Hacking 3DS won't turn on!

[kbf]

I was just playing a SNES emulator on my 3DS XL and I went to close the 3DS lid and when I opened it up again it was turned off. I tried pressing the power button but nothing happened. I tried removing the SD card and same thing.

I'll just see a blue light come on for a second and then turn off again. Sometimes the blue light will stay on for a few seconds but then just turn off again. I also tried plugging in the charger to see if that would do anything but same result. A lot of the times the light won't even come on when I press the power button..

I should mention I did update luma a few days ago, but my 3DS was working fine after that. Does anyone know what the problem could be? I hope I didn't brick my 3DS somehow..


EDIT: Ok I just tried it again, the first time the blue light came on but then the 3DS just shut off and I could hear a little noise or something. Tried it again and this time it booted. Anyone know why this happens? it's kinda making me nervous it's gonna break or something.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Some ribbon cable going to the upper screen assembly is worn and starting to tear.

It's a known problem coming from normal usage (frequent opening/closing). Successfully booting might be possible when not fully opening the shell. Please backup all your save data with Checkpoint/JKSM as soon as possible for the case the console completely fails and you do not want to repair it.

As far as I know it could be the cable for the upper screen itself or the cable for loudspeakers and 3DS slider. My guess would be upper screen.

Good luck!

 

[kbf]

Some ribbon cable going to the upper screen assembly is worn and starting to tear.

It's a known problem coming from normal usage (frequent opening/closing). Successfully booting might be possible when not fully opening the shell. Please backup all your save data with Checkpoint/JKSM as soon as possible for the case the console completely fails and you do not want to repair it.

As far as I know it could be the cable for the upper screen itself or the cable for loudspeakers and 3DS slider. My guess would be upper screen.

Good luck!

Yeah I just had it happen to me again while in the middle of playing an emulator..

Does anyone have any videos showing how to open the 3DS and fix this problem? or any good suggestions where to buy a replacement cable?

 

[DaNxMaKiNa]

Yeah I just had it happen to me again while in the middle of playing an emulator..

Does anyone have any videos showing how to open the 3DS and fix this problem? or any good suggestions where to buy a replacement cable?

When I disassembled my 3DS (regular, not XL, but it will be similar I guess) to replace the stock charge port with a MicroUSB, I suffered A LOT with these upper lid busses. There are three of them, connected to the upper right corner of the motherboard, one in one side and two in the other side, and they are damn short. If you plan to fix it yourself, you will need some small tweezers and a ton of patience with that. The rest of the disassembly is just very straightforward.

Here I found a teardown for your model:




Don't be aftaid and try it for yourself, just be patient (very important!) and NEVER force anything. Cheers.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Don't be aftaid and try it for yourself, just be patient (very important!) and NEVER force anything. Cheers.

Exactly this. Patience and care.

For the most the ifixit guide is very good. The only part – already criticized in a few comments – is the part for pulling the cables through the hinge.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Nintendo+3DS+XL+Upper+LCD+Display+Replacement/25070
Once you have it disassembled try to find out which cable is damaged by looking at them (maybe with a magnifier) – or replace both the screen and the loudspeaker cable.

This repair is not an easy one if you are not used to dealing with small parts on electronics. The ribbons can be torn easily and the connectors on the motherboard are somewhat flimsy.

The upper screen cable has a fixed connection to the LCD which means you have to get a complete new upper screen if the cable is bad. Replacing only the cable is not possible (I know of no method to do this). Picture of a O3DSXL upper screen, LCD is completely broken, but it's cable is okay (which doesn't help me with another screen where the cable is bad):


Important: Backup data you care about before attempting the repair.

Spoiler: Partially off topic

The upper screen is the Achilles heel on any DS but the O2DS. By design the cables going to the upper assembly are under constant stress and wear.

A folding style device has this problem almost by definition. This is why I dislike the "solution" just get another (3)DS(i) when that happens. Sooner or later they will most likely all get this problem. Getting another (used) device without the defect most likely means it does not have the defect YET. As the consoles get older this problem will spread.

Replacing the worn parts is a better idea. Admittedly the difficulty of this repair keep many people from even trying (buying spare parts and not knowing if will work) and having it repaired by a professional maybe not worthwhile.

 

[kbf]

I might just end up getting a new 3DS XL then if there's gonna be this much hassle just to fix it. Probably kind of a dumb question but the new 3DS XL's are hackable right? and if I hack a new 3DSXL can I use all my games/emulators etc, on my current cfw SD card that I currently have in my old XL without any issues?


EDIT: I thought I remembered a long time ago here that this site had a special forum dedicated to people who offered services repairing consoles and such. Does anything like that still exist here? i'm wondering because if there's someone reputable an trustworthy here that repairs stuff it may be easier for me to just pay someone to fix my current 3DS XL, as opposed to buying a new one.


EDIT 2: I just had another thought, I heard sometimes the wifi cable/or wifi chip coming loose can also cause the 3DS to shut off. Would it be easy to just open up the 3DS XL and maybe try and re-seat/fasten the wifi chip/ribbon cable? what does it look like inside of the 3DSXL?

 

[kbf]

So I took it apart. Re-seated the wifi chip but unfortunately it seems like the shut off issue is still happening any other ideas what it could be?

 

[DaNxMaKiNa]

So I took it apart. Re-seated the wifi chip but unfortunately it seems like the shut off issue is still happening any other ideas what it could be?

If you are confident enough, my recommendation would be to check the top screen ribbons and their connections for any visual damage or bad connection.

If not, you could ask your "geekier" friends, maybe there's one with some electronic fixing experience that could lend you a hand.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

So I took it apart. Re-seated the wifi chip but unfortunately it seems like the shut off issue is still happening any other ideas what it could be?

Sorry for not replying earlier. I did some tests.

• Disconnected WiFi board does not lead to shut off but to gives black screens of death while the blue LED stays on. Fastboot3DS and GodMode9 still work without the WiFi chip. This is a good example for the poor error handling of the 2|3DS family. Although the hardware technically could work (without WiFi functionality) the main OS simply crashes instead of continuing with an error message demanding maintenance.
  
• The following parts had no impact on the ability to successfully boot the main OS: Touchscreen, Circle Pad, (L), (R), Infrared board (only removable if early O3DSXL).

I know for sure that disconnected backlight for either screen results in failure to stay on and as far as I know also the loudspeaker cable must be connected. The lower screen has an additional cable for the light while the upper LCD has only one cable for video and light.

If any of those cables is disconnected or the connector is damaged or the cable (partially) torn a 3DS will not stay on. Most of the time it will be the worst case: Some cable going through the hinge because that is where the most stress goes on.

I second @DaNxMaKiNa's idea. Carefully disassemble that console yourself or with friend(s) and try to find out which cable is bad. If it is that well-known problem it will only get worse over time. You don't have much to loose here.

Again: Backup your data first as the procedure is risky.

 

[kbf]

Sorry for not replying earlier. I did some tests.

• Disconnected WiFi board does not lead to shut off but to gives black screens of death while the blue LED stays on. Fastboot3DS and GodMode9 still work without the WiFi chip. This is a good example for the poor error handling of the 2|3DS family. Although the hardware technically could work (without WiFi functionality) the main OS simply crashes instead of continuing with an error message demanding maintenance.
  
• The following parts had no impact on the ability to successfully boot the main OS: Touchscreen, Circle Pad, (L), (R), Infrared board (only removable if early O3DSXL).

I know for sure that disconnected backlight for either screen results in failure to stay on and as far as I know also the loudspeaker cable must be connected. The lower screen has an additional cable for the light while the upper LCD has only one cable for video and light.

If any of those cables is disconnected or the connector is damaged or the cable (partially) torn a 3DS will not stay on. Most of the time it will be the worst case: Some cable going through the hinge because that is where the most stress goes on.

I second @DaNxMaKiNa's idea. Carefully disassemble that console yourself or with friend(s) and try to find out which cable is bad. If it is that well-known problem it will only get worse over time. You don't have much to loose here.

Again: Backup your data first as the procedure is risky.

It's so annoying,I was using it all day and didn't have any issues but today as soon as I set it down on a table it turned off again and it wouldn't turn on again and I had to wait for awhile like I usually do. And then I tried turning it on again and it wouldn't boot until I waited awhile to try again and then it booted.

I also tried putting in a piece of paper in between the battery to try and make a better contact and I also tried cleaning the contacts on the battery just to rule out that wasn't the problem. I should mention that it seems to happen more often when i'm in FBI and in this pokemon rom hack I have made into a cia file.

I then tried playing a DS game for around 20 mins,and a 3DS game for around the same time and the 3DS didn't turn off once. I also had it in sleep mode and had it moving around in a backpack today and not once did it shut off on me.

So at this point i'm not really sure what it could be.. I really wish I had a bunch of spare broken 3DS's lying around as i'd really like to be able to swap out parts to see what the problem could be..

EDIT: Tried turning it on this morning after it dying again last night, still won't turn on. Anyone have any idea why it decides to boot up when it feels like it? lol.