Hardware 3DS top screen corner cracked

[Honelith]

Got this from the GAME store August 2011 brand new, use screen protectors and an aluminium case to protect the console. I'm guessing this crack formed from the case snapping shut. I never leave the system open, I always close it, but it seems the force of it snapping shut isn't dampened enough by the rubber pads which tries to absorb the shock? Anyone ever seen this problem?

Not really sure what to do next, a cracked case usually means we've either thrown it or dropped it, although there's absolutely no damage to the area, it's scratch free and there's no marks of any kind, so it's obvious it hasn't been dropped if GAME or Nintendo try to question it.

What would you do? I thought about buying 3DS housing and just replacing the top part of the 3DS.

Cheers.

 

[kevan]

Im not even sure if you can buy 3DS housing's But thats probally not a good idea. Probally wouldnt be as sturdy as Nintendos ones.

 

[PsyBlade]

These rubber pads are not meant to absorb the shock of snapping it shut.
They are only meant to keep the two parts from touching while closed (not closing) (and barely manage that)
You are supposed to close it carefully.

 

[mjax]

If there are absolutely no markings on the outside, it might have happened due to either of these two reasons:

1. The shell itself was not fit with precision (during manufacturing) and after a certain duration of usage, it has developed that crack.
2. It is a case of mishandling, you probably snapped shut the 3DS far too many times.

Calling Nintendo, and telling them about it will help, maybe they will give you a benefit of doubt and repair/replace it easily (free of charge).

 

[PriMieon]

send it back... they will fix it.. i guess you will have to wait 2 weeks till you get it back but.... they will fix it

 

[Pippin666]

send it back... they will fix it.. i guess you will have to wait 2 weeks till you get it back but.... they will fix it

My guess is that they will take the internal data out from your cracked 3ds and put it back into another refurbished 3ds console. You will need to send only the console, no stylus, no game and no sd card either.

You will also still be able to use the data from sd. I tested this twice already ( I am very not lucky with Nintendo handheld console since the begining of the "DS" branding era ).

Pip'

 

[Honelith]

Thanks for the suggestions and help all. I went into GAME yesterday, the girl on the till seemed unsure of what to do about the situation, she disapeared upstairs to speak with the manager, came back down, apologised that there was nothing they could do. I asked her to bring down the manager and I spoke with her. Because it wasn't a mechanical fault she said, and because the console was still functional, there was nothing they could do. Thanks GAME/Nintendo for supplying me a console with defective housing. She also said there was no proof that they sold me a defective console and no proof that I hadn't infact dropped it, politely saying I could be lying basically...

But, I guess the console is working fine so it kinda makes sense, I'm just worried incase the crack gets bigger. I don't want to return it to Nintendo because it's an Ambassador console and I've made purchases through the eStore so I don't want to lose this incase they replace the console with a refurbished one, I'd need another 3DS to transfer everything to first, so I'm just going to buy a 3DS case and replace the top part outter shell of the system, looks easy enough as I've salvaged DS Lite parts and put them together to sell on in the past.

Again, thanks all.

 

[thegame07]

You're supposed to slowly close it gently, Not "snap" it shut. So therefore it's just the same as dropping it imo. You caused the damage by treating it badly from what It sounds like, not a defect.

 

[ferret7463]

Judging by what i see in the pic, The crack is not all the way through the plastic. When it does, I would suggeust you take a dab of clear finger nail polish and lightly coat it over the crack. I have repaired my game boy color's case like that and My X-Rom's casing. Both of these are still holding after years of use.

 

[Janthran]

send it back... they will fix it.. i guess you will have to wait 2 weeks till you get it back but.... they will fix it

My guess is that they will take the internal data out from your cracked 3ds and put it back into another refurbished 3ds console. You will need to send only the console, no stylus, no game and no sd card either.

You will also still be able to use the data from sd. I tested this twice already ( I am very not lucky with Nintendo handheld console since the begining of the "DS" branding era ).

Pip'

Lucky? The DS designs just aren't very good as far as breaking goes.
3DS is the best so far, but it still has problems.

 

[Pippin666]

send it back... they will fix it.. i guess you will have to wait 2 weeks till you get it back but.... they will fix it

My guess is that they will take the internal data out from your cracked 3ds and put it back into another refurbished 3ds console. You will need to send only the console, no stylus, no game and no sd card either.

You will also still be able to use the data from sd. I tested this twice already ( I am very not lucky with Nintendo handheld console since the begining of the "DS" branding era ).

Pip'

Lucky? The DS designs just aren't very good as far as breaking goes.
3DS is the best so far, but it still has problems.

Short story, my first DS Phat had dead pixels out of the box on launch day. Same for DSL .. TWICE in a row, the second time it took about 4 days for the pixels to go dark. Same for my launch day 3ds, I exchange it once within the first week for 8 dead pixels (2 pixels wide, 4 down). I also needed repair on the second 3ds console because it could not update it's firmware. When the first fw update hit public, it would not find any update even tho my friend did his update in my house. 2 weeks later, after trying 2 timees a day to update, I called Nintendo's tech support, opened a ticked and I delivered myself to the repair center in Montreal and went to picked it up the day after .. The technician told me that Nintendo updated their partner ftp server with the update file firmware and did it manually from a laptop. First he did a backup of my internal memory data and restored it after he updated. Since then it's fine.

Pip'

 

[Honelith]

You're supposed to slowly close it gently, Not "snap" it shut. So therefore it's just the same as dropping it imo. You caused the damage by treating it badly from what It sounds like, not a defect.

I don't snap it shut like a book, because plastic is plastic, it's a weak and brittle material, something that should always avoid shock and bending. The console is still new, the springs inside the hinges seem quite strong and there's been times I've gone to plug the charger into the back of the console and its snapped shut on me, unintentionally while playing a game. Again, my 3DS has screen protectors and an aluminium protective case because I want to look after it.

Judging by what i see in the pic, The crack is not all the way through the plastic. When it does, I would suggeust you take a dab of clear finger nail polish and lightly coat it over the crack. I have repaired my game boy color's case like that and My X-Rom's casing. Both of these are still holding after years of use.

You're right, the crack is inside of the outter shell because the surface is smooth to touch. I will try your suggestion, thanks for that.

 

[PriMieon]

send it back... they will fix it.. i guess you will have to wait 2 weeks till you get it back but.... they will fix it

My guess is that they will take the internal data out from your cracked 3ds and put it back into another refurbished 3ds console. You will need to send only the console, no stylus, no game and no sd card either.

You will also still be able to use the data from sd. I tested this twice already ( I am very not lucky with Nintendo handheld console since the begining of the "DS" branding era ).

Pip'

no ... the just fix it...really... i tried it like 100 times

 

[Deleted User]

i think that they will fix it for free

 

[Pippin666]

send it back... they will fix it.. i guess you will have to wait 2 weeks till you get it back but.... they will fix it

My guess is that they will take the internal data out from your cracked 3ds and put it back into another refurbished 3ds console. You will need to send only the console, no stylus, no game and no sd card either.

You will also still be able to use the data from sd. I tested this twice already ( I am very not lucky with Nintendo handheld console since the begining of the "DS" branding era ).

Pip'

no ... the just fix it...really... i tried it like 100 times

I will argue a little, but please don't think that I want the last or that I want to be a dick. Myself, when I look at his scratch, I wonder how they can fix this. I am looking at my 3ds right now and I don't see how the top glass part of the top screen can be remove from there and put another one? :/ It looks glued or something like that.

Pip'

 

[Honelith]

I will argue a little, but please don't think that I want the last or that I want to be a dick. Myself, when I look at his scratch, I wonder how they can fix this. I am looking at my 3ds right now and I don't see how the top glass part of the top screen can be remove from there and put another one? :/ It looks glued or something like that.

Pip'

Hey Pip.

It's screwed into place. You peel off the front of the top screen which reveals the screws, then the back of the top screen lifts off, so for me, it's a real simple case of just swapping the old with the new and screwing it together again.

 

[Thesolcity]

Would you be willing to just take it back?

 

[Zerosuit connor]

Does it still have hardware warranty?

 

[PriMieon]

send it back... they will fix it.. i guess you will have to wait 2 weeks till you get it back but.... they will fix it

My guess is that they will take the internal data out from your cracked 3ds and put it back into another refurbished 3ds console. You will need to send only the console, no stylus, no game and no sd card either.

You will also still be able to use the data from sd. I tested this twice already ( I am very not lucky with Nintendo handheld console since the begining of the "DS" branding era ).

Pip'

no ... the just fix it...really... i tried it like 100 times

I will argue a little, but please don't think that I want the last or that I want to be a dick. Myself, when I look at his scratch, I wonder how they can fix this. I am looking at my 3ds right now and I don't see how the top glass part of the top screen can be remove from there and put another one? :/ It looks glued or something like that.

Pip'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMWpguOMeq8

like this