My 3ds only boots up with the ac adapter plugged in.

Question

New Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo’s first major revision of the 3DS released to Japan in October of 2014 and to North America in September of 2015. The 2015 3DS introduces improved 3D capabilities, a C-Stick, new internal amiibo support, and a new set of trigger buttons.

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Flashfire 356 @flashfire356

평판: 13

2

게시일: 2023년 6월 25일

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My 3ds only boots up with the ac adapter plugged in.

Alright so about a month ago, I was out, brought my 3ds with me as usual, played some on the tram but then it laid in my pocket in sleepmode until I came home from what I'd also say was a very chill trip. When I came home it had completely shut of and thinking it had just ran out of battery I went to charge it but it said it had full charge. So I pull out the cord and it instantly shuts off with what could be a popping sound perhaps (I've read a bit about popping sound issues but from what I've seen they don't seem that similar apart from this).

I asked a bunch of people over on reddit and everybody kept saying that the battery was done for but I've now tried the battery from my younger brother's 2ds, it still only turned on with the ac adapter plugged in and I've checked the battery with a multimeter and it seemed fine.

The next day when I went to check on it again I plug in the ac adapter turn it on and it doesn't recognize my micro sd card anymore so I decide to open it up to check so that the contacts look fine and also so those ribbon thingies are where they should be because those unplugging themselves have always been a fear of mine since I have opened it up a couple of times and those were a pain to put back.

Later the bottom screen has also gone black except for when I hold the cord in a special way.

So my final theory is that my motherboard is dying which is truly a pain because this console means a lot to me and it has got me through a lot. And the final thing I've come up with that I can try is to wipe of the motherboard with some isopropyl but I doubt it'll do much.

I wanna try to do everything in my power to get this thing going again because I really can't afford to replace it and if anybody has anything else I can try or some other theory of what could be wrong I'll gladly accept them and try them out. I would also appreciate all the help I can get in trying to find a replacement motherboard if that's now what's faulty because I feel like I have scoured around on the internet on all the places I can think of and I really haven’t been able to find anything. I also have cfw installed on my console so I really don't care for what region it is from.

2023/06/27

2023/06/28

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oldturkey03 @oldturkey03 평판: 782.4k 1.1k 893 2.3k · Answer 1 · 2023-06-25T17:10:38-07:00

@flashfire356 let's see your board. It is possible that there are issue with the traces or components. I wonder if you have a blown fuse or bad flex cable. I your spare time (I love saying that since nobody ever has spare time. Get your multi meter out and check the test points

TP1 External Supply Ground (GND) (P2.pin2+3+4+6) (near charger)

TP2 Supply +1.2V (for cpu) (CL5) (near charger)

TP3 Supply +3.3V (for cpu,wifi,irda) (CL9+CP10) (near powerman)

TP4 External Supply 4.6V (P2.pin1+5) (0V when disconnected) (near charger)

TP5 Supply +1.8V (for cpu,wifi,etc,etc) (CL6) (near mcu)

TP6 Supply +2.8V (for cameras) (CL11) (near powerman)

TP7 Charger IC U7.pin7 /PGOOD (external supply power good) (near charger)

TP8 Charger IC U7.pin10+11 OUT Supply (to system) (near charger)

TP9 4.03V with charger, 3.5V without (always on) (near start button)

TP10 Charger IC U7.pin9 /CHG charging (near charger)

TP11 Charger IC U7.pin4 /CE charge enable (near charger)

TP12 4.18V with charger, 3.5V without (wired to U13.pin1+6)(near powerman)

TP13 SD/MMC Slot Supply (P14.pin17+19) (CL12) (near sd slot)

TP14 3.30V ? (near AIC)

TP15 N/A ? (?)

TP16 NDS Cart Slot Supply (P1.pin8) (CL13) (near powerman)

TP17 ...? (near button y)

TP18 ...? (near powerman)

TP19 0.00V ? (near powerman)

TP20 N/A ? (?)

TP21 Standby Supply +1.8V (for rtc) (same as TP79) (CL7) (near home butt)

TP22 Battery Supply Plus (P4.plus) (via F2 to TP259) (near powerman)

TP23 Battery type/detect/alert? (P4.center) (typ=0.01V) (near mcu)

TP24 Upper Screen VCOM MCU[03h] (0.95V .. 3.15V) P6.pin3+21 (near gyro)

TP25 ... GNDed? Battery or so? (CL19?) (near powerman)

TP26 Lower Screen VCOM MCU[04h] (0.95V .. 3.15V) P8.pin32 (near eMMC)

TP27 Parallax Logic PWM (3.3V PWM) (near AIC)

See if you have the power where it's supposed to be. More information can be found on here

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@flashfire356 excellent! Just one more request. Take a picture of the area I cut -out. That should be your power section. It gets a bit fuzzy when I zoom in. Same resolution as your original should work but just of that area.

Thank you very much! But I have the New nintendo 3ds (not xl) and I’ve looked at it today but it has a different motherboard and the test points are not marked out on it. Do you know if there’s a chart of the tp’s on that motherboard? And if not, what would you recommend I do? — Flashfire 356
@flashfire356 whenever you can, let's see your board. I am sure we can find out more about that as well. I am still certain that this is a board related power issue. — oldturkey03
@oldturkey03 You want to see what my motherboard looks like? — Flashfire 356
@flashfire356 yes. That way we can try and check components, traces and for any anomalies. Good focused and large enough pictures always help — oldturkey03
@oldturkey03 Alright so I put a picture of my board in the question, if you need a close up of something, just say the word and also, thank you so much for the help. — Flashfire 356

Justin Castle @erelectronics 평판: 3.2k 19 7 3 · Answer 2 · 2023-07-12T17:44:50-07:00

This board looks very similar to, though not identical to, the motherboard for a New 3DS XL, which I have experience working on. So please take what I say with a grain of salt as it may not necessarily translate over to to your device, but it should at least be close.

That "pop" sound, while commonly attributed to the ribbon cables for the top screen being disconnected or damaged, actually is a power discharge that happens when any component has a power problem that forces the console into an emergency power off state. It is basically not a diagnostic of anything other than that something is amiss.

I have had several devices in my shop that demonstrate that pop sound, and all it took to fix it was to disassemble it fully and then put it back together. Even when I found no issues with any connections, that has solved the pop sound issue with 2 different devices in my shop, so I would recommend trying it. I know the 2 ribbon cables that go onto the back corner of the motherboard is a pain and it always is scary like you're going to rip the one that goes sideways and has to twist, so please be careful, but the first thing I would recommend is completely disconnecting the motherboard from everything and letting it rest, inspecting every cable and (if you find nothing amiss) putting it all back together carefully and trying again.

The bottom screen going black and the device not reading SD cards is suspicious. If I am looking at the board correctly, your MicroSD card reader plugs into the open press connector that is basically centered in photo 4 from your 2023/06/28 update. Is that correct? And the touchscreen connects via the ribbon cable on top in the second photo from the same date?

Based on no concrete knowledge and nothing but proximity, that Texas Instruments IC (and surrounding components; resistors, caps, etc.) is between those two things that are giving you issues. If you can find the schematics for that chip online, even if not the whole motherboard, I'm pretty sure that cluster of test pads is for testing that chip. Even if you have no diagram of the motherboard, if you know that, for example, 10 lines on that IC are supposed to offer 0.2Ω resistance and you get 0.0 readings on everything, then you likely know that chip is shorted somewhere, somehow.

This is just a shot in the dark and I don't even know if that is how you would test that chip, but the idea I think has merit and someone better at these things (*cough*OldTurkey*cough*) may be able to take that idea and give you a concrete direction to go with it.

To possibly go along the route OldTurkey recommended originally, I did a bit of digging and found these wonderful folks who tested and verified some contact points on the motherboard: https://gbatemp.net/threads/n3ds-nand-ba...
To be quite honest, it is a bit above my head so I am not sure if it is the right things you need or not. (Make sure to scroll down. This thread has both the XL and nonXL on it, and you have to scroll past the XL to find the nonXL photos.)

If you absolutely want to buy a new mainboard, this is the only one I could find: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/325680158...

Thank you so much! I’ll dissasemble it when I get time and hope for the best. Otherwise replacing the board would probably be my go to but they’re not easy to find and the one you found seems a bit sketchy and I’m a poor student but we’ll see. Once again, thank you! — Flashfire 356
You are absolutely right that it does seem a bit sketchy. I debated not even sending the link at all, but it was the /only/ one I could find and you had asked.

Good luck and keep up updated! — Justin Castle
@erelectronics @oldturkey03 finally got the time to pick it apart today and i got mixed news, firstly, the other problems I had, with the lower screen and micro sd card are fixed and my theory is that I probably didn’t connect them good enough but the power supply problem still stands.

So now I would probably try to find a new motherboard but I also have another more temporary solution while I’m searching. I could still use it with the cable plugged in and if I got another cable that’s also usb I could bring it with me as long as I bring a powerbank.

I did look at the thread with the people who had verified the contact points but I think replacing one of those would be way out of my league anyways. But I might change my mind in the future

Thank you both so much for your help, it really means a lot. — Flashfire 356
@flashfire356 Thanks for the update. Good luck in your repair quest and I would love to see future updates. :) — Justin Castle

New Nintendo 3DS

My 3ds only boots up with the ac adapter plugged in.

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Update (06/27/23)

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