Gaming DSi, seemingly "softbricked"

[Sicklyboy]

Summary:
Black USA DSi
Unable to determine SM version
No major physical damage; no water damage, front camera lens cracked, otherwise fine.
System does not launch ANY titles, whether cartridge based or installed, including System Settings.

Story - A coworker of mine has presented me with the DSi of his 7 year old cousin. The thing is in fair condition; there is no major physical damage to it - the system was likely dropped at one point, as the front lens is cracked, otherwise nothing apparent. Water damage indicator still is white with red dots, so it's good there, too.

The system refuses to launch any titles, whether they are installed on the console or cartridge based. Upon trying to launch one, you get the standard "An error has occurred. Turn the system off and back on again. Please refer to the user manual for details." or whatever it is along those lines. This happens with a Lilo and Stitch game (unknown origin, but I doubt anyone would even try to counterfeit that), my DSTWO (which has the latest update to work on 3DS v6.x, and does so), and a few installed titles - Flipnote, Camera, and System Settings, notably. Thus, I am unable to check the SM version. L/R to access the camera on the fly works, but the app does not.

Cartridge slot looks just fine, at least externally. I pushed the shield out of the way and none of the pins are bent. System behaves the same regardless of whether a cartridge or SD card is inserted, as well as after a battery pull.

Anyone have any ideas? I'd hate to have to have him tell the kid it's toast, but if so, it is what it is.

 

[Jayro]

Try another system update, if and when 1.4.6 ever comes our way...

 

[RodrigoDavy]

Did you try removing both the Game Card and SD card and then trying to start a game?

 

[Jayro]

You might be able to backup the DSiware, and do a system/factory reset, possibly fixing stuff?

 

[Pong20302000]

DSi you can brick the DS mode
unlikely by is possible
is they have used counterfeit games or roms they could of launched the DS Firmware wiper which will kill DS mode (you can even do this on the 3DS and loose DS Mode)
tho unlikely it can indeed happen

check an official Pokemon Black or White 1 or 2 cart in it and see if DSi Mode works with games

 

[Another World]

when the dsi transfer app was released it caused 1 single problem, a "soft-brick". many users downloaded, ran it, and had this problem. nintendo ignored the issue and stated that it was not a fault of the transfer app and thus refused to fix systems affected by it. there were a lot of posts about it here on the temp and i recall a rather long topic with users posting that they had this problem. it is possible that this is what is wrong with your dsi. try draining the battery and then removing it for 1.5-2 hrs. there was also a button combination to reset everything, which you may want to try. you hold L+R+A+B+X+Y+START+SELECT when you power on. some people who had issues with the transfer app said that the factory reset fixed their system, others said it did not.

to this day we don't know exactly what the problem was. it could have been that those early "soft-bricks" happened due to heavy server load which caused the application to either not fully download or not completely install.

http://gbatemp.net/threads/3ds-dsiware-transfer-damaged-my-dsi.296158/ <-- there are many more examples, i assure you this was a real thing.

Pong20302000: are you talking about the ds bricker? as of the last revision of the ds lite firmware it can no longer brick ds-mode. on that firmware it only erased WIFI settings. I've never read anything about it bricking ds-mode on the dsi, so if you are talking about the ds bricker please link me to some information regarding that.

-another world

 

[Pong20302000]

are you talking about the ds bricker? as of the last revision of the ds lite firmware it can no longer brick ds-mode. on that firmware it only erased WIFI settings. I've never read anything about it bricking ds-mode on the dsi, so if you are talking about the ds bricker please link me to some information regarding that.

-another world

heres the video of its Bricking DS Mode on a 3DS


theres a thread on gbatemp also but i cant find it at the moment

 

[Sicklyboy]

DSi you can brick the DS mode
unlikely by is possible
is they have used counterfeit games or roms they could of launched the DS Firmware wiper which will kill DS mode (you can even do this on the 3DS and loose DS Mode)
tho unlikely it can indeed happen

check an official Pokemon Black or White 1 or 2 cart in it and see if DSi Mode works with games

I don't think they've used anything g illegitimate. I'll check with my black 2 next time I see the guy, but seeing as even DSi ware doesn't work I'm not keeping my hopes high.

when the dsi transfer app was released it caused 1 single problem, a "soft-brick". many users downloaded, ran it, and had this problem. nintendo ignored the issue and stated that it was not a fault of the transfer app and thus refused to fix systems affected by it. there were a lot of posts about it here on the temp and i recall a rather long topic with users posting that they had this problem. it is possible that this is what is wrong with your dsi. try draining the battery and then removing it for 1.5-2 hrs. there was also a button combination to reset everything, which you may want to try. you hold L+R+A+B+X+Y+START+SELECT when you power on. some people who had issues with the transfer app said that the factory reset fixed their system, others said it did not.

to this day we don't know exactly what the problem was. it could have been that those early "soft-bricks" happened due to heavy server load which caused the application to either not fully download or not completely install.

http://gbatemp.net/threads/3ds-dsiware-transfer-damaged-my-dsi.296158/ <-- there are many more examples, i assure you this was a real thing.

Pong20302000: are you talking about the ds bricker? as of the last revision of the ds lite firmware it can no longer brick ds-mode. on that firmware it only erased WIFI settings. I've never read anything about it bricking ds-mode on the dsi, so if you are talking about the ds bricker please link me to some information regarding that.

-another world

heres the video of its Bricking DS Mode on a 3DS


theres a thread on gbatemp also but i cant find it at the moment

AW, I don't think the transfer app would be the cause as I do not believe they own 3DSs. I'll certainly try that button combo though, I was unaware it existed. I don't think they had any paid DSi ware on their console, but even if they did they ought to still be able to re-download it.

About the ds bricker, you're right and wrong at the same time. AFAIK the last "legit" one, as r0mloader and taihen did indeed not do anything do ds lite and onward. However, as seen in the video pong posted (filmed by me, on my 3ds btw), that was a recreation that ichichfly made for me because many of us were curious of its effect on the 3ds. I think all It did was corrupt settings, but it was enough to brick ds mode until a system format (3ds hung when trying to access the ds settings, as well) . I never did disclose the files he sent me to any other person, and I'm under the impression he did not either, so we - theoretically- are the only two people in existence with this variant of the bricker, provided someone else didn't make their own version too.

 

[Foxi4]

are you talking about the ds bricker? as of the last revision of the ds lite firmware it can no longer brick ds-mode. on that firmware it only erased WIFI settings. I've never read anything about it bricking ds-mode on the dsi, so if you are talking about the ds bricker please link me to some information regarding that.

There's actually a more recent revision which allows for DSi/3DS bricking of DS Mode, however it's entirely reversible by formating User Settings. This version is not "globally available" so to speak and was only created to check "what it'd do" on a DSi/3DS and measure the extent to which you could re-write the memory in DS Mode.

As for the issue at hand, do what Another World suggested. From what I've read, the DSi may be restored to factory default settings by holding the L, R, A, B, X, Y, Start and Select buttons down and powering up the device (you'll probably need more than just two hands to successfuly perform this operation, so ask someone to help you or use some tape to hold those pesky buttons down ).

If this fails, remove the battery from the system and let it rest for a few days, this should "flush" the corrupt settings from the volatile memory just like removing a CMOS battery would on a PC. Once you re-insert the battery, the system should start up with factory default settings.

 

[Coto]

what about a loose Wifi card?

 

[Duo8]

what about a loose Wifi card?

That completely bricked my dsi once.