Topic: Wii U gamepad losing connection. Help!!

I've had my Wii U system for over a year now. My friend told me a couple months ago that her gamepad does not connect to the console unless it's really close to it. After about a month of her telling me that mine started doing the same thing. I can't take it even a foot away because the connection becomes unstable and then it loses the connection. Nothing has changed at my home. The same wifi I have used for years and no new bluetooth devices in the area. I have seen a lot of people having problems with it and I'm wondering if anyone has found a solution for it? if not, what is Nintendo going to do? It's so bad that I paid so much for my new system and now I have to use it just like regular Wii!!! I am so disappointed.

You've probably tried it already, but have you checked that the sensor bar is properly connected to the back of the console? Also, if there's dirt or something in the space where it connects, it might also cause some troubles (?).

No, that's not it. I just cleaned up and reconnected everything. The remotes work just fine. I just have to keep the gamepad almost on top of the console. Pretty much useless. I keep promising my son that we will get a new one(with extended warranty!!!) so he can play rayman legends but it's too expensive. Any other ideas? I tried taking out the battery and all the advice I could find on the net but nothing worked.

Do you have Microwave, wireless controllers, cell phone, metal, or even routers around you? I found out that I can connect at least 5 meters away from the TV in the basement while I only stuck with around 3 meters in the living room. The microwave, metal, and other electronic devices may shorten your range.

I have a microwave in the kitchen...but here is the deal. It worked just fine for over a year. No changes happened. The same happened with my friend. Suddenly disconnects under the same conditions. The range right now is in centimeters not even in meters...

Firstly, and I know it sound stupid for me to ask this, but check that the GamePad battery is fully charged and connected properly. I know you said it wasn't this but it does sound like that could be the problem. So that'd be the first thing.

Then isolate the Wii U. Turn off everything and anything you think might cause interference. Then take the Wii U and put it in an open space and test it with everything fully charged and working. If it still doesn't work again see if you can push it further but you might have to ring Nintendo Support. If it does work then slowly turn your devices back on, starting with putting it back in the cabinet and then turning on the TV, to find out what the actual problem is.

If you and your friend live close to each other then there might be some other external factor going on. Maybe something else in your neighbourhood is pumping out a 5Ghz signal. It just seems very odd that you'd both have the same problem at the same time.

Have you called Nintendo ?

They are usually good about fixing things. Tell them the problems started while you were in warranty but they are worse now.

I haven't had a problem, but an idea is that the antenna may have become disconnected. I haven't taken any apart to know, perhaps a drop made something come loose.

I would call them first and see what they say. If your on your own you may as we'll take it apart or ask some one to do it who is comfortable doing such things. It's pretty worthless if it's not fixed so nothing to lose.

If you can, try a friends gamepad to figure if the problem is the console or the gp.

There is also some gamepad to PC program I think. You could try it with your PC to see if it works.

Hi,
thanks for all the info. I've tried to isolate my gamepad and see if it works. Nothing. My friend lives about 5 miles away so that has nothing to do with it. I haven't called nintendo but she did and they wanted 185$ for them to fix the gamepad. I've been following tons of posts with people saying to have the same issue and Nintendo not being helpful. They supposedly lowered the price now to 95$. Is there an usb connection that I could hook up the gamepad to the console? Thanks a lot!!!

It's Bluetooth or nothing I'm afraid. Hopefully they can fix it and hopefully it's not a design flaw that's going to impact loads of us (though in that case I'd think a recall is in order - such bad PR if so!)

This particular problem has only happened to me a few times, and here are the steps I followed to get it working again:

1.) Power off both GamePad AND console. Unplug console for five minutes directly from its back. Re-plug the console in and try again.
2.) With everything powered off, put the console in its stand.
3.) Close any laptops and power down any tablets or smart devices in the room.

I don't know if you've tried any of those or not, but by the sounds of it you've tried pretty much everything. And while the GamePad does connect to the Wii U via Bluetooth or similar, there is a USB cable you can get to connect your GamePad directly to the console, mainly for charging purposes. http://www.amazon.com/Tomee-Wii-U-Charge-GamePad-Nintendo/dp/...

I hope you find out what's wrong with it soon! I'd be miserable if my Wii U didn't work properly.

I'll get that USB cable because nothing seems to work. The only bluetooth I have is in my phone and I tried shutting it off. I'll try over this weekend the other things you guys recommended and I'll let you know if anything worked. Thanks!

I tried everything and no luck. I called Nintendo and they informed me that Nintendo is aware of this problem but I still need to pay for the repair because it's a hardware problem. I got the price lowered to 125$ but I will wait till I get the USB and see if that solves it. keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't happen to anyone else because looking it up on the net sounds like a recall to me!

just came across this thread. The same thing is happening to me. I can't get farther than a few feet away from my Wii U without it losing connection.

Same here. Recently my Gamepad has been losing connection for no freaking reason. It doesn't happen all the time but its still annoying.

I think I have This one figured out, and occassional few Second break of connection is not a fault With Your System. A smartphone and/or 3DS With wireless enabled can cut the signal. Once I moved those to Another room, I had those cuts way less than before.

Whoa! Thanks for the advice!

I will try it again tonight. Hopefully it is working.

Weird. I usually have my 3DS with wireless enabled and my smartphone in the room with me when I'm playing Wii U, and it doesn't seem to have any problems connecting from across the room...

Uh.. what? Sounds like a T-Virus breakout.
Seriously, my GP can go several metres without losing connection. Maybe it's the latest system update? My Wii U isn't updated, so....

Time for useless knowledge!

The Gamepad uses the 5 GHz band of the 802.11n wireless standard. If other devices attempt to use the same band, then interference will occur.

A 3DS only has 802.11b and 802.11g, so interference will never occur. Your smartphone is most likely 802.11n, but it could either be using the 2.4 GHz band, or another wireless standard, like 802.11g, depending on your wireless.