Hacking Wii Videocard "burn out"

[cardyology]

My wii is displaying this problem

http://forums.nintendo.com/nintendo/board/...scending&page=1

its the bloody video card problem where my vid card in my wii has apparantly overheated causing "noise" on the screen in the background.

I wanna go back to nintendo with it but my problem is that I've wiikey'ed my console. I installed it in the back so there is no way ninty are gonna miss it.

What can I do as far as repair/replacement goes? Im in the UK.

I know this might be naughty but if I opt for a replacement wii, they'll send a new one based on a credit card number then I send the faulty one back. Correct? If so, If I've already got the new replacement, think they'd charge me when they recieve my faulty one and realise its been modded?

Im a bit mad that its overheated.

Hopefully I can do something about it.

 

[H8TR]

Use your Wii in the coldest area possible. I haven't had this probelm but to make sure, I always play my Wii in my basement where during the summer, ambient tempeature is 16-17°C with the AC on. (Yeah, its really cold.)

 

[paul1991]

Either remove the modchip or hope they dont notice it.(They will)

 

[cardyology]

Well yeah, I was gonna remove the wiikey and yeah, they'll definately notice it was installed. I think i might order a replacement and when they recieve my faulty one just play dumb. Pretend im not sure what they're talking about.

 

[arctic_flame]

If you did a wired install and a good solder job it's easy to remove without trace.

 

[pnut]

Well yeah, I was gonna remove the wiikey and yeah, they'll definately notice it was installed. I think i might order a replacement and when they recieve my faulty one just play dumb. Pretend im not sure what they're talking about.

Do that... They won't charge you, they send you a refurbished Wii anyways.

 

[Shelleeson]

why do i keep hearing the same thing from people who have installed the wiikey?

 

[cardyology]

Yeah man, just say im not sure what a "wii-key" or "mod-chip" is. That should work.

I cant just remove the chip cos I mounted a dsub in the back of the console, Doh!

Anyone sent a chipped Wii back to ninty with success?

(im in the UK)

 

[elomaniak]

i did
but i had to pay 70€ "repair"fee
but they sended me a new wii and they unsoldered the chip and sended it back to me too

 

[pnut]

why do i keep hearing the same thing from people who have installed the wiikey?

It's not he Wiikey, its the fact that most of us who have chipped have one of the earlier models, and Wiikey was out just a bit before CycloWiz.

 

[beauchampy]

hey man,

same thing happened to me.. im in the uk and own a wii chipped with Wiinja V2.. started to see these static blocks and thought it was the tv for a while until i sussed out it was the wii..

anyway. as you know, can't send the wii back to nintendo because of the chip.. if you're comfortable with removing the chip and reinstalling then i'd do that and send it back to nintendo.

i wasn't too comfortable with that however, i didnt chip the console myself and didnt want to have to uninstall/reinstall the chip myself!

so anyway, i went out and bought a new wii...

took that home, exchanged the cd drive in that one with the one in my old console so i had one wii with the graphics problem and a brand new cd drive.. and one wii without the graphics problem but has my chipped cd drive.

now i'm either gonna take the faulty one back to the store (if my conscience will allow!).. or im gonna send it back to nintendo and they'll probably replace it.. i'll then sell it on...

good luck dude.

 

[beauchampy]

oh yeah and some info on sending it back..

i spoke to a guy from nintendo support and confessed about owning a chipped wii and what would happen if i sent it back..

he said they don't actually open up the console to check if it's chipped but they do run a diagnostic tool which can detect whether or not the console is chipped, so as long as the chip isnt there it doesnt matter if you've left a bit of solder here and there...

he also said that the reports on the internet about the problem being due to the wii overheating were false and it was actually due to a faulty gpu.

 

[Shelleeson]

It's not he Wiikey, its the fact that most of us who have chipped have one of the earlier models, and Wiikey was out just a bit before CycloWiz.

ah that makes sense now, thanks for clearing that up.

he also said that the reports on the internet about the problem being due to the wii overheating were false and it was actually due to a faulty gpu.

because i know nothing about the workings of games consoles i said nothing when i saw a topic like this a few days ago but as soon as i saw pictures of the fault it reminded me of the problem i had with my computer graphics card where if i installed the drivers it would leave me with big streaks of pixels down the screen. if you changed the settings they went from red to blue and nothing stopped it apart from just uninstalling the drivers worked so it would seem that this would have been a similar issue.

 

[cardyology]

@Beauchampy

That sounds like a good idea but also very complicated. I think im just gonna phone nintendo and confess. At the end of the day, the fault is the GPU, not that I've chipped it.

I wont be able to disguise the fact that I cut a hole in the case & mounted a Dsub port in there but I'll remove the chip and send it. I'll pay the 70 euros if I have to.

Hopefully, the replacement wont be one with cut legs on the chip so I can re-install the wiikey!

My wii is from Dec 8th batch in the UK so yeah, its a faulty one.

How did it go sending it back?

 

[niklasnyfiken]

I would just buy a new Wii, replace the faulty part with the new Wii's non-faulty parts, and return the bought Wii, or sell it to some kid.

 

[elomaniak]

call ninty and let these guys give you the addres of them
it took me 4 weeks to get my wii back

 

[beauchampy]

@Beauchampy

That sounds like a good idea but also very complicated. I think im just gonna phone nintendo and confess. At the end of the day, the fault is the GPU, not that I've chipped it.

I wont be able to disguise the fact that I cut a hole in the case & mounted a Dsub port in there but I'll remove the chip and send it. I'll pay the 70 euros if I have to.

Hopefully, the replacement wont be one with cut legs on the chip so I can re-install the wiikey!

My wii is from Dec 8th batch in the UK so yeah, its a faulty one.

How did it go sending it back?

humm.. you might have a bit of a problem with that dude.

i asked them what would happen if i sent it back with the chip still inside and he said they probably wouldnt touch it and just send it straight back without a fix.

you might be a bit stuck because of the hole you cut..

i havent returned it yet, i only did the swap over on saturday and the support office was closed all weekend, im gonna ring them soon.

 

[cardyology]

I think either the swap over of the drives or the confession to nintendo is on the cards for me. Might ring em n see if I can blag a free replacement but I doubt it. Especially when they see the mod I did.

I'll just have to explain I was suffering from the speckled screen problem before I modded it. I might even say that I modded it thinking that the chip would fix the problem, but it didnt!

Or say that a guy told me, that if I paid him £50 he'd fix the screen problem by installing a "special chip" so belived him. Icould even say he told me he worked for nintendo. How was I to know it was actually an illegal mod-chip he installed? ha ha ha....

They cant call me a liar... can they??

If they do then I'll just have to turn on the waterworks...

 

[Ryusamus]

I think either the swap over of the drives or the confession to nintendo is on the cards for me. Might ring em n see if I can blag a free replacement but I doubt it. Especially when they see the mod I did.

I'll just have to explain I was suffering from the speckled screen problem before I modded it.  I might even say that I modded it thinking that the chip would fix the problem, but it didnt!Â

Or say that a guy told me, that if I paid him £50 he'd fix the screen problem by installing a "special chip" so belived him. Icould even say he told me he worked for nintendo. How was I to know it was actually an illegal mod-chip he installed? ha ha ha....

They cant call me a liar... can they??

If they do then I'll just have to turn on the waterworks...

I had this exact same problem with two different Wiis (almost like a matrix type effect in games and on the Wii main menu).
Both times, I contacted Nintendo and they sent me an advancement system no questions asked. One of the systems had a modchip installed so I simply swapped out the modded dvd drive into the new replacement console. Sent back the console and got refunded no questions asked.

I'd say you're crazy to go confessing when this method is so easy to do. I live in Canada though so maybe they have different policies in Europe but I would avoid giving Nintendo any unneccesary information. They don't need to know anything except that your system is defective and they need to send you a replacement.

 

[aardvarks]

Yeah man, just say im not sure what a "wii-key" or "mod-chip" is. That should work.

I cant just remove the chip cos I mounted a dsub in the back of the console, Doh!

Anyone sent a chipped Wii back to ninty with success?

(im in the UK)

want a new wii case? i have two spare from when i changed them for chrome.