I know there is nothing I can do now and really it was my own fault but even after my mistake I thought they would just refuse the repair, or at least tell me I had to pay but what they did was somewhat under handed so modders beware!
Back in March I installed HBC more to see if it was possible. I never got my USB loaders to work properly and then my USB drive died, so I said screw it and just never used it again. For the next couple of months everything was fine. Then my 2 year old started to learn how to use the Wii U. My feeling is after many drops, the gamepad stopped functioning (Even with a Nerf protector on it). It behaved as if the touch screen was meesed up. It just would not recognize any input, even after doing all the various troubleshooting techniques.
At this point I don't play too often and it is really my 3 kids who use it, so I had my wife call Nintendo to see if they would repair it. Nintendo told us that the Wii U was out of warranty by 1 month, but because it was only a month they would do the repair for free. Way to go Nintendo! We were happy but the kids were a little upset that they wouldn't have the Wii U over Christmas. No big deal right? Beats buying a new system.
Well that's where I made my mistake. I totally forgot about the Homebrew Channel and they require you send in the Gamepad and the Console.
We got everything back 2 weeks later with a letter basically saying because they found Homebrew on it and that they were not going to get the repair done. But instead of sending me back my Wii U with how I sent it in, they sent back a paper weight. The Console powers on and mechanically functions but there is absolutely no video output, no warning messages, no flicker of the screen just nothing. At first I thought my wife had things plugged in wrong but when I double checked it sure enough was totally bricked.
So yeah that's my story and warning not to be careless like I was if you ever send it in for repair. Heck they still might of detected the HBC even if I removed it so I'm not really sure. I was a little shocked at the outcome. Like I said, they should have at least sent it back the way they got it but instead were A-holes and screwed it up and then sent it back. Nintendo definitely was sending a big FU my way.
I later thought that the only non-malicious thing would have been that they tried to repair it via software and the Homebrew screwed it up??? But I highly doubt it, and after all, remember that the issue was that the gamepad screen was messed up. The console was fine.
Well I'm still a fan of Nintendo but just a little less now. I plan to go buy a White Wii U but will probably no longer buy 3rd party titles like Just Dance 4 or Skylanders for Wii U and instead get those for Xbox. My HBC Wii died last year and just haven't had a chance to look for another Wii.
Back in March I installed HBC more to see if it was possible. I never got my USB loaders to work properly and then my USB drive died, so I said screw it and just never used it again. For the next couple of months everything was fine. Then my 2 year old started to learn how to use the Wii U. My feeling is after many drops, the gamepad stopped functioning (Even with a Nerf protector on it). It behaved as if the touch screen was meesed up. It just would not recognize any input, even after doing all the various troubleshooting techniques.
At this point I don't play too often and it is really my 3 kids who use it, so I had my wife call Nintendo to see if they would repair it. Nintendo told us that the Wii U was out of warranty by 1 month, but because it was only a month they would do the repair for free. Way to go Nintendo! We were happy but the kids were a little upset that they wouldn't have the Wii U over Christmas. No big deal right? Beats buying a new system.
Well that's where I made my mistake. I totally forgot about the Homebrew Channel and they require you send in the Gamepad and the Console.
We got everything back 2 weeks later with a letter basically saying because they found Homebrew on it and that they were not going to get the repair done. But instead of sending me back my Wii U with how I sent it in, they sent back a paper weight. The Console powers on and mechanically functions but there is absolutely no video output, no warning messages, no flicker of the screen just nothing. At first I thought my wife had things plugged in wrong but when I double checked it sure enough was totally bricked.
So yeah that's my story and warning not to be careless like I was if you ever send it in for repair. Heck they still might of detected the HBC even if I removed it so I'm not really sure. I was a little shocked at the outcome. Like I said, they should have at least sent it back the way they got it but instead were A-holes and screwed it up and then sent it back. Nintendo definitely was sending a big FU my way.
I later thought that the only non-malicious thing would have been that they tried to repair it via software and the Homebrew screwed it up??? But I highly doubt it, and after all, remember that the issue was that the gamepad screen was messed up. The console was fine.
Well I'm still a fan of Nintendo but just a little less now. I plan to go buy a White Wii U but will probably no longer buy 3rd party titles like Just Dance 4 or Skylanders for Wii U and instead get those for Xbox. My HBC Wii died last year and just haven't had a chance to look for another Wii.