Constantly need to re-pair remotes

[Phi11yguy19]

I've pulled enough hair out, so I have to ask the masters...

I can pair my (authentic) Wiimotes (with and without motion plus) with no issue and play WiiU games fine, BUT once I power off, the next time I reboot, I have to re-pair everything. It's quite annoying - we've lived with it for awhile, but would REALLY like to fix it so we don't have to keep re-pairing.

I also just noticed that if I launch vWii (never really used it before since we also have a Wii), when it boots up the vWii, the controllers drop out. Since it's on the 'press a to continue' screen (or even if i wait out and get to the Wii menu), I have no way to re-pair the remotes.

All this leads me having to hard reset the Wii U. Any ideas out there for what's going on and if/how it can be fixed???

Thanks in advance!

Post automatically merged: Dec 21, 2023

Fwiw, I found one other person with a similar complaint in another thread, but that thread went nowhere.

 

[SDIO]

You use the sync button to sync them right? Did you try to sync them in vWii Mode? Also did you try the "reregister all controllers" option?

 

[Phi11yguy19]

i've paired them successfully both using the red button and using the home controller menu. i also did wipe all pairing using the settings menu and started over multiple times. once paired, they work great for that session, but only that session.

how can i sync in vwii mode? once i'm in there, the remotes are off and the gamepad doesn't work. i tried the red button, but that doesn't seem to help, or at least it didn't seem to (doesn't jump to a menu like wii u does, so not sure if that would do it).

fwiw, I just tried pairing both types of remote (original and motion plus) to my original wii, and they stay paired aven after a power cycle, so it seems only related to the wiiu.

 

[marchrius]

i've paired them successfully both using the red button and using the home controller menu. i also did wipe all pairing using the settings menu and started over multiple times. once paired, they work great for that session, but only that session.

how can i sync in vwii mode? once i'm in there, the remotes are off and the gamepad doesn't work. i tried the red button, but that doesn't seem to help, or at least it didn't seem to (doesn't jump to a menu like wii u does, so not sure if that would do it).

fwiw, I just tried pairing both types of remote (original and motion plus) to my original wii, and they stay paired aven after a power cycle, so it seems only related to the wiiu.

On vwii and the original wii you pair remotes by pressing sync on the remote and then sync on the console while the remote LEDs are still flashing. No menu pops up unlike on Wii U.

 

[Phi11yguy19]

ok, i'll try to re-sync the remote once the vwii launches. if that works, great. But still don't understand why I have to re-pair the remotes on every Wii U reboot.

Post automatically merged: Dec 22, 2023

@marchrius - ok, so good update - once i launch the vwii, if I hit pair the remote, then hit the console pair button, the remote pairs in vWii as you said! Thanks for that! Not sure how i didn't know that one until now.

- Do you know if this still works for VC games (launched from Wii U menu instead of vWii)?

Also, the bigger problems still exist:
- if i switch between Wii U and vWii menus, the screen goes black, the CD drive checks for a disc, the other menu launches, but the remotes turn off and need to be re-paired.
- if i turn off the Wii U, the next time I boot up, all remotes need to be re-paired

From what I've read, this isn't normal, but I have no idea if it's a bad console or some setting I can fix. Seems like the bluetooth is fine since they work once paired. I'm about to buy a new Wii U to test, but was hoping to avoid that.

Appreciate the help so far - already learned one new thing!

 

[V10lator]

Are you taling about original Nintendo Wii Motes? If not this might be the issue. If original IIRC there's a small battery inside of the mote, check that it still holds a charge.

 

[Phi11yguy19]

@V10lator Thanks for the suggestion. I don't see any additional batteries inside the remotes (I have a mix of the old and motion plus versions). But that did get me thinking that maybe the Wii U's CMOS battery was the culprit. Unfortunately, I just turned it on to check the date\time and everything was good there, so I'm guessing that battery is still fine. (Not sure if that preserves the pairings as well, but it's an interesting thought.)

Post automatically merged: Dec 22, 2023

Also worth noting - i never have any issues with the gamepad staying paired. Just an issue with the remotes (and likely everything else like wii u pro controllers, balance board, etc)

 

[V10lator]

I repaired mine some time ago, let me see if I have some pictures left. ^^ Nope but google helped. I'm talking about this thing here:

Note that I'm not 100% sure it's a battery but it's at least not the speaker, that's on the other side of the PCB:

Wait, google sais it's a rumble motor, sorry for the trouble.

 

[Phi11yguy19]

@V10lator Thanks anyway - it's a good thought, but i doubt it's something with the remotes. I have at least 6 working and a couple that i think went bad, but the issue affects all of them.

Post automatically merged: Dec 23, 2023

one more update - VC games work as well if I pair after the game launches.

so the remotes work fine in everything once paired, BUT I have to repair them ALL the time (reboot, switch from wii u to vwii, etc).

could this be the consoles CMOS battery? it's saving the time, but maybe it helps store the pairings and it's too weak?

 

[Phi11yguy19]

hi all, just pinging this once more to stay active and hopefully get an answer.

Summary, wii u doesn't remember wiimote pairings when switching between wii u/vwii mode or power cycling. Otherwise, remotes pair fine, if only for one session. Tested same remotes on my old wii, and that saves pairing just fine, so it's just the wii u with the issue, not the remotes.

Any thoughts on what could cause this and if it's fixable?
Thx

 

[emmanu888]

I'm wondering if those settings are saved to the NAND and with Wii U's NAND having developed issues lately, maybe its trying to save those settings at a spot where your NAND is corrupted and can't be recovered?

It could be the CMOS but without the remotes staying paired we can't tell, someone should try to remove their CMOS battery while a remote is paired to see if the console forgets the pairing.

 

[SDIO]

I don't have the battery in and the remotes and the DRC still stay paired. It also doesn't sound like a NAND problem.

 

[Phi11yguy19]

@emmanu888 Interesting, I need to read up more on the NAND issues. From what I'm seeing, it's only a certain set of chips that aren't in all Wii Us, so I may try mdinfo homebrew to see if it applies.

Post automatically merged: Dec 26, 2023

I don't have the battery in and the remotes and the DRC still stay paired. It also doesn't sound like a NAND problem.

Thanks for testing! Do they stay paired despite a power cycle? I don't have issues with remotes dropping out while playing or anything, but they do drop out each power cycle.

Would be nice to rule out the CMOS.

 

[emmanu888]

I don't have the battery in and the remotes and the DRC still stay paired. It also doesn't sound like a NAND problem.

Maybe its saved to the Bluetooth chip?
But then wouldn't the console hang on boot or does the Wii U behaves differently to a defective Bluetooth/WiFi chip compared to the Wii?

 

[mrmagicm]

Is the WiiU hacked?

 

[Phi11yguy19]

Is the WiiU hacked?

i recently installed tiramisu, but the issue was there before as well

 

[mrmagicm]

i recently installed tiramisu, but the issue was there before as well

okay, then it's easy, the wiiU wifi module is out of order. Buy another and replace inside, or buy another wiiU
A wiiU is so cheap now, I managed to get mine for25€ (the block) or 50€ (the block+Gamepad).

 

[SDIO]

The Wii motes use Bluetooth, not Wi-Fi

 

[mrmagicm]

so it's the bluetooth module indeed,

https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005005304755792.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.0.0.7f66dPcUdPcUYc&gps-id=pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.40050.362094.0&scm_id=1007.40050.362094.0&scm-url=1007.40050.362094.0&pvid=6b9d2a41-5a5d-4811-8089-d6d06b038eed&_t=gps-idcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller,scm-url:1007.40050.362094.0,pvid:6b9d2a41-5a5d-4811-8089-d6d06b038eed,tpp_buckets:668#2846#8109#1935&pdp_npi=4@dis!EUR!2.66!2.29!!!2.87!!@211b613117037217291856279e3326!12000032562365434!rec!FR!782211046!

Usually, it remembered what it as paired but clearly a dysfunction.

 

[Phi11yguy19]

well that stinks if it's a hardware issue, but there doesn't seem to be anything obvious where it could be fixed another way. If I can find one for that cheap, it's a no-brainer. Most are going over $100 USD around here still, so i didn't want to go that route unless i knew it would fix.

thanks for the help. not the ending i hoped for, but appreciate the community!