Nintendo recommends tried and trusted technique for fixing products 10 Jan 2008

Russ Neumeier of Wired Blogs' GeekDad fame has published a great post on the advice he received from Nintendo when trying to fix a problem with his Wii's remote.

Having gone through the usual motions of checking the Wiimote's batteries, re-syncing and resetting it, he decided to call Nintendo's customer service line, whereupon he was given the following guidance:

Friendly Nintendo Help Desk Lady:

"Okay - I want you to take the remote, button side down and smack it into the palm of your hand two or three times."

Russ:

"You've got to be kidding."

Friendly Nintendo Help Desk Lady:

"No sir, do it hard enough that I can hear it across the phone line but not hard enough to damage the remote."

Russ:

"You're sure?"

Friendly Nintendo Help Desk Lady:

"Yes, sir."

Funnily enough, after smacking the Wiimote three times in the palm of his hand, it worked!

So there you have it: Sometimes tech products really can be fixed with a good ol' fashioned smack upside the head!