“Black Lines of Death” on the Wii, Just in the Time for the Release of the Black Wii
July 16th, 2009
the bbps‘ Marc DeAngelis is one unhappy Wii-owner. His friend pointed out several black vertical lines that flickered on and off the screen while they were playing. His friend added that that same thing happened to him; he had to have his console’s GPU replaced. So DeAngelis did what anyone with a problem would do: surf the ‘net and see if anyone else was having the same problem. Sure enough, DeAngelis found forums complaining about the GPU overheating as well as the symptomatic black lines. Here’s a sample picture from the Gamespot forums:
Note the lines below the coins and on the tree leaves. Here’s a closer look (but with a different game):
Unfortunately for him, DeAngelis’ Wii is already out of warranty, so he’ll have to pony up the money for repairs. If you’ve seen the same black lines while using your console, better have it replaced before anything worse happens. The Gamespot thread is nearly 2 years old, so I’m wondering if this only applies to a batch of Wii consoles or if it’s a problem all Wiis will eventually have.
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Categories: Gadgets Technology Video Games
I can post my own personal experience here. I purchased my wii 6 months after NA release, and it was a matter of time until that ‘black line’ problem showed up for me. I was still under warranty so I got my console replaced, but after my warranty expired the problem occurred again – literally two months ago.
So I paid another $75 and got my warranty reset, and my Wii’s fine again.
Yes it is the GPU, and the cause can be attributed to the WiiConnect24 service which keeps your gpu running with the fans off.
If your Wii has a yellow LED when it’s turned off, I recommend you don’t take any chances and turn off WiiConnect24 so the LED goes red when you power it down.
Nintendo still hasn’t addressed this as a problem you’d find.
“the cause can be attributed to the WiiConnect24 service which keeps your gpu running with the fans off.” Wow. How the hell did Nintendo miss that? WiiConnect24 was introduced at launch right?
Yeah it was
I think by default it’s on.
Oh, and it only gets worse until it’s replaced
No, it doesn’t. My Wii had this problem, but then i just turned off the WiiConnect24. Now you REALLY have to pay attention on the TV to see the black lines…