Hardware N2DS XL - wont turn on, only charging indicator

little_snowflake · Feb 27, 2020

Got a N2DS XL, owner said that he got upper screen changed. He said after a couple of days of normal play, the console just would not turn on. No blue light, no red, nothing.
This is what I have right now:
- when turning on the console, nothing happens - no lights, no sounds
- there is 4V between +&- terminals on the battery (does that mean that the battery is ok?)
- when pressing power button with battery inside and charger plugged in, a red light flashes once for a fraction of a second. Charging indicator is on, only blinks in some intervals.

I wonder about the blue light flashing - if this occures with some parts not working (lets say a broken screen), then the problem might be with power circuit. Or am I wrong with this? I think if I can get a blue light flashing then I will be on a way to repair it.
Sorry if there are typos, not my native language.

PS. previous repair was awful, but I think damage was done only in this area when changing the screen (see pic)

IC_ · Feb 27, 2020

little_snowflake said:
Got a N2DS XL, owner said that he got upper screen changed. He said after a couple of days of normal play, the console just would not turn on. No blue light, no red, nothing.
This is what I have right now:
- when turning on the console, nothing happens - no lights, no sounds
- there is 4V between +&- terminals on the battery (does that mean that the battery is ok?)
- when pressing power button with battery inside and charger plugged in, a red light flashes once for a fraction of a second. Charging indicator is on, only blinks in some intervals.

I wonder about the blue light flashing - if this occures with some parts not working (lets say a broken screen), then the problem might be with power circuit. Or am I wrong with this? I think if I can get a blue light flashing then I will be on a way to repair it.
Sorry if there are typos, not my native language.

PS. previous repair was awful, but I think damage was done only in this area when changing the screen (see pic)
View attachment 197791

Sounds like a damaged power circuit or blown fuse
4V on the battery is good and it should mean that the battery is almost fully charged so the power LED wouldn't normally be red in that case

little_snowflake · Feb 27, 2020

Extrasklep said:
Sounds like a damaged power circuit or blown fuse
4V on the battery is good and it should mean that the battery is almost fully charged so the power LED wouldn't normally be red in that case

Found only 2 fuses, both are fine. Checked the power button with multimeter - eveything ok.

little_snowflake · Feb 27, 2020

Found a tilted capacitor, after re-soldering nothing changed.

little_snowflake · Feb 28, 2020

After reading some threads here and thinking about the problem in general, this is what i've come up with:
-Questions-
~~1. If someone have a n2ds xl - does the charging LED blinks, like, once a minute or so? Been charging my n3ds and noticed that led does not blink.~~
Edit: Everything is normal, charging LED only blinks if power button pressed several times.
~~2. Does n3ds ~~or ds~~ have a n2dsxl-compatible batteries? I only have those to try.~~
Edit: DS's battery is not compatible with N2DS XL's, it's contacts are physically on a different side of the battery.
Edit 2: N3DS's battery is not compatible with N2DS XL. It is bigger and fatter that N2DS XL's.
-General thoughts-
After gathering some info from some threads, I think that with these symptoms, this problem might have different roots:
-bad power circuit, charging/voltage IC, battery protection circuit
-internal memory problems (if previous owner hacked his console, or hardware/software problems with NAND)
-and the worst one: everything or the main processor is fried.

Correct me, if i'am wrong somewhere, or give your thoughts on this matter. This is my first time with a project like this, I've tried opening some stuff before, but not to such an extent.

IC_ · Feb 28, 2020

little_snowflake said:
After reading some threads here and thinking about the problem in general, this is what i've come up with:
-Questions-
~~1. If someone have a n2ds xl - does the charging LED blinks, like, once a minute or so? Been charging my n3ds and noticed that led does not blink.~~
Edit: Everything is normal, charging LED only blinks if power button pressed several times.
2. Does n3ds ~~or ds~~ have a n2dsxl-compatible batteries? I only have those to try.
Edit: DS's battery is not compatible with N2DS XL's, it's contacts are physically on a different side of the battery.
-General thoughts-
After gathering some info from some threads, I think that with these symptoms, this problem might have different roots:
-bad power circuit, charging/voltage IC, battery protection circuit
-internal memory problems (if previous owner hacked his console, or hardware/software problems with NAND)
-and the worst one: everything or the main processor is fried.

Correct me, if i'am wrong somewhere, or give your thoughts on this matter. This is my first time with a project like this, I've tried opening some stuff before, but not to such an extent.

The old 3DS and 2DS batteries are compatible and maybe the new 3DS too but not sure
And yeah it just sounds like a problem with the power circuits and ICs to me

little_snowflake · Feb 28, 2020

Extrasklep said:
The old 3DS and 2DS batteries are compatible and maybe the new 3DS too but not sure
And yeah it just sounds like a problem with the power circuits and ICs to me

N3DS battery have the same +&- terminals, but it does not fit in a battery frame. So for the record you can not use N3DS battery in N2DS XL (the n3ds battery is just plane bigger). But i removed the frame and tried anyway. Nothing, so it is absolutely not a battery problem.

little_snowflake · Mar 2, 2020

Ok, this is going to be a bit long, so bear with me.
After reading through a bunch of threads, i saw this one:

Mariobros6428 said:
think this would be a good video to follow?
--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

In this video, a guy repairs a n3ds xl by heating it's power ic with a heatgun. After watching it, i've wondered if i can do a similar thing, maybe it just needs a bit of reflowing.
But then another thought struck me. What are the components that we are dealing with?
And who would have thought... The power ic is the same! (at least n3ds xl and n2ds xl, i did'nt look at other ones for now, maybe in a later post)

That is a very nice thing to see, these components can be replaced if need be. Then I tried to find more info about the components and it led me to these:
3DS chip names and models
IFixit's 3DS Teardown
3DS Hardware List
Another good thing - charging ic is the same in all models (aparently, i can only say that n2ds xl has the same ic that o3ds), and you can probably buy this ic (bq24072) and install it if yours is not working.

But, there are some bad news. So in my case, charging works fine, and the next suspect is the power ic. And what the component is? I do not know...
It says HF374 7NU9, but if you google it, nothing. And that is the hard part for now. Manufacturers make some components exclusively, and markings on them will never show you anything that is in broad consumer space. For example, this guy tried to find some info on o3ds's PMIC:
O3DS PMIC
You can try to google the components from the hardware list, but i think that more complex ic's will not be available.

So, right now my possibilities are:
- try to reflow a power ic
- if it will not help, i can get a n3ds xl button board with the ic and replace it
- try to find out what the "HF374 7NU9" component is, or are there any compatible components.
If you have any thoughts or corrections - please share them.

little_snowflake · Mar 3, 2020

Tried reflowing power and charge ic's - nothing. Saw a post saying that if there is 1.8V on one of the bigger capasitors around the charge ic - then you should replace it (the ic). I have >4V, so maybe it is intact.
Also trying to find some more pictures of the "HF374 7NU9" chip on other n2ds xl motherboards to establish what lines of numbers/letters stay the same on it. If i understand correctly, lines that are the same on different chips are the manufacturer/chip model markings. Lines that are different are the timestamps for when the chip was made.
Maybe it might be more wise to get a n2ds xl motherboard instead of a button board. ideally a working one, to have a point of reference. Probably need to look up aliexpress or ebay for some motherboards/not working consoles.

xben9x · Mar 25, 2020

Little_snowflake, any update to this? I’ve got the same issue and have been trying to work through it. I appreciate you posting all of this, extremely helpful.

Hardware N2DS XL - wont turn on, only charging indicator

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