Wii signal dropoff
March 17, 2015 10:28 PM Subscribe
Why does the signal keep dropping on my Wii?
I've had a Wii since early 2007. Just in the past month or so, it's started to have a bad problem with the picture just cutting out. I know that the Wii is still functioning when that happens, because I can still move the Wiimote around and feel the rumble feedback. Usually it comes back on for a second when I push a button, and then goes out again.
According to people in this thread, some TVs have difficulty recognizing very light signals. That would seem to be consistent with what I've been experiencing. Often, when it cuts out is when that white menu screen first comes on, or when I go from a game back to the menu. But the problem just started out of nowhere, after some time with no issue.
I'm using a generic component cable, as the Nintendo-licensed ones are kind of expensive. This problem appeared after I'd been using a cable for a couple years. I assumed that the cable was shot and ordered another one, but there was no change in behavior at all. I'm using this low-end LCD TV.
Any solutions I haven't thought of? Would a Wii-to-HDMI converter do any good? Reviews of them online seem pretty mixed.
Or is it time to just accept that the Wii is dying? How certain can I be that it's not a problem with the TV? I really don't want to upgrade to Wii U, as like 80% of my games are Gamecube games and Wii U isn't compatible with Gamecube. But I obviously don't want to buy a new Wii and have the same problem.
Thanks.
I've had a Wii since early 2007. Just in the past month or so, it's started to have a bad problem with the picture just cutting out. I know that the Wii is still functioning when that happens, because I can still move the Wiimote around and feel the rumble feedback. Usually it comes back on for a second when I push a button, and then goes out again.
According to people in this thread, some TVs have difficulty recognizing very light signals. That would seem to be consistent with what I've been experiencing. Often, when it cuts out is when that white menu screen first comes on, or when I go from a game back to the menu. But the problem just started out of nowhere, after some time with no issue.
I'm using a generic component cable, as the Nintendo-licensed ones are kind of expensive. This problem appeared after I'd been using a cable for a couple years. I assumed that the cable was shot and ordered another one, but there was no change in behavior at all. I'm using this low-end LCD TV.
Any solutions I haven't thought of? Would a Wii-to-HDMI converter do any good? Reviews of them online seem pretty mixed.
Or is it time to just accept that the Wii is dying? How certain can I be that it's not a problem with the TV? I really don't want to upgrade to Wii U, as like 80% of my games are Gamecube games and Wii U isn't compatible with Gamecube. But I obviously don't want to buy a new Wii and have the same problem.
Thanks.
Or is it time to just accept that the Wii is dying?
Yea, i'm willing to bet this is a GPU failure issue. Mine is glitchy, my previous one was glitchy, my friends is glitchy(and he manages a video game store, so he could swap it out for a new one whenever he wanted... but they're mostly like that).
Google "wii gpu failure" and you get plenty of stuff like this.
For what it's worth, i paid $7.99 for my wii at a thrift store. It's even the cool black one!. They're SUPER easy to find for ridiculously cheap at goodwill/value village/etc now, and if you already have all the cables and stuff you're ahead of the game since they usually don't come bundled with that. I honestly wouldn't pay more than $9.99 for one now because i've just seen so many for that much or less. They're literally cheaper than gamecubes at this point.
That's not an overtly crappy TV either, that brand had a very good reputation among PC gamers in the mid 2000s for making really high quality monitors. It's just one of the ones like TCL that most people haven't heard of. Totally a legit TV though, just not a samsung or a sony or whatever. Think of goldstar before they rebranded as LG.
I never bothered with the HDMI converters. Those cheap converters always do an awful job. Most tvs include a much nicer converter built in. And some older receivers from the early days of HDMI(which are also now showing up at thrift stores!) included great ones.
I would be shocked, shocked if this had anything to do with the TV. Wiis have graphical issues all the freaking time now. I'm beginning to feel like finding a really good one in 20 years is actually going to be hard. Like finding good OEM N64 controllers is now, or something.
posted by emptythought at 11:04 PM on March 17, 2015
Yea, i'm willing to bet this is a GPU failure issue. Mine is glitchy, my previous one was glitchy, my friends is glitchy(and he manages a video game store, so he could swap it out for a new one whenever he wanted... but they're mostly like that).
Google "wii gpu failure" and you get plenty of stuff like this.
For what it's worth, i paid $7.99 for my wii at a thrift store. It's even the cool black one!. They're SUPER easy to find for ridiculously cheap at goodwill/value village/etc now, and if you already have all the cables and stuff you're ahead of the game since they usually don't come bundled with that. I honestly wouldn't pay more than $9.99 for one now because i've just seen so many for that much or less. They're literally cheaper than gamecubes at this point.
That's not an overtly crappy TV either, that brand had a very good reputation among PC gamers in the mid 2000s for making really high quality monitors. It's just one of the ones like TCL that most people haven't heard of. Totally a legit TV though, just not a samsung or a sony or whatever. Think of goldstar before they rebranded as LG.
I never bothered with the HDMI converters. Those cheap converters always do an awful job. Most tvs include a much nicer converter built in. And some older receivers from the early days of HDMI(which are also now showing up at thrift stores!) included great ones.
I would be shocked, shocked if this had anything to do with the TV. Wiis have graphical issues all the freaking time now. I'm beginning to feel like finding a really good one in 20 years is actually going to be hard. Like finding good OEM N64 controllers is now, or something.
posted by emptythought at 11:04 PM on March 17, 2015
Just a followup on emptythought's GPU failure, I also agree that this is the issue.
The Wii is designed to sit in passive mode when not being used, meaning it's still "on" but active cooling is off. Why? So you could receive notifications of system updates and Mii messages from friends. Remember when your Wii used to glow blue from time to time? That's it receiving a message in standby mode. Standby mode is on by default.
The downside of this mode is with no active cooling, as I understand it, is the gpu gets damaged over time (years). I can certainly see it in more graphically intensive games on my Wii (Goldeneye, Resident Evil 4, My Life As King) in the form of a few green "pixels" that appear randomly when moving the camera (a way way less extreme version of the pictures in the link emptythought provided).
It doesn't help you now, as the GPU is already damaged, but standby mode can be turned off and at this point with the Wii's online services having been shut down since May of last year, there's no reason to turn it on.
posted by Snuffman at 8:02 AM on March 18, 2015
The Wii is designed to sit in passive mode when not being used, meaning it's still "on" but active cooling is off. Why? So you could receive notifications of system updates and Mii messages from friends. Remember when your Wii used to glow blue from time to time? That's it receiving a message in standby mode. Standby mode is on by default.
The downside of this mode is with no active cooling, as I understand it, is the gpu gets damaged over time (years). I can certainly see it in more graphically intensive games on my Wii (Goldeneye, Resident Evil 4, My Life As King) in the form of a few green "pixels" that appear randomly when moving the camera (a way way less extreme version of the pictures in the link emptythought provided).
It doesn't help you now, as the GPU is already damaged, but standby mode can be turned off and at this point with the Wii's online services having been shut down since May of last year, there's no reason to turn it on.
posted by Snuffman at 8:02 AM on March 18, 2015
If you do get a replacement Wii, make sure you get one that plays GameCube games. Not all models of them do.
Also, if you are comfortable with tinkering, I heard on the street that the WiiU can actually play GameCube games via Homebrew Channel in Wii mode.
posted by Otis at 12:55 PM on March 19, 2015
Also, if you are comfortable with tinkering, I heard on the street that the WiiU can actually play GameCube games via Homebrew Channel in Wii mode.
posted by Otis at 12:55 PM on March 19, 2015
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posted by BungaDunga at 10:35 PM on March 17, 2015