Hardware Would changing the motherboard in a 3ds change its region?

mepstein10

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
8
Trophies
0
XP
53
Country
United States
I am seriously considering swapping the motherboard in my white 3ds (japanese model) with a USA motherboard, either a broken 3ds or a new motherboard. Overall makes not a huge difference to me.

I would want to know if doing something like this would change the region on the system from NTSC-J to NTSC (from japanese region to united states) which is the entire point of the project.

However before committing myself to such a project I would want to know if it would have the results I would intend, and if there would be any conflict with parts.

Would the cart reader for the 3ds need to swapped as well or would just the motherboard be sufficient?

I do not know if anyone has tampered with such a project but any information would be helpful.

And I do know its a large amount of in order to change just the color, but to be honest I abhor the colors available in the USA. And with no white 3ds available for the USA, and no replacement shell housing in my desired color this is the only alternative.

Thank you in advance.


EDIT: Okay so I finally did this, and it was the worst mistake I could have done. Got the guts transfered but it was huge amount of work. the cameras no longer work but other than that everything seems to work fine. I think I should just wait until the white 3ds was brought over. For those attempting this, I'd suggest shying away from it. The ribbon and clamps are a huge pain in the rear. I'll keep this system for a while, or until it breaks, but perhaps we'll get a new color in the winter.
 

Warrior522

"In all things, balance."
Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
826
Trophies
0
XP
165
Country
United States
Hmm. I'm not familiar with the technical specs per se, but I believe the region-lock is only in the chips on the motherboard, so I would assume you'd be good to go.
 

mepstein10

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
8
Trophies
0
XP
53
Country
United States

If you swap a 3DS NTSC-J, NTSC or PAL mobo to any barebone then yes.

As the region lock is in the mobo's hardware/firmware.

The other parts are all the same for all consoles like the screens,buttons,case and power board.

Awesome. Would you mind defining what bare-bones mean specifically in the context you mean? I am taking a motherboard from a working black 3ds unit and putting it into the white japanese system.


I'll update once I have everything ready.
 

TripleSMoon

GBAtemp's Umbran Witch in [T]raining
Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2012
Messages
6,443
Trophies
2
Age
34
Location
Central NC
Website
twitter.com
XP
3,296
Country
United States
i think importing a new 3ds wud be better and ez
I think you're missing the point... he wants a white 3DS that's USA compatible, but there is no USA white 3DS, despite there being a Japanese white 3DS. Hence, the desire to fit a USA 3DS's guts into white Japanese 3DS.
 

YamiHoshi.nl

I'm MKGirlism.
Member
Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
671
Trophies
0
Age
32
Location
Tokyo
Website
www.dshack.org
XP
481
Country
One question: Wouldn't it be way easier to simply buy a new USA 3DS, and sell your Japanese 3DS?
The 3DS has pretty small parts inside, and especially the Ribbon Cables make it a horrible job.
One wrong thing, and it's time to say your 3DS goodbye.
 

TripleSMoon

GBAtemp's Umbran Witch in [T]raining
Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2012
Messages
6,443
Trophies
2
Age
34
Location
Central NC
Website
twitter.com
XP
3,296
Country
United States
One question: Wouldn't it be way easier to simply buy a new USA 3DS, and sell your Japanese 3DS?
The 3DS has pretty small parts inside, and especially the Ribbon Cables make it a horrible job.
One wrong thing, and it's time to say your 3DS goodbye.
See my previous post :P
 

YamiHoshi.nl

I'm MKGirlism.
Member
Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
671
Trophies
0
Age
32
Location
Tokyo
Website
www.dshack.org
XP
481
Country
In that case, good luck with modding.
I think the Motherboard should be enough, I'm not sure about the Cartridge Slot.
But if you can get USA Games to work, by just changing the Cartridge Slot, you should really do something revolutionary.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person

TripleSMoon

GBAtemp's Umbran Witch in [T]raining
Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2012
Messages
6,443
Trophies
2
Age
34
Location
Central NC
Website
twitter.com
XP
3,296
Country
United States
But if you can get USA Games to work, by just changing the Cartridge Slot, you should really do something revolutionary.
That would be quite amazing... Imagine someone hard-modding a cartridge slot that was region-unlocked and selling it online for people to install themselves...

Hey, I can dream, right? :D
 

Janthran

Solarian
Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Messages
3,777
Trophies
0
Location
The Pacific Northwet
XP
1,146
Country
United States
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person

Janthran

Solarian
Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Messages
3,777
Trophies
0
Location
The Pacific Northwet
XP
1,146
Country
United States
I'm just going to say this.
The 3DS doesn't NEED those.
Doesn't need? Maybe. Would be really convenient and open up a whole 'nother realm of possibilities? Definitely.

But to each his own.
I don't want to start this debate, but (if you mean the 3DS XL) then giving it a second circle pad would make developers make EVERYTHING need it.
For people who don't want to buy it, that's not good. So they didn't do it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person

Cartmanuk

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Messages
720
Trophies
1
XP
409
Country

If you swap a 3DS NTSC-J, NTSC or PAL mobo to any barebone then yes.

As the region lock is in the mobo's hardware/firmware.

The other parts are all the same for all consoles like the screens,buttons,case and power board.

Awesome. Would you mind defining what bare-bones mean specifically in the context you mean? I am taking a motherboard from a working black 3ds unit and putting it into the white japanese system.


I'll update once I have everything ready.

By Barebone I mean everything other than the Mobo.

You can swap motherboard over as it is.
 

mepstein10

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
8
Trophies
0
XP
53
Country
United States
Can you take JUST the shell and not mess with the cart slots and such? That'd definitely work.

Actually that would be a bit harder. Swapping out the motherboard is pretty straightforward (thank the maker), but much easier than shifting everything over. Check ifixit diagrams and you'll see what I mean. If it weren't for the ribbon wire in the hinge I would consider it, but removing screens and dealing with delicate ribbon wire would be something I'd rather avoid due the the amount of work it entails and the difficult of removing it without damaging it. (also dust getting on screens would be a huge pain). It would be the way I would have gone had I access the full shell housing empty and unused. But since it has everything installed, I rather not give myself more work.

In that case, good luck with modding.
I think the Motherboard should be enough, I'm not sure about the Cartridge Slot.
But if you can get USA Games to work, by just changing the Cartridge Slot, you should really do something revolutionary.

I doubt it will be that simple. I'm pretty sure that the region lock is a combination of hardware and software. Now If I could figure out which one and disable it, then perhaps we can get somewhere. That would remove the hardware component, but then there is still the software one. But I may be wrong, If the region lock is just the cartridge reader, that would be rather laughable that it took us so long to figure it out.

My guess is that the region lock is a chip or several chips, I just hope that it is not multipurpose, otherwise disabling the region lock could potentially kill the system. Say what you will on piracy and whatnot, but Nintendo really learned it's lesson when it comes to security.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
    K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2: I got this ps4 at launch and never updated since 9.0