Wii Graphical Artifacts. Do we know what causes this?

[phreak97]

Ok so I got an american wii second hand, but it has the flickery vertical lines of pixels on some screens. the wii menu is pretty bad, it isnt too noticable during gameplay, but it sure is annoying overall.

This is a problem I've seen before, and everyone just says "Your GPU is fried, new wii time". being an import console a new one is not worth the money so I'll either put up with it and use it anyway or I'll fix it.

I'm hoping I get a more in depth explaination from omeone here. what causes this problem?

[red5standingby]

well if your wii is second hand..then the inside could be dirty with dust so you might have to take it apart. and clean it with some can air( sometimes called duster air) any speck of dust could be the problem. does it flicker when you also play games on it?

[phreak97]

yeah it does, It is second hand but it's clean inside, I've already been in there to remove the mod chip.

[l_oliveira]

Graphical artifacts = faulty EDRAM. EDRAM is a high speed DRAM memory that is embedded on the GPU core.
Basically it's the exactly same fault that causes the XBOX360 to show the E73 or E74 error screens.
The difference is that the XBOX360 check the EDRAM on boot while the Wii does not. So the Wii will boot with faulty EDRAM while the XBOX360 won't.

[phreak97]

ah ok, let me guess, bazillion contact bga ic? any possible solution?

[l_oliveira]

No, more like internal failure of the DRAM part.
Requires GPU replacement.  The Wii have no real issues with heat.
The heat thing the gaming press have been talking about is just bull****.

And to be honest if the graphical glitches don't bother you, the Wii has nothing wrong otherwise so it remains fully operational.

[phreak97]

the gpu is a bga ic isnt it? therefore not replacable by me..

yeah I'll probably just put up with it, it was a cheap wii anyway.