Wii U GamePad WiFi Replacement

Written By: Valentina Cerruty
  • Comments: 41
Wii U GamePad WiFi Replacement

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

9

Time Required

10 - 15 minutes

Introduction

This guide will help you to remove the WiFi board from the Nintendo Wii U Gamepad.

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    • Place Gamepad face down and remove the two 4.7 mm screws with a Phillips size #00 screwdriver.

    tried to unscrew the 10 Tri-Wing size Y1 screw with my iFixIt toolkit

    unfortunately the tool is too “fat” and short, it cannot reach 4 screws on the corners of the gamepad.

    having the iFixIt toolkit and needing to purchase an additional slim screwdriver it’s a shame…

    Antonello Iannone -

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    • Lift and remove the battery plate.

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    • With your finger, press down and pull back on the battery connector plug.

    • Remove the battery from the battery case.

    Battery lifts up from the bottom not the top like the photo shows.

    Tyler Schommer -

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    • Remove 10 9mm screws with Tri-Wing size Y1 screwdriver around the outer case.

    • Lift up on the back of case.

    • Lift gently because the rumble motor in the back of the case is still connected by a cable to the motherboard.

    I used a small blade tip to life up on the black squares that covered the screw holes. Replacing them after.. I skipped that as it seemed impossible they would even stick back down.

    Chris -

    I am having trouble getting the two screws on the hand grips as the screws are too deep. What should I use to get them?

    [deleted] -

    I ended up having to buy some cheap amazon screwdrivers and are very disappointed

    [deleted] -

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    • Unplug outer case rumble motor connector from the motherboard with your fingers.

    • Do not pull on the wires as shown in this picture, they will likely break off. Pull directly on the plug (NOT the receptacle)

    Do not pull by the wires! If you do, you better be pretty good at soldering.

    Brandon -

    I agree. A circle over the plug would have been better as the picture looks like you just pull on the wires lol.

    Chris -

    Thanks for the comment. I did get a set of tweezers and the negative cable broke anyway. They really could have done a better job at using a different connector for that.

    Kristen Bartholomew -

    Great. Didn't pull on cord. Whole thing ripped off.

    August -

    Why in the world is this thing so tightly connected?

    Andrew Moore -

    Thanks for the comment. I did get a set of tweezers to try to pull it out but still ended up breaking the negative cable. They really could have used a better set of cables and connectors for this.

    Kristen Bartholomew -

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    • Open the top and bottom clasp that connects the white flex cable to the motherboard with the tweezer.

    • Remove the white flex cable with the tweezers.

    Attention! You have to flip up gently the small plastic cap on top of the ribbon connector. Do not try to slide the plastic cap horizontally. This method holds for all ribbon connectors.

    Marc Peetermans -

    Why is it necessary? The white flex cable doesn’t seem to block the way to the Bluetooth unit.

    metm98 -

    It is a easy step and makes dealing with everything else a little easier.

    Chris -

    Isn’t it WiFi?

    Brayton Dickey -

    This step is unnecessary, there is no reason to go through it.

    jonv85 -

    Why would you do this? It’s not blocking anything. Not even near the wifi module.

    N64 -

    I’m just curious, as a technician gamer, you say it makes it easier, but I don’t see how it would affect the Bluetooth, sure the motherboard or the touch screen, but the Bluetooth chip is out of the way. I’m not trying to be critical, just want to understand.

    Hydron -

    Pointless step for this task.

    MrW -

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    • With your fingers, lift and remove WiFi board.

    • Remove the board carefully as there are still two wires attached.

    These little boards (Bluetooth and NFC) have a small connector but also have double sided tape holding them down. So you may need to apply more force than expected to remove these due to the tape.

    Louis Bellanca -

    Isn’t it Wi-Fi?

    Brayton Dickey -

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    • Disconnect the black and white wires off of the back of the WiFi module.

    One important thing to note here is how the black and white wires are routed to the board. You should take a picture since if you do not route these the same way, the wires can interfere with the button or get trapped when you assemble the case back possible blocking a screw hole.

    Louis Bellanca -

    Isn’t it Wi-Fi?

    Brayton Dickey -

    Any idea what the name of the white wire is? I accidentally broke through mine.. having trouble finding a replacement

    Winder Mere -

    how do i route the bluetooth anntenas

    Zach -

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    • Lift and remove the WiFi module.

    Isn’t it Wi-Fi?

    Brayton Dickey -

    Does it really matter?

    martin8777 -

    Thanks a lot for the guide. I just fixed my gamepad and it appears to be working good. Just one question: why do you include the step in which you remove the flatflex cable to the other pcb? It seems unnecesary

    Carlo Zanardi -

    Do you happen to know where you can find replacement wires for the back and white wires?

    Amber S -

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

Valentina Cerruty

Member since: 10/02/16

3435 Reputation

12 comments

I just completed this repair on our Game Pad, and it worked perfectly!

There were two things that I noted that may be of use to anyone else completing this repair. First, the 9mm screws on the back may be located under small stickers used to conceal the screw holes. If you take them up carefully with a knife or other flat blade, you can reuse them if desired. Second, I didn’t see the need to remove the white ribbon cable in step #6. I successfully completed the repair without that step.

DarrinGrimm -

I just completed this repair on our Game Pad, and the guide worked perfectly!

There were two things that I noticed that may be of help to someone else completing this repair. First, note that the 9mm screws holding the back on may be located under small black stickers used to hide the screw holes. If you take them up carefully with a knife or other flat blade, you should be able to reuse them if you desire. Second, I didn’t see a need to remove the white ribbon cable in Step #6. I successfully completed the repair without that step.

Cheers!

DarrinGrimm -

This fix worked perfectly - our Wii U was virtually unusable because of the severely limited range of the gamepad. My kids are thrilled that they can comfortably play again!

Bill Jones -

Worked perfectly, gamepad only worked within 2 ft of the console and now works 15ft away.

Instructions were concise, well illustrated and easy to complete.

Thanks a lot!

Peter Grubb -

I went to do this - already have another chip - but I discovered there are no wires attached! The white and black wires shown are not in my gamepad at all. I’m amazed I can connect in the first place. Any idea how I can replace the wires that attach to the chip? Or work around it?

Alexander Albert -

If you’re still looking 2 years later…

I replaced my laptop bluetooth antennae with a short one that I got from Amazon (I had damaged the connector on the original). Just crammed it into some empty space, left the original hanging attached to nothing.

Something like this is what you want: https://www.amazon.com/Hilitand-Internal...

Mine didn’t even have the sticky piece on the end; they were literally just 6 inches of wire with the connector. I’d be willing to gamble $5 it’ll work on a Wii U also.

Ryan Dotts -

tried to unscrew the 10 Tri-Wing size Y1 screw with my iFixit toolkit

unfortunately the tool is too “fat” and short, it cannot reach 4 screws on the corners of the gamepad.

having the iFixit toolkit and having to purchase an additional “slim” screwdriver it’s really a shame…

Antonello Iannone -

Where could I find a good Bluetooth chip?

Hydron -

does anyone know where i can buy the replacement part? everywhere i look it is out of stock…

Isaac -

You can order them from china

Qweghj -

If I perform this operation will the internet be ruined? How's about the WiFi?

Loamy Prescott -

The Internet connection is on the Wii U console. It uses WiFi 5ghz to transmit and receive to and from the GamePad. If the GamePad's WiFi chip is damaged, the GamePad will no longer work.

Ethan Banks -