iFixit - Most Helpful Questions With Device Nintendo DS Lite

Nintendo DS Lite: Won't Power Up, No power light.

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 09:55:29 -0700

I've got a DS Lite I'm trying to get working. When it's plugged in, the amber light comes on like it's charging, but it won't power up. I've torn it apart and played with it for a couple of hours, and have some interesting details, but I've reached pretty much the end of what I can find info about....

It doesn't seem to be either of the fuses, both test ok

It seems to be something in the area of the contact pads INS+, INS-, VDET, and PVOD. I sort of accidentally found that if I had my thumb on those, it would work, and it would stop working shortly after I removed my thumb. I've tried every combination of jumpering one contact to another with 0 success. At this point I am thinking maybe my thumb is pushing down into one of the holes in the board, and that's getting it.

There are quite a few combinations possible if I include both the pads and the holes that my thumb would cover, so I'm hoping someone can maybe point me in a useful direction.

Any ides?

⟐ Answered July 26, 2012 at 9:55 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: DS Lite randomly dies. Replaced batt. No diff. Help.

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 11:42:29 -0700

Don't think it's worth returning my son's DS Lite to Nintendo for a $75 repair job, but would like to fix if it's not impossible. Is this common? Is there a fix? Thanks so much.

⟐ Answered July 3, 2012 at 11:42 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: How fix bent something inside card reader?

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:01:58 -0700

I watched inside card reader.

then I saw bent something.(just one)

Is that not right?

Everything staight up to bottom

but just one is left to right.

Do I have to replace or remove it?

Thank you!

I'm waiting for answer :-)

⟐ Answered December 2, 2011 at 8:01 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: Why wont my ds lite read games

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 09:48:36 -0700

ive noticed that the pins in my daughters ds lite are bent as she inserted the game in the wrong way. if i can take the console apart and straighten them then will the console work ok .

⟐ Answered February 2, 2013 at 9:48 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: What causes a DS Lite not to charge?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:58:38 -0700

After doing a complete shell housing replacement on an old DS Lite, everything works but have only now noticed it doesn't charge.

It's not the cable, as it charges another non-modded DS Lite fine.

What can I do to fix this? Hopefully it's not a Logic board problem.

⟐ Answer accepted January 5, 2012 at 8:58 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: DS lite turns off when digitizer is touched?

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:46:04 -0700

I have a DS lite that I replaced the upper LCD on. It turned on fine once i had the shell back together, and the start up screen loaded, but when i touch the bottom screen at any point the whole unit shuts down. If i dont touch the digitizer it will remain on and power on/off normally. The only problem occurs when you touch the digitizer.

I was kind of at a loss as to what to do so i checked/cleaned ribbon cables, replaced the Fuses and even the L2 inductor, but still have the same problem. I have all the parts and tools required to do repairs, but I'm new to DS's and cant find anything on this.

Anyone have any recomendations?

⟐ Commented October 31, 2011 at 2:46 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: DS Lite won't turn back on after replacing bottom screen.

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 07:14:03 -0700

My son broke the bottom screen on his Nintendo DS Lite, not the touch screen, but the one that shows the images.

I followed instructions to replace it, tried to turn it back on, green LED light flickered a couple of times and now it does nothing when I tried to turn it on.

I opened device again and found out I had not connected the ribbon cables all the way in, fixed the issue, tried again but nothing. Device is dead.

Am I missing something? Or maybe it has nothing to do with re-assembly, but battery went bad after 3 months of sitting on a shelf before I finally decided to repair device? I'm trying all this while device is plugged-in but yellow LED light doesn't turn on either. I don't have a spare battery to try that option, I would have to go buy one.

Thanks in advance for your help!

⟐ Commented September 25, 2011 at 7:14 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: top screen shows image-but with green colouration

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:02:04 -0700

am fixing yet another ds lite (for yet another butterfingered son!) and the top screen is green, you can see all the images but only if you like green! the cable looks fine and so does the connector. I'm guessing this is definately a replace the LCD scenario, but on the off chance there is something else causing the problem, I'd love to hear it! Thanks.x

⟐ Commented January 13, 2011 at 3:02 pm -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: Just Replaced Hinges, Now Upper Screen Shuts Off

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:56:38 -0700

After putting my DS lite back together (replacing hinges) I now have upper screen problems. It comes on, them immediately goes black. The lower screen works fine. I re-worked it, same problem. Should I try a third time? Please don't tell me somehow I blew my upper screen.

⟐ Commented January 10, 2011 at 8:56 pm -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: DS charging port damage, can this be repaired?

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:43:28 -0700

My son pulled the insides out of the charging port . Is this a repair that I can do myself or should this be done in a repair shop?

⟐ Commented December 9, 2012 at 7:43 pm -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: Broken upper case hinge

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 10:01:04 -0700

Will a replacement case fix if wires are damaged or are they included with case?

⟐ Answered November 15, 2012 at 10:01 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: The DS won't turn on. Green light flashes for a second.

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:14:47 -0700

Hello,

Again I have a question about a DS Lite. This time it has the problem that it won't turn on. The green powerlight flashes for a second or two though. When I remove the Wi-Fi module, and then turn it on, the green light stays green, but it still won't power on.

I think it might be the upper LCD screen, since I replaced that. I read in someone elses question that the cable wasn't plugged in all the way. How far should it go in?

I have big fingers, so I can't really put it in farther since I can't get grip on it...

Do you think the LCD is the problem indeed (makes sense ofcourse), or something else? I tried the fuses F1 and F2, both seem to be fine.

Thank you.

Johan

⟐ Commented September 27, 2012 at 4:14 pm -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: No power, fuses good, and I've tried new motherboard.

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:25:54 -0700

Trying to repair a DSL that doesn't power on at all. I checked the fuses (f1 and 2) with a meter and they tested good. I know the battery is good. AC power socket is broken, so I can't test with AC.

I took motherboard from a known working DSL, put it in the non-working. On power up, Green light came on, both screens briefly flashed and then turned off. I put a bottom screen from a known working unit it it and it did the same thing. Haven't tried replacing the top screen.

I also took the motherboard from the broken unit, put it in a known working unit and it still did nothing. Again, the fuses on the board tested good on it.

The flashing screens and powerdown with the good board baffles me.

I am hoping to not have to replace the motherboard.

I would appreciate any guidance or advice on possible fixes.

⟐ Comment deleted December 13, 2011 at 4:25 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: Why is ds lite lower touchscreen not respond?

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:27:19 -0700

Why is the lower LCD screen on ds lite not responding?

⟐ Answer accepted December 10, 2011 at 5:27 pm -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: DS Lite very poor Wi-Fi signal

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 04:46:22 -0700

I have little problem with my NDS lite console.

The problem is that the signal is very poor. DS needs to be like 2cm close to router?!

I know that the problem is with hardware, but I don't know which hardware I should replace (Wi-fi board, Wi-fi antenna board or Wi-fi antenna cable)...

Sorry for my grammar..

⟐ Answer accepted November 19, 2011 at 4:46 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: DSL top slots only reading upon restart after replacing slot?

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:16:02 -0700

Ok, I'm new to the repair realm(<1 year) but have repaired Iphones, ipods, laptops, Android phones, xbox 360, PS3, PSP, and (my personal arch nemesis) the Nintendo DSL. Nothing gives me problems like the Nintendo DSL.

Tonight I soldered in two slot 1 game cards into two separate DSL's. I used a weller soldering iron, flux, all that jazz.

No pads were harmed in the process- everything went smooth, my soldering was clean and there are no shorts that I can see with my eye loop, but now the games will not show when inserted after start up. The slots are clear, the pins are brand new and OEM.

Both DSL's will play the games when turned on with a game card inserted. One will automatically load as it powers up, and the other will go to the "dashboard" and show the game on the touch screen where I can open it normally.

Am I missing something here? Could I have overheated a certain chip/part or something?

The fact that it happened twice leads me to suspect that the replacement parts might be at fault, but I might have missed a step.

Additional info-

The person I'm repairing these for had 3 DSLs that all had issues reading the gamecards in slot one. All 3 DSL's are in very good shape, and she looked at me like I had something growing out of my forehead when I asked her if anyone had ever tried to hack the firmware. (i thought it might be a cause for 3 to simultaneously go bad, not sure)

Game cards are cleans and work normally in a "test" DSL I have.

Soldering temp was 575 on the small pins

Temp was 650 when using desoldering braid on the 4 large card attachment points.

All flux was thoroughly cleaned off with q-tip and 91% isopropyl alcohol before closing up the DSL's

(although im using a no-clean flux pen.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long winded post!

⟐ Commented October 31, 2011 at 12:16 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: My L and R buttons are dead, how can I replace them?

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 07:36:16 -0700

Sometimes, the L and R shoulder buttons work randomly or stop working at all. Cleaning can help sometimes, but sometimes they just wont work. How can I replace the buttons?

⟐ Answer edited February 16, 2011 at 7:36 am -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: orginal ds lite spares

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 13:11:15 -0700

Hi, Does anybody know if you can get an original replacement case for a DS lite (broken hinge problem)?

If not can you recommend any replacement provides, I can do the work just need the new case. Thanks

⟐ Answered December 28, 2010 at 1:11 pm -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: Top Screen Vibrates When I Turn It On

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 16:11:55 -0700

My DS Lite's top screen vibrates really fast up and down when it is on. It's like I'm shaking the screen really fast when I'm not, and although I can still play, it is very annoying.

Do I need to replace the whole screen? Or is it just a problem with the connectors>

⟐ Answered November 7, 2010 at 4:11 pm -0700

Nintendo DS Lite: How to fix a bricked DS lite?

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 05:36:39 -0700

I bought a DS lite at a car boot sale which as far as I can tell is bricked (someone attempted to flash it but failed).

Does anyone know of a way to fix it short of replacing the entire motherboard?

⟐ Answered September 17, 2010 at 5:36 am -0700