Topic: Wii U blinking red light (overheating?)

Hey guys, I had my wii u for about 3 years. Ive recently come across this problem of it randomly turning off with a blinking red light. From my research it seems most say its an overheating issue. The consule is hot in the back when that happens, so it seems that could be it. Only thing is my fan IS working and the consule is in an open space. Vents are clean, fan is working, picture is ok etc. everything works fine until it shuts off for some reason. Ive read some say it could be an AC adapter problem? My adapter is the original from nintendo, and again the consule will work fine for say 15-20 minutes until shut off. Ive also done all badics such as cleaning, resetting etc! Ive done everything I can think of. Can anyone give me any other pointers that I have not researched? Sending to Nintendo for $175 seems a bit much when I can buy new for just a bit more. Thanks everyone!

Mine does this too occasionally, the only way to resolve this without sending your console in for repairs is to get a reasonably powerful floor fan and position it to where it creates sufficient ventilation for your Wii U.

I guess I will have to do that. Just strange its happening now. I now have the adapter plugged into the wall outlet itself instead of a surge protector, someone posted this might work. If this fails, I might just open the wii up to check the motherboard. Nobody can seem to pinpoint this problem and I see many many wii owners have this issue.
Thanks for the reply!

It also depends where you have your WiiU situated. Factors such as being near windows where the sun can heat it up, being surrounded by other electronics or near a radiator can add to the heat too.
Dust can get into the console aswell, so cleaning the fans (which is helpfull) doesn't completely solve the problem. If your worried about dust, opening it up to clean it out should help. If you don't want to be doing ithe job yourself, try ringing around a few pc repair places, they might be able to do the job for much cheaper.

Thanks!

@Dude80 I've heard that this happens frequently during days with high humidity and I can confirm this through personal experiences on the matter so on rainy days it might be best to play on some other gaming device or limit your time on the Wii U so it doesn't overheat. Like I said before a good floor fan should help out greatly, but it certainly doesn't fix the problem completely as it's just a work-around. The elevated humidity probably isn't the cause of the issue, but probably just exasperates the already overheating prone Wii U console.

Thanks Neko, thats a good point. Im going to survey the console over the next few days. Yesterday was very low humidity, also I now have it plugged directly to the wall outlet instead of a surge protector. The system has not shut down since Tuesday. Its getting warmer and more humid starting today. If it shuts off, I know its definitely the humidity.
Thanks Neko

Hey guys. Just thought I would post my results if anyone is interested. I have been monitoring my wii u for about a week now. I think I may have found my problem. For this past week I had my adapter plugged directly to the wall outlet itself, since then, no problems whatsoever! I suppose the wii u was not getting sufficient power when it was plugged into the surge protector, causing it to constantly overheat and turn off ( blinking red light). So those with similar issues who have already checked dust, fans, ventilation, interference, space, humidity etc., just simply plug directly to the wall or get a good surge protector.

I recently had a similar problem about a week ago and did the same thing. I unplugged the AC adapter from the surge protector and plugged it directly into the wall outlet, I also used one of those dust cleaner spray cans to spray out some of the dust in the vents of my Wii U. It's been working normally since then.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I also moved my Wii U from underneath my HDTV and onto an open shelf so it could get better ventilation.

Awesome. Yeah the wii u seems more prone to these issues than any of my other consoles.

Hi i having the same promblem mine is plugged into the wall n it turn on for about 5 mins the it turns off n blinks red but the gamepad still turn on

If your gamepad's battery light is flashing red, that means that your battery is about to die and you can't turn it off or it will completely die.