I got Red/Green dots when playing games on the Wii

Yes. Same thing here. Graphic artifacts. Graphic noise. Stays on screen. All games and channels. Called Nintendo. Sent it back. Waiting for them to send me a replacment or new one. Seem to me the Wii graphics card or whatever handels it just pooped. I think the Wii runs to hot. I lay my Wii on its side. When its off it would still be warm for no reason. Anyways, I sent mine in for repairs. Hopefully its the last I see of the problem.

The Wii stays warm because it never is truly off. As for the dots... no idea. Maybe a screen shot so we can see?

Well, I had registerd my Wii @ launch on the Nintendo site. When I noticed the problem (By the way, that link you provided is the EXACT problem I had with my Wii), I went to the site and clicked on the service repair link. I follwed the instructions, and they sent me and Email saying a UPS sticker was on its way so I could send the console back for repair. I recevied the shipping label sticker about 5 days later. I had to find my own package equipment but it all worked out well. Right now I am waiting for them to send my wii back. They sent me an EMail saying they recieved it, and it should take 5 - 7 days to get it back.

Cool. Wish I would of done that. Good luck. Hope it all works out.

I was using the Wii Connect 24. I plan to fully shutdown the system from here on out. (Red Light instead of soft yellow, or whatever color it is) I hear its the wii connect keeping it warm. So I will try that and keep my fingers crossed. My wii is well ventilated so that should not be the problem.

Red and green? Nice. I guess I wasn't as fortunate because I got a plain black and white dots instead of your festive Christmas palette. Here's what my screen looked like:



I had the dots with both component and composite cables and the dots didn't exist at first but gradually got worse and worse then leveled off in their growth.

And welcome to the painstaking process of getting your Wii repaired. You have two options:
1) The quick replacement plan where you get the machine in a few days but surrender all your virtual console games and unused points or
2) The slow two weeks plus process where you'll still might find that your virtual console stuff if gone. Check my thread because I documented my fiasco.

Some said that the dots look like the effect you see when overclocking a video card. I think it's damn sad it that's true. Considering how underpowered the Wiii is there's no need to overclock the video card if it's going to put the system in serious risk.

as mentioned before, the reason why video cards do this when overclocked is because they are failing from overheating. 360s had overheating issues when launched. it isn't too surprising that the wii does as well..

Holy ****!!

I have these dots too . . . in large clumps towards the top of my display after playing on the Wii for an hour or two.

Very interesting.

I'm glad I read this thread . . . because I was sure it was my display and wasn't looking forward to that support call.

Going to call Nintendo tonight.

I hope to be getting a Wii tomorrow and will be looking for this issue for sure. May have to get an extended warranty from Gamestop too while I'm at it.

P.S. I'll hold off on virtual console games and other downloadable content for awhile to check things out.

Is it possible that turning the system off would make the problem worse? I would imagine that the WiiConnect24 requires minimal effort on the part of the Wii compared to playing a big number-crunching game like Zelda. Wouldn't this heat damage be caused during those occurances and not lightweight periods like the WiiConnect24?

Also, by leaving the system on standby I would think you'd result in smaller temperature swings on the system and thereby not wear out the parts as much. Turing the Wii on and off would allow it to cool off to room temperature and then you'd swing it up to hot during a game then it would cool back down to room temp the next time it shut off.

Uh, perhaps you should see a doctor.

(Sorry, sorry, couldn't help it. I'll stop now. )

i had the same issue, not as serve as the pictures above.

In the response i got back when i got my new wii...they said my system got containmentent (whatever that means for a console)

they couldn't tell me how to avoid it, etc... send it in, send it back..

Total turn around time was 5 full business days (they ship 3 days to them but 2 days back to us)

Same day they got the system, they looked at it and determined i'm getting a new one and it shipped back the next day

As far as saved data is concered...they transfer everything over however you Wii People you will lose editing ablitlites over because since they transfered it, they look like the owner. I would suggest you moving wii people to SD or the Wii Mote (i think wii mote is easist to do) Everything else, game saves, system setups, all saved ( I have WEP setup and all i had to do on router end was change the MAC address)

They could of sent you a new system first and you just send it back in pre package but then you can't keep your saves. Wii saves to SD only as a backup as you can't load you saves on a different wii machine. (from what i was told) This is why I had to ship the system to them.

My wii got kinda warm when it was even outside the cabinet then i moved it in once i got my cables. I don't know. I would like to aovid this from happening again.

Reportedly, the system gets much hotter while sitting in standby mode than it does while playing any game. The cooling fan will never run while the unit is in Wiiconnect24 standby mode, even as the heat builds up. The common theme here with everyone that has gotten the "overheat snow" is having the Wiiconnect24 active.

Maybe a run of chips got some dust in them at the factory? You'd think that'd get caught by QA, but maybe not with the rush to get so many made so quickly.

The only other thing they could mean would be that your system got so clogged up with dirt and dust that it overheated, like you might see in a 10 year old desktop. That's unimaginable with a one month old Nintendo console, and I'd call BS if that's what they meant.

For those having this problem with Wiiconnect24 on, try placing a cooling fan on the back and see if it solves the problem. Then we'll know if it's an overheating issue for sure. Have the fan so it forces air through the Wii in the same direction as the internal fan.

Ok fellas. Just recived my Wii back. Wii points still on it. Just had to redownload all my VC games. All at no charge since I bought em already. Thank god. Anyways all is working well now. Hopefully you guys can get your stuff fixed too.

Its good to know your wii points n'stuff were still there. I had the same problem with the dots. Sent it back the other day. I played all the way through zelda like that too. It got worse and worse and was almost making it harder to play towards the end. What can I say I love me some zelda and no damn dots were going to get in the way of that. I hope my wii is back soon

-sean

Sigh, looks like I'm gonna have to do the same thing. I started seeing green dots show up during Zelda tonight. Argh!

I'll try that Jesse. Although, if I'm seeing green dots, isn't my Wii already permanently damaged?

I tried moving mine into a cooler spot but it just ended up getting worse no matter what I did. Oh well I got it back today, gotta go pick up from the post office YAY.

Hate to throw in here but....Green dots last night playing Rayman. Machine is out in the open sitting on a flat surface (as bizarre as it may sound, a laserdisc as of last night) in a room that averages 65 degrees. Ruh-roh!
-Trouble

my wii is gettin green pixels/artifacts and i have been searching the web to see if anyone else has the same problem.

this thread is pretty much all i've found. it mostly shows up in wii bowling during replays.

looks like i'll have to send this back to nintendo. i was using wiiconnect 24 and i think that is the main culprit here, as my system stays very warm while it's not being played.

glad everyone is getting the problem worked out and hopefully i'll get mine shipped out soon.