Topic: Damn Nintendo and their stupid dual layered discs!

I recently bought Metroid Prime trilogy and I'm having a hell of a time getting my Wii to read the disc. I even went out and bought a lense cleaner. It worked pretty good after that but two days later the stupid thing wouldn't load again. I wasted nearly an hour of time I could have been playing the game but noooo. I'm about ready to go buy a spare Wii so I'll have one that can read these god forsaken dual layered discs. Anybody else been having this problem?

I've read that the Wii has issues with dual layer discs when your Wii is setup vertically, and that it has an easier time reading games when setup horizontally. Just curious - is your setup vertical or horizontal?

It this true? I have problems with Call of Duty game, where the drive (DVD) is constantly loading. Would it something help, if I place the Wii horizontally?

Yes, I had this problem with Brawl (Nintendo fixed it but the problem returned) and now MPT. I have given up in all honesty, having tried unofficial and official disc cleaners. I have also opened the thing up on many occasions so as to see if anything was blocking the lens, which it wasn't, and have probably used a whole can of air on its innards.
I am resigned to buying a new Wii but feel silly for doing so for two games, so am a) waiting to see if any future releases go dual-layer and b) waiting for a price-drop as opposed to a rise. I bought my console at launch which is nearly three years ago now and to be honest will feel very hard done by if I have to fork out a similar amount again. And of course, I could save on the cost of a new Wii by trading in the old one, but not while it's got £100's of pounds of software locked inside.
I feel for you dude, it sucks. I miss cartridges!

@ReZon: Mine was vertical for a year, and has been horizontal for the following two.

Give it a shot. I've had my Wii since 2006 laying horizontal, and haven't had any problems. My understanding is that when the Wii is laying flat, the disc can be better centered. Some Wiis may have no problem reading games vertically, but if you are having disc reading problems, I'd suggest laying it down. Just make sure the Wii is off when you move the system.

You can check Nintendo's Tech Support forums for more in-depth explanations.

Strange, my Wii doesn't have any problem and I bought it used. Well, actually there were a couple issues that I had with Brawl but everything worked out in the end

OK, thanks guys. As soon as I get home, I will try that out.

Mine has been vertical since launch.

My Wii is set horizontally. It seems like it just has bad days and good days. I've had smash bros brawl which is also a dual layered disc and it never gave me problems until three days ago. I've cleaned the wii several times and it still won't load. I'd send it in for repairs but the thought of waiting so long and the possibility of losing all my save data is just too horrifying. Cartridges were so much easier. I didn't need to depend on an overly sensitive lense.

@Machu: You have had your Wii apart... would you be comfortable replacing the drive. A lot of drives available at ebay. I have a really hard time believing in this vertical vs. horizontal placement thing. It can´t have any impact at all... and if it works out laying the wii down... then I believe your drive is about to collapse anyhow, any second. Nah... get a new drive.

My condolences... are you using the official cleaning kit?

@Mange: Thanks for the suggestion, I hadn't even considered that, what with it being a Nintendo product. But I will do some research to see how much it costs and how risky it is. I know the inside of it quite well now having fixed 'the noise' and attempts to fix the lens. Thanks dude.

@ReZon: Notice how the first word in the description of that disc cleaner is 'reduce'. Didn't work for me, and I'm a bit cross at Nintendo for what seems like an admission to the problem, yet no real fix.

By the way... When I originally had this problem on Brawl launch day (can you imagine how painful that was what with all the hype), Nintendo said it was due to some resin left over from the manufacturing process. I believed them of course, until the problem re-occurred at which point I realised it was all tosh!

Yeah I'm using the official nintendo cleaning kit but It only worked that first time I used it. For almost two whole days It was fine then out of the blue it decides not to read my dual layered games again. It's like my Wii has a mind of it's own and only reads the disc when it feels like it. Either that or the most miniscule piece of dust is enough to make those discs unreadable.

Not sure how it is in the UK, but Nintendo of America seems to be offering to fix the issue for free. It says that you shouldn't lose any of your data, but there's still a risk. I'd take the risk, just to have everything work the way it's supposed to. Just back up all the data you can.

See above your quote.

@ReZon: As I've stated previously I have already returned my Wii to Nintendo, and they kindly fixed it at no cost and returned it to me a week later with no loss of data. I played Brawl for six months happily, but the problem then returned. I'm not sending my Wii in everytime it needs a clean or whatever they did. But thanks.

Looking at these replacement drives, and I could probably get one for 30 squid. I am tempted.

It's about time someone made a topic about this! My SSBB disc worked fine [most of the time] for nearly a year since I bought it in March 2008. But now, my Wii will not read SSBB at all. The cleaning kit did not worked at all. I do not want to send my Wii in for repairs, because I use my Wii almost daily. I'm considering buying a second Wii just for my dual-layer games, and I plan to do that sometime in the future. I also might send my Wii in for repairs instead, but I'm not sure yet.

If you've got a handle on how its done, go for it! I'm sure there's plenty of how-to guides out there too for assistance.

My Wii reads every other game just fine, but I have not bought Metroid Prime Trilogy [and I'm not going to buy it unless I buy a new Wii]. But, I have around 20-30 Wii games, and SSBB is the only one that is not readable.

@diego_pmc: I have no issues with ANY other discs, they all work perfectly everytime. It is purely Brawl and MPT. A coincidence? No.

@ReZon: I was doubtful and apprehensive about removing the lawnmower from my Wii, but managed it. So here's hoping youtube and online tutorials get me through this one too.