my wiimote won't sync??? help

so i just got gifted a wii for christmas, pretty sure it's secondhand but idk, i'm trying to sync the controller and it won't work, it doesn't even blink. it's not an issue with the batteries, i tried them with a rock band 4 guitar and they work fine. i tried holding down the sync button on the wii and the wiimote at the same time, but that didn't work. i tried holding down the sync button on the wii and then holding down the button on the wiimote (and vice versa) and neither worked, i tried turning off the wii then turning it back on again and that hasn't worked, so i'm just stuck here