New 3DS can charge, but has no blue light and no pop sound when trying to turn it on. The issue likely is the motherboard, but I'm not sure what to do

TheEclipsedLock

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Hello! To keep the intro short, I have a working new 3ds and I am trying to fix a friend's new 3ds. It will not turn on. No blue light, no "popping" sound, nothing to indicate what is happening. It can charge, however. From my known, working 3ds, I decided to swap out my motherboard and put the friend's motherboard into my n3ds, and it will not turn on. Subsequently when I place my motherboard back onto my n3ds, it turns on. I also swapped the SD card reader between the systems, and that did not work either.

It seems the motherboard itself is the problem. From what my friend told me, they were playing an animal crossing game when the 3DS powered off and has not been able to turn on since. Holding the UP+R+L+D-pad UP+Power combination also did not work.

I was made aware of a similar thread on gbatemp called: "3ds-cfw-wont-turn-on-no-blue-light-no-gm9-or-luma". From there, I was able to learn about the fuses and continuity test them on the new 3ds motherboard and the abxy board. The fuses still have continuity, so the issue must lie somewhere else, since I feel like I am as stuck as this previous person was at the end of this thread.

I have images posted to this thread as well as a video of the charging 3ds and me trying to power it on.

I want to be able to at least recover the data from this friend's 3ds, but I am completely lost as to solve this. Or, to even diagnose what the issue is with my friend's new 3ds motherboard. Is there a recommended repair person or center that has experience with this issue, or could potentially diagnose the issue? Thank you for taking the time to read this.
 

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I am leaving a comment because I recently resolved a similar issue.

I had given up and left it alone for several months, but after connecting it to the charger for a few hours and trying again, the blue light turned on.

I kept trying to turn the power back on, and I discovered that it would turn on when flipped over.

With the SD card removed and the SD slot PCB pressed down with my hand, it booted up.

In conclusion, for me, the problem was with the SD card slot.

I am leaving this post for anyone who might see it later.
 
I am leaving a comment because I recently resolved a similar issue.

I had given up and left it alone for several months, but after connecting it to the charger for a few hours and trying again, the blue light turned on.

I kept trying to turn the power back on, and I discovered that it would turn on when flipped over.

With the SD card removed and the SD slot PCB pressed down with my hand, it booted up.

In conclusion, for me, the problem was with the SD card slot.

I am leaving this post for anyone who might see it later.


Thank you for this. I was having the same issue and couldnt figure it out. Capacitors all seemed fine, fuses were good, the board wouldnt work in other consoles so I knew it wasnt anything in the top half. I pressed in on the sd card slot (it's an old 3ds xl so it's mounted to the board) and I was able to get the system to work again. Ill have to either reflow the slot or replace it entirely, but the console works again.
 
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