Nintendo DS (original) not keeping settings

[itsnep]

My original DS system has me enter the settings every time I start it up - After the initial restart it has me do it appears to be fine, but every boot after that it forgets. It still seems to hold a decent charge (though I use it in very small segments, mostly to transfer pokemon from gens 3 to 4). Any idea what the issue might be and if it's worth fixing? Or would I be better off just buying another system? On the topic of fixing the system, the top screen has become a discolored orange. I've got experience putting a new shell on a GBA SP and wondering if replacing the screen is close to the same "difficulty" level.

 

[FAST6191]

SP shells are probably harder than original top screens or DS shells from where I sit. I don't know that I would bother that much -- I was getting DS and DS lites for next to nothing a few years ago and still see them fairly cheap.

Settings not being kept is usually a battery thing but if it powers and lasts long enough in that state then there is something else going on -- powered devices take a lot more out of the battery than a bit of light sipping that the clock will do. Corrupt firmware is a possibility (you can try running unflashme which should restore the original firmware) but rare.
I am not sure what internal failure might cause such a thing offhand. It is possible that whatever pathway normally feeds the clock/settings is broken but powered on keeps it but it would be going by what we see with similar components on the SP rather than anything I have seen in the wild. Check fuses and connectors in the battery compartment if you want.