Topic: I have four dead Wii controllers...

[WindAndConfusion]

...including the one I just bought an hour ago. It was dead when I took it out of the box.

The other three used to work, but I've spent the past several minutes testing each one. Dead.

What the Hell is going on? Has this happened to anyone else?

[K-man]

they won't light up or anything?

[scottws]

You try re-syncing them?

[WindAndConfusion]

They give no signs of life. No lights, no cursor onscreen, and no reaction to button presses. My Wii gets stuck at the starting screen when it says, "Press A to continue."

[Ghandi]

Replace "Wii controllers" with "hookers" and this thread is great.

[gpw11]

That's pretty fucked.  I'd ask if you had one of those third party chargers, but a power surge frying the batteries wouldn't explain why the brand new one doesn't work.  It's fucked that they're all fucked, but they don't even power on, so it's probably not a malfunction in the console itself.  Um, good luck with that?

[WindAndConfusion]

Apparently if I hold down the resync button, the lights will eventually start flashing. The controllers aren't dead, they're just acting like it.

I still can't get them to sync or work. I guess I'm getting some major interference from somewhere.

I still can't play with my Wii.

[Pugnate]

I still can't play with my Wii

That's a pity.

[WindAndConfusion]

That's not helpful.

[scottws]

Apparently if I hold down the resync button, the lights will eventually start flashing. The controllers aren't dead, they're just acting like it.

I still can't get them to sync or work. I guess I'm getting some major interference from somewhere.

I still can't play with my Wii.

I had the same trouble with the controller I got with Wii Play.  Are you pushing the sync button on the Wii itself as well?

[Cobra951]

The procedure is sort of a bitch.  You need to open the flap covering the SD slot and press the button there.  Then you need to remove the battery cover on the Wii remote and press the sync button there.  I did that for the remote that came with Wii Play for my daughter, at her mother's.  It worked fine.  They can use both at the same time, and it seems whichever remote comes on first gets ID'd as the first player (and the other the 2nd).  Not sure about that, not that it matters here.  Let me get a link . . .

. . . and here it is.

[WindAndConfusion]

OK, so it turns out that I had two problems: controllers randomly desynching and acting like they're dead; and my sensor bar being broken.

The cable on my sensor bar got itself wedged under the TV, cutting it in two. I had to buy a third-party replacement that is complete dogshit.

Here are all the problems with my new sensor bar:

• It is wireless, with 4 rechargeable AA batteries. For some reason, the batteries cannot be replaced.
• You have to turn it on in order to use it.
• It turns itself off after either one or two hours, depending on how you set it when you turn it on.
• I have no idea how to set it - it just randomly decides on one or two hours. The setting cannot be changed after it has been turned on.
• After the time is up, it starts beeping like an alarm clock. No, really: the sensor bar beeps, really loudly, like a fucking alarm clock, and there's no way to make it stop.
• When it is finished beeping, it turns itself off, and then refuses to be turned back on again.

[Cobra951]

The sensor bar is no such thing.  All it provides is 2 infrared reference points for the infrared camera in the remote to "see".  You can use 2 candles, or 2 old-style (i.e., hot) Christmas light bulbs, until you get a real "sensor" bar from Nintendo.