For those who don't like reading long posts: the DS works fine in GBA mode, just not DS mode. It's like the water-damage only affects DS mode.
I personally have never had any problems with my own DS Lite (got it at Christmas, I treat it like gold).. but a friend of mine has two kids, one of them lost his DS and while borrowing his sister's DS, managed to drop it in the toilet. Apparently he took it out right away but left it for like 3 days without telling anyone. They already plan on buying a new DSI for the girl anyways, so I'm basically trying to repair a DS Lite that would have been thrown in the trash. Meanwhile the little turd that dropped it in the toilet has obviously lost his DS privileges.
When he first asked me about it, I considered it a complete write-off due to the fact the kid left it for 3 days without telling anyone, I figured all the electronics would be corroded beyond use. Furthermore the toilet did have pee in it (yuck!), so there's the factor of the salinity in the water possibly affecting the electronics.
The most my buddy did was dry it, clean it, take the battery out and let it sit in front of a fan to dry out as much as possible. I said I'd try to help out since I have a tri-wing screwdriver from my Wii experiences. I did a complete disassembly of the NDS right down to the bare bones, literally every piece taken apart. I followed the instructions in this excellent Teknoconsolas video: Disassembling Nintendo DS Lite
Once disassembled I put all of the separate components on the counter and in front of a fan over the weekend. Today I reassembled the DS using the video as a guide and managed to get it back into it's original form (quite an interesting experience I must say!)
So here's the bottom line, and the symptoms it shows:
1. The DS charges fine, plugging in the charger turns the orange light on and charges until the battery is full, then turns off. So the charging fuse is not blown.
2. When trying to turn on the NDS with either (a) a DS game or (b) nothing in either slot, the power light turns on dim green for about 1 second, then bright green for half a second and then turns off.
3. The top screen also flashes white during the above process, when a DS game is inserted or when both slots are empty. From searching on Google this seems to be related to a top screen failure or short. However the next point negates this theory in this instance.
Here's the strange, and totally unexpected part:
4. When the DS slot is empty and a GBA game is inserted, the DS works perfectly fine in GBA mode! All of the buttons work, the sound works perfectly, in other words it's like nothing ever happened to it. I've tried several GBA carts and an EZFlash 3-in-1 (flashed with Mother 3 translation) and all work flawlessly.
5. If nothing is inserted in either slots, holding L+R+A+B+X+Y while turning on the DS results in the Gameboy logo being displayed on the top screen (along with the Gameboy sound playing on the speakers), then freezes since no game is inserted.
I realize the effects of water damage can be far reaching, however I'm wondering if anyone has experienced something similar (water damage only breaking DS mode, yet GBA mode works fine). There must be some DS-related component that has failed, looking at the board there doesn't seem to be any visible component damaged, obviously it's something my naked eyes can't see.
Anyone?
I personally have never had any problems with my own DS Lite (got it at Christmas, I treat it like gold).. but a friend of mine has two kids, one of them lost his DS and while borrowing his sister's DS, managed to drop it in the toilet. Apparently he took it out right away but left it for like 3 days without telling anyone. They already plan on buying a new DSI for the girl anyways, so I'm basically trying to repair a DS Lite that would have been thrown in the trash. Meanwhile the little turd that dropped it in the toilet has obviously lost his DS privileges.
When he first asked me about it, I considered it a complete write-off due to the fact the kid left it for 3 days without telling anyone, I figured all the electronics would be corroded beyond use. Furthermore the toilet did have pee in it (yuck!), so there's the factor of the salinity in the water possibly affecting the electronics.
The most my buddy did was dry it, clean it, take the battery out and let it sit in front of a fan to dry out as much as possible. I said I'd try to help out since I have a tri-wing screwdriver from my Wii experiences. I did a complete disassembly of the NDS right down to the bare bones, literally every piece taken apart. I followed the instructions in this excellent Teknoconsolas video: Disassembling Nintendo DS Lite
Once disassembled I put all of the separate components on the counter and in front of a fan over the weekend. Today I reassembled the DS using the video as a guide and managed to get it back into it's original form (quite an interesting experience I must say!)
So here's the bottom line, and the symptoms it shows:
1. The DS charges fine, plugging in the charger turns the orange light on and charges until the battery is full, then turns off. So the charging fuse is not blown.
2. When trying to turn on the NDS with either (a) a DS game or (b) nothing in either slot, the power light turns on dim green for about 1 second, then bright green for half a second and then turns off.
3. The top screen also flashes white during the above process, when a DS game is inserted or when both slots are empty. From searching on Google this seems to be related to a top screen failure or short. However the next point negates this theory in this instance.
Here's the strange, and totally unexpected part:
4. When the DS slot is empty and a GBA game is inserted, the DS works perfectly fine in GBA mode! All of the buttons work, the sound works perfectly, in other words it's like nothing ever happened to it. I've tried several GBA carts and an EZFlash 3-in-1 (flashed with Mother 3 translation) and all work flawlessly.
5. If nothing is inserted in either slots, holding L+R+A+B+X+Y while turning on the DS results in the Gameboy logo being displayed on the top screen (along with the Gameboy sound playing on the speakers), then freezes since no game is inserted.
I realize the effects of water damage can be far reaching, however I'm wondering if anyone has experienced something similar (water damage only breaking DS mode, yet GBA mode works fine). There must be some DS-related component that has failed, looking at the board there doesn't seem to be any visible component damaged, obviously it's something my naked eyes can't see.
Anyone?
