Hardware Problem with Top screen brightness

[CreusFT]

Hi, i got a second hand old 3ds, and for some reason top screen is always at full brightness, ive tried to adjust it in home settings but only bottom screen would change its brightness, any ideas why?

 

[Hayato213]

Try resetting the unit, if not it might be problem with the NAND or the back light.

 

[CreusFT]

Try resetting the unit, if not it might be problem with the NAND or the back light.

by ressetting u mean turn off and turn on the 3ds? done it and its still the same, if its with the NAND, does it has a fixing? how to discard?

 

[Hayato213]

by ressetting u mean turn off and turn on the 3ds? done it and its still the same, if its with the NAND, does it has a fixing? how to discard?

What I mean factory reset wiping all the data off it try that first, if that doesn't work you can try setup CFW and do a CTRTransfer to another firmware basically getting a clean NAND OS on 3DS, Worse can problem is the hardware.

 

[CreusFT]

What I mean factory reset wiping all the data off it try that first, if that doesn't work you can try setup CFW and do a CTRTransfer to another firmware basically getting a clean NAND OS on 3DS, Worse can problem is the hardware.

i've updated it while having luma n b9s to lastest, that means its hardware?

 

[Hayato213]

i've updated it while having luma n b9s to lastest, that means its hardware?

Could be corrupted NAND, but if that isn't the problem then it is hardware, backlight probably, it isn't responding when the system lower the brightless setting. Doing CTR Transfer meaning you lose out on all your games you installed.

 

[TurdPooCharger]

@CreusFT, do you have custom firmware installed? If you have GodMode9, what happens to the top screen's screen brightness when you use the volume slider?

 

[CreusFT]

@CreusFT, do you have custom firmware installed? If you have GodMode9, what happens to the top screen's screen brightness when you use the volume slider?

indeed stays the same, only bottom will change brightness

 

[TurdPooCharger]

indeed stays the same, only bottom will change brightness

Edit May-01-2019: See this post about PMIC failure of the back lighting and how to fix it.


Do you have a spare SD card like a 4 GB? If you do, use that one instead. If not, proceed with your main card.

1. Copy everything off the SD card onto a computer.
   
2. Reformat it in FAT32 + 32 KB cluster size using Windows File Explorer. If it's bigger than 32 GB, use guiformat.
3. Full Write + Verify test the empty card with H2testw. No skipping!
4. If the card passes, delete the *.h2w test files.
   • You do not want to use a failed card. If an error was detected, replace it and go back to step 1.
5. Build a temporary setup using this CFW starter kit. Don't use your main SD setup at this moment.

Now that pre-checks are done,

6. Backup the SysNAND *.bin image. You'll want this in case the following steps doesn't fix the issue.

• Crear una copia de seguridad de la NAND (Creating a NAND backup)

7. Attempt firmware repair with CTRTransfer.
8. Update the 3DS firmware to 11.9.0-42U using Recovery Mode or System Setttings.
​

***

If the top screen brightness is still stuck,

9. Restore the SysNAND *.bin image.

• Restaurar una copia de seguridad de la NAND (Restoring a NAND backup)

10. Attempt firmware repair with CTRTransfer (Type D9).
11. Update the firmware to 11.9.
​

***

Still stuck?

Assuming this isn't an MCU related issue, you'll need to try reseating the top LCD ribbon connection or replace the screen outright.

• [iFixit] Nintendo 3DS Upper LCD Replacement
• [aliexpress] Top Upper LCD Display Screen Replacement For Nintendo 3DS LCD Screen For 3DS original LCD screen

 

[ghjfdtg]

If the brightness stays that way even in GodMode9 pretty sure this is a hardware issue. You can still try to reseat the ribbon cable as suggested above.