Hardware Games freezing after DIY top screen repair?

[chocomilk]

This is my first time posting here, and this is really my last resort, so any help would be appreciated!

...How do I even begin to explain my problem.
So, for various reasons (which I won't delve into as to not further embarass myself) I broke the ribbon cable to the top screen of my old 3DS XL and had to replace it.

Thing is, I didn't quite trust sending my console in to a stranger in another country (Eastern Europe things) so I steeled to fix it myself with the help of an ifixit guide and various Youtube videos.
Besides me ruining the ribbon cable to the camera and accidentally breaking off the little cables on the left speaker and one of the clamps that connects the speaker assembly to the screen assembly (had to literally tape it down with electric tape), the console boots up some way or another. Also, I wasn't able to mount the 3D slider correctly (it's in the right position but the 3D depth won't change), so I have no clue how to get it to work again.

Now, all is fine, I can live with only one speaker working and no camera or 3D, but here start the problems.
I wanted to play Etrian Odyssey Untold, but after the data was initialized and the Atlus logo appeared, it just gave me a black screen. Nothing, nada. No error message. Had to power off the console. Same thing happened with Pokèmon Ultra Moon and New Style Boutique (This one freezes when the title is displayed), as well as Twilight Menu (And a couple other games) Assumed it was a problem with the CIAs, so I downloaded them from a different site. Then I transferred save data from Citra to the 3DS (obviously, neither solutions have been working). Thing is, majority of the other games I've installed work fine and will boot properly.

Now, I only have to assume these games that don't work,
1. Require the cameras and/or speakers to actually function to boot properly
2. I somehow fucked up something while reassembling
3. The SD card is dying, even though it's pretty new since we bought it as a replacement for a corrupted one?

I've read that formatting the SD card / console may resolve the problem, but I sincerely want to keep it as a last resort solution in case anything else fails. I've been looking all over the Internet, but it seems no one has had my exact same problem, so...

 

[Eveldee]

If I remember correctly, the 3DS requires the camera to *work* in order to boot so that may be linked to your issues

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Besides me ruining the ribbon cable to the camera

Top screen assembly is a nightmare to replace stuff. Old 3DS(XL) should work without camera.

Spoiler: Whoever came up with this construction should be punished

breaking off the little cables on the left speaker

I had the same problem on upper LCD replacement. The magnetism of the speakers makes them do… whatever they want during trying to deal with the ton of cables. Easy to snap off one wire, but it takes a second to solder them back on.

Also, I wasn't able to mount the 3D slider correctly (it's in the right position but the 3D depth won't change)

Is the plastic slider correctly inserted so that the notch of the actual 3D slider (probably a potentiometer) gets moved? Hopefully it didn't break off. to be honest it makes sense to replace the 3D/speaker cable alongside with the upper screen, since both cables wear down and will tear at some point through normal usage.

3. The SD card is dying, even though it's pretty new since we bought it as a replacement for a corrupted one?

Run a full write/read test on the empty SD with h2testw or F3 to make sure the SD is okay. Rule out SD problems and don't believe it is okay.

Other than that: my favorite method is the process of elimination. Try finding out what is not the problem to narrow possibilities down. Try

• a different SD even if it is okay in the test.
• playing the original cartridges of the failing games. In doubt dump them again on a different SD and verify you get the same checksum on both dumps.
• installing and playing your dumps on a different, known good console.

I've read that formatting the SD card / console may resolve the problem,

Formatting the SD AFTER BACKING UP THE DATA is a good idea to get rid of potential file system corruption… and you should reformat (AFTER BACKUP!) for having the SD for the test mentioned above.
Formatting the console (throw away user profile) as a kind of religious sacrifice (of personal data) to the god of gaming consoles isn't a promising approach in most cases. I advise against using "Format System Memory" without good reason.

Spoiler: There is one thing where this can indeed be helpful

 

[chocomilk]

If I remember correctly, the 3DS requires the camera to *work* in order to boot so that may be linked to your issues

I don't think so... The console actually boots fine! See here (please note that I'm conducting the sd card test so the sd card isn't in the console atm)

Post automatically merged: Feb 20, 2023

Run a full write/read test on the empty SD with h2testw or F3 to make sure the SD is okay. Rule out SD problems and don't believe it is okay.

Other than that: my favorite method is the process of elimination. Try finding out what is not the problem to narrow possibilities down. Try

• a different SD even if it is okay in the test.
• playing the original cartridges of the failing games. In doubt dump them again on a different SD and verify you get the same checksum on both dumps.
• installing and playing your dumps on a different, known good console.

Alright, so I performed two full tests with h2testw and the card itself didn't present any errors. Unfortunately I don't have access to another SD or another system, so I have no way to rule out those possibilities