Smash Wii U Having Trouble Turning On Wii U

[Codster]

My Wii U has developed a bad habit. It all started a few weeks ago (November 2014). I had to hook my 8GB Wii U console to a 1TB external hard drive. The hard drive is connected to the Wii U with a Y USB cable.

Ever since I hooked up that hard drive, my Wii U has trouble powering on. I press the Power button on my Gamepad. The QuickStart Menu loads up. The console seemingly powers on (the light turns blue and I can hear it running). However, nothing appears on my TV and my Gamepad informs me it could not connect with the Wii U (I'm always very close to the console).

I power down the console by holding the power button on the console for 4 seconds. Then, I turn the console back on. The second time, it works. Once on, I have experienced no noticeable gameplay issues.

I browsed the web with mixed results but figured I would try to get help here. This issue has me confused and worried and I could really use assistance.

 

[indysmasher]

turn off the stand by features under settings(power settings) including quick start menu. faced the same problem as u did.

every since i disabled both never had a problem

 

[Scias]

Does your external hard drive have its own power source? I read that external hard drives that get power from the Wii U might have some issues.

 

[SphericalCrusher]

Does your external hard drive have its own power source? I read that external hard drives that get power from the Wii U might have some issues.

Only with detecting the drive, it "shouldn't" cause this. Try disabling those settings as indysmasher said. Does your WiiU boot up without the hard drive connected? You probably know this, but if you don't launch anything from the Quick Start menu, the WiiU goes right back off (just had to say it). I've had a similar issue with mine once and it was just an issue of trying to read data off the hard drive while booting. Disconnecting it fixed the issue, and then I just reconnected it up after it booted. Never had an issue since. Let me know once you try these things, if you need further assistance. Good luck!

 

[Codster]

Does your external hard drive have its own power source? I read that external hard drives that get power from the Wii U might have some issues.

It's USB powered. But like I said, I use a Y USB Adapter. Which uses 2 USB ports. I've read from various sources it was a good option.

 

[Codster]

Only with detecting the drive, it "shouldn't" cause this. Try disabling those settings as indysmasher said. Does your WiiU boot up without the hard drive connected? You probably know this, but if you don't launch anything from the Quick Start menu, the WiiU goes right back off (just had to say it). I've had a similar issue with mine once and it was just an issue of trying to read data off the hard drive while booting. Disconnecting it fixed the issue, and then I just reconnected it up after it booted. Never had an issue since. Let me know once you try these things, if you need further assistance. Good luck!

So you are suggesting disconnecting the hard drive every time I turn the console on? Seems a bit tedious. I disabled Quick Start as suggested by indysmasher and it seems to have helped.

 

[Codster]

turn off the stand by features under settings(power settings) including quick start menu. faced the same problem as u did.

every since i disabled both never had a problem

When did you start having this issue? Do you use a hard drive? If so, what kind?

 

[masterjack]

its not related to hard drive .its just the power settings which came with the latest firmware( messing up the gamepad connectivity) . just turn off the stand by features including the quick start menu. you will never get a problem once u do this for now.

 

[Codster]

its not related to hard drive .its just the power settings which came with the latest firmware( messing up the gamepad connectivity) . just turn off the stand by features including the quick start menu. you will never get a problem once u do this for now.

It's weird, though. Because I never had issues until I hooked up the hard drive. I did read that the 5.0 (I believe) update was the culprit, but I thought that was months ago.

 

[SphericalCrusher]

So you are suggesting disconnecting the hard drive every time I turn the console on? Seems a bit tedious. I disabled Quick Start as suggested by indysmasher and it seems to have helped.

No, not every time, just once to see if it works. I only had to do it once over the life of my console. But yes, that would be a pain. Just gotta narrow down the problem and it sounds like it could be your HDD if it boots without it.