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Comment by eterpstra | Hacker News Reader

Similar story: I was at a friend's house, and we wanted to play Nintendo Wii. Tried to turn it on, but nothing happened. My buddy grabbed the power brick, tossed it in the microwave, and blasted it for 3 seconds. After plugging it back in, it started like nothing was wrong. I was flabbergasted (one: because WTF! who puts a power supply in a microwave? and two: OMG! it worked!)

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It worked because he did a Wii AC power adapter reset:

"The AC adapter must remain unplugged at both ends for a full two minutes."

https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/assets/js/doc_frame.jsp?f=...

The microwave was like customer support telling a caller to unplug the power cable and blow into the power socket.

Stupid Wii power supplies, these are known to be pieces of junk. I keep a spare for this reason. Simply letting it "rest" unconnected for some unknown duration also does the trick.

That's probably an open polyfuse. Unlike the fuses of old, the new ones actually regenerate themselves (re-crystallize).

That is a good idea. I should have thought of that. Thanks.

I heard it as the Wii power supplies are very protective against surges at the cost of being extremely sensitive to surges. I've done the "unplug it completely for a few minutes" to restore functionality a few times.

They are definitely too sensitive. Fortunately a second one may be had for less than ten bucks.

It isn't the best of ideas to cook electronics in a oven also used for food.

One detail I forgot to mention: this was at the end of a very successful night of drinking.

Ah, now it all makes sense.

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