Hardware 2DS Won't Power On or Charge with Battery Inserted, Blinks Orange Without Battery

[Locks]

I bought a broken 2DS from Vinted and am trying to fix it. The console had water damage, as indicated by the pink indicator. I've disassembled the device, cleaned off as much rust as possible, and cleaned the ports. The old battery is swollen, so I'm using a new one to try to power it on.

When I plug in the charger without any battery, the battery LED blinks orange (at 80bpm). However, when I insert a battery, the console won't turn on at all. I have a functional battery that works in other consoles and can be charged in another console, but when I put it in this one, it shows no charging indicator and won't turn on. It's puzzling because I expected the behavior to stay the same regardless of the battery's insertion, which would suggest the battery connection port is broken. Instead, it seems to prevent any charging or powering on when a battery is inserted, but still detects the charger.

 

[Slade.AU]

So you bought something that is potentially severely damaged through water without knowing how to fix it and expect people here to just magically tell you without providing any real details?

Go take some high resolution images of the PCB and post those. At least people might be able to see something wrong.

I can hazard a few guesses:

1/ Bad inductor or fuse near the charging port.
2/ Corrosion could have eaten traces away, even through layers / vias of the PCB.
3/ You have a short somewhere.
4/ It's beyond repair.

 

[Locks]

So you bought something that is potentially severely damaged through water without knowing how to fix it and expect people here to just magically tell you without providing any real details?

Go take some high resolution images of the PCB and post those. At least people might be able to see something wrong.

I can hazard a few guesses:

1/ Bad inductor or fuse near the charging port.
2/ Corrosion could have eaten traces away, even through layers / vias of the PCB.
3/ You have a short somewhere.
4/ It's beyond repair.

Are you okay? You sound quite upset in your first sentences. I just occasionally lurk on here, first time posting.

I don't expect people to magically tell me how to fix it, I'm just having fun tearing it down, trying to learn what happened and how it's assembled, issues it can have, for future potential repairs, and see if I can potentially fix it eventually.

Still, I appreciate you taking time to list a few guesses and for replying. I'll tear it down again and take pictures of the PCB when I have time to dive back in it. I'll also try out a multimeter once I get my hands on one, although I suspect the corrosion must have destroyed the PCB's vias in some way.

 

[btjunior]

So you bought something that is potentially severely damaged through water without knowing how to fix it and expect people here to just magically tell you without providing any real details?

Go take some high resolution images of the PCB and post those. At least people might be able to see something wrong.

I can hazard a few guesses:

1/ Bad inductor or fuse near the charging port.
2/ Corrosion could have eaten traces away, even through layers / vias of the PCB.
3/ You have a short somewhere.
4/ It's beyond repair.

Do you have to be so pretentious? Just proving the GBATemp stereotype lmao.

 

[Slade.AU]

Do you have to be so pretentious? Just proving the GBATemp stereotype lmao.

Yes.

There are a lot of these posts. If people spent 90 seconds either searching this forum or Google (Bing, Yahoo?, DuckDuckGo et al), they'd find some answers. Instead, they come here and post the same thing over and over. This is the third thread in the last week or so about a 2/3DS not working or only working with battery and being plugged in.

People seem to want to be spoon fed answers with half baked questions. Try thinking for yourself for once, then posting here running through what you've attempted. More people might be inclined to help.

I appreciate your help though. The valuable input you've provided. It's really provided some insights on the inner hardware workings of the 3DS.

Post automatically merged: Jun 24, 2024

Are you okay? You sound quite upset in your first sentences. I just occasionally lurk on here, first time posting.

I don't expect people to magically tell me how to fix it, I'm just having fun tearing it down, trying to learn what happened and how it's assembled, issues it can have, for future potential repairs, and see if I can potentially fix it eventually.

Still, I appreciate you taking time to list a few guesses and for replying. I'll tear it down again and take pictures of the PCB when I have time to dive back in it. I'll also try out a multimeter once I get my hands on one, although I suspect the corrosion must have destroyed the PCB's vias in some way.

I'm fine, all my 3DS's work.

Again, you're clearly beyond your capabilities here. You don't even have a multimeter to test anything. Some of the parts on the 3DS PCB are going to be very small. Do you have a half decent microscope, hot air rework station, soldering iron designed for micro soldering ?

You should be able to see the corrosion on the PCB. If you don't have a microscope, then you'll need a good magnifying glass, or even a jewellers loupe might help.

I'd highly suggest spending a good amount of time watching people like NorthridgeFix, TheCod3r and TronicsFix on Youtube. The last two do more console stuff than NorthridgeFix, which does a lot of laptops. However, he does provide some very detailed information on finding faults. Once you have a basic understanding of electronics, then attempt to fix your broken 2/3DS.

@btjunior React as angry as you like, it doesn't mean I'm wrong.