Nintendo Wii DVD Drive Replacement

If you’re wondering what to use for this, the main blade of a pocket knife from the corner of the plastic works well.

As you remove the hardware in each step, place them together on a sheet of paper and circle them with the step number.

1/16 x 1 craftsman Phillips mini screwdriver works for this if you don’t have the tri-wing driver

How do you make one ? If you don’t have the screwdriver

I am using a 18ct empty egg carton to hold the screws/parts removed in the steps.

Larry’s idea about the bins was great and helpful.

Robots is right- you NEED a Y1. Just buy the thing with the drive. I didn’t, tried many other options, none worked. Had to order the thing separately with shipping. Mistake….

I also broke my wire trying to use tweezers. I should have known better. I use (normally do) a spudger on one side and my fingernail on the other to gently pry these types of connectors out. I ended up buying a replacement faceplate on ebay.

I also broke off the flimsy wires at the connector. To NOT break the wires, alternate pressing on the right and left sides of the connector with a small flathead screwdriver. Be patient, it will eventually work itself free. There isn't enough to grab onto with the tweezers and you'll only succeed in having them slip off, grab the wires, and yank the wires out.

Good news is that if you do rip out the wires, no worries... I didn't reconnect them and the unit works just fine. I have no idea what those wires are even for. Power LED continues to work no problem.

I used two small flat head screw drivers, one on each side to pry out the connector. This created less pressure from me and reduced my chance of cutting the wires.

This guide is really marvellous - works a treat. But I would definitely recommend needle nose pliers for this step rather than tweezers. It's really easy if you use pliers and potentially damaging if not, and you get it wrong. I had one sniff at it with tweezers then immediate nipped out to the garage for my pliers!

Definitely a tricky step with that connector. I also cut broke the wire accidentally and was going to just give up trying to fix the Wii. However, as others stated the Wii works just fine, including the lights. I do wonder what those wire are for.

I also had a lot of trouble trying to get the connector off with tweezers. Ended up leaving it attached. It does not really get in the way of remaining steps.

Needlenose pliers did the trick for us!

Needlenose pliers did it for us!

You can save yourself some trouble at this point and skip the rest of the disassembly: See that green tab to the left of the sd card slot? THAT’S the wifi board (and that green tab, in hindsight, seems designed to make it accessible without taking apart the whole device, don’t you think?) A little careful spudging, and you’ve got it out, ready to replace! (There’s a guy who shows the process on youtube, if you want to review first)

I got the connector out ok thanks to the suggestions here, but I couldn’t figure out how to reattach it. In the end, I just kind of threw it in and it worked fine.

Very clear instructions - thanks! Faceplate needed replacing after one of my son’s friends accidentally kicked it across the room. $10 bucks to fix, thanks to ebay and these instructions. I’d never heard of a “tri-wing” screw before.

I just left the connector alone and kept it connected while working on it. There is enough wire to allow you to do what you need if you are just careful not to snag it on anything.

This was the trickiest part, I almost broke the wires using tweezers and pliers, so instead use a flat end screwdriver to pry it out, when putting it back in use needlenose pliers to start it then use your fingernail to go the rest of the way.

After I got the connector out I noticed the little locking flap on the top side of the connector. I think prying this first is the key to easier removal.

Anyone know of a method to replace the connector if you end up breaking the wires? Bits of wire are stuck in the white plastic connector, so I'm wondering if I can buy a connector online somewhere without replacing the whole face plate. Thanks :)

I severed both wires. If you want to avoid removing the connector, you can lengthen the two wires by unserpentining them from the wire holder that's in the cover.

Make sure there is no SD card in your unit before pulling this off, otherwise it'll get stuck and you could snap your sd card in half!

This paper wad trick totally worked for me too!

Standard Tri-Wing bits will NOT fit into the holes. Make sure that you get one of the tool kits from iFixit (I just ordered the Mako Driver/Bit kit with 64 bits ) - the Tri-Wing bits in this kit have a narrow shaft that allows it to reach deep into narrow holes like these on the Wii . (Disclaimer - I have no association with iFixit).

I just sawed off a bit of the shank holder from the iFixit tool, in order for the bit to go deep enough into the case.

The tool still works fine.

Thanks for the paper wad trick advice! Worked perfectly with my Wii

The 4mm driver was the exact fix for this problem, no mods necessary

A fan filter fell out at this step how do you put it back?

Edit: I figured it out it was from the side intake vent. Just line up the two notches with the pegs in the case to hold it in place

Where can we get a new battery from?

Another method for getting the front screws back in is to insert a small pair of tweezers through the DVD slot to guide the screw in. I just dropped the screw in between the tweezers which held the screw just above the hole. Then I was able to use the phillips screwdriver to guide the screw into the hole and screw it in. Done in just a few seconds.

Another option would be to stick a dab of hot glue on the screw to your screwdriver and then when the screw has been driven home either the glue stays on the driver and is easily removed or it stays on the screw and you just pull it off with tweezers or needle nose pliers.

The screwdriver provided in the kit by ifixit is a magnetized screwdriver and works perfectly!

If you are disassembling your Wii because, say, a two-year-old has shovelled pennies into it (yes, that was me) you will also need to partially disassemble the drive itself, which is not covered in this guide. Luckily it's really easy. Unscrew the 4-5 larger Philips/cross head screws on the top of the frame (NOT any of the smaller darker ones) around the edges, and the frame on top of the drive will lift right off. Be careful as there is cabling running to it, so don't yank it or pull it too far off. You will now be able to get any coins or other foreign objects out.

I didn't have a magnetic screwdriver, so I applied a tiny amount of fabric glue to the head of each screw, waited a minute for it to start to harden, inserted my non-mag screwdriver into the screw head, and the screw stuck to the screwdriver long enough to insert it into the hole.

Be advised that the posts that these screws go into are very fragile and may even break. Make sure to get the little plastic pieces out if you over tighten them or they are just brittle and broken to begin with. The screws seem to be long enough to work if you do break the posts off completely.

Be careful with these screws - they seem to be quite malleable and easy to strip.

I had to use Kapton tape. I couldn’t get the clip back on.

This was the trickiest step for me. Take note of how the ribbon is configured before you loosen the clip to help you replace it with confidence in the right way.

Careful! When reinstalling, I think I bent and broke the ribbon. The Wii doesn't respond upon power up - I think because it doesn't see the drive.