What's up with the Wii-lag anyway?

[MegaManFan]

It seems to get longer EVERY SINGLE TIME that I do something, even if I've fully powered the Wii down for a long period of time. It can take like a full freaking minute for the Wii Shop Channel to come up now. Is the Flash Memory in the Wii so poorly designed that simply adding new games and channels to your console can make it harder for the OS to access the software?

[Lord Helmet]

I have had the same problem in the past. I don't know what the deal is. I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it hasn't happened since.

[Shannon]

Is the delay before or after it tries to connect. If after then it's probably having trouble connecting to your wi-fi router.

[cimerians]

I have the same problem. I bought the LAN USB device for a hard wired connection and now it comes up lighting fast.

 

I beleive it could be your security. As a test, try using NO wireless security on your router and see how that goes. Then re-enable and see the difference and go from there.

[King_Salamon]

Agreed with the above... I just set the USB Wifi adaptor a couple days ago and wasn't getting it to work. Then I shut down some of the protection software and it's fine and moves pretty quick from what I can tell...

 

I like watching youtube movies on the big tv while lying on the couch. That's the kind of interactive tv I want.

 

Another problem I encountered was my PC's side USB ports... although my wife uses it for MP3 and camera pictures uploads, the USB Wifi Adaptor wasn't working 100%... it was a little heavy to be sitting like that. Used the cable and plugged into the never before used back of the PC USB slot and bingo... been perfect since.

[MegaManFan]

I'm on the same in-house wireless network as always, no USB adapter, and in fact when I check connected devices my Wii usually has the STRONGEST signal connection (83% to 100%). It's not connectivity lag, it's just simple straight up "give you a black screen for 5-15 seconds before running" lag. I've also noticed hella long lag when leaving VC emulated games now - at least 10 seconds before the Wii menu pops back up.

[Lord Helmet]

I have had it happen with the shop channel, the Mii channel, and the internet. All of them are WiFi enabled channels. I haven't had it happen with a VC game yet, but I only downloaded my first handfull of games last week, so I don't have much experience there yet.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

The Wii lag to me seems to be related to how long you have been playing the Wii overall. There was no lag when I first got and played it. Then as I started to add VC games (I have 3 channel screens full now total), it began to start the lag condition. I think it must be something with the Wii going through a reboot or something to load up the channels. I should try backing them up to an SD card...then deleting them and see if the lag improves. Could be an issue with number of channels loaded up in all on the Wii. If that were to be the case, then I guess I wouldn't want Nintendo to add anymore to a firmware update if the Wii has trouble with 3 screens full now.

 

I think the memory the Wii uses is also on the slow side and could have something to do with this as well.

[Shawn]

There is no lag on any of the Wii systems I've had in my hands.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

The "Lag" we are talking about is that the Wii will sometimes take a long time to go back to the main Wii menu when backing out of a game or VC game, or other channel sometimes. On my Wii the longest lag literally took just over 1min before the menu screen came back. This was after I had been viewing the Forcast Channel for a bit. I've had the Wii take a while to get back to the Wii menu after using the Mii channel as well.

 

I stated the Wii seems to reboot because many of you have probably heard the small beep like sound the Wii's drive makes when you first power it on right? Well, I hear that sound again frequently when switching in and out of a channel and the lag occurs.

 

This also sometimes can cause the bluetooth to go haywire and prevent the Wii remotes from ever seeing or talking to the Wii until you completely kill power to the Wii itself. This was discussed in another thread here. But the bluetook locking up on the Wii seems to occur more after playing the Wii for sometime. For me, if I play it or have it on for several hours straight, there is a more likely chance of the Wii knocking out the bluetooth and causing me to have to physically unplug it and plug it back in to reset it. This isn't isolated as others have seen this happen on many Wii units out there. Perhaps the newer ones are better overall, but I have a launch unit and it suffers from several issues (Though non affecting gameplay or use really).

 

1. It doesn't display the color white correctly on component cabling. My TV can handle it just fine, but it causes lots of newer LCDs, and Plasma displays to blink out because the White level is set too high in the Wii. While my TV can handle the white level just fine, anything output by my Wii with lots of white like the internet channel etc...will cause two colored spots to appear on my TV. One purple and the other yellow. They fade out on their own when playing a game or changing the screen to anything that doesn't have a large amount of White on it. Others report this same issue. It seems to be most prevalent with CRT type HDTV sets like my Samsung Slimfit. Only the Wii does this, PS2, Genesis, Saturn, Laserdisc, nothing else causes these spots to appear. Just the Wii when displaying lots of white on the screen. PS2 is connected via component cabling as well.

 

Next issue is the lag issue when changing channels. But this is already discussed. Next issue is the loud sounds when loading games up. But as long as it works..I don't really care.

 

The last issue is the Bluetooth going out after long playtimes on the Wii, but again this has been discussed. Besides these minor issues I've not had any major issues with the Wii and it seems to be built pretty damn well to me. The remotes definitely are as both of my boys have gotten a bit carried away and swung them into desks, and other hard funiture and the remotes don't show any wear on them at all from this.

[AtariJr]

the more channels and vc games you have on your wii the slower the boot up and the slower it boots wii menu. its just like a computer. If you have nothing on your hd, your computer boots fast. if you have a lot of programs it has to take a longer time to load those in boot up, making your lag a lot longer than when you first bought the computer. if you find yourself with 2 pages or more of channels.. expect lag.

[Lord Helmet]

the more channels and vc games you have on your wii the slower the boot up and the slower it boots wii menu. its just like a computer. If you have nothing on your hd, your computer boots fast. if you have a lot of programs it has to take a longer time to load those in boot up, making your lag a lot longer than when you first bought the computer. if you find yourself with 2 pages or more of channels.. expect lag.

 

I dunno about that. I experienced a full minute or two of blank screen back before I had any VC games. I just had the standard channels at that point (plus the internet channel)

[AtariJr]

the more channels and vc games you have on your wii the slower the boot up and the slower it boots wii menu. its just like a computer. If you have nothing on your hd, your computer boots fast. if you have a lot of programs it has to take a longer time to load those in boot up, making your lag a lot longer than when you first bought the computer. if you find yourself with 2 pages or more of channels.. expect lag.

 

I dunno about that. I experienced a full minute or two of blank screen back before I had any VC games. I just had the standard channels at that point (plus the internet channel)

 

ok , thats kinda freaky. dont know what caused that. but the Wii DOES boot slower the more you have on your main menu, there are articles about it on the net. It doesn't bother me too much as i only have 2 channels on the second page. i only got vc games around christmas.. haven't really had the urge to get another card since the first 2.