iFixit - Answers With Device "Nintendo DSi"

Nintendo DSi: How do I fix the coding from looping in settings

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 23:35:31 -0700

More and also, how do I put my pictures on the sd card well the DS is keeping the looping settings. Also, I can tell you what I was doing about my dsi I was on the twilight menu and I was on the no crash thing and I was just trying to go to the scissor says, but I was actually at the control leg and I just that’s different stuff. I didn’t know cause I think I saved it and it was looping in settings

⟐ Commented June 18, 2026 at 23:35 MST

Nintendo DSi: Won't turn on, will flash orange/amber

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 09:27:07 -0700

I have a Nintendo DSi. It won't turn on. I have a good battery in it I tested the battery board it is good that F1 fuse on the battery board is good. It will light up charging. Couldn't find any signs of corrosion anywhere but cleaned the board anyway. When I press the power button the blue light and the screens flash then immediately shuts off. No water damage according to liquid indicator either. Bought unit off eBay in non working order so IDK what kind of things could cause these side effects. Upper screen was unplugged but I'm stumped what else to check, any ideas y'all? Could a bad upper screen cause it not to turn on at all edit**now it won't even flash and battery is good and charged

⟐ Edited by author March 14, 2025 at 9:27 MST

Nintendo DSi: Top screen very dark

Sun, 20 Oct 2024 21:59:07 -0700

Yesterday i was cleaning my dsi, i disassembled the lower half and then reassembled. Everything went perfectly. Today i was going to add an SD card but i noticed i didnt properly put the sd cover of the lower half. After i fixed it, i figured i should clean the buttons while im here so I carefully disassembled that parts to access the rubber pad and buttons.

However, assembling back again i now see a darker top screen. I tried the potentiometer in the back but that didnt do much. I disassembled and reassembled the Dsi 5 times with same results. The ribbons dont even look damaged. I dont know what to do because it was working fine yesterday and this morning.

I would like some assistance or advice. Thank you kindly

⟐ Commented October 20, 2024 at 21:59 MST

Nintendo DSi: Is it possible to run without slot 1

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 13:15:29 -0700

My dsi is currently jailbroken so i was wondering if i could remove Slot 1 without ruining it

Nintendo DSi: DSI: Tried Soldering Touchscreen socket, Burnt Tracks on Motherboard

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 12:17:25 -0700

Hello.

So the little black clip in the socket that holds the Touchscreen ribbon cable had come off so i tried soldering a new one on. In the process i burnt 2 of the tracks on the motherboard and now the DSI just flashes. What Can I Do?

⟐ Commented February 01, 2024 at 12:17 MST

Nintendo DSi: My does my device randomly freeze and shows a blue light

Sun, 20 Aug 2023 19:12:00 -0700

So when I play a game it'll randomly freeze. When I try to boot after remit'll just show a white or blank screen with the blue power light on sometimes it finished other times it won't.

Nintendo DSi: Did I lose the picture displayed on the top screen?

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 21:59:28 -0700

I just recently found my dsi and it had a really important picture of someone I loved displayed on the top screen. I went in to try and look at the picture better and try get it back, but I ended up taking another picture. I did no formatting of any kind and I can’t do much else except turn it on due to an error code, but the photo count ticker never changed. I’m terrified I lost one of the best pictures I have of them and now I’m stuck staring at my stupid face. Is there anything I can do? I looked into the wireless card issues commonly experienced but I didn’t think that would make any changes to pictures

Nintendo DSi: My Nintendo DSI shuts down randomly after I put an SD card in it

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 14:34:04 -0700

My Nintendo DSI suddenly started shutting down when I closed the hinges and then randomly shutting down while playing, then I found that removing the SD card fixed the problem, but still, when I put the SD card back, everything worked fine, 1 week passed and I removed the SD Card to put some games in it, after I put the SD card in, the problem returned, and tried everything including disarming the console and checking the battery everything was ok i tried a few things like stop using the sd but somehow it didn't fix the problem anymore

Nintendo DSi: Charge light, no power when I press the power button

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 22:26:18 -0700

So, I’m trying to repair this dsi

When plugged in there’s a sold charge light, but when trying to turn it on nothing happens. No blue light no flickering screens just no response

I’ve switched the power board with a known good one, and a known good battery and still nothing.

Everything seems fine so I’m not sure what else to do here.

I did switch the entire mother board just for the heck of it with a good one and the only issue is the top screen is faulty, so it’s something on the mother board I just can’t figure out what which I guess its obviously the mother board but I’m new to this so hey at least I did it right

Any advice would be appreciated

Also included some a photo

Nintendo DSi: My Nintendo DSi screens brightness fades until it becomes hard to see

Sun, 17 Jul 2022 23:02:20 -0700

Before

after

idk how to fix it and the 2 screws in the battery area dont fix it i tried disconnecting the ribbon cables and reconnecting them and i did the same for the backlight but it didn’t fix it im not sure whats wrong with it. And it doesn’t look that bad in the after photo but it gets lots worse after 6 mins

⟐ Commented July 17, 2022 at 23:02 MST

Nintendo DSi: L button always on after cleaning

Fri, 15 Apr 2022 08:18:21 -0700

The L button on my DSi didn't work. Following the advice of the forums I disassembled the console and cleaned the micro switches with cotton and alcohol. After mounting the console the L button is always pressed. No matter what I do it won't turn off.

I have disassembled the console again and I have checked the continuity with a multimeter and what I have seen is that the switch is fine and that there are no strange continuities in the ribbon connector either. I have been able to see that the pin corresponding to the L button is 25 and measuring strange continuities on the motherboard I have not observed anything strange either. But when I mount the console and turn it on, the L button is still on.

Nintendo DSi: Blue LED Turns on then off.

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 06:44:29 -0700

The Blue LED turns on then off, it won’t turn on, charges fine. Any fix or ideas?

⟐ Commented March 28, 2022 at 6:44 MST

Nintendo DSi: Will the wifi card work without the pad that it has underneath?

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 18:11:48 -0700

I recently got a used DSi off ebay for cheap, but the previous owner was an heavy smoker and the console came dirty and with a nauseous smell of smoke. I already took it apart and cleaned the shell and all the plastic components, but the smell is still there and I think it comes from the rubber screw covers, the plastic lower LCD adhesive (which are the only plastic components that I have not cleaned with soap and water) and the grey pad that is under the wifi board. The rubber pads are relatively easy to fix since I could just take them off al clean them, I think I can do the same with the LCD adhesive and just use double sided tape. The problem is that I don’t know what the purpose of the pad under the wifi card is, will I be fine taking it off and replacing it with electrical tape? I really can’t stand the awful smell but I don’t feel like buying new components just to get rid of it (since everything works just fine).
Also if you have tips on how to get rid of the smell I’m all hears.

Nintendo DSi: Power light turns blue, and then turns off right after.

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 16:36:03 -0700

So my dad probably broke this dsi about 10 years ago lol. He probably got mad and threw it at a wall. I recently replaced the battery. But it didn’t do anything. It charges, and then when i press the power button, the blue lights turns on and then off. What can i do to fix it?

Nintendo DSi: SD card won't stay in the slot

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 05:06:52 -0700

When I put an sd card in it gets pushed out and if I try to force it to stay and close it, it says “The Device Inserted in the SD Card Slot Cannot Be Usedx

Nintendo DSi: Top screen tinted red/blue when pressure is applied near start button

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 10:02:05 -0700

To start off with, I do realize it could be an issue with the top screen and not the motherboard, and that I may have to replace that instead of fixing the motherboard. That being said, I do have reason to suspect that there may be a cracked trace or something shorted on the motherboard. Namely that the issue can sometimes go away after I stop applying enough pressure to cause it or with “percussive maintenance” to the right side of the bottom assembly if it does not go away. But to put it simply, if I put a lot of pressure near the start button, the top screen will become tinted red or sometimes blue. I do know that someone else had a similar issue with a DS Lite, but from what I understand, theirs was constantly tinted red and they had random crashes. Mine does not crash and the red tint is not constant and only occurs if a lot of pressure is applied near the start button or immediately after reassembly. If I press the start button directly with only enough force to press it, then the top screen usually does not get tinted red.

Normal, no pressure on case:

Pressing down hard onto case:

If anyone could help diagnose this issue or provide a schematic for the DSi so that I may be able to rule out where the issue is occurring, that may be helpful.

Oh, and before anyone asks, this started happening after I accidentally used too much Deoxit while trying to make the cartridge port more reliable. I succeeded in accomplishing my goal, but now have to deal with this issue. I’ve already cleaned the board multiple times with 91% isopropyl alcohol.

Edit: Tested with a known good top screen, and no change. It does seem to be an issue with the motherboard.

⟐ Edited by author July 30, 2021 at 10:02 MST

Nintendo DSi: My screen has weird lines for no reason

Wed, 19 May 2021 07:55:31 -0700

Both of my screens on my dsi have lines and in some cases black lines (refer to the photos).I don’t know what is wrong with it or how to fix it. Any help is appreciated.

⟐ Edited by author May 19, 2021 at 7:55 MST

Nintendo DSi: Sound not coming out of left speaker.

Mon, 03 May 2021 11:19:37 -0700

So I powered on my DSi a few days ago and I noticed that no sound came out of the left speaker but the right one is just fine, even though it was in stereo, I took the dsi apart and checked the speaker with an external amplifier to see if it was broken but the speaker is just perfect but no audio signal comes out of the dsi. Please help me, thank you!

Nintendo DSi: Why my nintendo dsi frezzes up randomly

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 10:55:56 -0700

Ok so my nintendo dsi frezzes some times when i pick it up same times shuts down rndomly withaout warning also this happens when i remove that cardrage i bought the DSi in decmber 1st 2011 brand new videos explain the situetion: https://youtu.be/k9VDXsTdaC0 and https://youtu.be/c4yJVVPEL-c

Nintendo DSi: Why won't my r4 card work on my dsi but my sister's r4 works on mine

Sat, 10 Apr 2021 02:42:20 -0700

So I updated my dsi usin WiFi and my r4 presented me with an error and I tried my sister's r4 on mine and it works and I tried my r4 on her ds and it works fine on her's

I need help

⟐ Commented April 10, 2021 at 2:42 MST