iFixit - Answers With Device "Nintendo DS Lite"

Nintendo DS Lite: NDS lite resets itself constantly

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 00:45:15 -0700

My NDS turns on and works fine for anywhere between a few seconds and a couple of minutes. Then it resets and the same thing happens again.

Don't think it's a battery issue as I have bought a fresh battery.

Any ideas what might be causing this issue?

⟐ Commented February 17, 2025 at 0:45 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: DS Lite powers on but no display

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:48:55 -0700

I recently bought some broken DS Lites. One of them powers on with the green light staying illuminated, but the top and bottom screen both stay blank. I swapped the mother board with a known good one and the system works, which shows me both screens are good. when I put the original motherboard back in it still powers on but blank screens. I have tested the wifi card and it is good. F1 and F2 have continuity. Now visible corrosion as the motherboard looks very very clean. I put some pressure on the chip under the cartridge slot and nothing changed. Really have no idea what the issue could be. Any thoughts?

Nintendo DS Lite: DS lite no longer turns on after removing broken power switch

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 09:45:45 -0700

I accidentally broke off the plastic piece on my power switch when taking off the back cover. Did some research and decided to buy an after-market replacement on Amazon. I'm not very experienced on soldering and ended up ripping off the soldering pads for pin one, three, and four. At first, I tried to re attach the pads (That didn't work). Then I tried to scrape into the PCB to find the trace for pin one, which you can see in the image. After doing all of that, I tried to turn it on, with no luck. I also tried connecting the PWSW trace on the other side of the board to the "Red" trace as I read doing that would turn the DS on, which it doesn't for me. So, I'm assuming that in the process of fixing the switch I broke something else. Also, if I plug the DS in, the light turns orange, and after a while turns off.

Nintendo DS Lite: How do I determine my top screen isn’t working?

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 06:49:17 -0700

I believe that the top screen of my DS Lite is broken. I power the device on, the bottom screen flashes, then it turns off. I disassembled the DS Lite and checked the top screen ribbon cable. It doesn’t look bad, maybe one tiny minuscule nick, and a bit of gunk. But I don’t think that’s enough proof to determine it’s broken. How do I make sure this is the case? Also, how much damage does a ribbon cable need before it’s considered “damaged?”

Also, also, there’s some writing on the top screen and motherboard from the previous person that owned the device, and I don’t know what it means.

Nintendo DS Lite: Has anyone tried swapping two different types of shells?

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 16:48:07 -0700

I have tried a shell swap in the past and was wanting to mix the colors around, because I think that would look cool. Has anyone tried this, and what was the result?

Nintendo DS Lite: Can I remove the DS Lite faceplate without touching anything else?

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 02:13:32 -0700

I'm planning on changing my DS Lite's faceplate, but wonder if I can just somehow remove the plate instead of disassembling the entire thing?

Nintendo DS Lite: Bottom Screen Issue When Opening From Sleep Mode

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 00:04:13 -0700

My Ds Lite has a strange screen when it opens from sleep mode but never does it on boot up? It goes away right away though and I can play just fine. Is it something I should worry about? Or does it seem like a easy fix the screen is in really good working condition and im afraid to make it worse.

⟐ Edited by author August 22, 2023 at 0:04 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: Ds lite Memory chip Failure?

Sat, 13 May 2023 16:49:43 -0700

HI, I have a ds lite that, for somereason, has memory i belive to be faulty; though im not sure if its broken or not getting power to a certain part or cell with in the chip as the only symptoms are that it turns on, but doesn't complete the setup process. Would you guys know what i could do to solve this, and if i could replace the old chip with a more generic cell that will still interface with the cpu? Thanks in advance; pun not intended

It also doesn't have sound, though i dont know if that issue is related or not

⟐ Commented May 13, 2023 at 16:49 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: Ds turns on but shows Red Light on brightest settings/games.

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 14:45:17 -0700

I have a total of 3 systems with this issue. Two ds lites and one fat ds. All these consoles had the same repair which was the replacement of the f2 fuse. They used to not power on at all but now they do after the repair. However, now they constantly show a red light on the brightest settings or running games. They show a green light idling and on low brightness settings. The fat ds flickers back and forth from orange to green depending on how demanding the game is.

What I have tried:

Reflowing the fuse.

Trying several different batteries.

Continuity tested a few things near it or the f1 and L2 fuse (relatively new to this kind of testing).

Trying different motherboards and confirmed it's just these ones.

Fully charging batteries.

Any ideas? I can find absolutely nothing to help me with this.

⟐ Commented April 10, 2023 at 14:45 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: Why does the orange charging light flicker on and off?

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 08:14:26 -0700

My ds lite's orange charging light flickers on and off. The f1 fuse was bad so I replaced it but it didn't do anything. However I didn't know how to solder back then and when I look back at it it's a mess. The fuse does have continuity but there is solder everywhere so it could just be a short. I dont know how to clean solder like this and i could use some tips. I would love answers to this and to possibly other issues that could be the problem. Thank You!

Nintendo DS Lite: C5 capacitor went missing. Replacement options?

Fri, 24 Mar 2023 23:02:50 -0700

Yeah C5... I somehow knocked it off the board when fixing a bad via and now its lost to the winds of time. Does anyone know a valid replacement for it?

⟐ Edited by author March 24, 2023 at 23:02 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: Why the sound trough my headphone jack is not working properly?

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 11:54:09 -0700

I have a few DS lite consoles for repair. Three of them have a problem with the sound through the headphone jack. I used the diagnose rom from https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/Diagnose to check them fast. The speakers appear to work correctly, but when I tried with headphones trough the jack the anomaly appears. The sound test is this: when you press the left, right, up on the directional pad, the sound should come from left, right, center. The problem is this when I press left or right the sound comes from both sides with the same power at the same time. And for up(center) the sound is correct, coming from both sides at the same time, but the volume is too low. From a correctly working console you can easily recognize from which side you hear the sound and at center it doesn't lower the volume so much. As the headphone jack looks solid and I can't locate any visible damage around it, I am wondering for the cause of this problem???

⟐ Edited by author March 21, 2023 at 11:54 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: Nintendo DS lite won't turn on

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 08:34:48 -0700

My DSL won't turn on and didn't have any light from the power indicator putted charger and a new battery but still nothing.. plss help

⟐ Commented February 28, 2023 at 8:34 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: have semi unresponsive A button took apart black spots cant clean

Sun, 05 Feb 2023 19:50:42 -0700

ya so i took the ds lite apart to clean the part of the board where where the buttons are and there is black spots on the gold connecter part, i cleaned with 99%ipa and put back together but black spots wouldn't come off and A button still is finicky. any advice or ideas would be appreciated. thanks

Nintendo DS Lite: DS Lite freezes when shaken

Sat, 21 Jan 2023 19:35:24 -0700

Hi, I have a Nintendo DS Lite with a problem. Sometimes when I try to turn it on, it shows a green light but there’s no image on the both screen. But when it does turn on, whenever I try to lift it or shake it slightly, it freezes and and I try to turn it off/on again, it shows the green light but the screens aren’t turning on again.

Edit: It seems to freeze instantly every time I press hard near the lower touch screen area.

⟐ Edited by author January 21, 2023 at 19:35 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: My console shuts off when I put it down on a table surface

Sun, 04 Dec 2022 04:38:00 -0700

My friend gave me his old DS lite conse that he found years after it got chucked in the storage and I just finished replacing the Top and Bottom LCDs since the old ones were melted.

Everything from powering up, powering down, sound volume, touch screen and screen display (top and bottom) is functioning perfectly. It can even read the cartridges well.

The problem comes when everytime i go to place the console on a table top surface with the normal pressure (I'm not slam dunking it down for sure, TLC and all that), the console will shut off completely. It doesn't shut off when I'm extremly delicate in putting it down.

I've made sure to double check all wires are connected properly and nothing was loose, but the issue persists.

I'm suspecting that this could be a battery issue, from having been kept in storage for years, or that the screen ribbon cables/connectors are faulty in some way.

Has anyone faced this issue before? What could be some solutions I could look into?

Thanks again in advance

⟐ Commented December 04, 2022 at 4:38 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: DS LITE has loose hinges

Sat, 03 Dec 2022 15:40:36 -0700

I bought a DSL at a flea market, and the hinges are not broken, but very loose. It sways over an inch when I tilt it. Is there a way I can fix this?

⟐ Commented December 03, 2022 at 15:40 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: How do I make the hinges more sturdy?

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 18:52:00 -0700

The hinges aren't broken, but they wobble a bit and they don't lock into position, making the top screen wobble a little. How do I fix this without replacing the hinges. Is it the only way to make them sturdy again?

⟐ Commented December 02, 2022 at 18:52 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: DS Lite won't power on after initial setup?

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 02:54:02 -0700

When I try to turn the DS on to set it up, it powers on fine, and works great. But when I try to turn it on after that, nothing. I can reset it by trying to turn it on without the battery, put the battery back in, turn it on again, just to repeat the process.

I also experienced this problem some before I replaced the touchscreen, but it was irregular. It seemed to be working after the replacement, yesterday I was playing a game and it was working great. Now it's having this weird issue.

I've kept it on the charger a long time, and swapped with a battery I knew was good, nothing.

⟐ Edited by author September 06, 2022 at 2:54 MST

Nintendo DS Lite: Why is my digitizer turning off my DS Lite?

Sat, 27 Aug 2022 10:02:38 -0700

This happens everytime I'm in a GBA game, since my DS card slot is broken. The black ring on the back of the digitizer is still on there, no breaks or missing sections, the cable is clean, no breaks.