A bad case of DS Lite hinge crack

RockinX

I have a friend who bought a very cheap DS Lite. When I asked her how she got it so cheap, she showed me these pics:

I had heard of the problem before, the infamous DS Lite hinge cracks, but this is just crazy, the top screen won't stay in place and falls. I also have another friend who has that problem, but he doesn't mind and just plays like that. Go figure.

So she's asking me what she can do to repair that. Sending it to Nintendo is not an option because we live in Latin America.

Also, my other friend just found his old Game Boy Pocket like this:

Any idea what that could be? He says he had it inside the box in which it came, under a stereo, but he claims there is no way it could have put pressure on the screen.

ALSO, my DS Phat ocassionally displays really small (and they disappear fast as well) graphic glitches when there are several layers of sprites (I guess that's what happens). 99% of the times I've seen those little graphic glitches have been when I'm taking items from the Pokémon I have in Diamond. I haven't seen it in SoulSilver, but I once saw one of them during a battle. It also happened in a part of Tingle's Rupee Land where it was dark and there was a circle of light surrounding Tingle.

It's been a while since I've seen them, though. I haven't touched Diamond much since I got SoulSilver.

travathian

Looks like a speaker magnet might have done in the second one. Or a solar flare.

Spoit

Yeah, I have the same problem (though not quite as large a crack). It actually works fine for most games which use the buttons, but it's killing me with stylus games, which are really only playable when it's flat on a table.

I also wouldn't mind anyone who knows anything about replacing the DS casing. I heard that it was only $30 compared to the 60+ NOA is asking for a freaking in-warranty repair.

Rizzi

That gameboy pocket.. It looks like it's been set on fire.

RockinX

travathian wrote: »

Looks like a speaker magnet might have done in the second one.

This one sounds like a very reasonable cause. This should be why that happened.

In the meanwhile, no one knows what can be done about the broken hinge?

corky842

I had a crack like that and fixed it with superglue, a small (#0 or #00) phillips screwdriver, and a sharp knife.

Take the battery out.
Use the knife to pry off the squares. Those are what are covering the screws holding the top half together.
Take the top part off, then glue the hinge back together.

Nickle

I have a really bad crack on my black ds lite, too, and finally called NOA about what I thought was covered by warranty, and known as a manufacturer's defect.

I guess they say it only happens with a small batch of WHITE DS's, and since mine isn't the right model, I must have dropped it or something.

Nevermind that it's the inside of the right hinge, which would be nearly impossible to damage by itself, and is the same hinge that breaks on every other DS I've seen with this issue. There are no dents or scratches anywhere else, it just started as a crack, and now most of the hinge is just gone.

So yeah, I guess you can pay for repairs through Nintendo, or go pick up a new DSi for twice the price of repair. Someone mentioned case replacement, but I have no idea about that.

Sipex

My black one's hinge broke off and fell away a long time ago, I live with it but it would be nice to have a replacement installed. If it's only $30 I'll look around and see if there's a place that can fix it. My warranty is up anywho.

Nickle

We must have all dropped our DS in the same, very specific manner.

Maybe a pebble hit the hinge just right.

Maybe Segata Sanshiro was sneaking into our houses at night with a hammer and chisel.

RockinX

corky842 wrote: »

I had a crack like that and fixed it with superglue, a small (#0 or #00) phillips screwdriver, and a sharp knife.

Take the battery out.
Use the knife to pry off the squares. Those are what are covering the screws holding the top half together.
Take the top part off, then glue the hinge back together.

I'll tell her to do that. She didn't want to have to open it, but I doubt there is any other way :P Maybe this time she'll believe me she has to open it.

Also, we live in Latin America, so she can't send it to Nintendo to be repaired.

Dodge Aspen

I got the hinge crack right when it was becoming known on the interwebs. I sent it to Nintendo, and they were really awesome about fixing it pronto. I got it back good as new in about 2 weeks or so....and then it cracked again. It has never really affected anything, though, so I said the hell with it. I'll be getting as DSi XL when it comes out in a few months, anyway.

Bionic Monkey

Nickle wrote: »

I have a really bad crack on my black ds lite, too, and finally called NOA about what I thought was covered by warranty, and known as a manufacturer's defect.

I guess they say it only happens with a small batch of WHITE DS's, and since mine isn't the right model, I must have dropped it or something.

Nevermind that it's the inside of the right hinge, which would be nearly impossible to damage by itself, and is the same hinge that breaks on every other DS I've seen with this issue. There are no dents or scratches anywhere else, it just started as a crack, and now most of the hinge is just gone.

So yeah, I guess you can pay for repairs through Nintendo, or go pick up a new DSi for twice the price of repair. Someone mentioned case replacement, but I have no idea about that.

Yeah, that's fucking bullshit. The hinge crack can happen on any color, from any region. My wife imported a Pink Lite from Japan before it was available here, and even it developed the crack.

Nickle

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

Nickle wrote: »

I have a really bad crack on my black ds lite, too, and finally called NOA about what I thought was covered by warranty, and known as a manufacturer's defect.

I guess they say it only happens with a small batch of WHITE DS's, and since mine isn't the right model, I must have dropped it or something.

Nevermind that it's the inside of the right hinge, which would be nearly impossible to damage by itself, and is the same hinge that breaks on every other DS I've seen with this issue. There are no dents or scratches anywhere else, it just started as a crack, and now most of the hinge is just gone.

So yeah, I guess you can pay for repairs through Nintendo, or go pick up a new DSi for twice the price of repair. Someone mentioned case replacement, but I have no idea about that.

Yeah, that's fucking bullshit. The hinge crack can happen on any color, from any region. My wife imported a Pink Lite from Japan before it was available here, and even it developed the crack.

Yeah, it surprised me too. I'd never heard that it was "only one batch of white DS's" before that call. I'm not sure I've even seen a picture of a hinge crack that featured a white DS.

This is like the only time Nintendo has been shady to me, though, so it's hard to get too upset. If I wasn't planning to get a DSi down the line, I'd be a bit more agitated. It's only really an issue if I try to play lying down.

TheGerbil

Yeah my Red + Black DS Lite also has the same crack. Its rather annoying. Does it really cost 60 bucks to get it fixed?

RockinX

Ok, my friend took a closer picture of the weird Game Boy Pocket:

It's like a it inverts the colors in the affected area. I'm really wondering what this thing could be, so I can prevent this kind of things happening to mine as well.

Damagemanual

Here's some sites with replacement bodies and steps to install them.
I've never hard the issue, so I can't speak for the sites but there seems to be a market for them..

http://www.nds-central.com/market.htm
http://www.console-central.com/content/view/3671/35/
http://www.ehow.com/how_5619570_repair-nintendo-ds-lite.html

Hope those help!

RockinX

I've forwarded the links to her. Thanks.

Spoit

Yeah, thanks for the links, but I decided to just shell out the money for nintendo to fix it. It looks like there's too many chances to brick it for me to risk that. Besides, it's only another $20 or so