My Wii randomly freezes, need help.

[averyblund]

Not to rehash things you may have tried already, but make sure to remove ANY Gamecube memory cards, controllers, SD cards, USB devices, or 3rd party anything. Back-up and do a reset. If the problem doesn't present itself right away at start-up do a fan cleaning, though it sounds like that isn't your issues. Before reset, remove the power plug for 1 minute at minimum as well. If none of that works, and you have an up to date system you have 3 choices, suck it up until an update drops and see if that fixes it with a fresh OS (fairly unlikely after trying a reset), send it in and pay (ughh!), or do a system downgrade and re-upgrade (a softmod) because it's likey a cIOS issue- HOWEVER this could perma-brick the Wii if you aren't carefull. That means dead dead dead.

Frankly if none of the easy choices work I'd send it in before trying the mod, unless you are sure you can preform it safely. Even then downgrading and re-upgrading the system files is one of the more dangerious thing you can do. A word of advice if you go that route. USE a battery backup. A power failure midupgrade (or mod) is the easiest way to get a nice white $200 paperweight.

The first step I would do is to make sure everything sounds good. Does the drive have any (new) weird noises? Are the fans spinning without obstruction(look with flashlight)? Do all games run into a problems or just select ones ?(BTW SSMB, Metroid Trilogy, and Monster Hunter 3 are the most common troublemakers- the first 2 are DL discs which the Wii struggles with and MH3 often causes overheating) Try an undemanding title like a 2D WiiWare, Virtual Console, or simple disc game (Geometry Wars is a great choice if you own it). If you do run into consistent crashes, how long does it take? Is it consistent in the time it takes? I hope this helps at least a bit.

Best of luck gents.