Crap, Power Outage= Dead Wii?

Mr. Buttons · #1 30th November 2010, 07:36 AM

Just picked up a game yesterday that uses an auto-save feature on the Wii. Big warnings about not turning the Wii off while the game is doing it's auto-save thing, blah blah blah. So of course, we had a power outage about 30 minutes ago, apparently while the Wii was auto-saving.

Now we've got no standby light on the power button of the Wii, and it won't turn on at all. Can I get it refurbished/fixed somehow? It's over 3 years old so warranty's gotta be done. Anybody got any ideas?

Figured I'd ask here first before digging up #'s for customer service/spend 30 minutes on the phone.

Dudley · #2 30th November 2010, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Buttons

Just picked up a game yesterday that uses an auto-save feature on the Wii. Big warnings about not turning the Wii off while the game is doing it's auto-save thing, blah blah blah. So of course, we had a power outage about 30 minutes ago, apparently while the Wii was auto-saving.

Now we've got no standby light on the power button of the Wii, and it won't turn on at all. Can I get it refurbished/fixed somehow? It's over 3 years old so warranty's gotta be done. Anybody got any ideas?

Figured I'd ask here first before digging up #'s for customer service/spend 30 minutes on the phone.

I think you're fucked, unless...

Have you tried other outlets around the house? You could've popped a breaker.

Mr. Buttons · #3 30th November 2010, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dudley

I think you're fucked, unless...

Have you tried other outlets around the house? You could've popped a breaker.

It's connected to a 6-outlet surge protector thing, the stereo and TV hooked up to the same protector are working just fine.

Dudley · #4 30th November 2010, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Buttons

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dudley

I think you're fucked, unless...

Have you tried other outlets around the house? You could've popped a breaker.

It's connected to a 6-outlet surge protector thing, the stereo and TV hooked up to the same protector are working just fine.

Again, try to move it to a different outlet altogether. Your surge protector may have lost an outlet. I've had it happen.

Who_me? · #5 30th November 2010, 08:18 AM

Generally the "Do not turn off while saving" warning is so you won't get a corrupted save, not to protect the game system. I'd say Customer Service is your best bet.

Carolia · #6 30th November 2010, 08:38 AM

Ours did that once. We unplugged the power supply for half an hour, and then it reset itself and worked perfectly again. Try that first.

gnome42 · #7 30th November 2010, 08:39 AM

Power hits can confuse the soft-power features on the WII.

Unplug it from the wall for ten minutes.
Plug it back in.
Push the power button.

This worked with ours after it appeared to have bricked after an outage. It's listed as one of the things to try on the Wii website I believe.

arm

Mr. Buttons · #8 30th November 2010, 09:30 AM

Tried a different (definitely working) outlet, no luck.

Going to try the unplug for an hour thing now. Thanks for all suggestions so far.

Metallic Squink · #9 30th November 2010, 10:22 AM

Ours died recently. We just replaced the power cord.

Solfy · #10 30th November 2010, 10:29 AM

Ours was making horrible sounds because it had 8 pennies stuffed into it. (one would think a 4yr old would know better; one would be wrong) I love that my husband has fix-it skills. A $2.50 special screwdriver saved us a $75 Nintendo repair fee.

McNutty · #11 30th November 2010, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solfy

Ours was making horrible sounds because it had 8 pennies stuffed into it. (one would think a 4yr old would know better; one would be wrong) I love that my husband has fix-it skills. A $2.50 special screwdriver saved us a $75 Nintendo repair fee.

Plus, you got to keep the 8 cents. The Nintendo tech probably would have pocketed it.

Mr. Buttons · #12 30th November 2010, 11:23 AM

The unplug for an hour trick worked.

Thanks for all the help.

Solfy · #13 30th November 2010, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McNutty

Plus, you got to keep the 8 cents. The Nintendo tech probably would have pocketed it.

The lying kid who put them there said there was only one.

We found seven the first time and it was mostly working, but with an annoying little *tick* when the disk spun. A second search found one more penny.

I was really sweating that repair. On the one hand I didn't want to do the at-home crack because it voids the warranty. On the other hand, inserting foreign objects (like pennies) also voids the warranty, so we weren't any worse off if it didn't work.

Glad yours is up and running, Mr. Buttons.

Snapdragon · #14 30th November 2010, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Buttons

The unplug for an hour trick worked.

Thanks for all the help.

That's great! must remember this, in case something like this happens to mine. I need my Wii to survive in the winter when it is too damn cold to leave the house!

Mr. Buttons · #15 30th November 2010, 08:28 PM

Before the unplug trick worked, i was sure that new game was responsible. I thought the auto-save thing f'd me, with all the warnings. This thread probably saved me 20-75$.

Btw, the tanning saloon next door blew a transformer, that's what killed our power.