I have a DSi that is in very good condition but for the right shoulder button. It does work but I have to press very hard to get it to register. The “lift up the button and blow into it” does actually improve the function of the button for a bit (I use canned air, not moist mouth) but it doesn’t take long at all to NOT work either. Does anyone have a REAL solution that actually works short of disassembly and replacement of the button?
Good news! I’ve fixed dozens of systems with this exact problem. It’s very straightforward and doesn’t require much disassembly.
Pull the back off, and spray contact cleaner directly into the switch (in the tiny gap around the switch’s button). Note that you’ll need to disassemble the rear shell a little to get to the switch, but you won’t need to pull the motherboard. (In the original DSI there’l be one flat connector to lift off, and in the XL there’ll be two.)
Then rapidly and gently push the button a whole bunch.
That will clear away dust or micro corrosion that’s interfering with the electric contact.
Reassemble, and it should work better. If it’s not perfect, try again.
I’ve never had a console whose button needed more than three contact cleaner applications. And that was only with buttons that completely stopped working.
My human! Thank you, time to break out Ol’ Spudgy McSpudgerson and the ifixit Driver Band, I hope we do enjoy the show.
Winner winner chicken dinner. I had to take off the back, but to get a good angle on the button I had to remove the orange stylus retainer and lift up the button PCB. Contact cleaner, working the switch, and then one failed and one successful shot at getting the button assembly perfectly aligned - VERY easy to JUST BARELY misalign it and remove ALL click which is entirely the opposite of what we’re looking for.
I finally see why people directly blasting contact cleaner into the button area [EDIT: without opening the shell] IS a viable trick, but given the excess you spray to actually get the button means that you’re also risking saturating the screen (which might not be permanent, if you’re using a regular contact cleaner and not fancy shit like deoxit, which would almost certainly ruin the screen). Thanks for the assurance that it’s a solid chance of success, you’re totally right. I just hate flex cables and their connectors.
Haha, yeah, I still occasionally misalign those tiny things, even after working on lots of them! (Also I probably hate flex cables and their connectors more than you do.)
I’m really happy it worked for you. Have fun with your newly-fixed system!
It’s going to be pretty hard to properly clean the button without opening it up since there isn’t a good way to get cleaner into them.
Thanks. I truly dislike working on the NDS and its progeny, except for the 1st gen 2DS. It is stupidly easy to disturb the ribbon cables even with the most careful hand.
Which doesn’t do much to explain why I bought a pile of DSi XLs to fix up. Separate issue.
I figured disassembly and cleaning might help but thought maybe there was an actual viable trick.
Note that a big risk with contact cleaner is that it easily penetrates into the screen. If you’re using an old school contact cleaner this usually isn’t fatal as it tends to quickly evaporate over a few hours at worst. But if you’re using deoxit or something with oils, you will damage the appearance of the screen.
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The switch underneath is most likely bad. I know that replacing it isn’t an option for you, but it may be the answer.
Have you tried disassembling the unit to see if there is any debris?
So there wasn’t any visible debris upon disassembly but directly attacking the button with contact cleaner was effective.
Hey, that’s great to hear! Generally, when those buttons fail to activate, they need replaced. I’ll try to keep this in my back pocket, though.
They generally don’t need to be replaced, in fact.
But most people think they do, so the incorrect info gets spread.
It’s nobody’s fault. Most folks just don’t have any way to know unless they’ve fixed lots of systems. I’ve fixed lots of systems. :)
I used to get great deals on “faulty” Japanese DSi’s, with bad L/R being the only real problem. Then I’d fix them and share them for just the price I’d paid.
Only once was I unable to fix a bad shoulder button by cleaning it. It’s because the switch was broken off and rattling around inside the shell. 🤣
That’s interesting. My experience with these kinds of switches is mainly with other hardware. We had drawers of buttons we would resolder when they went bad.
Obviously, soldering on this ribbon cable is a recipe for disaster. I have never had good results soldering on a ribbon cable like that because it melts back from the heat.
Again, it’s pretty cool up learn that the DSi has such hardy components. It’s definitely unexpected from my perspective.
The DSi and XL are arguably the pinnacle of Nintendo’s modern engineering.
The shoulder switches are soldered to a tiny board that’s connected to a ribbon cable, so it’s actually possibly to replace just the switches.
If the ribbon cable is damaged, it’s a tiny and cheap replacement part that doesn’t require even removing the motherboard.
The power board is a discrete child board.
Button presses are handled via metal dome switches. Buttons not working? Pull the dome, clean, then replace with fresh kapton tape.
The only real negative is that two ribbon cables run through the hinge.
The earlier DSes were more of a pain to fix, and the 3DS series started to cheap out by making things harder to access, remove, and put back together.
The XL has zero parts availability. I love them, but you can’t even gert the dual-composite stylus for it anymore.
