I talked to my gf this morning and apparently her Wii got zapped as she was creating her Mii character, 5 minutes after turning it on.

She got it yesterday from her parents for christmas and the expert she is, when she was turning it on this morning, she didn't plug it in to the surge protector, as it was full. She plugged it in to the wall directly. And ZAP!...power surge happens...everythign goes out. Everything is fine afterwords except the wii...it will not turn on. She will try to exchange it today, and I wish her good luck on boxing day.

Just posting this to let everyone know...no matter which system you have, you should always use surge protectors. Unless you want to ruin christmas.  I've heard rumors that 360 has surge protection built in the power brick, but I wouldn't trust it. 

When we get the Wii numbers for this week, ioi should subtract 1 wii as thats the one my gf returned. :)

EDIT: at suggestion of some smart VGchartz people, she tried the system again after it was unplugged from the wall for a while and it worked. Thanks guys.

Oooooooooooohhhh.....

she should keep the reason for her Wii destruction to herself when trying to get it fixed or traded in... if you know what i mean... If anyone ask her it was like that when she got it.. lol

 hah. Yeah. I have a feeling I'll have to do this exchange for her... If so I may also excahnge the games she got for something decent. WTF is Ferrari challenge? :)

Just unplug the AC adaptor from the wall and the Wii and let it sit for a few hours to a day. That's always fixed this problem for me.

It's a sign. Get a DS instead.

lol are you doubting I have a gf or that she had a wii that broke? :)

lol

That's unfortunate, on a side note my friends 360 did survive a surge at their home before they got surge protectors for everything which was a good thing because the next day a huge surge took out 3 heavy duty surge protectors (you could smell the burnt). Bad wiring on a home they rented out which was fixed naturally. As long as there is a receipt you should be able to take it back as long as you just say that's how it was, my friends the smart ones that they were didn't have receipts anymore so they rebought the same surge protectors then put the burnt ones in and took them right back haha...it all worked out in the end.... well except for the fact that the 360 were kerplunk this week but thats a different story