Hardware Please help with O3DSXL that fell in water

[Owl Whiskey]

I've had an O3DSXL for a long time, I used it with an emunand for homebrew and stuff.
It fell in water about a month ago (forgot my login, so I couldn't ask for help then)and ever since then when I tried to turn it on the blue led would glow for a few seconds, then pop and power off (all with a black screen). I tried to completely take it apart and fix it today.

The motherboard and the back of the touchscreen had some kind of dirt on it so I cleaned them both with some 91% Isopropyl Alcohol and cotton balls, I wiped down all of the spaces on the motherboard whether or not it had dirt on it. Eventually I cleaned everything and now here is where my problem starts.

After putting it back together it still glows blue then makes the "pop" sound and powers off. I got around to googling it and found out that the problem could be that either the speaker or mic ribbon cable has been torn, but that doesn't make all that much sense to me because it started doing that after it fell in water, and I wasn't opening and closing it with force (I have in the past, but then this exact problem happened minus the water so I sent it to ninty repair)

So, is this something that I could fix by replacing the speaker and/or mic cables? or does it have anything to do with the water?? I haven't the money to get it repaired a second time (and I doubt the warranty is good after what I've done) nor get a new one.
If I left any important info out please let me know and I'll try my best to clarify, and thanks in advance.

 

[Deleted member 333767]

Buy some rice and an air-tight food container large enough for the 3DS to fit inside along with a considerable amount of rice. Fill with rice, sit 3DS on top of rice and seal the container. Leave it for a long time, at least a week.

My Brother drowned his Nexus 5 the other week, and aforementioned method made it as good as new.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO POWER ON ELECTRONIC DEVICES THAT HAVE BEEN SUBMERSED IN WATER UNTIL THE ABOVE STEPS HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT

Because you'll short something out.

 

[James310]

It may be fried because of that popping sound....rice wont work because you said it fell in a month ago

 

[Clydefrosch]

chances are some part of the electronics is fried already. if putting it in water and then turning it on didn't do it, then leaving it uncleaned for a month made sure something ends up broken.

 

[munchy_cool]

If even after cleaning it with alcohol it has the same behavior I would not invest any more in it. I know it's hard but the first mistake you made was trying to turn it on after water damage. The only thing I would try is another battery (from a friends console) to see if that fixes it.

 

[testerfan]

it is repairable, if you want to send it in to get fixed - let me know (or send PM)

 

[dAVID_]

Same thing happened to my sister, except she put hers on the water faucet. I don't remember how it was fixed.

 

[duyluan]

my 3ds has the same problem, everytime i push the power button, blue light for 1-2 second and then,pop. Like what he did, i also try to google and people said that my 3ds has a broken speaker or screen ribbon, although 1 or 2 report that their 3ds has blew their fuse or capacitor! So at that point i completely have now clue what to do, so i go to a local game shop and told them what i found on google and ask them if they could fix it. one week later, they say they couldn't found the problem, and then i did the same thing again with another store, one week later and they said "we couldn't fix it, but we thing the main board may be damaged". So at that time, i talk to myself that "maybe they don't have parts needed to repaired it"! So i googled and found the best store about game console repair(in my country of course), and send it via air mail to had it repair. Again, one week later they send them back and said they couldn't fix it. So at this point i just want to give up, but instead post my problem here so that maybe someone could help me with it. My 3ds doesn't have water damage, but i have drop it a few time at the height about half a meter. Any help would be nice, because i don't want to sell my 3ds for scrap!

 

[dAVID_]

It's the screen ribbon.

 

[LoganK93]

I'm having the same issue with my CFW N3DSXL. Thing is, I did the rice trick and it worked fine the next day, until I closed the lid to put it to sleep. Since then nothing.

 

[duyluan]

so i'm not sure but anyone think that i should repair the 3ds myself? I could order the lcd screen online and follow instruction on ifixit to repair it but i'm not 100% sure that the problem maybe the screen ribbon. can anyone confirm it?

 

[dAVID_]

Yeah well, have you done it before and succeeded?

 

[duyluan]

Yeah well, have you done it before and succeeded?

no, i met this problem the first time. blue light for a few second, and then turn off with a pop, but now it doesn't pop anymore, just the blue light

 

[VassagoX]

Speakers and screen ribbons may be normal answers without the water factor, but I'm with everyone above who said something is fried. If it was on when it fell in the water or you tried to turn it on before it was COMPLETELY dry inside, it's likely toast. Even without being on, water can cause permanent damage to electronics.

 

[daniel26150]

3D ribbon cable broken or damaged warranty or repair center

 

[SmileCitrus]

The ribbon cable for the speakers may not actually be torn, but if the pins inside the P7 connector are not making contact with the conductors, you have the same problem as if it were actually torn. That's why the system makes the popping sound and shuts off. The circuit to the upper screen backlight is broken. This is common when liquid damage has occurred. It's either because the liquid corroded through the trace on the ribbon cable, or because corrosion and gunk has accumulated in the P7 connector.

You can test which is the issue by getting a good speaker cable and a good upper screen with backlight. Connect the two small cables from the upper screen to the good speaker cable and then connect the speaker cable to your motherboard. Hold the battery to the connector and try powering it on. The lower screen and backlight must be connected while you do this. If it boots like this, then your original speaker cable is bad. This can be replaced cheaply and relatively easily (you can buy them on eBay or take one from a broken console). If it still makes a popping sound and shuts off, your P7 connector is bad. This is difficult to replace and only someone with relatively good soldering skill could do it. I'd personally just replace the board if the P7 connector were bad.

 

[BL4Z3D247]

Loose/damaged ribbon cable or the WiFi card needs to be reseated or both. I'll bet money nothing is fried, I doubt the power LED would even illuminate if something had died on the motherboard. Gently make sure the ribbon cables are seated in the connector. Sometimes when closing the ribbon cable clip it shifts a bit and will cause a bad connection resulting in the issue your having. I would take it back apart, put the motherboard in a bag of rice for a while just in case any moisture is trap between any components and then reassemble checking connections to assure they are seated correctly then try powering it on.

 

[rip-it-up]

The ribbon cable for the speakers may not actually be torn, but if the pins inside the P7 connector are not making contact with the conductors, you have the same problem as if it were actually torn. That's why the system makes the popping sound and shuts off. The circuit to the upper screen backlight is broken. This is common when liquid damage has occurred. It's either because the liquid corroded through the trace on the ribbon cable, or because corrosion and gunk has accumulated in the P7 connector.

You can test which is the issue by getting a good speaker cable and a good upper screen with backlight. Connect the two small cables from the upper screen to the good speaker cable and then connect the speaker cable to your motherboard. Hold the battery to the connector and try powering it on. The lower screen and backlight must be connected while you do this. If it boots like this, then your original speaker cable is bad. This can be replaced cheaply and relatively easily (you can buy them on eBay or take one from a broken console). If it still makes a popping sound and shuts off, your P7 connector is bad. This is difficult to replace and only someone with relatively good soldering skill could do it. I'd personally just replace the board if the P7 connector were bad.

This is a photo of what smilecitrus is describing