Increasing anecdotal reports claim Wii Us are bricking themselves from inactivity

[Teh_Lurv | 254]

The website Exputer put out an article noting that Wii U owners on forums like Reddit, Neogaf, etc are reporting that their consoles are bricking themselves out of nowhere. The commonality with these reports are the error message (denoting an error with the internal NAND memory) and that the consoles had been unplugged/in storage for a long time.

NAND memory slowly discharges disconnected from power over time, so the working theory is long periods without power causes corruption to the internal system files.

https://exputer.com/news/wii-u-memory-error-long-period/

Reading some of the linked forum links to that article, the Wii U uses per-console encryption, so unless you previously modded your Wii U and made a backup of the NAND storage, you're console is bricked.

So FYI: Plug in your Wii U and play some NintendoLand or something at least once a year.

 

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

My windwaker is definitely dead then, haven’t plugged that Betty in since at least 2016 lol

[Gloves | 11,774]

I just finished a playthrough of Mario Galaxy after having the Wii U under my bed for like 6 years and it was fine. Anecdotally.

[Tanooki | 4,932]

Yet another in a long list of reasons why WiiU sucks if this is true.  Thankfully is killed their console R&D, rolled what mattered into handheld, and got us where we are now with Switch.

 

I feel sorry for anyone who wakes one of these up to find it wrecked.  That will not be an easy fix for most unless you can hack the thing and reload a refreshed operating system if that is even possible if it isnt the hardware itself imploding from lack of a charge of all things.

[Gentlegamer | 172]

Recently unhooked the Wii U from not playing it... but now I'll do a quick check, at least.

[TDIRunner | 2,731]

My Wii U was also unhooked and boxed for about 3 years while I was working on my basement.  No issues when I recently got it set back up.  If you saw my game room thread, you will notice that all of my consoles (except PS3, PS4 and Switch) are hooked up to switched power supplies and they are switched off while not in use.  So essentially, my Wii U is the equivalent of unplugged when it's not running.  However, it still gets the occasional use (my kids love Mario Party 8), so I'm sure it will get powered up at least once a year.  

[RH | 4,903]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

Yet another in a long list of reasons why WiiU sucks if this is true.  Thankfully is killed their console R&D, rolled what mattered into handheld, and got us where we are now with Switch.

 

I feel sorry for anyone who wakes one of these up to find it wrecked.  That will not be an easy fix for most unless you can hack the thing and reload a refreshed operating system if that is even possible if it isnt the hardware itself imploding from lack of a charge of all things.

Well, the Switch came out shortly after the Wii U.  Assuming this theory is correct, any chance this could happen to the Switch?

[phart010 | 1,707]

12 minutes ago, RH said:

Well, the Switch came out shortly after the Wii U.  Assuming this theory is correct, any chance this could happen to the Switch?

I would think this is the case for any device that has NAND system chips. 

Basically it’s bit rot. Bit rot is mostly a problem on programmable chips. It’s not so much a thing on MASK roms. 

Any system that has NAND system chips will be in danger of this. You might be able to reflash the chip directly onto the pins. But if the chip is encrypted that might be an issue.

I read that if you reenergize the circuit, it has a way of refreshing the stored energy charges (representing bits of data). Maybe can even self repair some completely lost bits of the data as long as the data isn’t totally corrupted.

[TDIRunner | 2,731]

48 minutes ago, RH said:

Well, the Switch came out shortly after the Wii U.  Assuming this theory is correct, any chance this could happen to the Switch?

Even if it is, the Switch has the advantage of having the type of support (both first party and third party) that is readily available on systems that sell as much as the Switch has both now and well into the future.  The Wii U will probably have much less support in the future due to the much lower number of units that were produced in the first place.  This is especially troubling considering the complexity of the system when you factor in the Game Pad.  The only silver lining is that the Wii U has been made almost entirely obsolete by the Switch.  I haven't done the math myself, but I'll bet that over 90% of the desirable Wii U games are available on the Switch or other consoles.  If my Wii U ever dies, there is a good chance that I won't do anything about it.  

[Tyree_Cooper | 752]

I thought the title was from a bot, I had to read it a few times

[Tanooki | 4,932]

7 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

 but I'll bet that over 90% of the desirable Wii U games are available on the Switch or other consoles.  If my Wii U ever dies, there is a good chance that I won't do anything about it.  

You're likely close.  Yoshi is stuck on the 3DS, and I think one other was too.  But the rest with 1st party games, and the few odd unique 3rd party titles have moved over to the switch.  The obvious stand out to me that didn't, but is even more widely thrown about as it's on PC etc now is the ZombiU game as it got converted and spread.  Star Fox Zero is the big loss at this rate if I remember right.  That would need some retooling due to the crappily forced touch mechanics into the game, but it could be done if they wished it.

[TDIRunner | 2,731]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

You're likely close.  Yoshi is stuck on the 3DS, and I think one other was too.  

The original Mario Maker is also on 3DS.  Those were the only two big first party titles I could think of that went the 3DS route instead of Switch.  

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

You guys stopped playing Wii U?

[Tanooki | 4,932]

Stopped?  I sold it in utter disgust and contempt for it and Nintendo.  I swore off buying any dedicated consoles from them at that point because of the lies and crap they shoveled with that broken at so many levels system.  I've seen them under $50 since it went up in flames and walked away even if they do make fine emulation/warez toys as that's about all it is good for anymore.  I almost didn't buy the Switch, even seeing Zelda I would have ignored it had it been a console for at least 2-3years to see if it imploded.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

1 hour ago, DefaultGen said:

You guys stopped playing Wii U?

You bought a switch prototype wii u?

[Gentlegamer | 172]

This reminds me, there was a Metroid mini game in Nintendoland that was awesome...

[Tanooki | 4,932]

3 hours ago, Gentlegamer said:

This reminds me, there was a Metroid mini game in Nintendoland that was awesome...

F-Zero too, a real kick in the teeth considering how long it has been for that franchise.

[TDIRunner | 2,731]

NES Remix is another Wii U game that went to 3DS instead of Switch.  They technically aren't the same game, but I think they are similar enough to count if you are looking for ways to play all of the best Wii U games on a different console.  

[Floating Platforms | 715]

My system has been plugged in all along, but didn't get much use between 2018-2021 or so when my wife and I played Fortune Street a bunch.

So, while my system hasn't fully bricked, I did recently have a bad memory issue. I tried buying Metroid Prime Trilogy back in August and it wouldn't download. Smaller VC titles went through just fine.  Fast forward to recently and I tried again. I kept getting the same error code to say the data was corrupted and to delete it. Unfortunately, trying to delete it gave me a different error code.

I ended up calling customer service and they were able to give me a refund on a digital purchase since it was clear I never got to use the software and the only other option was to buy another Wii U and then try to transfer data between systems. After the refund, I still see it as a blinking error in my download area, so who knows how much space that corrupt data is taking up. At least I know there's nothing else that needs those GBs

[Sumez | 2,941]

On 3/8/2023 at 7:29 PM, Tanooki said:

Yet another in a long list of reasons why WiiU sucks if this is true.  Thankfully is killed their console R&D, rolled what mattered into handheld, and got us where we are now with Switch.

This is actually true for a ton of modern electronics, and you'll hear plenty of stories like this in the future. Even for old hardware, capacitors can easily go bad from not seeing any use - if you got an OG Xbox lying around, remember to turn it on once in a while.

The most common culprit of course is batteries. If you have any handhelds with built-in batteries remember to charge them up frequently, since they don't take nicely to being left without charge. The PSP has become notorious for "spicy batteries", but there is absolutely no reason this shouldn't also happen to any DS, 3DS, Vita, or GBA SP you got lying around! And don't forget all your wireless controllers either...

[Strange | 1,700]

Nooo how will it become the next Sega Saturn (trust me guys it totally will I’m gonna be rich) now?

[TDIRunner | 2,731]

8 hours ago, Sumez said:

This is actually true for a ton of modern electronics, and you'll hear plenty of stories like this in the future. Even for old hardware, capacitors can easily go bad from not seeing any use - if you got an OG Xbox lying around, remember to turn it on once in a while.

The most common culprit of course is batteries. If you have any handhelds with built-in batteries remember to charge them up frequently, since they don't take nicely to being left without charge. The PSP has become notorious for "spicy batteries", but there is absolutely no reason this shouldn't also happen to any DS, 3DS, Vita, or GBA SP you got lying around! And don't forget all your wireless controllers either...

I'll throw in another odd one that most people won't care about.

The Neo Geo X.  Mine was in storage for the same 3 years that my Wii U was in storage (and for the same reason).  When I got all of my consoles back out for the new game room and hooked everything up, it was the only console that wouldn't power on at all.   Despite having a USB micro connector, the original instructions were very clear that that system should ONLY be charged while in the dock.  So I left it in the dock for several days charging and still nothing.  Since I thought I had a bricked system, I decided it couldn't hurt to try and charge it with a normal USB cable plugged into my computer.  After about a day, it finally started up and even worked on the TV when I put it into my dock.  That was definitely a console I regret buying and while it currently works and is hooked up and ready to play, if it ever truly dies for good, I won't put any effort into getting it working again. 

Edited March 10, 2023 by TDIRunner

[Tanooki | 4,932]

I always wanted that stupid thing (NGX) didn't much like the price, and playing the long game backfired as it went up which is insane given how poorly it basically performs, especially in the dock.  All the dumping and hatred, somehow it's now a collectible unpolished turd, the cheetahmen 2 of handhelds.

[phart010 | 1,707]

Maybe someone will come up with a new chip that can go into Wii U to give them second life

[DarkTone | 984]

Nintendo knew they fucked up. Then ported a majority to switch because they knew.