Wii freeze ups

the corpo

Right

My wii has frozen up a few times this evening. First time was when playing R-type, when I finished i took out the nunchuck and went to press the home button. The wiimote light was gone off. Tried resyncing, it would flash 4 or 5 times, but then shut off, all the while nothing happens onscreen

Eventually, had no option but to pull out the power. Left it for 20 seconds then restarted. Was fine, but seemed to take a little longer than usual to load between games/menu etc., then froze again. Another cold boot and it has been fine since.


Since I got the wii I've noticed it makes a single click everytime it flashes the short loading screen (of all the greyed out wii channels). Always thought it was an odd noise, but assumed it was nothing more than hard drive being accessed.

Anyone else know this sound, is it fine?
Had similar lock up problems, should i be worried?

slayerking

I think that clicking noise is normal..... Well it happens on mine too neway!!

My Wii locked up a few times (2 or 3 times) also after playing it for a while, once during redsteel and had to reset the console. That always fixes it though, once I had to plug out the power but was fine after that!!

Not sure what the story with it is, But IMO it might be down to the 24connect thing. As its on 24/7 it prob just needs a full reboot once in a while to reset the software (processes may have hung and need to be restarted), now I could be totally wrong there but it just my guess!!

It doesnt really bother me though coz it rarely happens and so long as its fine after a reboot I'm happy !!

Star Lord

the corpo wrote:

Since I got the wii I've noticed it makes a single click everytime it flashes the short loading screen (of all the greyed out wii channels). Always thought it was an odd noise, but assumed it was nothing more than hard drive being accessed.

Anyone else know this sound, is it fine?
Had similar lock up problems, should i be worried?

Difficult, when it doesn't have a hard drive!

That noise is the disk drive, the lazer resetting itself, getting ready to read the disk.

The only times I've had mine lock up, is occasionally when using the internet channel. (Beta software, to be expected really.)

And occasionally I've noticed that when I go to go into a channel it will just sit on the black screen doing nothing. Hold in the power button for a few seconds to turn it off and then turn it on again and its all right as rain! I'm not a fan of pulling the power cable! Its fine so long as you don't mind the potential to damage the wii...

Ciaran*

Mine has frozen a few times going into the shopping channel. The only way to get it back working again is pulling the plug. It seems to be just not finding the connection on mine though. I hope anyway.

Star Lord

Did you try holding in the power button? I've never had that not work.

AceCard Jones

My Wii has never frozen yet,***Touches Wood***
And I would definitely go with the one finger salute to power off as plugging it out abruptly can cause a power surge, especially if you turn it back on straight after that.

Fried Wii anyone?:D

1huge1

ya I get that clicking noise too but as DamoElDiablo said

''That noise is the disk drive, the lazer resetting itself, getting ready to read the disk.''

looks like im in the same boat as acecard jones ive never had the slighest problem

the corpo

hopefully it'll never freeze on me again too!

glad to know i'm not the only one getting that noise. seems odd in this day and age for an optical drive to do such a thing though

Attol

Last night my Wii wouldn't turn on for 20 minutes. Everything was connected properly but it just wouldn't start up. I unplugged everything and tried diff. scart sockets too. Eventually it just started working as normal. The green light would go on but it was being really loud. All I saw was a black screen. Out of nowhere it started up again.

thebman

the corpo wrote:

hopefully it'll never freeze on me again too!

glad to know i'm not the only one getting that noise. seems odd in this day and age for an optical drive to do such a thing though

Could be the slot centering for the disc kicking in every time the disc has to spin to ensure that the disc in locked in the centre before it starts spinning or something odd like that.

Pablo-El-Vagabu

the corpo wrote:

Right

My wii has frozen up a few times this evening. First time was when playing R-type, when I finished i took out the nunchuck and went to press the home button. The wiimote light was gone off. Tried resyncing, it would flash 4 or 5 times, but then shut off, all the while nothing happens onscreen

Eventually, had no option but to pull out the power. Left it for 20 seconds then restarted. Was fine, but seemed to take a little longer than usual to load between games/menu etc., then froze again. Another cold boot and it has been fine since.

/QUOTE]

This could be heat issues, thats what usually causes these sorts of dead locks.

Ensure there is air flow around the Wii and keep it on it's side and not lieing flat.

I think mine froze once when it was lieing flat.

Pablo

peepsbates

DamoElDiablo wrote:

Did you try holding in the power button? I've never had that not work.

ive never had that work,when mine freezes pullin the plug is the only way.

surley cant be good for it though

Star Lord

Really? It should turn off if you hold the power button for a few seconds. Not reset mind you, just the power one.

And yeah, pulling the power cord is really not good...

Ciaran*

Holding in the power button didn't work on mine either. Maybe it depends on where the Wii freezes up.

peepsbates

Ciaran* wrote:

Holding in the power button didn't work on mine either. Maybe it depends on where the Wii freezes up.

same as ^^^^ tried power and reset and neither worked

Star Lord

Strange... *scratches head in confusion*

Cake Fiend

DamoElDiablo wrote:

Its fine so long as you don't mind the potential to damage the wii...

What potential damage to the Wii?

AceCard Jones wrote:

plugging it out abruptly can cause a power surge

How so?

Star Lord

Because a live current is still going through the cable as you pull it out of the Wii. And it's the same with a computer, you should avoid simply pulling the power cord out of it. It can result in a minor power spike, as a last bit of electricty can surge throught the system, resulting in shorting components inside. True, most of the time you will be ok, but once in a while this could happen, and last thing you want is for your console to be fried.

*I'm no electrician, so please correct me on any of this I have got wrong*

Cake Fiend

DamoElDiablo wrote:

Because a live current is still going through the cable as you pull it out of the Wii. And it's the same with a computer, you should avoid simply pulling the power cord out of it. It can result in a minor power spike, as a last bit of electricty can surge throught the system, resulting in shorting components inside. True, most of the time you will be ok, but once in a while this could happen, and last thing you want is for your console to be fried.

*I'm no electrician, so please correct me on any of this I have got wrong*

You'll have to explain how a power cord that has been removed is going to magically cause a power spike. What's causing this 'last bit of electricity' surging through the system?

Or you could not bother, as I think you're talking through your hat and haven't the vaguest notion about electronic engineering, but you heard someone say once that it's a bad idea to pull the plug out of a computer while it's running. The reason that this is a bad idea with full-featured computers is that most modern operating systems use delayed-write caching, meaning that if you pull the plug before the OS gets a chance to write the cached information to the hard (or other) disk, you'll lose said information (plus old-style hard-disks might not park the reading heads correctly). Considering the write-speed of the solid-state memory used in the Wii, I doubt the OS is using delayed-write caching.

AceCard Jones

I'll explain it if you wish....

DamoElDiablo was spot on but I'll elaborate if you like.
When you switch off the machine, there are still currents of electricity running through many of the parts in the machine.This is itself when interrupted abruptly , say by suddenly plugging the machine out can cause a surge of electricity to fry the console.

But my main point, which you addressed in your first post, was that if you suddenly plug out the machine and then just turn it straight back on again, power that hasn't left parts in the machine yet, will be met with the power from turning the machine back on....and cause a surge.

I build PC's, and this is is an issue which you have to be careful of.
Nevermind data loss through the OS not shutting down properly...

Star Lord

Cake Fiend wrote:

Or you could not bother, as I think you're talking through your hat and haven't the vaguest notion about electronic engineering, but you heard someone say once that it's a bad idea to pull the plug out of a computer while it's running.

:rolleyes: Obviously talking through my hat yeah... My experience building and repairing computers obviously means I wouldn't know what I'm taking about...

peepsbates

Cake Fiend wrote:

You'll have to explain how a power cord that has been removed is going to magically cause a power spike. What's causing this 'last bit of electricity' surging through the system?

Or you could not bother, as I think you're talking through your hat and haven't the vaguest notion about electronic engineering, but you heard someone say once that it's a bad idea to pull the plug out of a computer while it's running. The reason that this is a bad idea with full-featured computers is that most modern operating systems use delayed-write caching, meaning that if you pull the plug before the OS gets a chance to write the cached information to the hard (or other) disk, you'll lose said information (plus old-style hard-disks might not park the reading heads correctly). Considering the write-speed of the solid-state memory used in the Wii, I doubt the OS is using delayed-write caching.

somone woke up on the wrong side of their wii:rolleyes:

Pablo-El-Vagabu

Me is an Eleky Engineering grad...

And I have never heard or seen anything like that(Work in IT as well). It is definitely possible. Unfortunately AC power is a complicated and messy beast and does many things unintuitively!!

I have seen power spikes from static electricity on digital camera blow usb chips. And I think a power surge through my firewire cable from my camcorder fried a Firewire card I had.

Cake Fiend

DamoElDiablo wrote:

:rolleyes: Obviously talking through my hat yeah... My experience building and repairing computers obviously means I wouldn't know what I'm taking about...

Building and repairing computers (which I'd wager I have more experience in than you, for what it's worth) means nothing here. Unless you've spent a lot of time dealing with low-level electronic circuit design, you're spouting hearsay and conjecture (some random bloke told you once that pulling the plug on a computer was dangerous, and you apparently took it to mean any sort of electronic computing equipment).

Pablo-El-Vagabu wrote:

Me is an Eleky Engineering grad...

And I have never heard or seen anything like that(Work in IT as well). It is definitely possible. Unfortunately AC power is a complicated and messy beast and does many things unintuitively!!

The Wii runs on DC power, as converted by the power adaptor.

AceCard Jones wrote:

This is itself when interrupted abruptly , say by suddenly plugging the machine out can cause a surge of electricity to fry the console.

I'm still waiting to hear how unplugging the console will cause this 'surge'. Where is the extra power causing the surge coming from if the power has been disconnected? Do you think various sundry capacitors are magically dumping their stored power somehow just because the power has been disconnected?

peepsbates wrote:

somone woke up on the wrong side of their wii:rolleyes:

Scaremongering misinformation is a pet hate of mine.

rman2727

Well I have an absolute pain in the rocks with my Wii. When I turn it on I sometimes get system file corruption and have to turn it off with the remote to restart. Then while playing Call of Duty on intense levels it slows down to the point where you can't control anything, very frustrating. It just froze on me and buzzing noises started from the TV and nothing worked and I had to unplug it. :mad:

Star Lord

Cake Fiend wrote:

Building and repairing computers (which I'd wager I have more experience in than you, for what it's worth) means nothing here. Unless you've spent a lot of time dealing with low-level electronic circuit design, you're spouting hearsay and conjecture (some random bloke told you once that pulling the plug on a computer was dangerous, and you apparently took it to mean any sort of electronic computing equipment).

:rolleyes:

Seriously man, f**k off.

AceCard Jones

I was just waiting for you to say it.:D
Why was that taken so far anyway?

Cake Fiend, if you want to just randomly plug out your Wii, go ahead.
Fact is this has happened to appliances regardless of whether or not it's scientifically explained to you or not.
Just do a google search or check out Wikipedia if you really need that knowledge so badly.

Cake Fiend

DamoElDiablo wrote:

:rolleyes:

Seriously man, f**k off.

No need to start crying just because I caught you out when you were telling fairy tales.

AceCard Jones

Why don't you explain to us how this is not possible?:rolleyes:

Cake Fiend

It's not up to me to explain anything, it's up to the person(s) making the wild claim (that pulling the plug on a Wii will magically destroy it) to back up said wild claim.

We've yet to see a valid explanation. This is still in the realm of 'some bloke down the pub told me' type claims.

Glenin

Cake Fiend wrote:

Building and repairing computers (which I'd wager I have more experience in than you, for what it's worth) means nothing here. Unless you've spent a lot of time dealing with low-level electronic circuit design, you're spouting hearsay and conjecture (some random bloke told you once that pulling the plug on a computer was dangerous, and you apparently took it to mean any sort of electronic computing equipment).



The Wii runs on DC power, as converted by the power adaptor.



I'm still waiting to hear how unplugging the console will cause this 'surge'. Where is the extra power causing the surge coming from if the power has been disconnected? Do you think various sundry capacitors are magically dumping their stored power somehow just because the power has been disconnected?



Scaremongering misinformation is a pet hate of mine.

Yes, but I'm confused.... There is electricity flowing through every part of the console when its plugged in, right? But when it gets suddenly plugged out, where does all the Lecky go to? It can't just disappear, can it?
I think you're wrong somewhere, Cake Fiend. AceCard Jones sounds more accurate. Anywho, thats just my opinion

peepsbates

Cake Fiend wrote:

It's not up to me to explain anything, it's up to the person(s) making the wild claim (that pulling the plug on a Wii will magically destroy it) to back up said wild claim.

We've yet to see a valid explanation. This is still in the realm of 'some bloke down the pub told me' type claims.

troll maybe, or can you not explane why said person(s) is wrong? id go for the first option tbh

J.R.HARTLEY

i've had a few freeze up problems too, but always sorted by holding in the power button for a few seconds, seems to power it down every time for me.

AceCard Jones

I'm just going by how you can destroy computer parts.
And if I'm not mistaken the Wii is a computer....that consists of parts.
And peepsbates, +1 for troll!:D

Star Lord

peepsbates

AceCard Jones wrote:

I'm just going by how you can destroy computer parts.
And if I'm not mistaken the Wii is a computer....that consists of parts.
And peepsbates, +1 for troll!:D

Cake Fiend

Glenin wrote:

Yes, but I'm confused.... There is electricity flowing through every part of the console when its plugged in, right? But when it gets suddenly plugged out, where does all the Lecky go to? It can't just disappear, can it?

That's not how electricity works. Don't think of it as flowing 'into' the console, and getting caught there when it's unplugged like air in a balloon, imagine a big room with a big fan at one end and a vent at the other. When you turn on the fan, it pushes air through the room. But if you were to instantaneously stop the fan and simultaneously block the vent, the air just stops dead, you haven't built up some large amount of pressure in the room with nowhere to go (this isn't a complete analogy, as a console circuit board will contain capacitors which do hold charge, but these will lose their charge very gradually when the power is switched off, they won't bolt their charge into the board).

peepsbates wrote:

can you not explane why said person(s) is wrong?

Don't you think it's only fair that the people who made the claims of console damage back up their claims with facts? They've both replied several times now, and we're still expected to just take their word for it. Neither of them will just admit that they were caught out.

If someone were go to onto another forum and make spurious claims that playing table-tennis lead to eye cancer or whatever, they'd be expected to explain themselves and provide evidence. I don't think I'm the one trolling here, tbh.

peepsbates

Cake Fiend wrote:

Don't you think it's only fair that the people who made the claims of console damage back up their claims with facts? They've both replied several times now, and we're still expected to just take their word for it. Neither of them will just admit that they were caught out.

QUOTE]

im taking their word for it because you still aint showed how plugging out a console wont kill it? id guess (and it is a guess mind) that the wii console has an off button for this purpose, so can u explain to me how my wii will be fine by unplugging it with the power on?

Cuddlesworth

Voltage spikes are fast, short duration electrical transients (overvoltages) in the electric potential of an circuit. These are typically caused by lightning strikes, although power outages, tripped circuit breakers, short circuits, power transitions in other large equipment on the same power line, and malfunctions caused by the power company can also cause them

The effect of a voltage spike is to produce a corresponding increase in current. However some voltage spikes may be created by current sources. Voltage would increase as necessary so that a constant current will flow. Current from a discharging inductor is one example.

For sensitive electronics, excessive current can flow if this voltage spike exceeds a material's breakdown voltage, or if it causes avalanche breakdown. In semiconductor junctions, excessive electrical current may destroy or severely weaken that device. An avalanche diode, transient voltage suppression diode, transil, varistor, overvoltage crowbar, or a range of other overvoltage protective devices can divert (shunt) this transient current thereby minimizing voltage.

I was bored so, there you go. A pc/wi is not a simple current, but a insanely complicated one with very sensitive chips and traces designed by pc programs simply because humans are unable to create something of that complexity.

Above in short, when you pull the plug, its not after you pull the plug thats the problem, its the moment when you pull it. You can still leave a current flowing in, while removing both the ground and negative. Or by slight of hand you can remove, then start, then remove againn the flow in a split second. With hundreds of different paths, the current can take paths of lesser resistence with a higher voltage then normal, and damage chips in rare cases.{in laymans terms}

Now please let the conversation go back to the Wii freeze ups, I want to see how many people are having this problem.

Cake Fiend

peepsbates wrote:

you still aint showed how plugging out a console wont kill it?
...
can u explain to me how my wii will be fine by unplugging it with the power on?

If you go and read my posts, you'll notice that I never once claimed that unplugging the console won't damage it. Therefore, as I already said (again, you should read posts before you reply to them), it's not up to me to explain anything. I merely asked for evidence of the claims that it would kill it - the onus is on the people making the claim to show facts supporting their claim.

Krazy_8s, quoting Wikipedia out of context is not evidence. Firstly there's no mention of power spikes in this context, being caused by unplugging a DC power adaptor from a low-voltage electronic device. Secondly, there's a huge difference between power spikes coming from an electricity supply board (as discussed in that quote, and which are relatively prone to spikes) and what AceCard Jones and DamoElDiablo are claiming will occur from disconnecting a Wii's power adaptor. Come on lads, it's almost 40 posts since Damo first mentioned damage to the Wii, but still neither of you can satisfactorily answer a simple question: how does pulling the plug on a Wii cause a power surge?


On-topic, I haven't had my Wii freeze up so far.

Cuddlesworth

In this case wikipedia is quite correct, see above and the reference to tripped circuit breakers causing voltage spikes. I'm assuming you know what a tripped circuit breaker is, can you not see a correlation between it and pulling the plug at the back.

Or another example is how the development of the Sata interface was develeped to proivide a safe way of pulling the plug while power was still on for hotswapping(still not recommended).

AceCard Jones

You say people should read posts first before replying to them?
Ha, that's a joke, if you read my original post explaining how damage can occur to the Wii you would have noticed I said that it's not in my experience down to the plugging out of the Wii that causes the damage, It's due to the fact that if you shut your Wii down in-correctly (By plugging it out rather than shutting it down) you leave a current still running in most of the parts as it doesn't drain properly if not shut down properly.

And most likely if your Wii has frozen and you plug it out as it's your only means of powering down, you're going to turn it back on straight away to make sure your console is alright, the new power you're now sending into the console is going to make contact with the power that hasn't left the console due to the previous improper shut down, causing a spike/surge and therefore causing damage to your Wii.

I have been building PC's for four years now and I'm always careful if my machine gets turned off wrong due to a power outage not to switch the machine back on straight away, instead I switch the PSU off and unplug the power from the mains.

My post was clearly from experience with computers, my Wii has never frozen or been plugged out as a means of shutting down before so It's not yet been a problem for me with the Wii.

Cuddlesworth

Funny thing is I have been reading up on this, and I'm going to have to say I am wrong in the case of the Wii. Seems the majority of chip deaths are from Actual high voltage power spikes from a variety of things. Something that could not be caused by un-plugging the drive.

On the other hand, it still seems to be a definate no go area for hard-drives due to the possible corruption of the hard-drive and certain permenent memory banks for things like the bios. As well as some file table issues with certain Os's(dont think NTFS is affected).

I'm not done yet, I have seen vauge referances to something called a brownout and wavering voltages from a slow release of the plug, nothing concurant so I'm not going to bother posting it.

Cake Fiend

AceCard Jones wrote:

the new power you're now sending into the console is going to make contact with the power that hasn't left the console due to the previous improper shut down, causing a spike/surge and therefore causing damage to your Wii

Evidence please.