Topic: Problematic Wii U glitch

This is a glitch I've noticed on a number of different occasions so it's not a one time thing. Basically the glitch is triggered when the wii u is set to power off after an hour. If you leave the wii u on and let it auto power off then turn the Wii U on by using the pro controller, the console will no longer recognize the wii u gamepad. You can try restarting the console as many times as you want, you won't even be able to turn the console on with the wii u gamepad. When this happens you have to plug the gamepad into the ac adapter. The orange light will come on and you can once again power up the wii u with the gamepad. If you unplug the gamepad once you turn the console on with it, you'll see that the low battery red light flashes, even if the gamepad had full power when the glitch was triggered. I really hope this glitch doesn't destroy the battery in the gamepad.

Why are you frequently leaving your Wii U powered without use for more than one hour?

My dad is on permanent disability so sometimes I have to help him get around or stuff like that.

Or the Gamepad battery's could just be dead. I mean, the battery only lasts 3-5 hours.

Normally I would say yes but when I play before I start I go to controller settings and turn the display off on the gamepad so i can play with the pro controller so It's not using much battery power.

I'm gonna test this further and see the results. Namely by making sure the gamepad is at max battery before attempting and monitoring the light on the gamepad to make sure it doesn't die before the hour is up.

@Mechanoid2k Why monitor it ? Just leave the Gamepad in its charging cradle / plugged in. That way, you can be sure that is has power. But i can second that the gamepad, even while not in direct use, drains at the same rate as if you were using it (+/- a few minutes)

Its because if it remains on a power source the glitch won't happen, you'll still be able to turn the console on with the game pad.

And that is because the GamePad battery isn't dead when you leave it plugged in. If you aren't using the GamePad, put in on the charger.

I understand, which is why I'm testing it to be sure. I know for a fact the gamepad lasts longer than 1 hour. I know it doesn't stay charged long but its absolutely more than 1 hour.

For what it's worth, I have this error happen to me every now, & then. It's been that way for a couple months. What I've experienced is that the GP(GamePad) can still be plugged in( to an external power source), & still not power on the console. What seems to work for me, is to simply turn off the GP, when it tells me that it can't connect to my system, when I try to use it to power up my WU. Then, simply turn on the WU by the power button on the console itself. The GP automatically connects. From here on out, until the glitch appears again, I am able to normally power on, & off my system using the GP. Interestingly, I also have my system set to power off after an hour of sitting idle. Also, just recently I set my system to standby, & do chores every 6 hours of power-down.

I'm no expert regarding wireless communication, but I would assume this glitch has to do w/ the console itself, rather than the GP. My reasoning is b/c what I mentioned above, to me (anyway), indicates a sporadic fluke in the console's technology(hardware, &/or software) to establish, or more appropriately respond, to a request to bridge between the console, & a functioning GP it has been linked to before. My reasoning is b/c the GP will turn on, but not the console. Once I turn on the console though, my GP links up to it, as it should. To me, the GP's end of the handshake(bridging communication) is possibly working, & the console's (end) is not. I mean, that to me, it seems the Gp responds to the system without fail, but the system doesn't respond to the pad the same way; this is my reasoning for what I'm saying. Then, manually turning on the system forces the console, by nature of powering on, to be the one to start to establish the link. On the other hand, this very logic could be used to say the GP could be the end of the handshake that works sporadically, & (that it) randomly fails to start the link-up process to a system it's already been linked to, while manually powering on the console makes the bridging/linking process start on the WU's end..

Either way, it appears to me, & I could be wrong, that, in short, one of the pieces of the system(console itself, or GP) suffers a random fluke that causes failure to the beginning, or subsequent stages of the handshake between the 2, & that having the console start the link fixes the problem.

Again, I'm no expert in wireless communication, so I may be totally off in left field. I dunno, maybe it is the GP's fault. Ya know, I'm really not too sure, but for now, I'll go w/ my current theory.

At least someone else has had the same problem so its not just a one off thing. See your problem is that the GP can turn on but not connect to the console. My problem is that the GP won't turn on and the battery is drained or at least the GP "thinks" its dead. Just today I turned on the console, went to the home menu and shut off the display on the game pad. I'm still in the home menu, the blue light is lit and the menu is showing me how much battery power both the game pad and the pro controller have. The pro controller has full battery and the game pad has 3 bars. Yesterday I was playing a lot and only drained one bar on the game pad battery because I turned the display off. So I pop in Bayonetta 1 and play for a while. I had to go and do something and I wasn't sure how long I'd be but I knew the console would shut down in an hour so I just paused it. At this point the blue light is still lit on the gamepad indicating it has battery power.

Some time later I come back and the console has automatically shut off. I pick up the game pad and hold the power button and.....nothing. I turn the console on with the pro controller and it starts up no problem. At this point the game pad hasn't turned on. I go to controller settings and it tells me that the console cannot communicate with the game pad. I plug the game pad in to the power supply and the orange charge light comes on the game pad. I still can't do anything with the game pad but the orange light is on. I power down the console and with the game pad still plugged in I hold the power button. The console starts up as does the game pad, everything is working fine now. At this point I assume the game pad has successfully connected to the console so I unplug the game pad. When I unplug the game pad the red flashing light comes on and I have to quickly plug it back into the power supply and let it get a full charge cycle in.

Edit: Another long post(sorry), but I cover my post above, & answer your problem as best I can.Sorry for rambling again.

In regards to my above post, I posted that last night, when I was obviously not clearly thinking, so I typed more, b/c I was thinking less, since I was sleepy. I apologize for the rambling. After thinking about it this morning, when I got up, I realized most everything I said I could have condensed into a few sentences.

In condensed form, I mean to say that to me(& for my situation), it appears that concerning the GP, & WU console: The console is good at the first step in handshaking w/ a GP it has been previously connected to, while it is not so perfect at the second step of the handshake, which is to respond to the GP making the first move. For my GP, it is good at responding to the console making the first move, while not so good making the first move in the connection itself.

GP does consistently respond to console, & power on. GP does not consistently power on console. Console consistently powers on GP. Console does not consistently respond to GP power on communication. To me, the flaw is in the GP's ability to properly broadcast a power on command to the console it has been previously connected to, or the flaw is in the console's ability to properly receive, &/or respond to a power on command from a GP it has previously been connected to.

It sounds like you have a faulty GP battery. For what it's worth, mine acts a bit wonky too. I don't seem to get 3 full hours, or even near it. Maybe I do get near it, but I don't think so.

Unless you are ok w/ it this close to Christmas, or any other holiday you may celebrate, I would suggest holding off, on sending your GP in for repairs. That is, if Nintendo repairs GPs alone from the console(by themselves)?

The only thing I can recommend is going to online sites, & purchasing a battery for the GP, then installing it. This might be the cheaper, or even the cheapest option. I am sorry I haven't got much else as a solution. e-Bay, or Amazon might be a good place to look for GP batteries. In the meantime, it appears your battery is going to need to be near an external power source for safety.

The only other thing I can recommend at the moment, is that some say that concerning lithium-ion batteries, which is what i assume the GP uses, that don't let the battery drain to the point the device looses power, to try, & to also maintain a consistent approximate charging cycle time. Lastly, once a month, take the battery near to the point of death(for safety of the battery, & in the case of the GP, this mean to the point of the GP's battery light flashing it's last-legs warning), & then plug it in to get a good long charge. It helps that when you do this, you are monitoring the GP to be able to plug it in, as soon as the GP light starts blinking orange.