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I recently acquired a 3in1 and found that it seemingly has a bad SRAM chip as it wasn't retaining saves correctly after a power cycle. My unit was specifically a EZ5C11 revision which I've read had a "high failure rate" as some suggested. My issue was specifically random corruption appearing in saves after power reset/power down. (saves would seemingly hold data correctly if I didn't power cycle the console though, only when power reset/power down where sram had to rely on sram battery). This was despite replacing the battery with a good one. (I verified this with a voltage meter)
Well in my case it turned out to not be bad SRAM solder points. Instead it appears to be incorrect resistor arrangment. To elaberate here's a photo showing my board compared to a different board as was shown in this thread:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-tell-which-version-of-the-3in1-you-have.130659/
My photo comparison:
The areas in red show the notable differences between my board and the one pictured in that thread. (My board on the left).
The resistor on the backside of the PCB for mine is same value as the one shown on the other board so I simply moved it to that position then removed the resistor on the front side PCB so my board now matches the board on the right.
This solved my sram issue!
If you have a C11 revision with sram issues try checking the resistors and if they matched my board you can try changing them to match the board on the right in that photo. It might resolve your issue!
Specifically if your SRAM retains data (aka the sram write.nds file doesn't report an error writing to sram and only verify.nds reports a fail on power cycle) with good battery then there's a good chance your board might have bad resistor arrangement and changing it to match the board on the right in that photo might resolve your issue like it did mine!
If there's any other C11 revision owners of 3in1, Perhaps share photos of your board and whether or not you are currently having issues with sram. I wonder how widespread this issue was with this board revision. It could be the failure rates with this might be related to this resistor arrangement and not defective solder job with SRAM chip. If this is the case then the fix will be easier with this board as it won't require reflowing the chip.
Though if you are getting sram errors without power cycling then in that case you might indeed have bad sram solder balls. My problem didn't crop up unless I powered down console.
Well in my case it turned out to not be bad SRAM solder points. Instead it appears to be incorrect resistor arrangment. To elaberate here's a photo showing my board compared to a different board as was shown in this thread:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-tell-which-version-of-the-3in1-you-have.130659/
My photo comparison:
The areas in red show the notable differences between my board and the one pictured in that thread. (My board on the left).
The resistor on the backside of the PCB for mine is same value as the one shown on the other board so I simply moved it to that position then removed the resistor on the front side PCB so my board now matches the board on the right.
This solved my sram issue!
If you have a C11 revision with sram issues try checking the resistors and if they matched my board you can try changing them to match the board on the right in that photo. It might resolve your issue!
Specifically if your SRAM retains data (aka the sram write.nds file doesn't report an error writing to sram and only verify.nds reports a fail on power cycle) with good battery then there's a good chance your board might have bad resistor arrangement and changing it to match the board on the right in that photo might resolve your issue like it did mine!
If there's any other C11 revision owners of 3in1, Perhaps share photos of your board and whether or not you are currently having issues with sram. I wonder how widespread this issue was with this board revision. It could be the failure rates with this might be related to this resistor arrangement and not defective solder job with SRAM chip. If this is the case then the fix will be easier with this board as it won't require reflowing the chip.
Though if you are getting sram errors without power cycling then in that case you might indeed have bad sram solder balls. My problem didn't crop up unless I powered down console.
Last edited by Apache Thunder,
