There is a Wii hole in my entertainment center. Until yesterday it was occupied by a more-or-less functional Wii console. Over the last few weeks the unit has veered from "more" functional to "less".

Sometime during the holidays our Wii had its first crash. In the middle of "Sonic Unleashed" the screen blacked out and a stark, white text message informed us that we had a disc read error and should reboot. The eject button worked, but the power button was unresponsive. Unplugging the power worked.

Thinking we had a bad disc, we exchanged it for another. That worked for a while, but the error returned and (in time) spread to other games. Following advice on the Ninetendo.com website, we bought the official disc cleaning kit and used it in hopes of restoring the system to full functionality. It seemed, at first, as if that had worked. Then the errors cropped up again. For the past week or so, the Wii has been prone to repeated crashes.

Like all home-tech problems, this one was turned over to the Chief Geek ... me.

Clicking through "Support" on Nintendo.com eventually brought me to the Disc Error page. Following the troubleshooting tree was pretty easy, I just clicked on the description of our problem and eventually found ourselves on the Wii Troubleshooting and Repair page. Based on what I'd read, I had to send the Wii back to Nintendo for a little quality time with a trained technician.

In preparation, I took a few minutes to back up our game data and was able to retain everything except our saves for "Guitar Hero III", "Endless Ocean", and "Super Smash Brothers Brawl". (For some reason, attempts to copy these files onto an SD card all failed.) I also backed up all of our Miis by moving them into a Wii remote.

The process was remarkably straightforward. After checking the box to indicate that I knew that Nintendo might not be able to save my data and entering my Wii serial number, I was told that my Wii was out of warranty, but could be repaired for a flat $75. I entered all of the relevant info (address, payment choice, a description of the problem) into a web form and a few minutes later an e-mail showed up with detailed shipping instructions.

By detailed, I MEAN detailed. I was instructed to write a note with my address and a description of the problem, put the note and check in an envelope (I opted to pay by check), and tape the check to the Wii. The console itself had to be put in a plastic bag, packed carefully in a padded box and taped securely shut. At this point it started to feel like I was following instructions from kidnappers. However, I wanted to get it right so I followed the instructions to the letter.

The e-mail from Nintendo also contained a link to FedEx where I printed out a shipping label (a $10 additional charge). The pre-paid label fit neatly on a single sheet of typing paper. Following the instructions provided on the website and the label itself, I folded the label over and taped it to the shipping box.

Today around noon my wife dropped the package off at the local FedEx office. According to Nintendo, I'll have my Wii back 9 to 11 days after they receive it. By my reckoning, that'll be around the beginning of March.

Will it work? I hope so. The $85 cost isn't bad compared to the price of a new Wii and (as a bonus) the post-repaired unit will carry a one year warranty. On the other hand, if the service isn't as fast as advertised, I'm going to have that darned hole in my entertainment center for an uncomfortably long time.

I'll post in this space as things develop.