Gaming damaged 3DS won't play DS games properly

[ferofax]

Sadly it's not an option, as I live in Indonesia, which according to Nintendo, does not exist.

Has anyone else encountered this problem?

Don't they have an official Nintendo supplier in Malaysia or something? says so on my ASI 3DS (ASI is official Asian region 3DS; uses US firmware but distributed in Malaysia/Singapore/UAE). as long as it's within warranty, they'll take it. dunno about "fall damage" though, but they might still do something about it. you might incur repair fees though. plus you'll have to pay for shipping as well.

EDIT: Singapore's Maxsoft, that's the one. but hey, if you don't want to, it's your call.

and on the subject of compatibility, i've yet to hear about *ANY* DS or DSi retail game that doesn't work with the 3DS. heck, even DSiware seems to have 100% compatibility. i'd say scratch that out as a reason.

 

[meliakh]

If you have any friends at all that have the same game that causes issues, I do suggest trying a different cartridge. It just has to be a software issue, there's no way in hell that hardware damage would cripple DS-Mode without rendering the 3DS a useless brick altogether.

Perhaps it's the access point that's the issue? Is it DS-Compatible (WEP or lower)? Connecting to one that isn't would result in an error in Union Room.

I did try another cartridge (Pokemon Soul Silver) but it also failed. And the WEP setting is alright, I've used it to trade and battle via Wi-Fi before the incident.

 

[philip11]

one Tip next time get a Nerf case it's made of there foam and you may as well throw it at the ground and it will work fine next time

 

[Janthran]

one Tip next time get a Nerf case it's made of there foam and you may as well throw it at the ground and it will work fine next time

A friend of mine managed to break his Nerf case for DS Lite.

And to everyone saying it's a software issue, what if he dislodged part of the motherboard where the DS emulation software lives?
Impossible?

 

[Foxi4]

one Tip next time get a Nerf case it's made of there foam and you may as well throw it at the ground and it will work fine next time

A friend of mine managed to break his Nerf case for DS Lite.

And to everyone saying it's a software issue, what if he dislodged part of the motherboard where the DS emulation software lives?
Impossible?

Impossible, because the entire firmware is stored on one chip.

 

[Janthran]

one Tip next time get a Nerf case it's made of there foam and you may as well throw it at the ground and it will work fine next time

A friend of mine managed to break his Nerf case for DS Lite.

And to everyone saying it's a software issue, what if he dislodged part of the motherboard where the DS emulation software lives?
Impossible?

Impossible, because the entire firmware is stored on one chip.

Knocked partway off and only the DS part broke.
I don't even know.

 

[Jan1tor]

I'm sure if you call or e-mail Nintendo they will tell you where to send it for repair.

 

[Foxi4]

I agree with Jan1tor - no matter where you live, surely you have a post office somewhere nearby.

 

[Selim873]

damaged 3DS won't play DS games properly

Because it's damaged.

 

[Foxi4]

damaged 3DS won't play DS games properly

Because it's damaged.

Leave.​

 

[loco365]

I already voiced out my opinion that it's pretty much impossible, but... yeah... do try a different game. Remember that the 3DS is only "backwards-compatible", it's not exactly a "DS" so there will always be a slight mismatch compared to the original hardware the game was intended to use. It's entirely possible that it may have gone haywire after an update.

Are you using a flashcart or a real DS game card? Did you try using another DS gamecard?

I'm using real DS game card. I tried another DS game, Pokemon Soul Silver, this one can't even get past the Lugia screen. I guess it's conclusive that only the backward compatibility is affected.

As for the ambassador status, turns out it's linked to the eShop account and not the system, so unless you delete the account from eShop, system format won't remove the ambassador status.

Just to add, when you read the System Settings manual, it mentions that if you do a System Format, you can still download any software that you previously had, unless you delete the eShop account.

I think what's causing the problem is the wireless dongle. Try disabling wireless on troublesome games and see what it does.

 

[Janthran]

damaged 3DS won't play DS games properly

Because it's damaged.

Leave.​

I lol'd at those last couple posts. XD

 

[meliakh]

I think what's causing the problem is the wireless dongle. Try disabling wireless on troublesome games and see what it does.

It didn't help. Still fails sometimes during startup.

I'm sure if you call or e-mail Nintendo they will tell you where to send it for repair.

Which region should I pick? I live in Indonesia, it's not in the region list. No Singapore/Malaysia as well...

I contacted Maxsoft by email, their reply still pending. In the meantime I do a little look around the Nintendo support site. Obviously the NoA can't do a thing about my problem, and the site refers me to other regions, and if my country is not listed, pick one that's nearest; either Australia or Hong Kong. And both quickly disclaims any product not bought in their country. So I guess my 3DS' life hangs on Maxsoft..

 

[meliakh]

Here's Maxsoft's reply:

For repair and services regarding about your 3DS set. You have to look for
your retailer regarding this as I have no knowledge of that area who does
repair at your side. As we do not have any Nintendo office located at
Indonesia.

Regards,

Adrian
Maxsoft Pte Ltd

He didn't say anything about sending my system in, so I guess that's not an option...

 

[Deleted member 282441]

Try pressing select while booting the game. It makes the screen original resolution, but it might work...
Or maybe start.

 

[meliakh]

Good news, guys. Problem solved. Some of you suggested it's a software damage, not hardware, and I think there's truth in that. I updated my system with the latest update (with 3D video), and now it works fine! I believe formatting the system still leaves the firmware intact (proof: I still have the eShop icon), and by updating it must've been overwritten.

Thanks for your attention. Case closed!

 

[Janthran]

Congrats, and sorry we couldn't do anything to help.

 

[Matias Loya]

I dropped my 3DS a few days ago, it wasn't that high a fall and not hard either, and also it was encased in hard plastic case.
On the surface it didn't do much damage, everything works fine, SFIV multiplayer was good as always, but when I tried playing Pokemon White on it, sometimes the game won't load past the white start screen, and it always freezes when trying to Game Sync, and gets an error message when entering Union Room.

I know the cart works fine, tested on my old DS lite and it works like new. I can't access the DS settings on my 3DS as well, so I'm guessing the thing that handles DS software on the 3DS got damaged.. Is there any solution to this?

I have found a solutuion!!! My Limited edition pokemon 3ds xl had the same issue for a few days now. I had looked all over for a solution and couldnt find the answer. when I was about ready to give up I had finally noticed something odd about my ds. I had removed the back of the sysytem and noticed that there was some gunk on my camera ribbon wire. I removed the wire from the slot and started to clean it with a Qtip and some hydrogen peroxide. Once I had finished wiping away all the gunk my ds games and camera now work again. Hope this helps.