Wii Disc Drive Issues

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Definitely the disc drive, not the fan or the gizmo or the widget. I get a loud buzzing noise when a disc is spinning, though not every time, all the time either, which is weird. From PC tech support-ish experience, it's something in the spin mechanism that's off kilter. I've heard this noise before.

Sometimes I'll be playing for 20-30-60 minutes and then it'll start (that's what happened with Power Pros last night). And, for whatever reason, seems to happen more since I started playing Power Pros. Though it has happened with other games with less frequency (say once a week as opposed to once an hour now).

It's almost like the disc spinning makes something is grind, though there are no disc marks, no unplayable discs, etc. Just a loud buzzing.

I've put in a return to Nintendo, have a UPS label on the way. Anyone gone this route for any other service before so I know what to expect?
 
[quote name='clockworkgreen'] Anyone gone this route for any other service before so I know what to expect?[/quote]

I'm on my 3rd Wii, and oddly enough.... last night got the buzz yet again. I have no idea what the hell is going on but it's not as loud as my previous buzz issues. It's more like a slight whirring that happens on and off. But I was told that it's a RARE thing where the part that holds the disc goes a bit off center.

Strange that it's rare, yet happened to every one of the Wii's that I had to return. This time i'm going to try and ignore it for as long as I can. Mine is well vented, not in the way of anything, never moved, and not played for hours on end either. They all did the same thing. BUT I have a feeling that it begins to happen after gamecube and wii games exchange a few times. That's the only thing I can think of.

What to expect: Expect that they hold the core for about a week and a half, then send a totally new core completely wiped with a note saying "Issue could not be fixed. Core replacement needed". Also expect all your saves to be gone if you don't backup, your nintendo account changed, having to re-download VC games, and any Mii's you had will not be able to be edited anymore (if their still in the system or wiimote).
 
[quote name='CosmosTheMouse']I'm on my 3rd Wii, and oddly enough.... last night got the buzz yet again. I have no idea what the hell is going on but it's not as loud as my previous buzz issues. It's more like a slight whirring that happens on and off. But I was told that it's a RARE thing where the part that holds the disc goes a bit off center.

Strange that it's rare, yet happened to every one of the Wii's that I had to return. This time i'm going to try and ignore it for as long as I can. Mine is well vented, not in the way of anything, never moved, and not played for hours on end either. They all did the same thing. BUT I have a feeling that it begins to happen after gamecube and wii games exchange a few times. That's the only thing I can think of.

What to expect: Expect that they hold the core for about a week and a half, then send a totally new core completely wiped with a note saying "Issue could not be fixed. Core replacement needed". Also expect all your saves to be gone if you don't backup, your nintendo account changed, having to re-download VC games, and any Mii's you had will not be able to be edited anymore (if their still in the system or wiimote).[/QUOTE]

So you're basically saying backup whatever I can before I send it off to Nintendo.

Yeah, not sure what's going on. It first occurred about a week after owning it and I had left a game unattended for a couple hours. Came back and the drive was making noise. Since then, it's maybe been once every couple weeks. Since I got Power Pros just a few days ago, it's been every time I use the system, either right away or about 10 minutes into the gaming session.

I can hear the drive spinning up. Where you can hear the game loading and start spinning, in this case, it starts spinning, but the spinning is accompanied by some sort of mechanical whirring that is definitely not normal.

Asjde from a couple Miis, the only thing I've bought is the Internet Channel.
 
I'm glad I caught this thread because I've been having this issue too. And I thought it was just me. The buzzing noise sounds like a tiny lawnmower in the system. I've sent mines in for repair before and when I got it back it said that they replaced a disc mechanicism. That made sense.

A month later the buzzing began again. So I started to observe it more this time. Let me add, last time it lead to disc errors were I could no longer play gamecube games. Anyhow, I noticed that if the buzzing begins and I insert another disc or a blank dvd that the buzzing sometimes stops. Whats even stranger is this. That the buzzing gets worse the longer you leave your Wii inactive.

I didn't play it for a few days and when I returned the buzzing was very loud. It makes no sense whats really causing it. Because if the disc spinning doesn't, I'm not sure what does. I'm considering sending it in for repair again, but Mario Galaxy is coming out next week and I don't want to wait 3 weeks to get my system back only for the same issue to reoccur.
 
The buzzing noise happened to me about 2 months ago. It started off as a sporadic type of thing, then got increasingly worse to the point I couldn't ignore. Honestly, it doesn't seem to damage anything (on mine, anyway), it's just REALLY annoying. Oddly enough, it only made the noise when a Wii disc was in... GC discs were still completely silent.

Now, to give you some hope, when I sent mine in, the letter said that they could not find the problem, so they simply replaced the Wii. They did, however, transfer EVERYTHING over to a new one, so you shouldn't, in theory, lose anything. You have a new friend code, and you have to redownload all games, but the information is there.

The biggest negative is that you can no longer edit the Miis that they transfer to the new system.

Anyway, yeah, sent it in, and got a new one about a week later. Nintendo's good like that.
 
I've noticed it happens with both GC and Wii games. Rather, if it starts with a Wii game and I put in a GC game, it doesn't stop.

And yes, there was one point the other day where hitting eject and reinserting the disc did make the buzzing stop. But it only returned a short while later.

It's almost like it's trying to access a certain part of the disc and having problems. Ex, the other day, I was playing Power Pros, all the way up until about the 3rd inning, when all of a sudden the buzzing started. Not prompted at all. Just in between pitches, it started.

I'm really not interested in mailing it out for repair right now either, especially just before the holidays. But part of me thinks now is the time to do it, not after Christmas, when only more people will have them and thus potentially sending them in for fixes.
 
Odds are no matter what you do it's just going to come back after a while anyway.

When I hold mine I think that it's something cosmetic. The system shakes a bit when the larger Wii discs are spinning, thus causing something inside (who knows) to cause a buzz noise. When I slowly tilt it side to side sometimes it stops, or is more quiet. But it always seems to come back.

At first I thought it was the fan. This would explain why it does it on and off. But after close inspection.... nope. Unless there's more than 1 fan inside there.

Being on my THIRD Wii.... i'm just going to hold on it for a while. I'm sick of having to send it in. I'm going to see how bad it has to get first.
 
Hmm never heard of this issue.. once in a great while I will get tearing but man I dont wnat to lose my saves etc, or have down time. What is it like 15 months from original purcahse from Nintendo on the warranty? So I should be able to send it in early next year.

Winter is game time for me... summer is way way too busy.
 
Well, its not the laser that causes the buzzing. If you listen closely when the disc is inserted you will hear the laser reading the disc, that sounds normal. It has to do with the gears that spin the disc I think. It sounds like something makes them collide a bit closer than normal, which is my guess. No idea how this happens, especially since the noise seems to become worse when the Wii is inactive.

I noticed that inserting other game discs sometimes gets rid of the noise, sometimes it doesn't. This is a very rare issue, I believe. One other individual who had it, said that his went away over time. I wish mines was like that, last time it lead to the Wii not being able to read Gamecube discs.

I have a question for you guys, because I'm really trying to understand what invokes the buzzing to occur. Where does your Wii sit? Does the noise become worse when inactive?
 
[quote name='DreamMystic']I have a question for you guys, because I'm really trying to understand what invokes the buzzing to occur. Where does your Wii sit? Does the noise become worse when inactive?[/quote]

Mine is on a well vented area on a shelf. Nothing really behind it at all but space. Most of the time I have it standing, other times i've laid it down. Never really makes a difference with the noise on how it's standing.

When there's no disc in it, the thing seems to be fine. Gamecube disc... hardly a noise. When the Wii disc is inserted is when I hear it.

It's pretty much eaxctly like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqpu-vLYRKU
 
[quote name='CosmosTheMouse']Mine is on a well vented area on a shelf. Nothing really behind it at all but space. Most of the time I have it standing, other times i've laid it down. Never really makes a difference with the noise on how it's standing.

When there's no disc in it, the thing seems to be fine. Gamecube disc... hardly a noise. When the Wii disc is inserted is when I hear it.

It's pretty much eaxctly like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqpu-vLYRKU[/quote]

Yeah thats the noise. I think it doesn't make a buzzing noise with the GCN discs because they are tiny and don't require the disc to spin very fast. The Wii disc obviously makes the drive spin a lot faster which make the buzzing noise apparent. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the gears that rotate the game disc. I'm just not sure why it appears to be so erratic.
 
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