Gaming I think I bricked my DS Phat

[itwasamystery]

Pictochat, Download Play and Settings stopped working, so I took out the battery and put it back in. Now the screens stay white after the startup screen.
After searching online for a few hours, I think it's most likely a firmware corruption. But a can't find any confirmed fix other than swapping the Wifi module or the whole mainboard.
Would Flashme help? Is there any explanation for this?

 

[itwasamystery]

There is a thread where 3 people have the same problem and all of them have a card from r4ids.cn. The wood kenel from the site has a 3ds setup window, which patches the 3ds firmware for R4i Gold 3DS Deluxe Edition. In the setup window you press A for going back and B for patching. I think the corruption is very likely caused by accidentally starting the patch.
Maybe we should warn R4i.cn card users about this.

 

[Trash_Bandatcoot]

You can’t brick a DS Phat, and carts don’t have access to the firmware for sure. FlashMe is also very old and won’t help, it’s possible your DS finally died.

Try opening up the console and search for broken traces or broken cables.

 

[IC_]

I don't know about the firmware but I know that the screens can be white if the screen ribbon cables are damaged

 

[itwasamystery]

I actually checked and the cables are fine. The screens themselves aren't the problem because the Logo and gingle are there when I turn it on. Also before I took out the batteries games still can load.
You actually CAN brick DS and DS lite. Just search for "DS Bricker"

 

[IC_]

Maybe it's a problem with the saved data in the firmware but I don't know if you can fix that if you can't load games anymore

 

[itwasamystery]

Old flashcarts(before DSi) skip the start-up screen and the main menu, so I probably can use one of them to flash a new firmware. But I don't have any.
Plus they aren't very easy to find here(not US). (I can't use nds-card, ebay or amazon. I don't want to show my location)

 

[IC_]

Old flashcarts(before DSi) skip the start-up screen and the main menu, so I probably can use one of them to flash a new firmware. But I don't have any.
Plus they aren't very easy to find. (I know nds-card but I can't use it)

Oh right I forgot about that
I have two flashcarts that do that and one of them is an R4i 1.4.3
They are easy to find and cheap here but it's probably different in your country

 

[itwasamystery]

I actually found a seller but they weren't sure if the card does that(there are many clones). They usually go home late so I guess I'll have to wait.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I'm actually more concerned about the possible connection between the 3ds setup and the brick. R4ids.cn carts are popular and are recommended by many. It's easy to hit the wrong button because you usually press B for cancel.

 

[FAST6191]

You can’t brick a DS Phat, and carts don’t have access to the firmware for sure. FlashMe is also very old and won’t help, it’s possible your DS finally died.

Other way around. The DS lite had a protected firmware chip but the original DS had a less protected one (still had to short it for a full flash but more could be done without it hence the bricks). If you did have flashme then certain versions at least included some measure of recovery mode

Flashme may or may not help. The flashme uninstaller on the other hand should be able to write a clean copy of the firmware.

As for other methods if you want then you do have ppflash. Going to need to find a machine with a parallel port and bust out the soldering iron
https://www.darkfader.net/ds/
Such things might be more hassle than it is worth as second hand original DS prices are rather low -- I routinely see them for £5 and even got a decent condition one for £1 the other day, if push comes to shove you could also just do a gut swap or motherboard swap. Might even be able to source one with the adjustable backlight.


With regards to what might have happened to cause this. No idea on that one. If it is an external board that causes the trouble it might be a loose or dodgy connection there (press fit connections over potentially 15 years... 5 is sometimes too much to ask here).

 

[itwasamystery]

Thanks. I'll try flashme or the uninstaller. But I can't find the uninstaller. The links I found are dead.

 

[FAST6191]

Thanks. I'll try flashme or the uninstaller. But I can't find the uninstaller. The links I found are dead.

Still seems available on https://web.archive.org/web/20080513155614/http://home.comcast.net/~olimar/flashme/

 

[itwasamystery]

Well, It worked. Everything works fine after installing Flashme.
Also I run "3ds setup" again and the same problems occurred.
I think we should really warn people about this now that it's confirmed.

 

[Daemonicus38]

I'm having this exact same issue to a T. Unfortunately I also took out my battery and I'm stuck booting to a white screen. I followed along in here, but now I'm stuck as to how I can run unflashme to restore my firmware since I can't boot to my flashcart. Can anyone provide some guidance? I have an R4i Gold 3DS Plus with Wood kernel 1.64 installed.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

I'm having this exact same issue to a T. Unfortunately I also took out my battery and I'm stuck booting to a white screen. I followed along in here, but now I'm stuck as to how I can run unflashme to restore my firmware since I can't boot to my flashcart. Can anyone provide some guidance? I have an R4i Gold 3DS Plus with Wood kernel 1.64 installed.

Please read this thread completely: You will need an old DS flashcart that is able to bypass the original firmware the intro screen (where you select DS or GBA game or settings). Unfortunately modern flashcarts – like your R4i Gold 3DS Plus that caused the problem – don't do this. Nowadays flashcarts have to behave exactly like some retail game to get around the whitelist check in DSi and 2|3DS consoles.
Action Replay DS may also be useful. Without actually bricking my DS firmware I booted a DS-phat with Action Replay DS. It bypassed the firmware screen (or whatever this is called) and was able to boot the R4i Gold 3DS like any normal game (without applying any cheats of course). From there Flashme or Noflashme can be run.

The problem can also occur on earlier version of the DS-Lite. It did not brick the firmware on my DS-Lite with v7. If your console is a DS-Lite there is also a second method – pretty dangerous in my opinion: Hot swapping the WiFi/Firmware Chip:
https://gbatemp.net/entry/i-fixed-a-ds-lite-with-another-ds-lite.16376/

Directly flashing the firmware from a computer can be done with ppflash – requires good soldering skills.

 

[Daemonicus38]

Please read this thread completely: You will need an old DS flashcart that is able to bypass the original firmware the intro screen (where you select DS or GBA game or settings). Unfortunately modern flashcarts – like your R4i Gold 3DS Plus that caused the problem – don't do this. Nowadays flashcarts have to behave exactly like some retail game to get around the whitelist check in DSi and 2|3DS consoles.
Action Replay DS may also be useful. Without actually bricking my DS firmware I booted a DS-phat with Action Replay DS. It bypassed the firmware screen (or whatever this is called) and was able to boot the R4i Gold 3DS like any normal game (without applying any cheats of course). From there Flashme or Noflashme can be run.

Understood. I wasn't sure the OP went that route because it wasn't explicitly stated, was hoping they didn't.

Just to be clear, since I don't know much about the older flashcarts, I should be seeking one that has "Autoboot (DS\Lite)" from the list at Flashcart_Comparison_Chart on the GBAtemp wiki? (Can't link due to young account, sorry)

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Understood. I wasn't sure the OP went that route because it wasn't explicitly stated, was hoping they didn't.

I assumed this implicitly because itwasamystery mentioned finding a seller for an older cart and successfully flashing their DS afterwards. I've no idea in what other way the initial setup could be skipped. After taking out the battery the DS wants to repeat the initial setup and since the firmware is damaged on the settings part… this never loads. Ironically using Flashme before this happened would most likely have prevented the dead end. Flashme allows forced loading DS software from either Slot-1 or Slot-2 when holding (Start)+(Select) while turning on.

Just to be clear, since I don't know much about the older flashcarts, I should be seeking one that has "Autoboot (DS\Lite)" from the list at Flashcart_Comparison_Chart on the GBAtemp wiki? (Can't link due to young account, sorry)

This one? https://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/Flashcart_Comparison_Chart
I do not know how complete this list is. There are so many Slot-1 carts out there. And actually finding something like the original R4 nowadays is probably not easy.

I could not find any information about the DSTT without "i" – a flashcart only compatible with DS-phat|lite – which is still available.
https://nds-card.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=157
Maybe someone else has information about this? The chart in the wiki only mentions DSTTi – which as DSi compatible cart can't have autoboot/skipping.

 

[Daemonicus38]

I assumed this implicitly because itwasamystery mentioned finding a seller for an older cart and successfully flashing their DS afterwards. I've no idea in what other way the initial setup could be skipped. After taking out the battery the DS wants to repeat the initial setup and since the firmware is damaged on the settings part… this never loads. Ironically using Flashme before this happened would most likely have prevented the dead end. Flashme allows forced loading DS software from either Slot-1 or Slot-2 when holding (Start)+(Select) while turning on.

You're completely right. I'll probably keep Flashme installed for recovery purposes after this is resolved.

This one? (redacted so I can reply)
I do not know how complete this list is. There are so many Slot-1 carts out there. And actually finding something like the original R4 nowadays is probably not easy.

Yes, that one. Looks a bit incomplete/dated, but not finding a better resource at the moment.

I could not find any information about the DSTT without "i" – a flashcart only compatible with DS-phat|lite – which is still available.
(redacted so I can reply)
Maybe someone else has information about this? The chart in the wiki only mentions DSTTi – which as DSi compatible cart can't have autoboot/skipping.

That is a good find. I foolishly assumed all the old carts would not be for sale on nds-card. Per (this site) /threads/how-to-disable-dstt-auto-start.233525/ it seems like the DSTT does have autoboot. I'll dig into that a little more but I think you just found me the most time/cost-effective solution. I'll report back with any additional findings or confirmation of resolution once the cart gets here. Thank you for all the help!


UPDATE:

I wanted to make sure any future people visiting here know the results of this effort.

I was able to use the DSTT flashcart to autoboot and bypass the corrupted portion of the DS firmware. I then proceeded to attempt Flashme installation, which was working right up until my hand slipped during the install (when you're supposed to short a connection on the motherboard) and completely corrupted the DS. Now neither screen even turns on, and repairing it is much more effort than is worth it since I recently acquired a DS Lite.

@KleinesSinchen, thank you for all the knowledge and assistance. You were a tremendous help!

TL;DR: If you corrupted your DS or DS Lite in the manor stated by the OP, then get a DSTT flashcart and CAREFULLY install Flashme. If you mess that up, you can only perform firmware recovery by parallel port as mentioned by FAST6191 above. Good luck