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Larger version of the Nintendo DSi, released March 2010 in North America. Most repairs are accomplished with only a screwdriver and prying tools.

Rusted motherboard, irresponsive touchscreen

I bought a DSILL (Japanese version) with signs of water ingress inside and rust/corrosion on the motherboard. It boots fine, runs Pokemon, and even takes pictures, but the touchscreen only register touch on the lower half, jumps around, and occasionally stops registering anything.

I'm certain no CFW was installed, as the Unlaunch hotkeys did nothing while boot. Right now I replaced the touchscreen in case it's faulty, but the issue persists. I even tried to reflow some of the ICs with a hot air station but it had no effect. I suspect that some components are corroded or shorted, but I have no idea how to check them or which ones should I replace.

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UPDATE: I took the IC off and reapplied solder to the pins. There's indeed some corroded solder but the pins are all fine. After cleaning the corrosion with a solder wick I used the hot air station to solder it back on. Not perfect(It's my first time using a hot air station to solder a SMC), but at least the pins look connected. The touch issue STILL persisted though. I tried another new touchscreen that just arrived and the issue is the same. The socket was cleaned, the IC was reballed, the motherboard was cleaned, I have no idea what is causing the problem now. could it be a faulty IC or other capacitors or resistors mounted on the board?

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Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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@leooooooooo until you've fixed the corrosion and checked the basic components, it'll be difficult to troubleshoot this. Let's see what you are working with here. Post some well focused pictures (front and back) of your motherboard with your question. That way we can see what you see. Adding images to an existing question

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@oldturkey03 I updated my question with pictures. Not sure the reflow did anything, it only fixed a charging issue and not the touch glitches. Can you also tell me what components to check and how to check them? thanks.

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Hi Leo!

Did you tried to clean everything with isopropyl alcohol? Almost certain it’s related to something on the motherboard…

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@dan0 I AM certain it's motherboard related now. There's corrosion everywhere, and I can't seem to remove them simply by brushing them with alcohol. I actually tried to do a reflow for the touch IC but the touch glitch was still there. Are there any other component that could cause a glitchy touchscreen?

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Usually it’s the IC causing it, but there are some resistors that can cause the issue as well. They are located near the touch screen connector.

Replacing the motherboard is most likely required to solve it, I’m afraid…

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I bought a new replacement motherboard as the original motherboard is too corroded and have too many issues. Thanks anyway for the advices!

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Glad that, that was it :)!

Have a good one! Take care!

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Actually the new motherboard started acting up.

DSIXL charging light flashing irregularly

If you can check that out as well I'll be very grateful. I have no idea why everything starts to malfunction when I touch it.

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Leooooo1061 will be eternally grateful.
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