This is a thread to talk about my experience with getting my Wii repaired.

Several months ago, around the time I bought Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, I noticed graphics artifacts appearing on the screen in the form of sparkling red, green, and blue dots.  This would happen most noticeably when alpha blending (transparency) was being performed.  You could always see it when the scan visor was brought up, or when looking at smoke trails or the clouds in Skytown.  For a long time, I simply put up with it.  I didn't want to send the console off immediately after getting MP3:C, and then SMG, and lots of other games during the holidays.

What I ended up doing was waiting until November to file a claim with Nintendo, since the warranty period is one year.  Nintendo sent me an e-mail stating that claims are active for 90 days, and that a UPS shipping label would arrive in the mail shortly.  It did (within the week).  I held onto my Wii because I was playing so much GH3, RE4, RE:UC, LCT, and MMR.  Finally, fearing that I would lose track of time and go beyond the 90 days, I took it to the UPS Store on January 16 and shipped it out.  Shipping was free, but UPS charged me $14.04 (with tax) for the box and packing materials.

Date the Wii left my hands: January 16, 2008
Total cost to me: $14.04

UPS Tracking confirmed delivery of my package on Friday, January 18.  Nintendo said that packages would be processed in one business day, and indeed, I got an e-mail this morning stating that my package had arrived and been processed.  It also said that repairs would be complete within 9-11 business days, so it should leave their hands no later than February 5 (woohoo, Super Duper Tuesday).

I know that Nintendo is able to copy saved Miis and game/channel data in the event that a Wii needs to be replaced with a new model, but as a precaution, I backed everything up onto an SD card.  I should say, I tried to back everything up.  Some games would not allow their data to be copied (including Guitar Hero 3), and some of the channels wouldn't copy, either.  I hope no one screws up at the factory and zoinks my stuff. 

That sucks, this is the first broken Wii I have heard of. Nintendo doesn't make consoles with any of that RRoD crap.

I think you're only the second person I know of whose Wii has broken. Much like me and my ps3, it's the luck of the draw. We were the ones to get bum consoles. At least Sony sent me both a box and a shipping label, so I wasn't charged a thing.

I posted awhile ago about my Wii issues. I'll quickly go over them again.

I purchased my Wii in December of 06. After a few weeks it started to make some really bad whirring noises. I ignored them and eventually they became louder than the sounds from the games I was playing. I ignored it further until I started getting disc errors. So I sent it away in March after about 3 months of listening to its crap.

Nintendo's repair services are EFFING GREAT. Not only was EVERYTHING FREE, but they send you a replacement Wii first, you put your old Wii in, they take a CC # incase you don't send the other back, and you send your broken one back. Was great.... Or was it?

My replacement Wii ALSO had to be replaced. The disc drive wouldn't accept or eject discs. I was sad. In fact, the CSR said this was the FIRST time he EVER heard of this happening. So my replacement needed a replacement, got my NEW Wii in another box, took my CC #, sent the other one back, and my new one worked perfectly. Thank God I never had any VC stuff because that would've been a bitch to deal with.

Whole ordeal, I was without a Wii for about 10 days. I paid nothing, and also got a 1 year warranty on the replacement Wii, with the same FREE services. Nintendo does a GREAT job.

Whoa, I had the same thing happen with my Wii, except I wasn't smart and called them dead pixels looking things instead of graphics artifacts. Every time I tried to explain it to Nintendo I got a, "Um... lemme check our records."

I sent it off last Friday, if only you posted sooner ; ;

Let me know how your data turns out. I was told I could download all the channels again, but that there'd be a chance I'd lose all my save data.

It's not widespread like the RROD, but neither is it an uncommon problem. Just search Youtube for "Wii artifacts" and you'll see 4 or 5 videos that illustrate the issue. The glitch often indicates a problem with graphics memory. On my console, it always happens when it's doing alpha blending, and doesn't happen at all anytime else. It's also seems completely independent of the temperature, since it doesn't need to warm up for a while and doesn't do it worse when my room is hot (it gets down to 60 degrees in here in the morning, still does it).

I did the entire process using their website, so I never talked to a service rep.  I just filled in the form, said something about graphics artifacts, and then I got a UPS label in the mail.

I'm a little concerned about my GH3 data, but I'm pretty sure I can pass all the songs again on Expert.  I'm glad the Twilight Princess data copied to the SD card, because I do not want to play through the 90-minute snorefest introduction again.

Does anyone else's Wii not load some games right away after you haven't played them in a while and sometimes freeze then say error, remove disk, turn off Wii, and read the instruction manual. Mine does sometimes, not all the times but when it does it really annoys me.

I had a Wii & a DS repair this year.

I got my Wii and it would not read one game disc of the few I bought with it. I called Nintendo service to ask them what it needed and they told me they would just replace it with a new Wii. Gave them a CC# to ensure I would return the old one, and 3 days later I got a new Wii and sent my old one back. Simple & easy. If you buy any VC games, they swith your account # to the new Wii, and you just redownload it. I'd give them a 10 out of 10 for the great service.

My daughter got a DS in September, and after several weeks I noticed the lid was not staying open, I looked at it and there was a small hairline crack in the lid's hinge. I called Ninty, they said that they do not cover hinges, but replace the casing for a $50 charge including shipping. However, since it was only three weeks old, and I was not sure if it came with a crack or if my daughter caused it they OFFERED to replace it for FREE. I did have to send it in first, unlike the switch they did with the Wii. We live in Florida, they are on the West Coast, so I expected a few weeks. 9 days later we got her DS back with a new casing. 10 out of 10 again.

All in all, Ninty service is second to none. Wii & DS have a very low defect rate as is, but if you have an issue, it is resolved VERY quickly.

Question tho, how do you save Mii's to an SD card? I'm out of room for new ones and have been trying to figure that out.

I don't think you can save Miis to an SD card.