Wii U Bricks If Unplugged During Day-One Firmware Update

Posted By: Nick Hernandez In: Console News, Gaming News, Wii U On: 19 Nov

There is always a warning on any console or game to not unplug or turn off your console during a firmware or game update and if you’re the proud owner of a Wii U. DO NOT UNPLUG OR TURN OFF your console during the day-one update.

Unfortunately, LA Times film and video game industry journalist Ben Fritz reports on Twitter. Fritz says he unplugged his Wii U 15 minutes into the update, when the progress bar said it would take two hours to finish(which no one ever wants to wait that long on a new console), and now his console is now completely busted. There was no “cancel” option, Fritz says.

A few people on Twitter have chimed in with their own update horror stories, with one saying the connection timed out during the update and another claiming Nintendo support told him to unplug the Wii U for 15 seconds, both scenarios ending with bricks. A 5GB update will take a while to process, of course expanding the chances of something going wrong.

Nintendo of America has acknowledged this issue on Twitter and warns owners, “please do not power down or unplug your system while downloading updates. Doing so may cause damage to your Wii U.”

Seems like a rocky start for the console. But we have some good titles to look forward to.

UPDATE: The “bricking” Ben Fritz was experiencing was simply the download finishing and installing. Also the update is confirmed to be 1.2gb not 5 as originally mentioned.