18 replies to this topic

[littlewing]

I typically do not post in forums but after my experience with the Wii U I feel compelled to share my storyy.

My girlfriend and I purchased a Wii U the weekend of black Friday. We brought it home, set it up, downloaded the infamace update and were off. After playing the first night with no problems we felt quite pleased with the wii u.

Then the nightmare began. The gamepad would freeze constantly. Every 1-2 minutes the gamepad would become unresponsive. The audio/video would still stream perfectly to the gamepad and the TV remote function still worked  just fine. However no other buttons worked. I called Nintendo and after their troubleshooting we determined that the gamepad was defective. We sent it back and waited anxiously for bits replacement.

About 5 business days later the new gamepad arrived. We synced it to the wii and had to reconfigure the TV remote settings and we were ready to play again. Or so we thought. Still every couple of minutes no response from the gamepad. A resync and again 2 minutes later frozen ganeoad. Mind you a original Wii remote works just fine and the gamepad screen still streamed the audio/video without a hitch be not response from the touchscreen or buttons. Back on the phone with Nintendo. After following pretty much the same troubleshooting it was time to send the entire system back to Nintendo.

7 days later I get the system back with a nite enclosed staring the issue was found and repaired. Great right? Wrong... same issue. After a lengthy 3rd call to Nintendo and trying to identify any interference, changing rooms/TVs, resynchronization and calibration nothing. Now I have fussed around with the first two "repairs" I have expired my return policy and cannot simply exchange the unit at retail.

This is where I am at now. I have owned the system 3 weeks and only played it once. This will be my 3rd repair on a brand new system.

For the record I am not a huge gamer. I am not a fanvoy of Sony or any crap like that. In fact my dogs name is Bowser after the beloved Mario villain.

[Zonark]

Are you running a wireless router oh 2.4ghz?

[littlewing]

No. Trust me we extensively went through unplugging anything that might cause interference. Phones, microwaves routers... Everything. The rep at Nintendo even believed that the wall mount for my TV may have been causing interference so we moved the Wii u to a different TV ton see if that would help. They said that if it was an interference problem I should be experiencing total loss of connection but the fact that audio and video were still streaming to the game pad that I had a very "unique" issue.

[Gamejunkie]

I'm sorry to hear about the issues you've had. It seems like a unique problem and not something that is normal. It's strange that after replacing the Gamepad, then getting the console it self fixed and even after all the trouble shooting you did the problem still hasn't been resolved. It is quite strange. The only thing I can suggest which you may not have already done is to take it to someone else's house and set it up and try it there. That would likely rule out either the console or your home environment. I do hope you get it resolved as its a great system and no one deserves to go through problems like that.

[reef7009]

Its the console freezing not the pad. Disconnect it from the net and try it.

[Zonark]

I'm assuming you are playing in a movie theatre now

[littlewing]

The console isn't completely frozen as I can still navigate menus using a traditional Wii remore . the frustrating part is I have sent it in 2x already and haven't resolved my issue. I would just exchange it but the retailer won't let me as my 2 weeks return period has expired.

[Zonark]

Ur gamepads the issue? Eject the battery from the back of the gamepad next time it does it and leave it out for 30 seconds then put it back in and use sync button to power back on that may help

Could just have a bad sync basically

[littlewing]

Thanks for the suggestion as that is something we never tried, however it didn't work. I doubt the gamepad is the issue as the first time I sent it back to Nintendo they replaced my gamepad. I am hoping they replace the whole system this time. The reps only other idea is a phone or a router that a neighbor has is interfering but I cannot make ,y neighbors shut their equipment down so I can play Mario.

[Alex Atkin UK]

I doubt very much its interference as like Nintendo said, if the video/audio stream still works then it proves the data is streaming fine.

Just out of curiosity, are you 100% certain they actually replaced the GamePad or just SAID they did? Because it certainly sounds like either the Wii U or the GamePad itself is STILL faulty, regardless of what Nintendo say.

As others have said though, have you tried playing the game with the Wii U offline (remove all Internet connections) to see if perhaps its a glitch with your WiFi causing the console to part lockup somehow? Although you mention Wiimotes still working, so it seems unlikely.

[littlewing]

Yes we have tried with no internet/WiFi. I am sure they replaced the gamepad as the serial numbers are different.

[cannonshane]

Very strange problem. Like someone else suggested have you tried it at a friends house? Do you live in apartments were something other than your devices could be interfering?

[littlewing]

Neighbors shouldn't be close enough to interfere but I can see one of their wireless networks on my laptop so I really can't be sure. I haven't taken the Wii anywhere else but we did change TVs far enough away that I think it is safe to rule pout environment issues. Pretty sure I just have something wrong with the Wii itself.

[Alex Atkin UK]

I doubt its WiFi as its highly unlikely anyone nearby is using WiFi on the 5Ghz spectrum. Also the fact the video and audio is still streaming makes it seem unlikely, although not impossible, that its a communication problem.

Unless its something like a video sender that is causing fraction of a second problems that are crashing the controller in a very specific way.

Like I suggested, if you got the Wii U from a store I would highly recommend seeing if they will test it for you. At least that way you can confirm without a doubt that its not environmental.

Also, if there is nothing on the console you are concerned about losing - have you tried doing a factory reset? Some people have reported issues on brand new consoles that are fixed by doing that.

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

Wii U Why You No Work? :<(

[BrokenDreams77]

Seems you are having the same issue I have had from the day I got mine, my gamepad(s) have been having freezing issues. The one I got with the system was completely unusable and I had to send it to Nintendo for repair. Second one I got I can do more with but it freezes after about a minute of use. I can return it to Best Buy within 60 days for an exchange, I'm very much considering it at this point in time instead of sending another gamepad or the system itself to Nintendo.

And is it just me or does this whole interference issue seem strange for a brand new piece of technology to have. It just seems that most technology today doesn't have an issue with 'interference' and you don't have to unplug practically everything in your house to get one thing to work.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Very few pieces of technology have the bandwidth requirements of the Wii U. Which is where there could potentially be a problem, as if there WAS another device on the same radio spectrum that DOES have the same sort of bandwidth requirements, it could conflict.

Also, while it might "seem" that most technology doesn't have problems, it doesn't mean there aren't problems. Its quite common for people to have issues connecting devices to WiFi, or video senders belonging to your neighbors knocking out your WiFi entirely. However I am still skeptical the Wii U GamePad problems are related to any of these things, it seems more likely its an actual fault in the hardware.

[Erazer]

I typically do not post in forums but after my experience with the Wii U I feel compelled to share my storyy.

My girlfriend and I purchased a Wii U the weekend of black Friday. We brought it home, set it up, downloaded the infamace update and were off. After playing the first night with no problems we felt quite pleased with the wii u.

Then the nightmare began. The gamepad would freeze constantly. Every 1-2 minutes the gamepad would become unresponsive. The audio/video would still stream perfectly to the gamepad and the TV remote function still worked just fine. However no other buttons worked. I called Nintendo and after their troubleshooting we determined that the gamepad was defective. We sent it back and waited anxiously for bits replacement.

About 5 business days later the new gamepad arrived. We synced it to the wii and had to reconfigure the TV remote settings and we were ready to play again. Or so we thought. Still every couple of minutes no response from the gamepad. A resync and again 2 minutes later frozen ganeoad. Mind you a original Wii remote works just fine and the gamepad screen still streamed the audio/video without a hitch be not response from the touchscreen or buttons. Back on the phone with Nintendo. After following pretty much the same troubleshooting it was time to send the entire system back to Nintendo.

7 days later I get the system back with a nite enclosed staring the issue was found and repaired. Great right? Wrong... same issue. After a lengthy 3rd call to Nintendo and trying to identify any interference, changing rooms/TVs, resynchronization and calibration nothing. Now I have fussed around with the first two "repairs" I have expired my return policy and cannot simply exchange the unit at retail.

This is where I am at now. I have owned the system 3 weeks and only played it once. This will be my 3rd repair on a brand new system.

For the record I am not a huge gamer. I am not a fanvoy of Sony or any crap like that. In fact my dogs name is Bowser after the beloved Mario villain.

you know, that's what happened to me on my first wii u. the gamepad was unresponsive around every 5 minutes, and turning the gamepad off and on, fixed it temporarily. i had to swap the system at my place of purchase and i am happy to report that the replacement has 0 issues.

very happy to report actually. it was quite annoying.

[wiintexas]

Having the exact same issue. Tried different rooms, turned off wifi router and house phones, disconnected batteries. None of them worked.
Pad still randomly stops transmitting, but pad screen updates. Power cycle the pad and it re-connects. Hit the home button on a wiimote also causes the wii pad to re-connect.

Called nintendo and they said it was "very strange" and hadn't heard of a similar issue before. Now that sounds very strange. ;-)