Hi all,
I have been spending my lock-down months trying to fix some old consoles and handhelds for fun and have found the New 2DS XL to be a nice console to work on, and have managed to get a few of them up and running again now.
However, I have two consoles that are not happy for seemingly the same reasons, so I am hoping there is someone out here with a bit more knowledge that might be able to make some suggestions.
Console 1)
This was bought with already having the "popping fault" where the blue light comes on for a few seconds, and then goes off with a pop from the speakers. Opening it up, the tops screen ribbon was in bad shape, so I got that swapped out, but it did not fix it. On closer inspection, the bottom screen back light connector had been "opened" at some point so was not making a good connection. Holding it in place I was able to get it to boot. Given that the I was unable to keep it in place, I thought I would try reinforcing the connector with a little solder. During this, I had clearly managed to bridge across the pins, it still booted but there was no backlight. I managed to unbridge the connections, but annoyingly I still couldn't seem to get a good connection, and now holding it down didn't allow it to boot. This is, I think the point where it stopped working. Since this point, I have removed the connector completely, soldered a screen on, re-bridged the pins, fitted a replacement socket and connected it to a different backlight. None of these made any difference. I can only assume at this point that something has failed such as a capacitor or fuse.
Console 2)
This motherboard had a slight bend on it near the battery side, and with both the backlight and NFC connectors completely missing. Given that I already had some of these connectors for console 1, I went ahead and fitted new connectors and hooked it back up. I gave it a test while still opened up, and it turned on. I still hadn't put all the screws back in, so wile testing it out I had a few cases of it turning off. So, I started screwing it all together properly so everything was on apart from the back casing which was connected but not clipped in. Still working. I then tried to fit the back case on, while it was on. (urgh) and it didn't seem to want to go on. I was carefully trying to get it all lined up when it turned off again. So I took the back cover off again, checked all the connections and still nothing. Since that point it has failed to boot each time.
So that is where we are, 2 consoles, both that had issues around the backlight connector that now wont boot even though all things are connected.
I have another console arriving soon that is supposed to just have a broken top screen (cracked, so still electrically sound), so my next step is probably to start comparing readings between all 3 boards to see if anything shows up.
If anyone has any suggestions that would be great! But if not, I will update this thread with anything I do find out in the hope that others may be able to fix this issue too.
I have been spending my lock-down months trying to fix some old consoles and handhelds for fun and have found the New 2DS XL to be a nice console to work on, and have managed to get a few of them up and running again now.
However, I have two consoles that are not happy for seemingly the same reasons, so I am hoping there is someone out here with a bit more knowledge that might be able to make some suggestions.
Console 1)
This was bought with already having the "popping fault" where the blue light comes on for a few seconds, and then goes off with a pop from the speakers. Opening it up, the tops screen ribbon was in bad shape, so I got that swapped out, but it did not fix it. On closer inspection, the bottom screen back light connector had been "opened" at some point so was not making a good connection. Holding it in place I was able to get it to boot. Given that the I was unable to keep it in place, I thought I would try reinforcing the connector with a little solder. During this, I had clearly managed to bridge across the pins, it still booted but there was no backlight. I managed to unbridge the connections, but annoyingly I still couldn't seem to get a good connection, and now holding it down didn't allow it to boot. This is, I think the point where it stopped working. Since this point, I have removed the connector completely, soldered a screen on, re-bridged the pins, fitted a replacement socket and connected it to a different backlight. None of these made any difference. I can only assume at this point that something has failed such as a capacitor or fuse.
Console 2)
This motherboard had a slight bend on it near the battery side, and with both the backlight and NFC connectors completely missing. Given that I already had some of these connectors for console 1, I went ahead and fitted new connectors and hooked it back up. I gave it a test while still opened up, and it turned on. I still hadn't put all the screws back in, so wile testing it out I had a few cases of it turning off. So, I started screwing it all together properly so everything was on apart from the back casing which was connected but not clipped in. Still working. I then tried to fit the back case on, while it was on. (urgh) and it didn't seem to want to go on. I was carefully trying to get it all lined up when it turned off again. So I took the back cover off again, checked all the connections and still nothing. Since that point it has failed to boot each time.
So that is where we are, 2 consoles, both that had issues around the backlight connector that now wont boot even though all things are connected.
I have another console arriving soon that is supposed to just have a broken top screen (cracked, so still electrically sound), so my next step is probably to start comparing readings between all 3 boards to see if anything shows up.
If anyone has any suggestions that would be great! But if not, I will update this thread with anything I do find out in the hope that others may be able to fix this issue too.