Hacking DS not charging

[gumgod]

Ok... so my DS was working fine, but I had a cracked hinge, so I bought a replacement case. After putting the unit into the new case everything was working fine and I played for about 5 hours when I noticed the light went red meaning I was low on battery. I plugged it up and the charging light did not come on. I tried two cables and had the same issue with both. I left it plugged in and sure enough it powered off, and is not charging. Any thoughts on what I might have damaged in the process of changing my case and is it fixable?

edit: this is a DS lite.

 

[The Catboy]

I had this happen to me before one time like a year ago
I tried so many different things, but to narrow it down, I just took a dead DS Lite and replaced the other DS lite with it's battery and it worked.
I am not sure if that will help, we might have had a different problem, but if you have an extra battery or a other DS Lite you can extract a battery from to test it, try that.

 

[gumgod]

I had this happen to me before one time like a year ago
I tried so many different things, but to narrow it down, I just took a dead DS Lite and replaced the other DS lite with it's battery and it worked.
I am not sure if that will help, we might have had a different problem, but if you have an extra battery or a other DS Lite you can extract a battery from to test it, try that.

I do not have another battery to test, but I should also mention that the charging led does not come on when it's plugged in, and it was plugged in when the battery died. I think I must have damaged the part where the power plugs into the DS or where that connects to the main board. I'll have to open it up again and see if I can see any physical damage I guess.

 

[The Catboy]

I had this happen to me before one time like a year ago
I tried so many different things, but to narrow it down, I just took a dead DS Lite and replaced the other DS lite with it's battery and it worked.
I am not sure if that will help, we might have had a different problem, but if you have an extra battery or a other DS Lite you can extract a battery from to test it, try that.

I do not have another battery to test, but I should also mention that the charging led does not come on when it's plugged in, and it was plugged in when the battery died. I think I must have damaged the part where the power plugs into the DS or where that connects to the main board. I'll have to open it up again and see if I can see any physical damage I guess.

That's why I have a stack of extra batteries, just in case.
Still that could be the problem

 

[CannonFoddr]

I had this happen to me before one time like a year ago
I tried so many different things, but to narrow it down, I just took a dead DS Lite and replaced the other DS lite with it's battery and it worked.
I am not sure if that will help, we might have had a different problem, but if you have an extra battery or a other DS Lite you can extract a battery from to test it, try that.

I do not have another battery to test, but I should also mention that the charging led does not come on when it's plugged in, and it was plugged in when the battery died. I think I must have damaged the part where the power plugs into the DS or where that connects to the main board. I'll have to open it up again and see if I can see any physical damage I guess.

I've never had this type of problem (Mine was the 'Blown Internal Fuse') where once you plug in the charger the orange light would come on for about 1 sec.
If this was your problem I believe the orange charge light should 'flash on', but I have read that your problem COULD be related to either or both fuses blown

IIRC I also remember something else about 'If the battery is not inserted properly then the light doesn't come on' (I'm not 100% if this was the actual wording). I'm also not sure if you can play the DSLite 'from the mains' with the battery removed (can someone confirm this !!)

Could it be that you've squashed/damaged the cables to the battery connectors - & since the DS can't see the battery it won't attempt to charge ??

 

[gumgod]

I've never had this type of problem (Mine was the 'Blown Internal Fuse') where once you plug in the charger the orange light would come on for about 1 sec.
If this was your problem I believe the orange charge light should 'flash on', but I have read that your problem COULD be related to either or both fuses blown

IIRC I also remember something else about 'If the battery is not inserted properly then the light doesn't come on' (I'm not 100% if this was the actual wording). I'm also not sure if you can play the DSLite 'from the mains' with the battery removed (can someone confirm this !!)

Could it be that you've squashed/damaged the cables to the battery connectors - & since the DS can't see the battery it won't attempt to charge ??

I don't think I damaged the battery connections since it's able to play from the battery. I was thinking I must have damaged the input power somehow. It seems like the DS is able to see the battery but not the AC power. The fuse idea is interesting, although my power light does not flash at all when connected. I'll do some more research. I'll also try to see if I can convince one of my friends to let me try their battery just to be sure it's not the battery.

Thanks for the link btw.

 

[Whipple]

Be sure to check your AC adapter with another DSL or a voltmeter to ensure that it is still working.
They are a lot like light bulbs. They work until they suddenly stop, with no warning.

If you have another power source (sucah as a USB charging cable or a car adapter) give that a try.

 

[gumgod]

Be sure to check your AC adapter with another DSL or a voltmeter to ensure that it is still working.
They are a lot like light bulbs. They work until they suddenly stop, with no warning.

If you have another power source (sucah as a USB charging cable or a car adapter) give that a try.

Thanks. I did try it with two power cables. For more detail, one was the type that plugs into the wall the other was a USB cord. I've used both for years with no problems. To be sure I may try one of my cords on someone else's DS but it would be odd for them to both stop at the exact same time.

edit: I've been looking at the insides of my DS. When I opened it up I noticed one thing pretty quickly... the black wire (WiFi antenna) was on top of the chip just below the power connector (next to the F1 - if you're looking at the circuit board with the power supply connector at the top, it is the chip just left of the one labeled F1). I believe that F1 is the fuse from what I have read. The wire had definite marks in it from the pressure of the case pushing against it. WiFi was working before the battery died, I tested it. So the cable wasn't damaged too bad, but I think it may have pushed too hard on that chip and damaged it's connection to the board, although I can't really tell from looking at it. It could also be that the F1 fuse is blown given it's location in this circuitry. Neither of these options seems very good to me right now, but I'm thinking they are the most logical. I may buy a "broken" ds and just put it's motherboard in my unit. That may be the easiest solution for me. I took some pictures of this as well and may post them a bit later. I'm going to take one more look at it - remove the bottom screen and look at both sides through a magnifier... I'm still thinking of testing a friend's battery before I buy anything though.

 

[gumgod]

Ok I've pinpointed the issue. A big thanks to CannonFoddr for the tip about the fuses. For anyone who's interested I bridged the F1 fuse with a piece of foil and some electrical tape and the charging light came on. This is definitely the issue. I'm going to buy a replacement fuse, but I'm glad I don't have to buy a replacement motherboard (well at least not until I screw up in the process of replacing it lol).

If anyone else is having the same issue, I found this article particularly helpful.

 

[gumgod]

I know this is an old thread, but I'm bumping it to say thanks again guys. I found the time today to solder in a new fuse, and I got my DS is working again. I could not have done it without GBATEMP you guys rock!

 

[oilytin]

Thanks for all the help here, had the same problem as op after replacing the case on my ds, F1 and F2 were OK but EM10 looked a bit squashed, looks like this component is quite delicate as it fell to pieces when i removed it, fixing this is much the same as fixing F1 it can be shorted out (although this isn't ideal) or replaced (Google EM10 ds lite) with a bit of soldering skill.

 

[wamballa]

Great Thread

Not sure i should post here or create new thread...

Have same problem = DS Lite works on a charged battery but when charging cable plugged no charging light, no charging. multiple batteries, chargers used in testing.

I have checked F1, F2, EM10 with a multimeter and they are working.

Should i go ahead and replace them still?

how can i temporarily bridge these components before trying to replace them? @gumgod the link below isn't working anymore.

Cheers!