Gaming DS Not detecting games

[Haloman800]

My nephew has a DS Lite. It stopped detecting R4i cards & even official games. I tried the paper trick with the R4, nothing. It stopped randomly today. What can I do to fix it?

 

[AceWarhead]

Check for broken pins, as that is the exact way mine broke.

 

[Jayro]

How do pins get broken with normal cartridge use? they're gold (plated) and shouldn't be from any oxidization or stressed from cart usage, so unless some dipshit crammed something foreign into the slot, this shouldn't be happening.

 

[GloversFan]

I've had this problem a couple of times, i used tiny screwdriver, placed it in the cartridge slot to gently rub along the pins, it gave them a little clean to get any dust or owt off and it worked fine again afterwards for me.

Do not force screw drivers in though or rub the pins to hard or they will bend or break.

 

[Ozito]

Thing is, it's not impossible to bend those contacts.

I removed this slot1 reader from a dsl i bought, it was faulty due to a bent contact.
Upon opening the reader, I saw this.

They are just like hooks! All that's needed is some crusty dirt for those golden hooks to hook on and get bent when removing the cartridge.

So yeah, shine a light down the slot and see if they are uniformed, if they aren't then try to bend back the bad one with a needle or something.

Good luck!

 

[Krakatau]

Perhaps this is the most idiotic trick, but you can try blowing in the cartridge hole to see if there is dust or something like that inside.