Hardware HELP blowing R button causes CHAOS (kinda)(full diagnosis)

[EpikJimmer]

aaaaaanyway...
Before I abandon this thread completely, I just want to know. I'll probably buy a N2DSXL (there's one which costs 140 euros on sale)
So, on my CFWed 3ds (which is european), I have some USA dsiware, some region free gba games (made with the GBA injector), some homebrew apps and some 3ds games (which are european) (Note: None of these apps were installed via freeshop. I installed each game/app with FBI)
I want to transfer these apps from the CFWed 3DS to the CFWed N2DSXL (yes, I'm gonna mod the N2DSXL BEFORE the transfer)
My questions: 1. Will I lose anything? 2.Will I need to configure anything before/after the transfer?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

You'll not lose anything if you do exactly this:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/3ds-system-transfer-today-whats-the-best-way.518867/#post-8295833
GBA-games saves are a little tricky and annoying:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/cfw-to-cfw-system-transfer.492070/#post-8298199

Last thing: Don't forget to test your micro-SD before using it and make a NAND-backup of the N2DSXL as soon as possible.

 

[EpikJimmer]

erm the first tutorial says that dumping the titles is a great idea but... dumping the titles requires the R button... *f*

 

[KleinesSinchen]

No, it doesn't need the R-button. It's just a lot more convenient if you search for all titles. Is this thing fully broken now? Can’t you get one signal from it? (Don’t blow into the DS again if the button does absolutely nothing!!)

Anyway… navigate in GodMode9 to
[A:]SYSNAND SD/title/00040000
For each title open the folder 000xxxxx/content/ to find 00000000.tmd
Proceed as in the tutorial with A, select “TMD file option…”, then select “Build CIA (standard)”

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Ah, fuck it. Posting this whether you ask for it or not.

The currently partially NOT-tested-in-real-life, improper method of ...

How to (attempt) fixing/cleaning the R-shoulder button without (full) disassembly

... because you have katsavidiphobia [aka, "the fear of screwdrivers"].​

Do this at your own risk.

You will need the following supplies

• a bowl or container about the size and shape of your cupped palm.
• isopropyl rubbing alcohol (70% concentration minimum. 91% is preferred).
  • Unless you have special purpose electronic solution cleaner, DO NOT SUBSTITUTE WITH OTHER LIQUIDS LIKE:
    • Hydrogen Peroxide - Don't confuse this for rubbing alcohol. Wrong disinfectant!
      
    • distilled / tap / spring / rain / etc. water - this will rust your components. Water + Electronics = BAD.
      
    • Ammonia, window cleaner - This stuff is more corrosive than water in terms of electronics, rubber, and paints.
      
    • paint stripper - not only can this ruin paint, you can be poisoned and permanently blinded by the spiked methanol.
    • 140 proof alcohol - This is basically paint stripper without the methanol. Grain alcohol or pure ethanol is WAY too strong of a cleaner.
• hair blow dryer
• small screwdriver (Phillips #00)
  • Sorry, but this is required.
• paper towel or toilet paper
  
• non-seasoned/unsalted, dry uncooked rice
  • It doesn't matter if it's jasmine, basmati, wild, brown, white, red, black, etc.
    
  • You may substitute with couscous if your part of the world doesn't eat rice. Pasta, however, does not work!
• bucket or food container with lid that's slightly bigger than your 2DS/3DS.

Spoiler: Picture of Tools and Materials

Precautions and side notes

1. Because battery removal is required for safety reason, this guide is not appropriate for the n2DSXL model due to its battery being fully housed within.
   • You would have to disassemble the n2DSXL to access the battery, and by the point, you're better off cleaning the button the proper way with toothbrush, rubbing alcohol, and blow dryer.
2. You may substitute cleaning the L-shoulder button *. Only do one shoulder for a single cleaning session; do not clean both shoulder buttons at the same time.
   • * Due to the location of the o2DS speaker being close to the L-shoulder button, you should probably skip this one.
3. This guide does not apply for cleaning the other buttons. Due to the placement design, this only works for the shoulder buttons and nothing else.
4. Also, this guide will not fix shoulder buttons with broken mechanism. This is meant for those that stop working due to dirt or dust contamination interfering with the metal contacts.
5. The moment you dip and wet the 2DS/3DS, you must maintain this position with the R-shoulder pointing downward at all times. Failure to adhere to this advice will allow rubbing alcohol to trickle into the inner cavity, increasing the probability of damaging the motherboard.

Spoiler: Orientation of the 2DS once cleaning begins.

Instructions

1. Using a screwdriver, remove the battery from the 2DS/3DS. Press and hold the (Power) button for several seconds (15 to 30s) to quickly dissipate most of the residual charge. Allow the system to self discharge while prepping the other materials. For battery removal instructions, refer to iFixit Nintendo Handheld repair guides.

• If you cannot remove the battery, which is something super easy and simple to do (except for the n2DSXL), forget about continuing with this tutorial. Quit while you're still ahead. This is my disappointment in your abilities to handle the most basic screwdriver tasks. [You]← [Me].
• Don't think you can cheat by fully draining the battery empty. Any lingering charge no matter how minuscule can hard brick the 3DS when mixed with liquids. Don't do it.
• God forbid if you're foolish enough to ignore this step and decide to keep the battery in place. If you do this, I will not feel bad laughing at you should your 2DS/3DS decides to hard brick.

2. Do prep work. If any of the three below cannot be completed, abort this guide or forever hold your peace.

• Fill the small container or bowl with rubbing alcohol. You want a level that's slightly past the shoulder button height.
  
• Fill the other container that has a lid halfway up with rice. Make sure it's spacious enough to house the entire 2DS/3DS.
  
• Plug in the hairdryer to a wall outlet. Check if it turns on and produces heated air. Turn it off.

3. Dip the R-shoulder button into the small container filled with rubbing alcohol. For the o2DS, try to not drop it past the LED indicator. Continually press the button up and down against the bowl/container in order to loosen the dirt and dust stuck in-between the contacts and rubber pads. Do this for about 5 minutes.

• Air is a poor fluid medium when trying to blow and remove contaminants in tight and hard to reach places.
• Water is a great fluid medium as it is a soluble liquid that can dissolve many types of solids.
• Too bad water is also very corrosive. Because water contains oxygen, water will rust and oxidize metals if given a long enough exposure time.
  
• You do know that store bought rubbing alcohol contains water for the other 9% to 30%, right? While the 70% concentrated version works better as a cleaner, the 91% stuff is considered safer in terms of reducing the risk of water damage.
• If you think buying 99% rubbing alcohol is a smart idea, that shit won't clean anything. You need H₂O to dissolve crap.
  
• The purpose of the isopropyl alcohol component is to mitigate damage through the increased rate of evaporation. This lowers the duration of water exposure.

Spoiler: Skinny dipping the 2DS shoulder button

4. Use the blow dryer on the lowest heat and fan speed setting. Continually sweep back and forth around the R-shoulder button area. Do this for about 10 minutes.

• If you hold the blow dryer too close and for too long around that area, you can melt the flex cables within if the 2DS/3DS gets too hot.
  
• Try not to touch the handheld against the actual hot end of that blow dryer. You don't want to scuff or burn your shell.
• We're not going for hottest or fastest blow dry settings. You just want a steady, safe level of heat delivered to your system.

5. Wrap your 2DS/3DS in either paper towel or toilet paper. Stick this in the container that's halfway filled with rice. Fill the rest of the container with rice and close the lid. Leave the 2DS/3DS alone undisturbed for 24 hours while the rice does its magic.

• The purpose of rice is that it will act as a desiccator pulling away any missed, leftover water within the handheld.
• You want to wrap the system in paper towel to prevent the 2DS from getting dusty or powdered by the rice.
• This also keeps the rice clean so that you can still cook and eat it afterwards.
• The orientation of the shoulder button pointing towards the ground still applies! Gravity is still in effect.
  
• I hope you were using fresh toilet paper. If you took a roll that was already in use from the bathroom, you just infected everything with poop particles. Eww.
  
• You better not be an idiot putting your console in plastic zip-bloc bag as this will retain moisture within the unit. Paper breathes; plastic does not. **
  • ** Plastic membrane does allow water to evaporate through reverse osmosis but not at a desirable rate for this scenario.
• Have patience. This step is to be on the super safe side. You can wait a day, or you can end up with a hard bricked system. Which one do you want it to be?

Spoiler: 10/10 with rice.

This image is not drawn to scale. The paper towel was not added due to image editing complexity. Also, the lid needs to be closed.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

@TurdPooCharger: Very well written; amazing pictures. This was a lot of work! Have you really tried that out or is it “just” theory? Suggested headline:

Cleaning a shoulder button in case of screwdriver-phobia.

However, not wanting to depreciate you work… I would still prefer the direct way.

In case of a O2DS I would disassemble the thing and apply isopropyl targeted on the button – because soldering tiny parts is not something I can do.

In the case of Jim’s O3DS (for me) it's much easier to simply open up that console, carefully remove the R-button according to the guide on ifixit and throw the fu***** thing away! And then plug a new one onto the motherboard.

But nevertheless: Great work.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

@TurdPooCharger: Very well written; amazing pictures. This was a lot of work! Have you really tried that out or is it “just” theory? Suggested headline:

Cleaning a shoulder button in case of screwdriver-phobia.

However, not wanting to depreciate you work… I would still prefer the direct way.

In case of a O2DS I would disassemble the thing and apply isopropyl targeted on the button – because soldering tiny parts is not something I can do.

In the case of Jim’s O3DS (for me) it's much easier to simply open up that console, carefully remove the R-button according to the guide on ifixit and throw the fu***** thing away! And then plug a new one onto the motherboard.

But nevertheless: Great work.

@KleinesSinchen, LOL.

Even I don't support the method I put forth because of how risky it is. If you're familiar with the anime Fist of the North Star about this guy who's infamous for his killing techniques, water damage fits that description of "omae wa mou shindeiru". If it doesn't hard brick by short circuiting upon first exposure, it can when left to react with the metals on the motherboard.

I changed the title to reflect that this is for people who have a knack against opening their consoles. While this is indeed a theory (at this moment), I am currently in the process of testing this on my n3DSXL. I can't verify if it'll fix a R-shoulder button as mine isn't broken, but I can test if it will survive the procedure. This is like those Fugu sushi chefs in training who must prepare their own pufferfish and eat it in front of a panel of judges. The not dying part is like the #1 requirement in passing their certification. I'll get back to you guys in about a day if my shittake lives or not.

Spoiler: Proof of attempt at bad method.

***

If you ever accidentally spill water or beverage on your 3DS, what should be done is to power it off and remove the battery before short circuiting. To save the PCBs, you would have to disassemble the unit and then rinse with 70% isopropyl alcohol followed by fully soaking with either 99% isopropyl alcohol or 140 proof ethanol. This will displace most of the leftover water. Lastly, hit it with hair dryer heat and the rice trick.

 

[Hayato213]

How long has it been? like couple months? @TurdPooCharger , man he should just buy a new unit.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

How long has it been? like couple months? @TurdPooCharger , man he should just buy a new unit.

@Hayato213, I think I'll skip out commenting next time if he posts another one of these threads. I don't want Jimmy to think he's not welcomed on GBAtemp because that's not what we're going for, but there is only so much we can do from our end in telling him, "Hey, you gotta take it apart to fix the shoulder button!" He can try the external rubbing alcohol flush trick as a last resort, but this might not work if his button truly broke from all that hard pressing.

I can totally understand if his country is still reeling from economic recovery when Greece borrowed lots of money from Deustche Bank several years ago, their government misappropriating that money, and a good portion of the Greek population skipped paying taxes. There are other nuances to that spiel, but that's the jist of why the average Greek citizen can't afford typical electronic consumer goods like their more well off European neighbors.

Him not being able to waltz in a store and plop down some dough for a replacement 2DS/3DS would mean his natural recourse is to repair what he does have on hand. Asking for help in fixing his R-shoulder button wasn't the issue. One or two times would have been okay if it helps with getting over grieving a broken system but asking that very same question five times including this thread and expecting a miracle without employing typical repair techniques (ie, disassembly)??? Yah, that's grating.

***

Jimmy, I sent you a PM on what to expect owning a n2DSXL entails if you decide to buy one. As long as you're 100% sure in being okay with those major points, you'll have nothing to worry about with that model.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

Results of Alcohol Flush Test

My n3DSXL survived the experiment. R and ZR buttons still work along with the c-stick and Y-X-B-A set. LED indicator lights up. However, there are peculiar side effects.

When flipping the 3DS open, the right hinge rotates eerily smooth.
My best guess is that the rubbing alcohol dissolved and flushed out some of the lubricant and micro particle shavings within the hinge's barrel. It's kinda unsettling how little resistance there is when opening and closing the top screen. While the subjective feel of rotation does stiffen back a little to an acceptable state after awhile, it does not return to what it felt like before the flush. The sound of the clicks is ever so slightly louder. My n3DSXL still clicks into place for the three swing out levels and does not appear to be any more loose, although it's hinges were junk before this experiment from prior drop accidents. No comment on ill effects of rubbing alcohol for those with perfectly stiff hinges; mine has 8-degrees of leeway when in the middle position if it matters comparing against a reference crappy hinge.

Pressing the R-shoulder button felt mushy-like at first.
This one is hard to describe because it's not like the mushiness you experience for buttons with intermediate rubber pads and golden contact patches. Because the shoulder buttons have actual push button switches, you'll feel when pressing down bottoms out. Compared to the L-shoulder button that provides constant level of push back before the "click", the R-shoulder at first had very little push with late feedback to click. It has since gradually returned to its former feel of gradual push back. While not as stiff as the L-shoulder, this is expected for a button used extensively drifting in Mario Kart 7 among several other games. I believe the rubbing alcohol may have cleaned a little too well in stripping oils within the push button, removing some of the tackiness behind the button's downward press.

Mineral residue on the LED indicator.
There was whitish spot coating the outside of the LED cover. I was able to remove most of it off with toothpick, small bristle brush, q-tip, and rubbing alcohol. A very thin line along the edges gave the most trouble. I found using a toothpick sanded down to a needle tip and lightly moistened with water (not rubbing alcohol) does the best job in cleaning off this hard to reach deposit.

Conclusion
Stick to the tried and true method of disassembling your 2DS/3DS to directly access, remove, and repair the shoulder button. If you don't trust yourself to be skillful enough in properly wielding a screwdriver, you can gamble using the indirect, alcohol flush method with several caveats. Just don't expect this to 100% work out for you. This would mean resorting back to correct method.

 

[EpikJimmer]

Wow, I forgot GBAtemp existed hehe
Anyway, I figured out how to backup everything even the gba saves!
Probably in 2 weeks, I'll get my 2DS xl, make a fake NNID to get CFW, delete the NNID, backup all the thingies from my 3DS, transfer the legit things from the 3ds to the 2ds xl such as NNID, legit titles etc. and just move on with my life... well... if I have one...

 

[EpikJimmer]

NEWS FLASH
i didn't buy a 2ds xl :/

 

[EpikJimmer]

OK, Ik nobody is watching this rn but I just wanted to say sorry for causing so much trouble with my "screwdriverphobia"

I actually mean it, I'm sorry.