Poor, poor 3DS

Article Published 2022-01-18

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Today a friend gave my his 3DS to fix. He had bricked it back in 2018, and had no idea what to do.
Note: the hinge is purely cosmetic. His friend dropped it a bit before it got bricked

I took the 3DS and looked it over. I felt sorry for that thing. The top screen was barely connected (it was hanging from the top screen's cables), it wouldn't charge, and it wouldn't turn on. He said he bricked it with a flashcart, but he only has an R4. I heard that you can't brick a 3DS with an R4, so I have no clue what happened. Anyways, I took it apart and tried to first see why it wouldn't charge. The board was in surprisingly good condition.

I flipped the board over and checked the fuses, but those weren't the issue. I noticed the charging port was very wobbly and I took a closer look. The thing was barely soldered onto the board. Only one pin was still soldered to the board, and the rest were barely making contact. I asked and he said that he had work done on it before. Whoever replaced/fixed it before really didn't do a good job. That, or the solder they used was horrible and came off long after.

I've still got to put it back on (and do it properly unlike that person) and test it out. Then I'll need to figure out how to fix the brick, if it is actually bricked (it probably is. It sounded exactly like when I broke my 3DS's NAND). Stay tuned for part 2 of me trying to fix a 3DS.