[quote name='supershammy']My Wiimote broke my second week into owning my Wii way back in December. I was playing Wii Tennis with my girlfriend, and having gone up to the console to read the manual, she served without my knowing. I tried to play from my position next to the TV and the Wii, and *click*ed it against the Wii in my upswing. It stopped reading movement all together, but the IR pointing still worked.
I was all set to mail my 'mote in after talking to a rep from Nintendo when I read a forum post about how someone had talked to a rep and they had told them to hold the remote with the buttons facing down, and slap it against their palm. I did that, and to this day I don't know which of my four remotes was broken at one point.
I hope this reassures some of you to just what is necessary (or is not necessary) to fix what many perceive as a broken Wii remote.[/quote]
I can second this. I had the exact same problem (still-functioning IR pointer but nonworking accelerometer) and this method fixed my controller, too. I hit it against my bed to cushion the blow somewhat. After a couple tries, the controller worked perfectly. It sounds like a stupid caveman solution but it actually works.