a few minutes for messages to come through - in the meantime trying to reply to a message causes minor freezes (the pointer jumps around the screen as I aim) and during this period games / channels refuse to load (I had to reboot my wii 3 times before wario ware would load).
Could just be the hot Australian summer though, so I've disabled standby mode... hopefully that improves things.
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2-12-2007 @ 9:24AM
Asauce said...
I have had a few problems with freezing (it's not too common that it's really worrying me though).
However, on a few bizarre occassions, the thing has actually froze while it was turned off. I go into my living room one day, see that the LED is green, so I turn on my TV to see if I simply left it on, but nope. Just a blank screen. None of the buttons do anything. The only thing I can do is restart.
Another time, the thing froze while exiting the Mii channel. It never went to the Wii menu. Just faded out of the Mii channel and that was it.
It's also froze a couple of times in the opera browser.. but that makes sense just because the current beta browser is pretty buggy.
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2-12-2007 @ 9:28AM
Ben said...
I have had my remotes go crazy, I just could not sync them again no matter what. I powered off the unit (full power off) and removed the remote batteries. Powered everything back up, did a sync and the 4 blue LEDs would just flash. I did the proper procedure of hitting sync on the unit then on the remote (or whatever the manual says) and no luck. New batteries, not would do it.... no idea why. I waited a few hours and still nothing but finally the next day it worked. This has happen twice.
I have had an issue with the wireless, it works and I can go on the net but sometimes my virtual console downloads just quit. Not sure why, could be a latency issue or something.
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2-12-2007 @ 9:43AM
Sam Oakley said...
I can't play NES, SNES or Mega Drive games on my VC...
http://www.bennuttall.com/blork/blog/?itemid=8
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2-12-2007 @ 9:55AM
SpliceVW said...
#5.. I've had that problem, too. It can be fixed by powering down the Wii (NOT going into standby.. you have to pull the plug).
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2-12-2007 @ 9:58AM
Zach said...
Yep, freezes up for me as well. It's only happened when I've clicked on a channel from the Wii menu, the screen goes black and never comes back. Doing a power down (red led) then back up normally fixes it but sometimes I have to power down then choose a diff channel (if Disc channel was freezing i need to choose Weather or what not) before going back to the Wii menu and choosing what I really wanted.
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2-12-2007 @ 10:03AM
BK said...
I've had the same problem as 5 also... It will lose connection with the remotes and won't sync back up till a hard reboot.
Also, I took a picture of my dad playing golf the other day, and the flash caused the machine to lock up hard. The screen showed his Mii in mid swing and the remote was constantly vibrating until I did a hard reset.
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2-12-2007 @ 10:09AM
Charles said...
The only problem I have encountered is that if I click Disc Menu, then Start before the music for the game is finished the Wii locks up at a black screen.
I have only seen this happen with Wii Sports, however, as it has the most piercing Disc Menu music I have ever heard (the reason for me attempting to hit start ASAP)and is thankfully more muted within the game itself.
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2-12-2007 @ 10:09AM
pr0vidence said...
The day I bought my Wii (launch day, USA), I brought it home cradling it in my arms like a newborn babe and cooing at it. I opened the box, marveled at the beauty within and then began to hook everything up. Got everything set up, fired it up, popped in the included copy of WiiSports......."Can't read disc". Moment of panic. Oh shit my shit's b0rked.
After a few minutes I started to breathe again (I might have blacked out, I'm not sure). I ejected the disc, and reinserted it, at which point it worked fine. It has worked fine ever since, no disc problems, no freezing, no controller wig-outs, I suppose I should count my blessings. I did register my system to score that extra 3 month warranty just in case, however.
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2-12-2007 @ 10:25AM
MattDing said...
We had one of our remotes bite the dust. It would still point and respond to all the button presses. It even tracked it's rotation. But it would not respond to any motion. I could start a game of, say, bowling and then never be able to throw the ball because it wouldn't respond to the swing.
Called up Nintendo and they did an expedited replacement/return. The new one is working perfectly. I give them a big thumbs up on how they handled the whole thing. It was not a hassle at all.
I really do wish there was a small indicator on the main screen that tells you if you're connected to the Internet and maybe signal strength. Too many times I've tried to send a message or look at the forecast and it tells me I can't because the connection is bad. Who knows how long it's been that way since there's no way to tell if you're online or not.
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2-12-2007 @ 10:34AM
UVL said...
- WiiShop needs always one "retry" while connecting... Quite boring.
- Certain GameCube disks are too noisy.
Anything else works great.
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2-12-2007 @ 10:41AM
Andres Romero said...
Same as 5, but just once. I pulled the plug off, plugged it in again, and problem solved...
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2-12-2007 @ 10:45AM
JRA81984 said...
When I put a new SD card into the system and loaded all my files onto it.... I rebooted the system and it wouldnt read the controllers.... no matter what I did. I tried new batteries, different controller, etc, but nothing worked. Then I removed the SD card rebooted it three times and it worked fine. Then I put the SD card back in and it now works fine. Who knows what all that was about.
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2-12-2007 @ 10:49AM
Dhomas said...
I just had to return my Wii. It started locking up for no reason. I went into a game and it locked during a sound effect and the sound stayed stuck on a very high-pitched piercing note. I had to unplug it for it to stop. I tried it again, but now the controllers would not work unless I held them upside down. When I navigated around though, it froze up again. I then let it cool down for a full day (difficult to do!) and tried it again. It would still freeze up. I managed to save my gamesaves to SD, but everytime I would go into the Mii channel, it would give me a bunch of question marks. When I would try to save my Mii to the controller, it would freeze up again. I got it exchanged at Toys R Us where I bought it. The new one is working fine, but I still have to contact Nintendo to transfer my 90-day additional warranty and VC games.
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2-12-2007 @ 10:56AM
Aubrey said...
I've had the wiimotes not syncing problem as well, but it usually fixed itself with a couple restarts. I'll try unplugging it next time.
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2-12-2007 @ 10:57AM
Thomas said...
Yep, I had a problem. I had an odd video issue. In Wii Sports, there would be speckles all over the faces of the mii's and other places - buttons, bowling alley, etc. In Rayman, I'd get odd vertical blue lines every few inches during some scenes (not gameplay but some movies).
I talked to Nintendo and the helpful tech moved immediately to the "replacement" phase of the conversation, making me wonder if they've seen this already. I got a replacement very quickly and that part of the experience went as good as it can go.
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2-12-2007 @ 11:14AM
the real mii said...
curious if you guys can replicate this one.
- plug classic controller into remote.
- turn on wii, open the internet channel.
- surfing should work fine with the classic controller attached.
- press the "home" button on the remote.
- try to exit the internet channel.
at least for me, the remote pointer does not respond and can't be moved with the classic controller either. pressing the "home" button again will return you to the internet channel. what i discovered is that if you unplug the classic controller, the pointer instantly starts working in the home menu.
i tried a few other channels, but not all... have only initally been able to replicate this on the internet/opera channel.
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2-12-2007 @ 11:21AM
Kenny said...
I guess just minor things. I've had Opera freeze when trying to play a flash video - requiring a pull-plug (actually, I didn't try the reset button). I've had Zelda crash with a disc error about 2 times, but that may be Zelda because it's a rental -- again pulled plug (and didn't know about the reset button).
Monkey Ball was acting funny on me with with the remote. Not sure if that was the remote or Monkey Ball though.
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2-12-2007 @ 11:47AM
Permanent4 said...
Kenny -- it was most likely Monkey Ball. I had trouble with the Wiimote in some of those mini-games, but it worked fine in others -- kind of a shame, really, since the Disc Golf minigame had a ton of potential...
I haven't had any games lock up on me, though the Opera browser has locked up a few times while I was watching Google Video. I've also had the Wiimote go weird on me on occasion, but again, it was usually while using the browser. I really hope Opera fixes those bugs and upgrades the Flash player to Flash 9.
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2-12-2007 @ 12:29PM
Patrick said...
well not mine but all wii have a major tech problem, both news and weather do not work unless standy connection is available, although it says wii connect 24 in the error messages, it is clearly on, and its weird because the [prgrams download their info when you enter them not when the wii is in standby
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2-12-2007 @ 12:31PM
(01) said...
Everything's been great with mine, except for the "eternal save" on Super Mario Brothers resetting...twice. It's not a huge deal to work back through the entire game, but it's a little annoying. Anyone else experience this?
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2-12-2007 @ 12:41PM
jeffk said...
My Wii Sports didn't work at all - the machine just couldn't read the disc. Zelda and Rayman worked fine, but WS was not happening. Nintendo sent a replacement, and it should be here today. This is the one game my girlfriend actually wants to try, so it better work!
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2-12-2007 @ 12:42PM
MisterInvisible said...
On three separate occasions I've had the disc slot make a stuttering buzz when leaving the Mii Channel. Once in a while it will lock up leaving the Mii Channel, too. Have to hold down the power button till it's red and then power back on.
Reply
2-12-2007 @ 12:44PM
Jay said...
I'll get an occasional DRE, but only if I insert the disc before turning it on.
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2-12-2007 @ 1:24PM
Paul R said...
I have a 360 and 3 computers on my wired/wireless (Linksys a/b/g and N) network.
The Wii seems very slow at downloading updates, etc. It's only 12 feet away from the router! Seems the internal antenna on the Wii is lacking! Would be nice to know what kind of speed the Wii is getting while connected? Is there any setting on the Wii to see download speed?
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2-12-2007 @ 1:40PM
ramuji said...
I had a "pixelation" video problem, with random dots popping up on the screen in menues and games. (Sounds the same as Thomas #18.) After going through troubleshooting with a Nintendo representative by phone, they had me send it in for repair/or replacement. A week later I had a brand new Wii.
Before sending it in, I confirmed that Nintendo would be able to transfer all of my Wii memory to the new console (although I backed it all up to SD just to be safe), and more importantly that they would make the necessary settings to allow me to re-download all of my VC purchases to the new console. When I got the new Wii, it had all of my game save data transferred and I was able to re-download purchased games, as promised.
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2-12-2007 @ 1:41PM
JV said...
Sometimes my Wii wont read a disc but all it takes is a quick eject and re-insert and its working like normal. It freezes on Internet once in a while but hey, its a trial, what can you expect. Other than that, my Wii is as clean as a whistle. :)
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2-12-2007 @ 2:12PM
Jeremy Carrigan said...
I have the same problem with comment #1 above. If the Wii goes in standby the orange light goes out within 45 mins. When it does this the ac adapter has to be unplugged from the back of the unit and then back in again. Called Nintendo, they sent me another AC adapter in hopes it would fix the problem. It didn't. I have to send my Wii back to Nintendo now. They said they couldn't replace it because I have a Wii shop account. Bummer.
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2-12-2007 @ 2:16PM
victor said...
I bought my Wii on launch day and took it home for the ritual unboxing and admiring of all the hardware, manuals, etc. After spending all this time building up to the moment when I would first plug it in and begin set-up, you can imagine my extreme disappoint when the Wii powered down before I could even select a language preference. If I could have a Mii that day, it would have been a sad one because nothing I tried that day could get my Wii back on. My console was bricked.
Nintendo's service was really great about the whole thing. I placed a couple of calls that day and everyone I spoke with was real nice (wish I remembered their names!). Not once were they combative, rude, accusatory, or indifferent. A pleasure to deal with all around. In the end, they sent me a replacement console and AC adapter (since it was unclear at that time which was to blame, turns out it was the Wii itself). Both items arrived separately on Wednesday with the Wii including a packing slip so that I could return the defective unit to them at their expense. My original AC adapter was mine to keep.
Disappointing as my launch day experience was, I never once felt angry. I got my new Wii within a few days wherein I wouldn't have been able to play regardless of my Wii's defective status.
Of course, my girlfriend then slammed my Wiimote into the coffee table during a Wii Sports Bowling session a week after all this took place and now there's some loose bits rattling around inside of it whenever I play. No noticeable effect thus far, but I may yet blame that for my occasionally low scores in the Rayman dance sequences.
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2-12-2007 @ 2:23PM
Bryan W said...
My problem? I still don't have a freaking Wii. I have to work every Sunday from 5:30am to 3:30pm, so I'm never free to join the big release rushes all the retailers are hanging on to their stock for. It's incredibly frustrating. Does ANYONE know where I can get one without dishing out the big bucks on ebay?
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2-12-2007 @ 2:25PM
Eric said...
I've had two freezes: once when playing Wii Sports, and once like #4 had, when I had put the Wii in standby mode and a few hours later, came back and the green light was on (and the fan was going like crazy.) Turned on the TV, and just had a black screen.
Both times, just had to hold the power button down for a few seconds to completely power it off (red light) then powered it right back on and all was well.
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2-12-2007 @ 2:31PM
flaming_burrito said...
the 4th led on my wii remote went out
not too much of a big deal though
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2-12-2007 @ 3:19PM
Taylor Hett said...
I have had the same problem as you Ben, and it has happened the same amount of times. Nothing I did would fix it, so after restarting the Wii again and again for a while the remotes randomly worked.
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2-12-2007 @ 3:36PM
Wiitard said...
My wii has twice crashed while quitting the Mii channel and 3 times my wiimote has un-synced and i have to resent the console to re-sync it.
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2-12-2007 @ 4:06PM
John said...
I had to contact nintendo with help for mine, and i got an error code that they had never recieved before. it turns out my disc drive was faulty which was effecting my wireless, and anything having to do with disc loading or wireless did not function properly. so i returned my wii to target, and i still havent been able to pick up another one, i go back all the time but they never have any, so i have a few games and a wiimote but no wii. :(
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2-12-2007 @ 4:16PM
Neal Eaton said...
The only issue I have had is a loss of connection with the remotes that only a hard reboot will cure.
I did have a really weird sound come out of the Wii this weekend...but it was a 1 time thing. It sounded like the disc was wobbling a bit.
Reply
2-12-2007 @ 4:34PM
catchy5 said...
I have a very strange problem with the top 50 pixels or so bending to the right. It only happens on the Opera browser so far, and not all the time. It has only occurred once within Zelda during a cut-scene. It doesn't bother me yet, but if a whole game has the problem I will be upset. Also, I am using the component cables (which may have something to do with it).
I've had the exact same problem as #22. It makes no sense that WiiConnect24 Standby mode has to be on for it to do the weather or news. As 22 mentions, it even says that only WiiConnect24 has to be on, not the standby connection. It is annoying because I don't want it on standby.
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2-12-2007 @ 4:34PM
zenprism said...
My Wii was working great until I finally got a hold of Component Cables. I hooked them up and the Wii wouldn't output a picture. I went back to the origial composite cables (the cables it comes with) and I had the same problem. Turns out I had to send it in for repair.
Since then, I've had it lock up on me a few times (mostly during use of the Opera Browser), and the Wiimotes refusing to synch up or un-synching during gameplay.
Other than those problems, I love my Wii (it's the good times that count the most).
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2-12-2007 @ 4:53PM
Chuckboy said...
I had the same pixilation/speckles etc problem the others have described. There was a lengthy thread about the issue at the official Nintendo Wii forum.
Like the others, I called tech support and was given a new console. I didn't have any virtual console games, so I just opted for the rapid replacement option. They sent me a new one in about two days and I sent my old one back to them.
Best customer service experience of my life. Nintendo America really has it together.
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2-12-2007 @ 5:01PM
Naruhodou said...
-When I first popped in Wii Sports, I got a few DREs. Haven't since.
-Zelda and Wii Sports have froze on me at least once each.
-Wii Sports' load times began to take noticeably longer. I've checked the disk, haven't noticed any scratches.
-Wii Shop often freezes.
-Sometimes a game will have "jittery" playback. Usually fixes after a reset.
I've also had some problems with Metal Slug Anthology, but it's probably because it's such shoddy dev work. None of this makes me want to send it in, mind you. Problems are far and few between, and I'm having too much fun playing it. My 360 didn't even last this long. :)
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2-12-2007 @ 5:05PM
Grey Acumen said...
I don't know if this is a glitch, something I'm missing, or simply an oversight, but if I play a gamecube game, and want to get back to the home Wii Menu, I have to go to the Wii, and first eject the game disc, THEN press the reset button. Otherwise the Wiimote does nothing and I have no way to remotely reset the system.
Can someone just tell me if this is something that was covered in the manual and I merely missed it? Cause it seems like a rather obvious oversight. all the VC games allow you to reset and go straight back to the Wii menu, so why not the gamecube games?
Otherwise I've had no glitches of any kind other than 2 small occasions where I had some disc read errors when I tried to put Wii sports in. It only happened to me twice, and I just had to press the reset button and try the disc again to get it to work properly again.
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2-12-2007 @ 5:31PM
Steve said...
My first Wii experienced a problem where random dots would appear on the screen. The problem gradually got worse and worse. Here's a snapshot:
http://s1974.home.comcast.net/wii_dots2.JPG
I sent my Wii in for the slow repair process to maintain my VC content. When it turned, it was actually a new unit. My VC games were on the system, but not available for use. I contacted Nintendo and they said they'd get back to me on a fix. Days later and no answer, I add $20 to the new Wii's VC content because the VC FINALLY had a few decent titles on it. After doing that Nintendo called back and said I can either have my old account restored or I could keep my new one, but I couldn't have both. I restored the old one and Nintendo was at least decent enough to compensate me for my lost $20. Fortunately they offered something I wanted (classic controller) otherwise I would have been p*ssed to lost $20 to their ridiculous licensing rules on the VC.
Then I continued on in Zelda: TP only to have my game ruined by that damn sky cannon bug. Nintendo is doing nothing to fix this bug and I haven't played Zelda since getting stuck by that damn bug. (If only that room made any damn sense I wouldn't have turned it off. How the hell was I supposed to know I needed to talk to Shad AGAIN after speaking with Midna?)
My new Wii worked fine for weeks, but then I noticed those dots appearing on the new system. The old system's dots tended to be black or white but these appeared to be shades of blue. So now my Wii is somehere in transit for a second repair process.
So here's my attitude anymore:
1) I believe the hardware in the Wii is absolute sh**t. Since it's nothing but yesterday's tech, is it too much to ask for it to be stable yesterday's tech?
2) Nintendo's flagship Wii title has a fatal bug in it and Nintendo's doing nothing to resolve that issue.
3) The Zelda: TP incident taught me to backup often because even Nintendo's gone Microsoft on us. So, go head, try saving your Elebits data to an SD card. Try saving your Zelda: Link to the Past VC to the SD card. YOU CAN'T!
4) My $20 compensation for losing my VC content is a classic controller that has button mapping so terrible on it that it might as well be considered incompatible with NES games. Why can't we customize the damn layout?
5) Too much of the system is halfassed.
A) Miis? Where are the options for ears? Why are there only about 2 facial hair options?
B)Weather? Why is my data at least 7 hours out of data and usually incorrect from even that point in time?
C) VC? Why can't I set my own button mapping?
D) GCN? Why can't I get back to the Wii menu on a GCN game?
E) Where were the component cables at launch?
F) Where are the damn games? No drought my ass Reggie! And Wario Ware doesn't count.
If it wasn't for Metroid Prime 3 I think I'd sell my Wii at this point. If I wanted a video game system that was prone to breaking down, filled with software bugs, and other annoyances I would have bought Microsoft's console.
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2-12-2007 @ 6:06PM
Jeri said...
My only problem with my Wii, as I've seena couple people have, is the Syncing with the Wiimote. It's happened about twice, where it just wont read the Wiimote at all. Just straight confusing. Restarts dont work. Unplugging doesnt work.
Both times I've just left my wii for like 15 minutes and came back, and it sync'd perfectly.
Next time it happens, I'm def. calling Nintendo.
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2-12-2007 @ 6:18PM
Alisha Karabinus said...
Re: 20 and 21-
I'm pretty sure it was Monkey Ball, also. The controls were very uneven there.
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2-12-2007 @ 6:23PM
j4yx0r said...
I encountered the same problem as comment #28. After about a week of use, graphical artifacts and RGB pixellated noise started showing up randomly in the Wii menus and games. They would show up most when lots of 3D rendering was going on. Rumor has it that the GPUs can overheat and fry themselves. Nintendo customer support was fantastic and I had a new Wii in my hands the very same day I called in the problem (I work close to a service center).
~j
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2-12-2007 @ 6:25PM
Jesse said...
I have had my wii-mote disconnect from my system a few times and then I have to reconect it, it is nothing serious but it is something.
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2-12-2007 @ 7:09PM
frankthetank said...
My wii freezes sometimes when im on internet browser
Also it sometimes has an error reading the discs
and when i was playing zelda it took a while to load everything
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2-12-2007 @ 8:15PM
AzaMcWazza said...
I had some connection issues at first in that I couldn't connect to the network at all then things worked, but after the most recent update things have gone a little haywire.
Between screens, after selecting a channel and pressing Start, once the screen is blank, sometimes it will just stay black and I need to reset the machine. Even after waiting several minutes.
Connection to the shop sometimes doesn't work or takes a LOOOONG time.
My Wiimotes now stop syncing with the remote. I have to unplug the Wii before they'll do it again. Syncing is VERY sporadic and random it seems.
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