Broken DS (Found problem, bricked my DS.)

[Serephim]

**Click for the whole story or whatever**

Okay, so i get lucky and buy a perfect condition Nintendo DS from a friend at school for $50.

So, im happy with my new DS, he gave me a charger and the Metroid demo card that came with it. I tell my friend about it, and he even gave me his Pokemon Emerald GBA game FREE. (friends rox)

All is fine and dandy. I buy Sonic Rush about a month later, and have pretty nice fun with it.

And before i decide that it would be time to buy a Wi-fi game (Metroid Prime Hunters, Mario Kart DS, or Pokemon Diamon when its released), the tragic happened...

I was coming home from my best friends house i believe. I had my DS in my coat pocket, which i had over my shoulder. While i was walking up my stairs, i heard a loud *PLAT!* downstairs. I looked down.

There lay my beloved DS, laying on the tile 15 steps down.

I hold in a loud sware and my breath as i walk down to pick it up, and slowly open the lid...

....Everything is fine. The screen is intact, but the Hull by the top screen edge is cracked on both sides. It was barely visible though.

On the way upstairs, i pressed Power to see if it still worked. Came on fine, recgonized both Sonic Rush and Pokemon Emerald in the respective slots, and played both of them fine. I went to my room and blew it off. Although i was angry my new DS had a small crack on it, i was still happy it wasnt in pieces like it would be if it was a PSP. Afterall, it still worked, right?

The next day i took my DS to school and played New Super Mario Bros. Wireless Multiplayer. When i got home my DS was on yellow (i rarely charge it). I decided to charge my DS..

...And it wouldnt charge. I tried different outlets , but it still wouldnt charge. By this time i thought the power swicher i had my charger always connected to might have blown out the charger or something.

I go back to school the next day and ask the person who sold it to me if he had another charger, and he said he did..

One day i play my DS again. I think i was in the car at night and wanted to play Sonic Rush on the way back from somewhere in Atlanta, and on the Highway it cut off.

Got back to school the next day, and my friend sold me the spare charger for $5. I had my empty DS with me, so when i got in class i just plugged it in the wall and put the charger in my DS..

..Still wouldnt charge.

So now my DS wont come on anymore. Battery is so dead it wont even flicker on. Ive been through 2 chargers, but it wont charge.

Problems with getting it fixed:

1) Its free if you have a warranty, but i bought it from someone else...

2) the barcode rubbed off. Wth.

3) Although its free with a warranty, its $75 for nintendo to repair it without one. Im not paying $75 to fix a system i got for a bargan.

Since it works perfectly when i have a charged battery in teh system (i swiched with a friend once), its not my battery or my charger.

And im not COMPLETELY sure it stopped charging AFTER the drop. I usually charge my DS overnight.

Im not sure, but someone told me that the charge fuse in my DS has blown out..

Unless i can get it repaired for $20 or less, im not getting it repaired. I would like to manually fix it myself, but i have not the directions or faith to crack it open and check.

Anyone with electronic knowing, help would be nice?

Alright, thanks to some very, VERY specific searching, ive come across my Godsent solution center for my problem.

The forum that had the people with my problem..

http://scdev.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3744&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=a0170c8bcdc679d42c5db91626090b82

And a tutorial for fixing my problem.

http://ndsrlz.online.fr/?page=tutorials&id=5

And through careful examination of my problem, Fuse 1 is absolutely NOT present on my DS motherboard.

Ive had some problems dismantaling my DS (a cord that was supposed to completely come off actully disconnected from the golden thingy it was in... It was loose to begin with so i hope reconnecting isnt a problem), but if i can get this Fuse bridged, i think i can self-repair my DS.

Only problem is, i lack the Solder thin enough to do an effictive job with my soldering.

Is there ANYONE with electrical education here? Could i use something that doesnt conduct electricity (something like Electrical tape to hold the wire over the 2 bridges) instead of Solder? Im sure if i screw up, my DS is going to end up under auction for used parts...

[Glaber]

Find a place near by that repairs any system and ask for their price. For me it's the Toy box and Treasures.

[ila]

That or try to sell the broken thing for parts on eBay for $50 and get yourself a DS Lite. I'm sure some guys at some electronics related forum might have some sort of solution, but this defintly sounds like one of those thing you can't do yourself.

[Serephim]

Someone with a similar problem on an old forum got a reply from some guy saying he busted the fuse from the charger to the battery that protects it from power surges.

He said all you have to do is go in the DS, and either replace the fuse or solder the fuse parts (which he claims is extremely easy).

Im sure i could do that, my dad tought me how to, but :

1) im not sure what kind of space i would be working with, and

2) someone said that something like a piece of metal or a power surge is what blew the fuse. If the problem happens again, and i simply soldered the metal back together, if the problem that caused the fuse to blow in the first place happens again, there wont be a fuse to save my system.

If i can soluder it back together and it works, then ill just disconnect my charger from my Power connector.

If i do it and it doesnt work, ill simply sell my DS for the parts on Ebay for like $40 and buy a DS-lite from a friend at school. (i got lots of connections )

First, i got to find my dads set of super small screwdrivers. Otherwise i wont be able to even get the damn thing open.

[ila]

Take some pictures if you can. And good luck.

[Sly]

Who did you buy it from? Surely he has a warranty. Get him to send it back and get it repaired.

Or, get the warranty paperwork from him and phone AS him.

Problem solved, obvious solution really ?

[SonicProject]

Honestly $75 to get the system repaired when you only got it for $50 isn't unreasonable. It's almost like you're paying full price really. Though I suppose that would be a problem if you wouldn't have got it if you didn't have such a good deal.

[Serephim]

It's almost like you're paying full price really.

Thats the point..

[Serephim]

Read first post.

Pictures coming soon.

[Serephim]

OKay sorry for the triple post, but i might as well keep it up to date on whats going on so i can potentally get some help with this..

So far, ive broken my DS, found the problem. Blown fuse, Fuse 1 on the back of my DS board that has something to do with charging the battery. The fuse was completely destroyed when i cracked it open.

Ive been told that the simple way to completely fix this problem is to simply solder a thin wire between the blown gap of the fuse.

....Unfortunally, the fuse is like 5 millimeters apart, and my soldering iron is H U G E. The Soldering iron my dad has is for soldering things like Hedge Clippers, NOT nintendo DS motherboards....

..And ive basically dripped molten metal all over the fuse part of my motherboard.

At this point im pretty much bent on buying a DS lite / Building my own from broken parts (ive learned so much about the DS internals in the last 24 hours i could build one from scratch almost), but i dont think all hope is lost.

I havent screwed up any other chips or fuses on the motherboard, only the fuse where i melted the motherboard plastic a bit. I can see clearly see where the fuse was even though the plastic is a bit chipped off.

Ive taken a flathead screwdriver and simply scrapped off the green part of the motherboard to see if ive completely ruined my chances of soldering the fuse, and i actully clearly see the traces for the Fuse. I BELIEVE if i can get a REAL electrical soldering iron (a pencil one for delicate processes, not the huge one i have now that almost ruined my DS and made me cry from wasting 10 hours of my life yesterday) and delicately put solder on each end where the fuse was (basically re-build the fuse) and solder the wire between it, i can fix it.

Although ive tried bridging the fuse with other things out of desperation (tried Electrical Tape to hold down a wire over the fuse even BEFORE i messed up the board with solder) and it diddnt work.

Im also not aware how prone the DS circutry is to being Static Fried. i really hope ive been careful with grounding myself while carrying this thing up and down stairs. Its never touched the carpet though.

Im sorry i cant give you all pictures of my dead DS to laugh at, but when i come to a conclusion (fixed or bricked), ill go ahead and put them up for your sick amusement.