Ah ha this is fairly enlightening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dwu45V7Mp4

If only he'd shown the other side of the drive so we could see what he's tightening up. It's all going to have to come apart. Do that and I might as well get a WiiKey bunged in at the same time.

I was a little disconcerted at the noise Metroid was making but relieved upon checking the disc that there was no marks. Saying that, it sounded totally different to that video and not as bad. Guessing it must be a streaming thing from Metroid as my one and only other game, Wii Sports, doesn't make a noise.

In that video, he's got the machine upside down. Not sure that can be helping! One of the other videos on there the dude deliberately puts the disc in the wrong way to make that "mechanical, sucking your disc in" noise last ages. Smacks a little of the whole lets break my PSP by forcing it to ninja star discs at you mentality.

The forum link on that video explains things a lot better. I (had) exactly the same thing happening recently with Metroid, all other games don't make a sound but Metroid was doing my head in.

The way I managed to get around it was to power the machine up with the disk already in the drive, must be some difference in the way the drive initialises as it doesn't make a sound that way.

I'll keep notes of what's explained in the forum topic, it's a simple thing to do - I have a fibrepen perfect for the job if need be.

Mads you're welcome to bring yours by if you don't want to fix it yourself, you can take your kicking while you're at it.

...actually looking closer at that repair - L00000NG! I'd rather hunt down a trashed machine and replace the gear.

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Mine is now uber-noisy with everything. Powering up with the disk in doesn't seem to make any difference. I'll take a look at the forum posts, missed that linked from the vid. I'm just glad it can be sorted as I can't be living with the noise it is unbelievably loud.

Oh shit that is Long. There's no way I'm going to bother with that. I need a sac machine.

Question: Does the drive form part of the region locking? Also has the drive hardware itself been revised since launch. Mine is one of the first batch of US machines.

That's weird 'cause my missus was complaining about the Wii being noisy last night. I had to take my headphones off to hear it, and yes it was louder than usual, but I shrugged it off by reasoning the 360 is worse. XD

Is your machine in that little stand case and vertical? I thought it was just that vibrating. I was thinking I should prolly keep mine flat from now on.

I've seen loads of Wiis for sale, n00bs attempt to mod them and give up after their shit installation. I'd rather get hold of a bricked machine and replace the gear in question rather than stick a makeshift tooth onto it.

The issue with LOADS of Wiis now is if you install a Wiikey etc on a machine with the new firmware 3.0x onwards - even after a perfect install you will be left with a machine which won't boot anything (not even it's own region). So it won't boot the setup disk for the modchip.

The fix is dead simple (hopefully nobody will tell them) - you need to use the Gamecube OS loader in order for the machine to give you the prompt for the Wiikey setup disk - once you load the setup the machine is fine. This is how I've had to setup machines since that new firmware came out - but it's no biggie.

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Yeah it has - theoretically you should be able to swap out an entire drive no problem. Nintendo have revised the DVD board to make modchipping harder, new revisions of the board have various changes (like solder points removed, tracks linking to the IC gone and even the legs of that chip cut to prevent soldering).

The machine is so easy to work on that it's no problem getting the drive out and simply replacing that one gear if need be.

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It's not the stand, flat or vertical it makes no difference the damn thing hums like a train. I tried rotating it around all axis and it's noisier in certain positions.

What I don't get is the video posted above is not of the repair described in the forum. For starters the drive is running as he's poking around and you can hear the sound reduce to an acceptable level. Also a replacement drive is out of the question.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260161933999&ssPageName=MERC_VIC_RCRX_Pr3_PcY_BIN_IT&refitem=260159813618&itemcount=3&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&usedrule1=CrossSell_LogicX&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget

JOKE price alert!

This leaves me with 2 options.

1. Open her up and see if I have a broken gear or can tighten up whatever needs to be tightened and fix it.

2. Buy a new unit in the states and flog the existing one on ebay.

Probably have to go for 1 and then 2 if 1 doesn't work... :sigh:

Or if that gear itself is broken I need to get a replacement part. A nylon gear like that should be very cheap. Could probably do with just the lightest smidgen of silicone grease for whisper operation too.

There was a whole Wii for sale I saw earlier...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=250165990627&Category=62054&_trksid=p3907.m29

I bet I could get that machine working, but anyway even used just as a corpse for spares you could make your money back. Sell the Remote and Nunchuck, the casing etc - all you need is the gear out of it.

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Bidding on it now. Let's see if I can get hold of one. If it's a botched mod I think even I could get it working. Either way for that price I can't lose. I'd keep the nunchuck though (only got 2 of those).

Fucking nylon gearbox Grrrr.

I've been doing this with DSs for a little while too, always easy to make the money back. I just charge a flat price for each spare I use in each repair I have to do and end up making a bit.

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Hmm the more I read up on this the more confusing it gets. I need to take the drive out and have a good butchers at it. I'm not convinced that gear is even part of the drive train, looks more like a part of the loading mechanism, plus if it was broken I'd hear something rattling around inside.

Also everyone seems to say that MP3 is a noisy biatch, but it really is very very noisy, so much so that it's ruining my enjoyment of the game, plus it's noisy with other disks (Wii Sports) which up to this point have been quiet. The exact nature of the problem needs some proper investigation. It's clearly something related to the speed of the drive that much is clear.

It's almost like something has shaken loose over time or a bearing has worn out. I'll post back if I can figure out what is going on.

Mp3 is noisy for me, but not to the point of distraction (in-game).

It chunks along on boot, and then again loading up a new area when I'm waiting for a door to open, otherwise it is not too bad. It sounds like a DC Yamaha drive if anything, other than perhaps some alarming sounds on boot.

I'll need to listen to yours for comparison. It's not just at boot or disk read the noise is constant in MP3 and really loud. It's highly distracting and altogether off-putting.

That's exactly what mine was like, even over the game's sound and the nearby computer's fan - it was the Wii's drive when playing Metroid which overpowered everything.

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hello, fellow wii gamers.

i'm new here, but with the same problem.

i had my wii fixed but, in 2 days, the problem returned. now, i'm thinking about having it repaired, again.

i saw the round plastic in the middle of the wii drive, the one holding the disk in place, was (is?) being shaved into tiny pieces. is this part called 'nylon gear'? i'm hoping to have it replaced but afraid that part's not available here (philippines).

although sad, i'm somewhat relieved that i am not alone in this burden.

last time i checked, my metroid prime 3 is silent while being played. i'll check again later, and post (here) how it goes. before i had it fixed, my tloz twilight princess was (most likely, at least of those worth playing) the only game playing silent; all other games plays with noise. (now, that the problem's returning, i haven't tried all my games yet.)

can this problem be caused by using gamecube games on the wii? because gamecube CDs are small? (maybe, because of gamcube's os?)

i'm wondering if the damage on wii will worsen with continuous playing while it gives off noise (vibrating, rattling)? (someone gave me an idea to 'continue playing games until it stops working before bringing it for repair, because it is harder to fix a working wii (although noisy).' personally, i think those were words of someone who can't solve the problem; settling for a lame sollution.) my game CDs don't come out of the wii scratched, they're okay.

see you later, fellow wii gamers.

(if possible, check my posts about this problem on forum under 'anything goes' at www.pinoywii.com.)

How much is a Wii in the Philippines?

Well the interesting part of this is that the noise seems to be getting worse. I'm now taking my Wii apart to figure out what the hell is going on. From an audio only observation I would speculate that either

1) Something has failed in the drive mechanism that has resulted in a vibration that is now working something loose or damaging another component

2) Something has simply come loose and just needs tightening up...

I'm hoping it's case 2) as this could be simply fixed if I can work out exactly what is rattling around in there. I will post back when I have some sort of answer (triwing screwdriver is on order, should be delivered this week).

I know what the problem is now, but I think I might have broken the drive mechanism trying to fix it .

The offending part is the disk clamp, which comes flaps down over the centre boss of the disk once it has been inserted into the machine. All that stuff above about broken nylon gears is a complete red herring. As I expected all of the gearing in the drive mechanism is for disk transport in and out of the drive. the disk motor is your bogo (brushless?) drive motor. The problem with my unit is that the clamp which holds the disk down against the motor spindle is poorly designed and over time has worn so that the nylon part which clamps down on the disk and spins at disk speed is rubbing very slightly on the metal arm that actuates it.

At first I thought the arm needed to be bent slightly to prevent the fouling, but in retrospect this was a BAD DECISSION. DO NOT BEND OR ATTEMPT TO MODIFY THE METAL ARM. The amount of pressure that is applied to the top of the disk appears to be critical. Too much and the disk won't spin up properly, too little and the reaction forces between the underside of the disk and the motor spindle are too small to prevent it from slipping relative to the spindle.

There are infact 2 possible solutions to this problem. The first I would recommend trying is slackening off very slightly (maybe 1/8 of a turn) the two screws that mount the metal arm to the piece of metal that pivots to move the arm up and down. This has the effect of building in a bit of give and reducing the downwards pressure on the clamp very slightly. This alone may well stop the noise.

The second thing I tried is to add a small shim (bit of sticky tape) between the metal arm and the plastic clamp. This stands the clamp off very slightly from the arm and prevents the rubbing. The clamp has a small pip in the middle that is supposed to act as a bearing with the clamp, but I guess over time this becomes worn down and that's why the onset of the noise is quite progressive.

My drive is now silent, but I'm getting read errors as The clamp geometry is all screwed up as I tried to bend it slightly. I guess this is either causing the disk to spin with inconsistent velocity or the wrong velocity. I will try and fiddle with it a bit more to see if I can rectify this, but ultimately it's looking like I will have to source a new drive (or a new clamp and arm).

Question
Are the Wii drives region coded?

Does Anyone know who makes these drives (forgot to note it down) as they will almost certainly have a slot loader for a PC which may have the same clamping mechanism I could butcher for parts.

hello, madbury, fellow wii gamers.

madbury, it seems you had a problem similar to mine. it is unfortunate though that, in finding a solution, you may had damaged your console. in your doing, many can be relieved of their problem. (they only have to check your posted message.) as i had said before, i am sad but still relieved that my problem was not that isolated as i once thouhgt. (in my mind, if the problem only occurs to me, the solution is far.)

i'm sure you can find an answer to your problem. (i, for one, am praying for it.)

i'm wondering if any of you, fellow wii gamers, had seen the two symmetrical holes at top of the wii drive? i don't know if there are somethings supposedly placed into those wii holes. something that would (have) prevent(ed) damage to the center plastic (nylon?) disc holder due to the force of the spinning disc.

madbury, i can't really say how much. but when i bought my wii, around middle of this year, i think it cost me 400 dollars. (it is us version.) is it (much) more expensive than states side? if so, maybe it's because we had to import it. (if it sounded cheap, maybe because mine has nothing in those wii holes )

i'm still having second thoughts about having my wii (re)repaired. it still has that sound of like... something is being grinded. but it is less than before i had it fix. now, i have another problem ... ... i can't play smg ... as in, super mario galaxy! i'm hoping to find another version of smg, still with english writings. (i read that pal or ntsc has something to do why it would not work on different consoles.) if i can't find another, i would have to resort to the way more expensive solution. (i hope not.) but, i think (wishing), that expensive solution is the answer to my, disc related, wii problems, forever. (that grinding sound, not included )

see you next time, fellow wii gamers!

more power to our favourite console

The Wii is region locked so yours will only play US Wii games. PAL disks will not work on a US Wii sadly.

As for my problem well I'm going to take it apart again and tweak around with it whilst the SMG video is playing. If by tweaking the mounting screws I can get it running smoothly then I should be all good. Failing that it will have to be a drive swap.

Oh well...

It's fixed!

Silent plus no disk errors or skipping FMV now . I understand exactly what the problem was.

When I reassembled the disk clamp that I spoke of earlier I hadn't noticed that the holes for the two screws are actually oversized and I'd screwed it back down to the actuating arm slightly askew. This has the effect of applying uneven pressure to the top of the disk and warping the disk ever so slightly so the laser was trying to track on an eliptical path not a circular one. This resulted in lots of read errors as the laser could not track the disk properly. By aligning the clamp to be central (by eye) and screwing it back in position the read errors were eliminated.

So in short the reason behind some peoples skipping fmv and read errors could be a poorly aligned disk clamp.

Also noisy drives I would guess can be fixed easily by simply adjusting the tightness of the two screws that retain the clamp. This can be done without removing the drive from the machine as they are visible once the heat shield has been removed.

Failing that a small piece of sticky tape applied to the underside of the metal clamp arm and the plastic clamp itself may provide enough of an offset to prevent the rubbing. This is the mod I did I will update if this proves successful in the medium to long term

I hope that my experience may prove useful to others out there. I'm now very happy that I can play all my games and actually hear the sound from the TV properly.

Good work man!

I'm going to have a go at doing something with the 360 at some point soon, stupid heap only lasted around a month but I can't get it repaired here (Japanese unit).

My Wii doesn't make a sound anymore, I only had that brief noisy spell when I first got Metroid, but now it seems fine. Thanks a lot for the info though, I'm certain it will come in handy!

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Hello, I'm a fella from Monterrey, Mexico & Here Nintendo doesn't have a reliable way of supporting the consoles. I'm having the same buzzing problem on the drive, I've done some research & found a guide (even video & Pics) for dissasembling the Wii, So Here's The link:

http://forums.lovingwii.com/nintendo-wii-hardware/425-guide-disassemble-nintendo-wii-video-pictures.html

My question is: Which are the two screws that need 2 be tightened?

Thx

This picture is the clearest reference picture in that guide. Please be aware that my buzzing problem may not be the same as yours, although looking at the drive design it's likely to be a common fault.

Also please be aware that the two screws I'm referring to have very short threads. So a few turns will remove them completely.

My solution is to loosen one or two of these screws slightly not to tighten them. Because this solution doesn't involve removing the drive or dissasembling the drive unit you can power up the Wii with the case off and then fiddle around with these two screws until you're satisfied with the level of noise.

All the usual caveats apply. I'm not responsible if you break your Wii in the process

Since I can't ftp to my website or get the bloody upload account here to work I can't post you the pic I've butched together with the screws circled.

If you can see the ribbon cable running along the top of the drive in that picture above and follow that from the top of the picture towards the middle of the picture you'll notice a screw head just to the left of the ribbon cable about 4/5ths of the way along the cable (looking from the top to the bottom)

That's the first screw. The other screw is positioned symetrically to that one if you were to place a mirror down the centre line of the Wii Drive from the front of the machine to the back, the reflection of the first screw would be where the second is.

Without a picture I can't be more clear sorry

Thanx madbury, as soon as i find the triwing Screwdriver i'll give it a shot & post my comments. Could u pls email-me the pic?

Gracias.

Send me a private message with your email address and I will send it to you

Thanks Madbury! I fixed my noisy drive using the exact method you described of adjusting those two screws. Worked like a charm

No probs.

Mine has started skipping again. I think the clamp must have shifted a little due to the loosened screws, but it has been sliding around the boot of my car for a week and the way I drive I'm not surprised

It'll do that... I'm pretty sure that's how mine started doing this in the first place

I barely loosened the screws - just enough to take the tension off - and it made a world of difference. I'll see how it holds up... it'll probably need some fine tuning as it settles into it's new position.

I'm sure you'll be fine. My Wii spends a lot of time in transit, so it gets a hammering.

I think mine's borked now too, sounds like a really horrid grating noise. Happens on a fresh startup and then won't load the game. Though it can be circumvented (except for Smash Bros).

Sounds like the same problem. It really is very odd. I'm wondering whether to make a more permanent modification to mine and actually swap out the clamp for something a bit better engineered.

The trick is identifying something that would be suitable to rob the parts from.

I just repaired my noisy Wii today and discovered something interesting...
It seems the metal casing on the top part of the drive was a little tight, causing the noise. After screwing and un-screwing everything in the wii, I discovered that bending the front right side of the metal out, a tiny bit, relieved the pressure on the case and so the noise ceased. For the first time in 8 months, my Wii is completely silent, and operating perfectly. I will upload the video i shot to youtube later this week so you can see what I did, but the screws didn't do anything it would seem. I guess there's a few different answers to the whole noisey wii issue.

Cheers!!

Interesting. Thanks man. It does all seem to be related to downward pressure on the disk and drive. Mine isn't completely silent at the moment, so I might take a look at what you've done and see if that's going to help things still further.

Thanks to Madbury's information I was able to completely silence my Wii drive! Here's what I did:

I removed the metal housing on the drive to allow me to access the "clamp" that holds the disc down by removing the five screws indicated by the red arrows:

I then removed the metal arm completely by removing the two screws indicated by the yellow arrows in the above photo.

By carefully turning the plastic hub and arranging the slots so that they turned outside the metal tabs on the arm, I removed the plastic hub. (See in the pic how the slots and the tabs are aligned):

It appears that there's supposed to be a plastic "nub" in the center of the hub that keeps it raised from the metal arm. This has worn down, and so the hub is now rubbing against the arm:

... I figured I could create an equivalent "nub" on the metal arm instead, by placing a pointy object on the outside surface of the arm in the center of the hub and giving it a sharp rap with a hammer. (I'm using my tri-wing screwdriver):

You can see the dimple that was created by my doing this:

I reassembled the drive and put a disc in, and the drive was whisper quiet!

I imagine over time my metal nub will actually wear a hole in the plastic hub and the problem will return. I'm not sure what to do at that point. If someone could fabricate a metal equivalent to the plastic hub the problem would be completely solved, I think.

Hope this helps!

Excellent solution and pics! I might try this as a better alternative to my rather temporary fix. Don't want to damage my triwing, so I'll probably use a centre punch instead, but the principle is sound.

It's still unclear to me why this problem is occuring it's almost like the plastic hub is getting machined by the metal clamp body, bloody frustrating that's for sure.

This forum is probably the definitive guide on Wii Drive noise issues now

I think this would help for "noobs" like I am to fix noisy Wii drive. Open Wii, need check if u r experiencing the same noise problem that I did by pushing very gently red point on upper side of DVD described on picture (I have used picture from above comment thx)If that crappy noisy sound suddenly stop just stick there a small piece of paper right next to left screw to keep it in proper position.
Sorry for my English...

No need to apologise, your English is very good. Your solution is nice and straight forward for those people who don't want to fiddle around with the drive mechanism. The paper shim will effectively apply a little extra downward pressure when the Wii is reassembled and will most likely aleviate the problem. It might not work once your drive gets as noisy as mine did though, that will require one of the more drastic solutions posted here.

Thanks for the info I'm sure this thread is now the definative source of information on this subject now.

Suggestion worked perfectly. One note...I made my dimple too deep at first and an inserted disc wouldn't spin. I just tapped from the other side to flatted it a bit and the disc spun perfectly and silently.

Excellent another Wii user saved from Noisy Drive Hell

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We're all dinos here. Everyone drifts, all the time: it's impossible to drive straight. DUKE OUT!

I need to sort mine out aswell - I can simply replace the entire drive unit thanks to Jibber's kind donation.

Just cannot be arsed though...

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- "Your hair looks like shit."

Yeah it's a ball ache to open it up. All those fiddly little screws and sticky feet Mine needs further adjustment, but it's not bad enough to motivate me to sort it out yet.

Hi all,

My wii developed the mini lawnmower sound recently, so after having a good read, I went ahead and opened it up.

I was hoping a quick loosen of the screw on the base plate would do the trick as it had for others, but unfortunately it made it worse.

Like a couple of others I had to actually apply pressure to the plate to make the noise stop. So I went on to try the above method of a piece of paper next to one of the screws that holds the disc clamp on, as applying pressure there stopped the noise, but again, it wouldnt solve it, although made it a little better.

It was then I stumbled on my solution, and apologies if its been mentioned before. I took the base plate off so as to access the disc clamp, and then took said disc clamp off. I was basically wondering if the two protruding metal bits either side of the plastic wheel would bend slightly, adding the required pressure to stop the sound, but closer inspection told me not to be silly

It was when I was screwing the clamp back in, I noticed you could actually position the clamp slightly forward or back, as the screws had large heads, and the holes were slightly larger than the screws. So I pushed it back very slightly (ie. pushing from the plastic wheel part back towards the screws), it seemed to sit happier than it was, tightened them up, and hey presto, golden silence.

Hope some of that made sense, just thought Id post it in case it helps someone else, as this forum has been very helpful to me. IF Ive made no sense, I can post a pic of what I did.

Cheers,

Jim

That makes absolutely perfect sense and thanks for posting your solution. It just reinforces the argument that most of the noise problems are down to that bloody disc clamp. :grr:

Thx for the great info. Jim, could you post a picture of what screws you are talking about? Getting my tri-wing tomorrow and will give it a shot.