Just fixed my son's DS.

[SunnyD]

Long story short - he's had the thing for a couple years. He turns 10 next month. You can imagine how it's been treated.

So what was done?
- New shell
- New upper LCD
- New digitizer

Amazingly it still works after I got done with it - I guess that's what being the son of an electronics engineer gets me. Aftermarket shells kind of suck; it doesn't fit together as nicely as the original shell did. Getting everything - especially the buttons - back together properly is a bitch. Don't get me going on the shoulder buttons, and the A button doesn't feel "rigid" (no 'click' feel to it).

When it's all said and done though, it's good enough. I know how to take the thing apart should one of the buttons pop out of place or something.

All in all, we probably could have sold his dysfunctional DS and bought a used one that was in far better shape for what it cost to fix. But this way it's "his" DS, and most importantly, he paid for some of the parts out of his own money, and dad gets to be the hero.

 

[rgwalt]

How much did you put into it in parts? New ones run what, $130? $150?

DS or DS Lite?

 

[Crono]

Cool Make sure to get him Chrono Trigger DS for his birthday if he doesn't have it already. Guaranteed time warpage!

 

[PM650]

You should print out your sig on sticky paper & put it on the back of his DS...won't ever have to worry about it being lost then.

 

[gorcorps]

Might have been worth trying to find another broken DS that had the working parts you needed, but still cool everything was installed properly

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: rgwalt
How much did you put into it in parts? New ones run what, $130? $150?

DS or DS Lite?

DS Lite, new ones are about $129 unless you get em on a Dell deal. Used ones can be had for ~$70-80ish if you're patient.

Parts - LCD was $10, digitizer was $2, screwdriver (special - pair) was $1, and the shell was $15. Only thing that pissed me off somewhat is I ordered an LCD kit - both upper and lower. Unfortunately, they sent me 2x uppers. Doesn't bother me as I needed just the upper, but wanted to have the lower just in case too.

Whoops, forgot - had to stop and buy a soldering iron and some solder too. The iron was $10 for a cheapy. Got raped on the solder though, that was $6 for a teeny spool. I miss having access to that stuff for free.

 

[rgwalt]

OK, in for $30 in parts isn't bad... I had imagined that it would be more expensive to replace the components.

Avoid the DSi units... they lack the GBA compatability slot.

R

 

[CZroe]

I've done all three of those to the original DS for my niece & nephew and also a couple more:
Flat cable replacement for the upper screen
Damaged connector/Flat cable repair for the lower screen (one of the tiny 2-conductor ones).

I did that last one by using Scotch tape to thicken the flat cable so it would fit without being locked-down. It was tough to do in a way that wouldn't peel up on insertion.

After all that, the L-button inexplicably doesn't work on one of them, though it looks 100% OK, clicks and feels normal, etc. The nephew loves having a color no one else has.

 

[Newbian]

Originally posted by: rgwalt
OK, in for $30 in parts isn't bad... I had imagined that it would be more expensive to replace the components.

Avoid the DSi units... they lack the GBA compatability slot.

R

The problem is since the dsi are faster then the other versions of ds they are talking about making games where they can only run on the newer dsi.

 

[RiDE]

I bought a broken DS lite too and just fixed it. The ribbon going through the hinge was a PITA for me.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: RiDE
I bought a broken DS lite too and just fixed it. The ribbon going through the hinge was a PITA for me.

To be honest, taking it out was harder than putting it back in. Putting it in - you can actually SEE how to do it. Taking it out (the first time at least) was a ton of guess work. The HARDEST part though is trying to get the upper screen ribbon through the damn hole. Every time you roll up the cable and then adjust your grip ever so slightly, the thing unrolls!

 

[Engineer]

Where did you buy the stuff? Dealextreme?

If so, did you make sure to pick up a DSTT while at it?

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Engineer
Where did you buy the stuff? Dealextreme?

If so, did you make sure to pick up a DSTT while at it?

Yes I did. And I picked up not one, but three DSTT's (one for each of the kids). Now I have to find a cheap source for MicroSD cards that won't charge more than the card itself just in shipping.

 

[Syrch]

man i thought i had to buy the kids a new DS, the screen is scratched to hell. After looking at the site, is all i need is a new digitizer?

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Syrch
man i thought i had to buy the kids a new DS, the screen is scratched to hell. After looking at the site, is all i need is a new digitizer?

Depends. Bottom screen? Yeah, that's the digitizer that sits on top of the LCD (separate part). If it's the top screen, there's actually a clear piece of plastic that sits over the LCD itself.