Hardware Is there a guide available to opening up 3DS gamecarts?

[RemixDeluxe]

I got a card that is unable to read with the 3DS anymore, I can see the pins are dirty but unreachable with a Q-tip alone. I've often seen pics of modders shown opened gamecarts and I was wondering how its possible to do it.

 

[Brian117]

It's really just a matter of finding an extremely fine tip flathead screwdriver or something similar and wedge it between the two sections of the cart. If you look at a cart right now you will see a little section in the top left corner of the cart (when looking at it with the sticker facing you). Just start from there and make your way around. It's really precise work to not damage it in the process. Here's a high-res picture of that section.

http://i.imgur.com/A4ci2xu.jpg

 

[RemixDeluxe]

It's really just a matter of finding an extremely fine tip flathead screwdriver or something similar and wedge it between the two sections of the cart. If you look at a cart right now you will see a little section in the top left corner of the cart (when looking at it with the sticker facing you). Just start from there and make your way around. It's really precise work to not damage it in the process. Here's a high-res picture of that section.

http://i.imgur.com/A4ci2xu.jpg

I got it open, unfortunatly after giving it a thorough cleaning it is still unreadable to the 3DS. I've lost 500 hours of gameplay on my Pokemon game, I've called Nintendo and they told me there was no way of transferring data to a newer cart. I made a backup using my Powersaves even though I'm aware it cant be restored to another cart, I just have hopes somehow that savefile can be restored to a new cart somehow.

 

[Brian117]

I got it open, unfortunatly after giving it a thorough cleaning it is still unreadable to the 3DS. I've lost 500 hours of gameplay on my Pokemon game, I've called Nintendo and they told me there was no way of transferring data to a newer cart. I made a backup using my Powersaves even though I'm aware it cant be restored to another cart, I just have hopes somehow that savefile can be restored to a new cart somehow.

I'm not knowledgeable about that Powersave device so can't comment on that. Are other games being read by your 3DS? Do you have a spare 3DS, or one from a friend that you could see if Pokemon loads up on? Did you use rubbing alcohol to clean the contacts?

 

[RemixDeluxe]

I'm not knowledgeable about that Powersave device so can't comment on that. Are other games being read by your 3DS? Do you have a spare 3DS, or one from a friend that you could see if Pokemon loads up on? Did you use rubbing alcohol to clean the contacts?

The 3DS is just fine, my other games read just fine. Its only Pokemon causing problems, I dont mind having to pay for a new game I just wish my backup could restore to a new cart. If there is anything I could do with my powersaves backup I'd like to know, I dont expect anything though.

 

[RemixDeluxe]

I am fairly certain I've done all I can to fix this game, before I trash it to get a new one I would like to know if there is any difference in save backups done from the powersaves or the R4i Savedongle. Just holding out hope that the save can be restored some day but wanna know if either backup is different from one another.

 

[RemixDeluxe]

I took apart the cart and even though I wasn't able to get the game fixed I'm concerned about the cart not snapping back into place, the two pieces of plastic isn't holding together no matter where I put pressure on the cart. Was this never meant to be opened or did I simply open it wrong?

 

[Brian117]

I took apart the cart and even though I wasn't able to get the game fixed I'm concerned about the cart not snapping back into place, the two pieces of plastic isn't holding together no matter where I put pressure on the cart. Was this never meant to be opened or did I simply open it wrong?

The carts are obviously not meant to be opened. I'm sure the carts are held together by a thin layer of adhesive. You could very carefully get a toothpick, add just a dab of superglue onto the end (or just dip the toothpick into the superglue bottle), and trace it along the edges and sandwich it together. Put something heavy on top of it to keep it weighed down until it dries for a little bit. That's just how I'd do it if that happened to me.

Again, sorry I can't comment on the Powersaves discussion. I have no experience. I don't own one of those devices.

 

[tbgtbg]

If you use super/crazy glue or whatever, do not use too much. However much you think you need, you probably need much less. If it winds up being not enough and not holding you can always try again, but if you use too much and it goes where it shouldn't, you're screwed.

 

[RemixDeluxe]

If you use super/crazy glue or whatever, do not use too much. However much you think you need, you probably need much less. If it winds up being not enough and not holding you can always try again, but if you use too much and it goes where it shouldn't, you're screwed.

I dont get why they didn't design the cart to be open/close friendly. Even if I had sent this to Nintendo, what would they have done if they needed to inspect the board. This is a terrible design flaw, not only in its physical built but also having no means of recovering the data.

Perhaps this is all on purpose to push their idea of digital only more.

 

[Ozito]

I posted this over at this thread but it should be relevant for 3DS games too.

Well I tried to do it gentle but the two parts seem to be glued together from the beginning thus making it hard to open the cartridge without breaking it in the process.



EDIT #3
And glued back together.




So as long you break it open gently so that the plastic that brakes off stays in it's place, gluing it back together won't be such a hard task.

And the game loads fine afterwards too.

 

[tbgtbg]

I dont get why they didn't design the cart to be open/close friendly. Even if I had sent this to Nintendo, what would they have done if they needed to inspect the board. This is a terrible design flaw, not only in its physical built but also having no means of recovering the data.

Perhaps this is all on purpose to push their idea of digital only more.

Honestly, I doubt Nintendo spends much time inspecting defective DS/3DS games. If you have a warranty they'll just replace it, not repair it. I suspect any ones sent in as defective just get disposed of.

And they certainly don't want anyone else to have an easy time getting in there. That's why they switched to gamebits shortly into the NES era, and later went to triwing and stuff.