Hacking NDS Lite random shutdown

[IdiotCow]

I have a DS Lite, with R4 and EZV 3in1. When I play certain games (on either the R4 or the 3in1) the DS will randomly shut down. No battery indicator light, no warning, no screen artifacts, nothing. It just shuts off. Battery reads fine in the firmware (green) and can play some games for an extended period of time with no problems. However some games make it shut down. (always the same ones). It happens occasionally in New Super Mario Bros. But only on the 8th world.

The DS is a little over a year old and the battery holds its charge almost like new.

Anyone have any ideas what is going on?

Do i need a new DS? is this a sign of battery wear (it seems like the battery is fine since some games last for hours on highest brightness & med volume).

Any suggestions?

-J

 

[phoood]

Make sure it the correct file? Use a 1:1 copy, don't trim?

 

[IdiotCow]

Not using trim, and its across multiple files. Even GBA files used with the 3in1 - but not all of them...

It also happens with New Mario Bros.

An update: Now the games that WERE completely uneffected are showing the same symptom, but veeery rarely.

Seems almost like overheating maybe? but I've never heard of that in a DS...

:'(

Really not sure what's going on...

Games which are VERY problematic:

Ultimate Spiderman
Castlevania PoR
Super Mario Advance 2

Games rarely effected:

Pokemon Diamond
Kirby Squeak Squad
New Super Mario Bro.


Any other ideas?

 

[CannonBallZ]

Could it be your R4? Maybe SD card problems ?

 

[xply]

I actually and experiencing the same symptoms you are speaking of. Sorry but I do not have a fix for it. While playing games, does your DS screen gradually turn white and then freezes? That was one symptom of my DS and it usually ends up frozen. The screen is pure white and I am unable to do anything. Also in other games, my DS suddenly shuts off both in the R4 and 3 in 1, exactly as you posted. One thing that I think would cause it to do this is repeated pressing of buttons. I find my DS freezing after continuously pressing A during a dialogue scene in Pokemon, although it does not happen all the time. Pressing many buttons at the same time, not the soft reset buttons, but other buttons repeatedly also seems to make the DS freeze more often. One time, my DS would not even turn on, the green light was on but nothing loaded up. I found that by pressing the select and start buttons repeatedly would help boot up the system. Has this ever happen to you? I was thinking it was a defect with DS because I exchanged mine with Nintendo after sending back my DS because of a dead pixel. I think that the one they exchanged mine with was refurbished as it did not come in an original DS box. Did you exchange yours with your warranty to Nintendo? I was thinking of returning my DS for another one from Nintendo as I still have my warranty.

 

[IdiotCow]

I don't get the white freeze or other lockups. The DS just shuts down. No fuss no muss... just OFF - nothing causes it appearantly.. It can happen in the first couple of seconds, or a half hour in... all games seem to be affected.

Just tested with the battery from my little brother's DS lite, and his works fine with my battery & R4... mine crashes with his battery...

something else is at fault here >_<

edit: tested the button thing... and it seems to cause the shutdown to happen more frequently... but I'm not sure if that is me looking for it or if it is just a coincidence.

Also, this is a DS lite from a year and a half ago... no refurb, no warranty - been used pretty consistantly for the entire time I've had it.

Furthermore, Supercard DS also shows the same symptoms. Different SD card, R4 not in slot 1... Something on my DS is borked... anybody have a clue what it could be?

 

[ZeWarrior]

My ds lite does the same thing. My theory might be the R4's Soft Reset is killing the DS Lite.

 

[Arnold Schwarzen]

I've had this problem before. What I did was send it to Nintendo for free repairs. My DS Lite works perfectly now

.

 

[AlexJS]

I had this problem back then. Tested out the battery, original carts vs R4 etc. However, nothing seem to be the cause. In the end, I sent it to a shop for repairs. They later told me it was due to the presence of dirt trapped itself. (And yes, my DS is about 1 year and 1 month old now.

Now, I'm experiencing the same stuff again. This time round, I went to get the exact screwdriver needed to open up the DS Lite. I wasn't planning on paying another S$45 for dirt removal.

However, after opening it up.... I couldn't find dirt. Front and back of the motherboard..

I have a friend who doesn't seem to have this problem, although his DS is "younger" than mine. His MicroSD is even a Taiwan version, and he doesn't get any problems (except recently, when he told me the game wouldn't load for the last map for Brothers-In-Arms). Btw, his kernel version should be 1.08 as well.

I myself, am at a lost as to what's happening. : /

 

[Xelia]

:X Sounds like you'll have to send it in to Nintendo to get fixed.

 

[IdiotCow]

ugh... what a PAIN... $75+ repair fee... no DS for 2-3 weeks... >_<

"B" button definitely triggers the shutdown... it happens without pressing B, but a good solid press on the B button makes every game shut down.. R4, commercial cart, 3in1, even GBA games...

Maybe I'll open it up and see if I can find anything... any clue where to get a screwdriver to take out those tri-wing screws?

Also, any chance the R4 caused this? Or at least made it worse? I did have problems with my New Super Mario Bros. cart... however, they were rare, and the problem only exhibited itself on that SINGLE cart. Any chance the R4 made a slight defect worse? (just curious if I'm in for more repairs/problems)

 

[OG LOCC NESS]

Why do you have to pay a repair fee? I thought it had a warranty for a year

oh okay. for some reason i thought it came out in september >

 

[ZeWarrior]

I forgot to say, my first ds lite never did this. The refurb nintendo sent me started doing this :\

 

[IdiotCow]

Well I sent an email off to Nintendo last night... told them the problem with my DS (as it has the problem with commercial carts both DS and GBA)... waiting for a response...

its ridiculous for a piece of hardware to die after a year and a month... I still have my ORIGINAL gameboy - besides having to clean off the cartridge contacts it works PERFECTLY (ok, so the screen is a little dim, but heck it's what? almost 20 years old!)

I'm not sure what they're going to say (probably "send it in for repairs at your expense"). But I'm waiting anyways...

This is so frustrating >_

 

[cornaljoe]

I sent my DS Lite in about 3 weeks ago for a cracked hinge. Note that I already sent this same DS Lite in for the same repair a month after it released in the US. So here it is like 10 months later and the same crap happens that was supposed to have been fixed.

When it returned, it was fine but they took out my perfect touch screen and gave me a tinted and scratched one. I emailed them and they did this Advance Replacement where they would send me a NEW (not refurbish) one and when it got here I put the old one in the box, slap on the included label then send it back.

Well the new DS was perfect except it would shutoff randomly. I sent them another email and they sent another unit out to me and I still had the other two in my possession. Once the new one came I've had no problems with it and the other 2 are now on there way back to Nintendo.

I have mixed feelings for their customer service. Before they agreed to the first repair that was a month after release, I had to argue with customer reps who kept telling me that the crack wasn't a defect but from misuse. Then I get a unit that had the same problem just took longer to surface. Now with this repair I had to return a NEW unit that had another problem. Despite that the reps I talked to this time around were nice and helpful. But the number of faulty units out there makes one wonder. Overall I thank them for their service because they don't have to be so lenient. You'll see what I mean if you try to get a service repair through Sony for the PSP.

 

[WB3000]

Dang, the same thing happens to mine, using the DS-X. I was thinking it was the firmware, but maybe not. Just randomly shuts off, right at about 1-5 minutes.

EDIT: Yea, it's every card I put in, it's inevitable, will power off.

 

[IdiotCow]

finally got a response from nintendo... basically they said to send it in for repairs at my cost. I took such good care of my DS and it still died - and now this is what I get!

75 / 130 = approx 58%

so for over half of the cost of a new DS, I can get my old DS repaired. However, I didn't do anything to break my DS - It JUST DIED!

Thanks nintendo! Thank you for making my already meager college-student lifestyle a bit more enjoyable!

>

not to mention the quick and speedy response

 

[camx]

Have you flashed it? Have you tried all possible combinations of whats plugged into the slots? One strange thing that happened with my first DS, a day1 gray phat: I had no Mp3 player at the time and had been using the thing as one itself (yeah, i know). Somehow the headphone jack had been impacted by having itself jostled around in my pockets and THAT somehow started a strange and nearly unexplainable "crash" that would happen any time I handled it wrong. You know with most plastic/electronic devices an audible "shifting" of the plastic can be heard when you put pressure on different parts. So basically, on that DS, if i hold it anywhere near the GBA slot putting any pressure at all on the lower right corner, something gets shorted and it turns off completely. I've been meaning to open it up but with both a red phat and my lite its really not a priority.

phew!

 

[juliobbv]

My DSL started to shutdown yesterday if I press a certain combination of buttons. It seems noticeable in Super Mario 64 DS and at first I thought the reason of the shutdowns was that the game was corrupted (I'm using a supercard rumble), but as time passed, I learned the problem was pressing the X and Y buttons, so it seems plausible that is a hardware failure.

The problem: The DS is not under warranty and I don't know a place where I can fix it without charging me a lot of money. It seems that I'm going to stop playing the DS.

Anyway, I'm entering to college the next monday.