Wii Buzzing Noise

This page describes how to fix the constant loud buzzing, humming or scraping sound that's common in many older Nintendo Wii units.

The buzzing/humming starts after a disc is inserted, and is proportional disc rotation speed. The buzzing may case disc read problems, as the vibration will affect the Wii's ability to read the disc. If your Wii is buzzing loudly, and not reading discs, this is probably the reason.

The root problem is shown in this picture of the Wii's internal DVD unit drive spindle:

The buzzing is caused by the marked plastic ridge rubbing the metal underneath some or all of the four "Rubbing" areas. If you have your Wii apart, you can see the effect by touching the metal above the rubbing areas with the tip of a small screwdriver. You can feel the vibration, and as you press gently, the buzzing will change.

I'm not sure why the problem occurs or seems to get worse over time. Perhaps something is wearing, causing the clearance to decrease between the plastic ridge and the metal section.

How to Fix The Buzzing Noise

See this page for detailed instructions on disassembling the Wii. You do NOT need to remove the DVD unit. NOTE: in addition to a small Philips screwdriver, you will need a special "tri-wing" screwdriver, available from Amazon ($4) and eBay.

There are several solutions documented on-line. One method is to loosen one of the screws holding the DVD drive cover down. See: [1] This method did not work for us, and seems very sensitive to the flex and orientation.

Another method is to bend the metal bracket in various ways to provide better clearance to the plastic spindle ridge. See this video: [2] This method worked partially, but we weren't sure how much we could bend things before breaking something or causing some other problem.

Our solution was to shave the problematic ridge down slightly. We did this with a sharp knife, while a disc was loaded and spinning. Hold the knife at a right angle to the ridge, so you are scraping gently, not cutting. (A razor blade should work as well). Small shavings of plastic will come off, and the buzzing will eventually subside and stop. It took 3 or 4 shavings of about 10 seconds each to cause our buzzing to completely stop. Blow or vacuum the shavings out.

Once fixed, we reassembled the unit. The buzzing is gone, and it reads discs perfectly!

If You Can't Fix It

If you can't fix it, the next step is to consider a new DVD drive (Wii drives are interchangeable). You can get one for between $65 and $80, but keep in mind that these are used drives -- you may end up with the same problem over time.

See replacement DVD drives on Amazon.

Failing that, the next option is to buy a new Wii (~$200).