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Right, as we have a Wii problems thread I thought I would write a Wii solutions thread. I actually wrote this myself for another forum but hoped we could make this a sticky. This is not a place to ask questions, just to find / post solutions to problems. Hopefully this will help a few people.
I work as a manager for a retailer who I wont name ;-), and I have dealt with a lot of games console faults as well as TV issues over the years. I have 4 friends who got Wiis on launch day and 2 of them had faults which I have managed to fix for them without an exchange being needed. I do feel for anyone with a faulty console. I spent £650.00 for a PS2 package on launch day and mine wouldnt read any disks, I had 2 DS Lites exchanged for faulty pixels and sticking thumb pads, I had 4 (yes 4!) PSPs with dead pixels. Its heartbreaking to be lucky enough to get a new console on launch day and have problems. This is all info gathered from Nintendo directly, various retailers and other reliable sources. I hope I can help someone.
Okay, here we go:
Disk Read Errors: I cannot stress this enough: lay your Wii down flat! The PS2, 360 and many PCs are well known to get disk read errors when standing vertically. Dont ask why, but 2 of my friends had their Wii standing up and got disk read errors, I told them to lay them flat and they have not had any since, my Wii has always being laying down and has never had a single error. I have always said that CDs were not meant to be read vertically, Ive seen these issues in PCs for years. Try it and see. Also try the obvious, make sure your disk is clean, dont get finger prints in it. Also make sure your Wii is not overheating. If you keep getting as disk read error, turn it off for 20 minutes and try again, if it works fine then move your Wii so that it is better cooled. If you already have your Wii flat and are having problems then obviously try it standing up to see if that makes a difference.
Wii Wont Turn On: The Wii has a built in trip switch to protect it, many people have noticed it going off and stopping the Wii from turning on, if this happens simply unplug it and wait 5 minutes, then try again. It seems to be a little over sensitive, you should try to use a surge protector for your whole AV setup as this will maintain a more stable electricity supply and can even give you a better picture on your TV. A later firmware update may also make it less sensitive, but Im not sure about this. If it still wont turn on try leaving it unplugged for an hour somewhere cool and also try plugging it directly into a different wall socket.
Wii Crashes: Make sure it doesnt overheat! Again I am certain that the airflow is better when the Wii is lying flat. Double check that the fans are running and are not full of dust. Move your Wii somewhere open with better air flow and try again. Also try plugging it in somewhere else. Try leaving it off for an hour and try a different disk. Try to do a firmware update and try again. If it still happens after all of this then call Nintendo and be patient with them, they are working their asses off right now and will do their best to help!
Wii Remote Problems: Firstly check the batteries, sounds obvious but people dont always do this. You can get a good, fast charger and batteries for about £20.00 in the shops, worth every penny. Next try moving your sensor bar, I have found they work best on top of the TV and as close to the front panel as possible, but you might get different results in different places, experiment, but dont forget to tell your Wii whether the bar is above or below the TV. Try altering sensitivity settings, this does not affect how fast the pointer moves, it affects how far you can move from the TV. You should go into the sensitivity settings and then sit down in your favourite position, then set the sensitivity to max, you should see four dots. Then lower it until the first setting where only 2 dots are visible and stop there. Also making sure the sensor bar and the sensor on the remote are clean will not hurt.
Internet Connection Errors: Wireless routers are one of, if not the most returned products in the UK right now, and around 70% are the users fault, sorry!. You should not be using the auto connect feature, you should have security in operation and you should have to enter everything manually! First of all can you answer the following: 1) What is your automatic IP address range? 2) What are your DNS server addresses? 3) What is your routers IP address? 4) What is your WEP key? (or other key) 5) What is your Wiis MAC Address?. If you dont know this already you need to learn more about wireless networking before you complain. There isnt room here to explain everything but make sure you get the above sorted and also make sure that your auto assigned IP address range is fairly low, and manually give your Wii an address outside of this range. Google is your friend, simply type in the name of your router followed by setup guide. I havent had a single internet related problem with my Wii, but remember that Nintendos servers are ultra busy and the Wii is in very early days, so if youre sure everything is fine then just be patient, soon all will be well.
TV / Picture Quality Issues: Chances are you are using the composite cable, but try using the scart adapter too, it shouldnt make a difference but I have seen it do so myself! Some people report it looks better in 50hz mode than it does in 60hz. Mine is running on an LG 32 HDTV and looks awful in 60hz, my friend is running on a CRT and it looks best in 60hz. Obviously check your TV settings but otherwise ditch the composite asap and get a scart or component cable. Your Wii may cause interference on some TVs so try moving it further away. Some people have reported their sensor bar causes interference. Not a lot you can do about this but try using it below your TV and further forward. You should report this to Nintendo as the feedback may be valuable to them. People are also reporting that some games only support 576i even with a component lead. This seems be mainly 3rd party titles and hopefully this trend will not continue.
SD Card Problems: This is confusing me now. I understand that not all SD cards will work, but I have tried cheap OEM 4GB cards (yes four gigabytes, even though its only supposed to work with 2GB max) and they have worked. I have tried Sandisk 2GB ultra speed and they have not worked. I guess firmware updates may fix this but I would never buy one of the branded Wii cards, they are normal cards painted white and with Wii written on them, grossly overpriced. I am using a Lexar 2GB which cost £15.00 and has no problems.
Channels Dont Work: News and Weather have not launched yet so they wont work (as of 11/12/06). The pictures will not work unless you either email a picture to your Wii or put one on your SD card first. If youre having trouble making your Mii travel then go to the edit Mii section and make sure that mingle is ticked. Then go into Mii parade and enable Travel. You can then send your Mii to a friend and vice versa. There is not a right lot else to do yet. Just make sure you link your Wii account to your VIP account on the Nintendo site, make sure you are online etc.. and get ready for the good stuff to come!
I cant Get A Component / Scart cable!: Me neither! A trucker's strike has delayed some deliveries but the official one is not released until the 15th of December. Do not get ripped off on Ebay either! Some of the ones on Ebay are cheap 3rd party bootlegs made up to look like real ones in China. Amazon and Woolworths are both taking orders on them at good prices and they will be here very soon, I have spoken to several distributers about this.
Sore Arms: I have seen posts from regular gym goers who say they have had no problems here. The rest of us couch potatoes are reporting sore arms and in some cases necks and backs. Now I'm not a doctor so I can only guess this means one of two things; either the Wii is going improve your fitness and this will go away as your huge hulking arms begin to bulk up, or its some kind of RSI and you should take it easy. What I would say is if you are in any serious pain then take a break from playing. If the pain persists then you should see your doctor I guess. Also try not to fully extend your arm and thus snap your elbow back and forth, this hurts believe me! If there are any doctors etc... here who could give some better advice then please let me know. Playing Zelda for a few hours seems to reduce this for me, which isn't a hard thing to have to do.
Wii Mote Wrist Strap Breaks: There are a few reports around of the wrist strap breaking off and the Wii Mote smashing people's TV's. Nintendo have already commented on this and say they are looking at ways to improve the strap. Obviously you should be carefull and keep a good grip of the remote. If anyone finds any mods around which might prevent this then please let me know.
Contact Nintendo: Either on 0870 6060 247 or Email [email protected] Remember your retailer cannot help with a faulty Wii, they dont have any to exchange and all retailers have been strictly instructed by Nintendo to refer customers direct to them so they can personally investigate faults to improve future quality. The general rate of returns for Wii has been much lower than any console I have seen yet! Please do not get mad at your retailer, they cannot pull Wiis out of a hat just because you shout at them.
If anyone has any other fixes etc then post here and I can add them above. I hope I have helped someone and happy gaming!
I work as a manager for a retailer who I wont name ;-), and I have dealt with a lot of games console faults as well as TV issues over the years. I have 4 friends who got Wiis on launch day and 2 of them had faults which I have managed to fix for them without an exchange being needed. I do feel for anyone with a faulty console. I spent £650.00 for a PS2 package on launch day and mine wouldnt read any disks, I had 2 DS Lites exchanged for faulty pixels and sticking thumb pads, I had 4 (yes 4!) PSPs with dead pixels. Its heartbreaking to be lucky enough to get a new console on launch day and have problems. This is all info gathered from Nintendo directly, various retailers and other reliable sources. I hope I can help someone.
Okay, here we go:
Disk Read Errors: I cannot stress this enough: lay your Wii down flat! The PS2, 360 and many PCs are well known to get disk read errors when standing vertically. Dont ask why, but 2 of my friends had their Wii standing up and got disk read errors, I told them to lay them flat and they have not had any since, my Wii has always being laying down and has never had a single error. I have always said that CDs were not meant to be read vertically, Ive seen these issues in PCs for years. Try it and see. Also try the obvious, make sure your disk is clean, dont get finger prints in it. Also make sure your Wii is not overheating. If you keep getting as disk read error, turn it off for 20 minutes and try again, if it works fine then move your Wii so that it is better cooled. If you already have your Wii flat and are having problems then obviously try it standing up to see if that makes a difference.
Wii Wont Turn On: The Wii has a built in trip switch to protect it, many people have noticed it going off and stopping the Wii from turning on, if this happens simply unplug it and wait 5 minutes, then try again. It seems to be a little over sensitive, you should try to use a surge protector for your whole AV setup as this will maintain a more stable electricity supply and can even give you a better picture on your TV. A later firmware update may also make it less sensitive, but Im not sure about this. If it still wont turn on try leaving it unplugged for an hour somewhere cool and also try plugging it directly into a different wall socket.
Wii Crashes: Make sure it doesnt overheat! Again I am certain that the airflow is better when the Wii is lying flat. Double check that the fans are running and are not full of dust. Move your Wii somewhere open with better air flow and try again. Also try plugging it in somewhere else. Try leaving it off for an hour and try a different disk. Try to do a firmware update and try again. If it still happens after all of this then call Nintendo and be patient with them, they are working their asses off right now and will do their best to help!
Wii Remote Problems: Firstly check the batteries, sounds obvious but people dont always do this. You can get a good, fast charger and batteries for about £20.00 in the shops, worth every penny. Next try moving your sensor bar, I have found they work best on top of the TV and as close to the front panel as possible, but you might get different results in different places, experiment, but dont forget to tell your Wii whether the bar is above or below the TV. Try altering sensitivity settings, this does not affect how fast the pointer moves, it affects how far you can move from the TV. You should go into the sensitivity settings and then sit down in your favourite position, then set the sensitivity to max, you should see four dots. Then lower it until the first setting where only 2 dots are visible and stop there. Also making sure the sensor bar and the sensor on the remote are clean will not hurt.
Internet Connection Errors: Wireless routers are one of, if not the most returned products in the UK right now, and around 70% are the users fault, sorry!. You should not be using the auto connect feature, you should have security in operation and you should have to enter everything manually! First of all can you answer the following: 1) What is your automatic IP address range? 2) What are your DNS server addresses? 3) What is your routers IP address? 4) What is your WEP key? (or other key) 5) What is your Wiis MAC Address?. If you dont know this already you need to learn more about wireless networking before you complain. There isnt room here to explain everything but make sure you get the above sorted and also make sure that your auto assigned IP address range is fairly low, and manually give your Wii an address outside of this range. Google is your friend, simply type in the name of your router followed by setup guide. I havent had a single internet related problem with my Wii, but remember that Nintendos servers are ultra busy and the Wii is in very early days, so if youre sure everything is fine then just be patient, soon all will be well.
TV / Picture Quality Issues: Chances are you are using the composite cable, but try using the scart adapter too, it shouldnt make a difference but I have seen it do so myself! Some people report it looks better in 50hz mode than it does in 60hz. Mine is running on an LG 32 HDTV and looks awful in 60hz, my friend is running on a CRT and it looks best in 60hz. Obviously check your TV settings but otherwise ditch the composite asap and get a scart or component cable. Your Wii may cause interference on some TVs so try moving it further away. Some people have reported their sensor bar causes interference. Not a lot you can do about this but try using it below your TV and further forward. You should report this to Nintendo as the feedback may be valuable to them. People are also reporting that some games only support 576i even with a component lead. This seems be mainly 3rd party titles and hopefully this trend will not continue.
SD Card Problems: This is confusing me now. I understand that not all SD cards will work, but I have tried cheap OEM 4GB cards (yes four gigabytes, even though its only supposed to work with 2GB max) and they have worked. I have tried Sandisk 2GB ultra speed and they have not worked. I guess firmware updates may fix this but I would never buy one of the branded Wii cards, they are normal cards painted white and with Wii written on them, grossly overpriced. I am using a Lexar 2GB which cost £15.00 and has no problems.
Channels Dont Work: News and Weather have not launched yet so they wont work (as of 11/12/06). The pictures will not work unless you either email a picture to your Wii or put one on your SD card first. If youre having trouble making your Mii travel then go to the edit Mii section and make sure that mingle is ticked. Then go into Mii parade and enable Travel. You can then send your Mii to a friend and vice versa. There is not a right lot else to do yet. Just make sure you link your Wii account to your VIP account on the Nintendo site, make sure you are online etc.. and get ready for the good stuff to come!
I cant Get A Component / Scart cable!: Me neither! A trucker's strike has delayed some deliveries but the official one is not released until the 15th of December. Do not get ripped off on Ebay either! Some of the ones on Ebay are cheap 3rd party bootlegs made up to look like real ones in China. Amazon and Woolworths are both taking orders on them at good prices and they will be here very soon, I have spoken to several distributers about this.
Sore Arms: I have seen posts from regular gym goers who say they have had no problems here. The rest of us couch potatoes are reporting sore arms and in some cases necks and backs. Now I'm not a doctor so I can only guess this means one of two things; either the Wii is going improve your fitness and this will go away as your huge hulking arms begin to bulk up, or its some kind of RSI and you should take it easy. What I would say is if you are in any serious pain then take a break from playing. If the pain persists then you should see your doctor I guess. Also try not to fully extend your arm and thus snap your elbow back and forth, this hurts believe me! If there are any doctors etc... here who could give some better advice then please let me know. Playing Zelda for a few hours seems to reduce this for me, which isn't a hard thing to have to do.
Wii Mote Wrist Strap Breaks: There are a few reports around of the wrist strap breaking off and the Wii Mote smashing people's TV's. Nintendo have already commented on this and say they are looking at ways to improve the strap. Obviously you should be carefull and keep a good grip of the remote. If anyone finds any mods around which might prevent this then please let me know.
Contact Nintendo: Either on 0870 6060 247 or Email [email protected] Remember your retailer cannot help with a faulty Wii, they dont have any to exchange and all retailers have been strictly instructed by Nintendo to refer customers direct to them so they can personally investigate faults to improve future quality. The general rate of returns for Wii has been much lower than any console I have seen yet! Please do not get mad at your retailer, they cannot pull Wiis out of a hat just because you shout at them.
If anyone has any other fixes etc then post here and I can add them above. I hope I have helped someone and happy gaming!