Nintendo Wii U Front Faceplate Replacement

Written By: Kim Arre

Comments: 11

Nintendo Wii U Front Faceplate Replacement

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

25 minutes

Introduction

Use this guide to install a new front faceplate for the Nintendo Wii U.

Tools

Parts

Nintendo Wii U Faceplate

Step 1

With the bottom of the console facing up, remove the following 6 screws hidden underneath the white square stickers:
Three 5.1mm Phillips #000 screws
Two 6.1mm Tri-wing Y0 screws
One 13.2mm Tri-wing Y1 screw

Step 2

Rotate the console 180 degrees so that the exhaust vents are facing you.
Remove the two 7.1mm Phillips #00 screws.

Both screws are not “7.1mm” in length, only the one to the right is (center of the console’s side). The left one (towards the front of the console) is 5.1mm.

LogicalMadman - 21/08/18

There’s a third screw to remove bottom-left corner of this picture. On step 9 it’s already been removed, and you need it to be removed in order to remove the metal casing in step 13.

Pascal Dagenais - 05/01/19

Step 3

On the side opposite of the exhaust vents, slide the cover faceplate towards the back of the console and pull upwards to release it.

Step 4

On the bottom of the console beneath the previously removed faceplate, remove the three 13.2mm Tri-wing Y1 screws.

Step 5

On the back of the console, lift up and release the main top cover.

The front portion of the side of the cover with the vents was kind of stuck on mine. There’s a little rubber piece in there that was the cause of this. But that same rubber piece also makes up the little handle-shaped nub that sticks out of the side there. (There’s also one at the back of the same side, but that one didn’t stick for me.) Lifting also using the little handle made it easy to remove the cover.

Nicholas Halderman - 11/03/18

Step 6

Rotate the device so that the front plate is facing you.
On each side of the console, remove the 3.5mm Phillips #0 screw connecting the DVD drive to the faceplate.

My screw won't come out, and I feel as if my screw was screwed in too tight when they made the wii u, or the 3.5 #0 is too big. I have tried other screws and I think the screw might be done for because the metal is coming off of the top and deforming the shape. I am very lost and if anyone could help me, that would be amazing.

Elijah Travers - 06/09/18

Those #0 screws might be tight and they’re easy to strip. Put some force on the screwdriver to make sure you start unscrewing them and not stripping them.

Pascal Dagenais - 05/01/19

One of the screws started to deform instead of unscrewing. I used a bigger Philips screwdriver (size 1), added a rubberband between it and the screw and used more force to avoid stripping it more and make sure it would start unscrewing. It worked hopefully ! But I wasn’t sure it would.

Pascal Dagenais - 05/01/19

Step 7

Rotate the device so that the front plate is on the right side and the ribbon cable is visible.
The ribbon cable is connected to the system by a latch which holds in the blue tab. Flip this latch up to unlock it.
Lift up on the blue tab to release the ribbon cable.

There is a step to do before to "lift up on the blue tab in order to release the ribbon cable". We must lift up the connector who maintain the ribbon cable. By default, his position his locked and in order to unlock it, must put it in his top position.

Frederic Morelli - 27/06/16

Step 8

Remove the front faceplate.

Conclusion

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

Author

Kim Arre

Member since: 11/01/13

4888 Reputation

4 comments

Great guide. I was able to fix the front USB door on my Wii u! Thanks guys!

Matt Jones -

My ribbon seems to work but the little connection it plugs into on the circuit board in the console broke off. Not just the black clip but the whole little circuit. Seems like a clean break. Can I solder it back on? If I push it back on and hold the ribbon in the red light comes on and blinks. Occasionally I can get the white light to come on for like a second but I never hear fans spinning/more of the unit coming to life before it shuts itself off.

Thoughts on how to fix it?

Gutzin Fish - 03/11/16

My daughter shoved change into my disc slot of my Wii I. I thought I got out all pulling through the faceplate dvd slot but now when I put in a game disc it won’t catcalls accept it. It pulls in, sounds like it turns a little bit and then ejects the disc. Could change still be stuck in the reader or do I need to replace it now?

Melissa - 04/05/20

Bit sad that it doesn't show how to re-insert the little ribbon cable. The tiny black latch came off, and there's no way to refix the latch back to the connector.

Regards,

Adrie

Adrie Lute -