Wii U console turning off in Wii Mode

[Tetra's Wink]

This has happened to me 3 times now.

Basically, my wii U (the entire console) sometimes randomly turns off when I am in the middle of playing a game. So far this has only happened 3 times (the last 2 times were literally minutes apart though). Also, all three times were on "Wii Mode". It has not happened on the Wii U mode (yet). As I said, it is the entire console that turns off - not just the gamepad.

The first time it happened was when I was playing Final Fantasy II (IV) on the wii virtual console, via the wii U's "wii mode". This was just 1 occasion, and I considered it an isolated incident. This was 2-3 weeks ago.

However, today, I fired up New Super Mario Bros Wii (the actual Wii disc) on the Wii U's "wii mode". And the issue happened when I was playing, as in, the Wii U completely shut off. The red light was on, not flashing or anything, just as if I'd turned it off normally.

I am now worried that it will happen again and again and can't relax playing games anymore!

Has anyone else experienced this? And if so, how do you fix it?

I don't have anything unofficial downloaded to my Wii U, no illegal emulaters, nothing, hell I wouldn't even know how to.

However, I do have my Wii U gamepad plugged into it's charger constantly. Could this be an issue?

I noticed that the Wii U's automatic shut-down was enabled, where it shuts down after so much time of inactivity. So I disabled that. And since then, the issue has not happened again. So maybe this fixed it, but I don't know why it would have, because there was no inactivity on the system when it shut down on me. (Unless it's a "Wii mode" thing, and that somehow counts as Wii U inactivity??)

As mentioned, this has yet to happen on the Wii U mode. So I am wondering if this is only an issue with Wii Mode? It better not shut off during BOTW!

I'm confused and can't get to the bottom of this, can anyone shed light?

So...
1 - Only happens on Wii Mode (so far)
2 - I have my Wii U gamepad plugged into it's charger constantly
3 - I have had the system since launch
4 - The problem has also only happened since I plugged it into a different plug socket
5 - I have nothing external/unofficial/illegal downloaded onto my Wii U

 

[Ventus]

is you exposing your wee wee to some intense heat? devices these days automatically shut off when they are facing too much temperatures. if your wee wee is backed up against a wall, or caught between some wood on a desk or something, you need to get it ventilated. also, take a look at the exhaust and see if there is any dust in it, blow it out. your wee wee doesn't like dust, trust me

as for the gamepad, IDK bro I play my wee wee without gamepad all the time. I don't know if your battery may be dying or some ****, but you might also contact ANintendo Support be fore they pull support permanently.

 

[Tetra's Wink]

is you exposing your wee wee to some intense heat? devices these days automatically shut off when they are facing too much temperatures. if your wee wee is backed up against a wall, or caught between some wood on a desk or something, you need to get it ventilated. also, take a look at the exhaust and see if there is any dust in it, blow it out. your wee wee doesn't like dust, trust me

as for the gamepad, IDK bro I play my wee wee without gamepad all the time. I don't know if your battery may be dying or some ****, but you might also contact ANintendo Support be fore they pull support permanently.

Thanks for the reply. As far as I know, I'm not exposing it to any heat. Either way, I checked the exhaust/vent things. They didn't look dusty, but I blew them a bit anyway just to make sure.

Another thing I forgot to mention was that it's plugged into an extension cable, if that makes any difference.

 

[Ventus]

Another thing I forgot to mention was that it's plugged into an extension cable, if that makes any difference.

Like an outdoor extension or do you mean a powerstrip? Wii U AC adapter isn't a ground and plugging it into ground can **** your **** up, i have a pic of my gamepad charger that got major rust damage:

 

[Tetra's Wink]

Just a regular extension cable. With 4 sockets. I've switched it to a different socket, see if that makes any difference.

I vacuumed the vents to get any dust out. But I didn't see any dust. Which is worrying me. Is it possible that there was lots of dust I removed that wasn't visible?

What is confusing me is that this is a recent problem which has only started a few weeks ago. The only different thing I did was change the extension cable after buying a new TV.

So it must be either that or dust. I'm hoping dust, because I have lots of things plugged into my TV, so can't have another set-up.

Also, I said it only happens in Wii mode, but, thinking about it, I haven't hardly played any Wii U stuff since this problem started... So it probably happens on that too.

 

[Tetra's Wink]

I didn't wanna risk this happening with BOTW, so this has made me order a switch now! That will set me back a bit lol. Hope it's worth it. I was gonna get a Switch at some point anyway, so whatever.

EDIT: So anyway, an update. After doing the things I mentioned above, I played for just under 2 hours, and it didn't shut off. Also, the console wasn't remotely hot. (However, I didn't check if the console was hot when it shut off the 3 times before). So maybe I've solved the problem, but I'm still wary of course.

 

[Tetra's Wink]

Sorry for another double post, but it's been a while now and wanted to just update to say the issue hasn't happened even once since I did the things I did. So hopefully, it fixed it.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

*the wii u blows up*