Hacking Stripey Screens...

[jamface202]

Hi all,

So, I bought a broken DS lite off ebay thinking I could fix it up and get a cheap DS. The two faults with it were that the hinge had a crack and that the screens were displaying stripey.

My theory was that the hinge crack could be repaired with a new case and that whilst I was doing that I could check the connections to the screens to fix the stripey issue.

I've tried that but I still have stripey screens and the connections seem fine. I would think that the screen was dodgy, but both show exactly the same problem, the stripes look like strips of pixels are faded or missing altogether.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem could be or how to fix it?

Cheers

 

[chrisman01]

The top screen of my ds had a similar problem. i got a bus wire from dealextreme, and it works fine now!

the bottom screen is directly connected to the motherboard, however, so you will have to get a whole new screen from dealextreme.com. The screens are cheap, so while you're at it you should probably buy a new top screen as well.

so, pay $15 or so to get 2 screens and a bus wire, or pay Nintendo >$70. Hmmm...

If you still get deadpixels, then you probably have a motherboard problem, and I don't know if there is any place that sells those.

 

[jamface202]

I think I remember reading that the top screen and the cable that attaches it to the motherboard are one unit on the ds lite but seperate on the phat. Because the speakers are attached to the screen too and I don't have a soldering iron I don't think I'll be able to replace that

(unless I just use headphones whenever I want sound I guess, would that work?)

I don't mind replacing the screens if that will fix it. Has anyone else come across this before? The weird thing is that both screens have exactly the same problem. I will try and post a pic of it some time.

Cheers

 

[jamface202]

Hey guys, here's a pic of the problem:



Hopefully you can see, both of the screens are almost completely white but you can just about make out what it's meant to say (well, you can if you see it in the flesh, maybe not in that blurry pic

). Has anyone seen anything like it before?

 

[chrisman01]

if that's the case, then it seems you have a bad motherboard.

you can get some good deals on ebay, but I wouldn't trust many of the sellers; they may be motherboards, but they are probably broken as well

I'd go to gamestop/ebgames, trade in your current ds lite (w/out telling them it's broken. those cheapskates deserve it.) and get a used ds lite for way cheaper than buying a new mobo/sending your curent one in to Nintendo/buying a new ds.

or you can wait a couple of months for the DSi, which is what I'm doing

 

[jamface202]

Eurgh, I had hoped it would be fixable (altho I suspected not). I'm not sure if taking it to a gamestop would work, it's pretty obvious it's broken as soon as you turn it on

I might just sell it on ebay again, it was only £37 (including p&p) from there in the first place.

 

[spaztick]

I bought a ds lite with 2 dull stripey screens. It was horizontal stripes though.
I was going to look at replacing both screens but I luckily found the vr1 and vr3 screws beside the volume switch. I gave them a little tweak while the ds was on and fixed both screens by playing with the voltage.

Your problem looks different though.

 

[jamface202]

Thanks spaztick, I might try (very carefully!) fiddling with those screws. Are they easy to find? And is it likely to break the ds if I fiddle with them? (it sounds like it). I've tried googling but can't seem to find any info at all about the vr1 and vr3 screws.

 

[jamface202]

Had a fiddle with those screws, it seemed to change the brightness & contrast of the screens but didn't get rid of the stripes though

 

[chrisman01]

This is probably out of place, but...

Could you use those screws to change the backlight brightness on the DS original? Anything to extend my battery life, y'know