Word of Warning: Don’t Turn Off Your Wii U System While It’s Downloading Your Firmware Update


You could inadvertently "brick" your system!
This article is over 11 years old and may contain outdated information

While a lot of us are excited with the way the Wii U console turned out when it released yesterday, some of you were a bit bothered by the need to download a 5 GB firmware update right from the start.  What’s worse, some of you thought it was something you could download later, so you turned off the system to boot it back up and play games.

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Only problem with that – Nintendo’s console isn’t too fond about being shut off midway through a firmware download.

According to various reports through forums and Twitter posts, many folks have tried to turn off their system during a firmware update and turn it back on, only…it doesn’t.  Apparently, the system “bricks” as a result, rendering it possibly as useless and forcing new owners to call Nintendo to see what’s up.  (Nintendo’s customer service line is 1-800-255-3700, by the way.)

Word of warning – once you start a firmware update, LET IT FINISH.  It’s only about an hour or so wait anyway, and you’ll have a wonderfully working system as a result.


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