KipMudz's solution to malfunctioning DSLite's shoulder buttons

ALRIGHT! This worked like a charm! ;D Thanks for the detailed info and excellent photos.

Just as a heads up for anyone thinking of trying this, this is likely the easiest thing to repair on the DSlite. You don't need to deal with anything except the back cover and the triggers themselves. Helluva lot easier than replacing the button pads, I tell you what.

 

I just did this to restore my L/R buttons back to new on my Lite I was repairing. Ordered tri-wing screwdriver, ordered replacement case, did all the work of opening my two broken DS Lites and switching the working screen from one to connect it to the motherboard of the other one, had to deal with taking apart the touch screens to swap the touch panels between both my DSes because I carelessly damaged the touch panel on the functional bottom screen I had (touch panel on the broken screen was fine so I swapped them), had to deal with shoddy quality of replacement case which made it a lot harder than it should have, learned not to put the screws back on until I know everything is working, got pissed because power went out shortly after I began work so I had to halt due to it being too dark, finally finished it hours later once power came back... only for me to try playing a game and remembering that my L/R buttons weren't really working

So I looked up "fix ds lite l r buttons" on Google and this thread was the first result turns out taking apart the shoulder triggers isn't as tedious and easy to mess up as I thought it would be, and it's amazing just how much rust accumulates up in there. Scratching at the metal contact inside the trigger and at the metal plate and being amazed at just how much shinier I can make it just by doing that. Put everything back together and went back in a game, L/R buttons working perfectly now :3

Edit: If you're interested, this is how the metal caps inside my triggers looked like... http://i.imgur.com/NhaDYS2.jpg
They were completely done lol.

 

Thanks! Works like a treat. Although the button components are a lot smaller than I expected...
I've grown up with my DS lite ever since I got it for christmas when I was 8, and it was huge thing in my school even back then. Heck, I even had a birthday cake shaped like one! Its gone through some wear over the years and I thought the R button was broken because I was presing too hard on it...

BTW could you make a tutorial on how to deoxidise the Slot-1 contacts? It would be much appreciated as it always takes a few tries for me to insert my gamecard before it can read it.

 

A much easier, less invasive and equally good working method is to use contact spray on the buttons. Worked perfectly for me on several consoles.

 

This actually really helped,ive wanted to replace the button entirely.I registered just to say thanks,since my button hasnt been working for a year (it was just not responding to clicks once in a while at first,then stopped working completly),but you saved me the trouble of buying and soldering a new one.Thank you!

 

I just found this thread through google search. Once I understood the issue I thought contact spray too. I sprayed some WD-40 in a small container, soaked it up with a Qtip and applied liberally. Dried it out with some compressed air and worked like a charm. Seems less complicated and risky, I didn't want to be bending things in it.

 

Bloody hell
I'd literally forgotten about this thread until you bumped it

 

I just registered to this forum to thank you for this excellent post...
Very well detailed explanations and pics.
Results are fantastic.
I used this to restore other buttons I also had experiencing trouble with.
Very much appreciated.

The best from Mexico.