Hacking Hardware (softmodded) New 3DS XL not booting after reassembly

[Zeehondie]

Apologies for another thread about an issue that has already been talked about a lot, i just can't get anything from other posts to work.

After disassembling to try out the process of swapping the digitizer, then reassembling the console, it refuses to boot.

The blue light turns on for half a second and then turns off. From other posts in the forum i've read that popping sounds indicate something going on with the ribbon cables that go through the hinge, but i don't hear anything at all. I have tried dragging a different boot.firm onto the sdcard but that also did not change anything.

Something that might be a problem would be two of the clips that hold the ribbon cables into the connectors fell off (those being the power board, and i think the camera connector. Neither of them are physically damaged, so trying to save it might be possible), but the cables still stay in there relatively securely and make a good connection given that without the power board, the console wouldn't show any light at all. It might be good to mention that it stopped booting before the clips fell off, and that happened during the second time reseating everything.

What is quite interesting is that with the sdcard removed, the light blinks even shorter than it normally does. Plugging the charger in lights up the orange light for about 5 seconds before turning off.

I've tried:
- reseating all connectors and cables on both the frond and back of the mainboard (twice, did not work)
- booting into GM9, the Luma config menu, or recovery mode (none of which worked)
- putting an backup of a previous version of Luma on the sdcard and removing the old one (also did nothing)

I assume it has to do with the disassembly/reassembly but the lack of any sounds has gotten me curious.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I'll try taking apart the top eventually if nothing works.

 

[leerz]

how did you undo the backlight? you should pull on it. you're not supposed to pry it out like normal ffc connectors, they are self locking. i would check from there.

 

[Zeehondie]

how did you undo the backlight? you should pull on it. you're not supposed to pry it out like normal ffc connectors, they are self locking. i would check from there.

If I understand correctly, the bottom screen backlight ribbon is indeed self locking. I pulled it out without applying any upwards force, just straight out. The top screen backlight (on the same cable as the speakers?) is under a latch though. If that one is improperly connected it might explain the lack of sound?

Post automatically merged: Aug 18, 2023

I have once again taken it apart to reseat all the cables, and i am pretty sure everything is properly inserted. (Including the cables on the top right side (and underside) of the mainboard)

As long as i have the orientation of these cables correct, i feel like the only explanation would be a dead ribbon, though i am not entirely sure.

One of the ribbons on the backside need the pins facing away from the pcb:



While the other needs to be facing towards the pcb:


(i have also included pictures of those two specific connectors before and after the reseating, although it is a bit difficult to see what is going on)