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Hi! My name is Dan and I'm a Systems Manager and Web Developer from the UK. I blog about web technology and digital lifestyle. You can follow me using the links below. Thanks for dropping by.
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Recent comments
- Don't Forget Assembla
4 weeks 1 day ago - Awesome! Fixed my wii remote
5 weeks 4 days ago - Hi Chuck, glad it worked for
6 weeks 6 days ago - I can't believe it
6 weeks 6 days ago - wii remote
6 weeks 6 days ago - None of the blue little
9 weeks 14 hours ago - Worked like a charm! Thanks,
9 weeks 6 days ago - My wiimote's accelerometer
10 weeks 2 days ago - Thanks for the tip, David :)
10 weeks 6 days ago - .htaccess
10 weeks 6 days ago
Handy fix for a broken Nintendo Wii Remote (Wiimote)
A few days ago one of my Nintendo Wii remotes started doing some crazy things. It seemed like there was a problem with the remote's gyro, as you couldn't get any response from swinging the remote in the bowling game (instead, you just took everyone's legs out with the ball!). Anyway, I found a strange fix which involves wacking the remote, button side down, against your palm several times. I wacked the remote hard enough to "fix" it, but not too hard as to break it. I guess it must have dislodged the remote's gyro because it started working again like normal.
Please feel free to leave any comments below.
Comments
My wii mote stopped
My wii mote stopped responding entirely to motion, 4 day after the warranty expired wouldn't you believe. Anyway after some googling i found this, tried it and hey presto, it works again. A crude but effective repair method i say.
Cheers
Glad it's worked! Thanks for
Glad it's worked! Thanks for letting me know! :)
This is the fix!
Thanks so much. I had a remote that had stopped working. Slapping it fixed it...Try it
wii remote
Thanks I thousght I had to buy a new remote this realy works
Wii remote
This tip is great!!
both our remotes broke and i emailed nintendo but to no avail. I then found this tip and it worked.
Thanks!
Cool! No worries!
Cool! No worries!
I honestly thought this was
I honestly thought this was an aweful post when I first read it...Tried this crude method and it worked instantly...thanks for posting this!!!!
Lol yes, simple and
Lol yes, simple and effective!
Glad it worked for you!
Didn't work on Mario Kart, untill I tried your trick.
I just was to say THANK YOU SO MUCH. I have 4 wii motes and one of them just stopped responding to the motion sensor in mario kart, I could do everything but steer. I tried your trick, and I'll be damned if it didn't work!!!
A thousand thank yous and I hope everyone who knows a wii owner shares this info.
Worked! o-o
I never doubted it, but that doesnt mean im not suprised with the results. Worked perfectly, thanks
Well would you believe it!
tried it, light tap and the remote now works, cheers!
Works for other remotes
FYI - This also worked for the Fiire Chief gyro remote:
http://fiire.com/fiire-chief.php
The remote was scrolling to the top of my screen all the time. I tried this and it fixed it. Thanks!
Cool; thanks for posting
Cool; thanks for posting this!
Dan
If you can't hack it, whack it!
It worked...thanks!
Sweet. Worked great. I
Sweet. Worked great. I purchased a 2nd hand remote for less than $10 that had this issue. Then I gave it a gentle whack, works great now! Thanks
THE DESIGN FLAW FIX!!!
It works!
3 light smacks and... BINGO!!!
Man I love Google search.
THANKS FOR POSTING THE DESIGN FLAW FIX!!!
It did not work
It did not work
replay
We got a Wii after last christmas and one of the remotes did not work. I fooled with it for a long time, then dropped it pretty hard of the floor by accident. It started working and has been fine for a year. I am pleased to see this technique is officially supported by Nintendo.
Fantastic
After a very frustrating game of tennis I took my anger out on the controller resulting in it not working properly. I thought great, that's just cost me £30! But hey presto 1 quick whack on the front and all is good again.
Cheers.
holy mother of crap it
holy mother of crap it works!
Totally worked!
This totally worked! Instead of having to buy two new remotes we can get a Wii Fit!! Thanks.
FWIW, there's no gyroscope in the Wii Remote
It's a (virtually) solid-state 3-axis accelerometer chip that detects the motion.
From http://gear.ign.com/articles/747/747277p1.html:
"Motion-sensing wise; forget any imaginative images of a tiny gyroscope spinning inside a tiny box on the circuit board. The Wiimotes accelerometers are based upon miniscule, one-millionth of a gram flaps of silicon flexing against tiny springs within a charged field."
Ahh, I had a feeling it was
Ahh, I had a feeling it was something like this. Maybe a steampunk Wiimote would have a tiny spinning gyroscope ;)
???u got me?
so this tip doesnt work?
Well, luckily it worked for
Well, luckily it worked for me. It's just the Wiimote doesn't contain a gyroscope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroscope), it contains a three-axis accelerometer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerometer).
Thanks R Deckard for pointing this out.
I have a wii remote that came
I have a wii remote that came down with this problem over a year ago. I just replaced it as it was second hand. I have just tried this fix after it was left in it box for a year IT ACTULLY WORKED WHAT A SAVE!!!!
this works...
this works...
:) :) :)
Holy crap I thought my issues with the remote were far beyond just a simple smack. The lights at the bottom were screwed up and dim and the cursor was glitching and all that good stuff, and I doubted this with all my heart. And then it's fixed just like that! Thank you thank you thank you :-)
Thank you, I cannot believe
Thank you, I cannot believe it worked but it did! :D
Awesome!
Thanks, another satisfied commenter! :)
Worked like a charm!
Brilliant, thank you. Was going to buy a new one.....................no need now!!!!
Did not work
That did not work for me I am going to call nintendo :( this stinks!!!
Was pretty sceptic but it
Was pretty sceptic but it works, thanks!
Another Sceptic Converted!
Was sceptical like those above and was getting the screwdrivers out for a complicated repair job but tried this and it worked! 3 or 4 sharp taps and working like new!
It works!
thanxs very helpful : )
GrRr
I think the circuits in my wiimote is &$^£%*, coz it doesnt light up when I press any button, including the sync button, and I have brand new batteries in it...
:(
I tried this but I didn't work, I think my remote is as dead as a dodo :(
It wouldn't be too bad except I'm after buying Little king's story today and now my remote won't work...
Nintendo Wii Remote Dead
Nintendo Wii Remote Dead
I did not use Nintendo Wii for over a month.After over a month I connected Nintendo Wii and put the power ON. Console is working,But there are no lights on remote??
I changed with two brand new set of batteries but no light in remote like before.
I did press red button on both remote and Wii consile but nothing.The unit is over a year old.
Any solution??
works for a couple seconds
one of my wiimotes started acting funny the other day too, at first i thought it was the motion plus shorting out, but to test it I tried the wiimote without the plus, and it still acted funny. Basically after a little while the motion stops working and the blue light on the bottom telling which player you are fades in and out. Tried changing the batteries and no luck. Then came across the tapping solution. This works for a few seconds then lights out again and no luck.
:( guess its time to get a new spare, luckily the other still works.
brill it works .you saved our
brill it works .you saved our kids life
Holy mother of waggle it works!
Add me to the happy list! I thought i'd suddenly become really bad at the special moves in Spyborgs, but then played Super Paper Mario after & couldn't shake to get unfrozen, so knew something was wrong with the Wiimote.
3 or 4 taps and voila, it works again :)
wiimote repair
Add me to the list of the converted. I thought the original post was a clever way to see how many of us he could get to pound a wiimote against our hand. I did exactly what he suggested, and it worked! Thanks from California.
woot!! still works
thanks for the quick fix! i was ready to crack it open. I was already whacking it on the back and top side--obviously this did not work. Glad I found your site before I bought a new one.
DAN you are the MAN!!! I
DAN you are the MAN!!! I feel like such a dummy. Last year around this time my wii remote just gave up and wouldnt work at all, I even put brand new batteries and nothing. So I just quit playin the wii and its been sittin in a box for about 12 months lol... This morning I took it back out and investigated the remote again then came and found this site lol whataya know I slapped that thing silly and re-synched it with the button on the box and the remote at the same time and WOOHOO!! im back on the wii now.
Thanks :)
Im kinda upset with myself though cause im a mechanic, I shoulda known that beating something til it works gets the job done ha ;)
YES!!!
This worked wonders! A million thanks from the Philippines!
You've got to be kidding...
In the name of all that is good and sweet in Odin's beard, it actually worked. I can't freaking believe it. I guess it makes sense now why there is a guy on craigslist who offers to purchase broken wiimotes for 5 dollars. Color me flabbergasted and thank you, thank you, thank you.
Wow like a lot of other
Wow like a lot of other wasn't sure. The missis said what the he'll are you doing and low and behold ...... It worked !!
Thanks
Thanks
I got troubled by the childish and deliberated bug from homebrew channel maker, when you install a different ios from his he make your wiimote upside down, and with some tips to solve this problem I shake hard my mote as some blogs tells and my motion stoped and your guide solved this, thanks a lot again and happy Wii !
I'm so happy this worked! I
I'm so happy this worked! I thought we were gonna have to buy 2 new remotes!!
Hahahahahah it worked! SO
Hahahahahah it worked! SO aawesome!
Controller
I hit my Wiimote alot of time and its Still Broken
broken wiimote
i was playing wii baseball and the strap came off and it hit a chair and broke.it still works but it cracked and the power button came out and the sensor got a small crack and a chip out of it do u know how to put it back in or is it ok without it??????
omg tytytytyty
omg!!!!!!!
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!
I LENT MY WII FRM A FRIEND AND THOUGHT I BROKE THE WII REMOTE, I HAD THEN BROKEN IT SOMEHOW, I WAS SOOO MAD AT MYSELF, THE REMOTE DIDNT EVEN TURN ITSELF ON, EVEN WHEN I HAD NEW BATTERIES IN IT, I THEN RESD THIS AND THOUGHT "pfft, like that will work", AND READ THE COMMENTS, I TOUGH IT WAS WORTH A TRY, AND IT ACTUALLY WORKED, OMG!!!!!!!
thank you sooo much, you just saved me <3
^^
Doesnt work
My wii mote doesnt light up even with fresh batteries...smacked it like you told still doesnt work...some body help me... im in asia and a wii mote is 65$....
Hi Sorry to hear that it
Hi
Sorry to hear that it doesn't work. Unfortionately this fix only works for a specific type of problem - if the wii mote isn't lighting up then it's likely something else.
Hope you manage to get it sorted
Dan
Just tried this on my wii
Just tried this on my wii remote that stopped working...fixed right away! Thanks!
My wiimote's accelerometer
My wiimote's accelerometer stopped working. Ran across this post and gave the remote a few whacks. On the third whack, the accelerometer started working again and has been working flawlessly since.
Before reading this post I had tried hitting it on the ends but not on the face. Hitting the face is what worked.
Thanks
Worked like a charm! Thanks,
Worked like a charm! Thanks, Dan!
None of the blue little
None of the blue little lights at the bottom of the wiimote worked, even with new batteries. Smacked the remote 3 time on the palm of my other hand, removed one battery and put it back, and then BAAM, it works. Thanks for sharing.
wii remote
It didnt work and the wii's new but thanks for the advise!!!
I can't believe it
Holy crap this worked! It's usually a joke: "Just whack it a few times" - Too funny, but hey...if it works, it works.
Hi Chuck, glad it worked for
Hi Chuck, glad it worked for you! Thanks for dropping by.
Dan
Awesome! Fixed my wii remote
Awesome! Fixed my wii remote following your directions, in less than a minute. Worked perfectly now.
Thanks so much!