DS Lite Charger stuck?

Basq

Cannot believe this but bought a DS Lite while I was in the States and I'm just after charging it for the first time (with a DS charger I bought on EBay) - it charged fine but it seems to be stuck in the DS now.

Anyone ever have a problem with this? Don't wanna wiggle it too much as I'm afraid of doing damaging to the contacts inside the DS.



EDIT: Seems it's a fairly common problem too (http://www.fixya.com/support/t314772-nintendo_ds_charger_plug_stuck) - balls!

Can't send it back to Nintendo as I assume it won't be covered by warranty here, as it was bought in the US.

Mr E

Its a tiny connector... how the hell does it get stuck?

Edit: Reading that link, it looks like the answer is "quite easily". Wow.... thats annoying.

You going to do some surgery, basquille?

Basq

Well, it's odd because I thought it might be because it was a cheapie charger on Ebay but to be honest, it wasn't that cheap at €8 (considering they're €10 most places around town).

It wasn't actually my DS it got stuck in.. it was my girlfriend's one. So I decided to take the plunge and figure out if it was the charger by plugging another charger (we got a charger each) into mine and it worked fine. She said she was quite gentle putting it in (easy lads! ) and felt no resistance but it really is jammed.

She doesn't want me to yank it out (once again, easy lads! ) and said she'd prefer it there than to be left with a part of the charger stuck in it making it VERY difficult to charge again.

So while I'd rather open it up and see what I can do, she probably won't let me. So she's stuck with a not particularly portable DS!

m0nsterie

I had this with a US DS, Eur charger too.
Grab the plug very close to the socket between your thumb & forefinger and _gently_ wiggle from side to side (em - yes, easy lads), it might take 10 minutes but it should come out eventually.
Once you have charged it and removed it a few times, it loosens up a bit, you might have to do this for the first couple of times though.

witnessmenow

Ignoring the fact that this thread is an absolute mine field of double entendres :pac:

Be a man, yank it out! The inside pins are possibly bent down (towards the bottom of the DS, so a slight nudge up might help. Whats the worse case scenario?

this will help the worse case scenario :pac:

Basq

m0nsterie wrote: »

I had this with a US DS, Eur charger too.
Grab the plug very close to the socket between your thumb & forefinger and _gently_ wiggle from side to side (em - yes, easy lads), it might take 10 minutes but it should come out eventually.
Once you have charged it and removed it a few times, it loosens up a bit, you might have to do this for the first couple of times though.

Cheers m0nsterie - will give this a shot!

Tried wiggling and waggling it numerous times (:pac:) - the cable that is - but it seems very much stuck. Will definitely persist with it though.

Odd thing is my DS (bought from US) is fine.. charger has no problem in it!

witnessmenow wrote: »

Ignoring the fact that this thread is an absolute mine field of double entendres :pac:

I'll "double your entendre"! :pac:

witnessmenow wrote: »

Be a man, yank it out! The inside pins are possibly bent down (towards the bottom of the DS, so a slight nudge up might help. Whats the worse case scenario?

Worst case scenario is I damage the contacts inside for charging it.. and we're left with a nice brick which won't conduct!

It's happened a couple of people I know who got their phone charger stuck.. that with a yank the contacts are damaged and it won't charge!

witnessmenow

basquille wrote: »

Cheers m0nsterie - will give this a shot!

Tried wiggling and waggling it numerous times (:pac:) - the cable that is - but it seems very much stuck. Will definitely persist with it though.

Odd thing is my DS (bought from US) is fine.. charger has no problem in it!


I'll "double your entendre"! :pac:


Worst case scenario is I damage the contacts inside for charging it.. and we're left with a nice brick which won't conduct!

It's happened a couple of people I know who got their phone charger stuck.. that with a yank the contacts are damaged and it won't charge!

Thats why i gave you the link to the external battery charger!

Hows your soldering? I might have a spare part (if its possible, I'll have a look this evening if its do- able)

Basq

Ahh right.. didn't really understand it was external. Just thought it was an alternative way of charging it.

Girlfriend probably wouldn't go for it as it doesn't match her frosty pink DS Lite. She's fussy like that! :rolleyes:

My soldering is mediocre.. will give m0nsterie's method a shot and then think further about it.

witnessmenow

Women eh!

I'll tell you later on if soldering it is even an option. I have to go hacking!

Basq

Cheers mate. Please do if you get a chance!

Basq

Tried m0nsterie's technique and they're didn't seem to be any budge.

And also tried a good hard yank (OH MATRON!) on it and it's not giving any real movement - this is not gonna be an easy fix.

witnessmenow

Do you have trigram screw driver?

I think i found whats more than likely causing the problem


See in the picture :


where the charger gets plugged in on the DS, It has a sort of a clip. Its presumably there to help stop the charger from falling out. Maybe your clip is doing too good of a job? You can slot a small screw driver under it and that should free the charger.

Worth a try before soldering!

Basq

Cheers witnessmenow.

It would explain why it's barely budging.. if it was a simple pin, it would have more give than this.

Might give it a shot if the girlfriend will let me near it. I'm afraid I don't have a Trigram screwdriver but probably do in work.

witnessmenow

Unless you work for Nintendo , or dealextreme I doubt you have them, maybe though. If your in a rush for one send me a PM , i'm sure i can post one up that you can have a loan of.

Basq

Don't think so alright (have a screwdriver with four divides on head, but not three) but my boss suggested another method though (which may work):

To strip the plastic on the connector of the charger to the port.. then I'll have a clear path to insert a slender blunt knife to push whatever's blocking it outta the way.

witnessmenow

I honestly think you'd be quicker opening it, but it should do the same thing ok. Its just very awkward to cut the plastic of chargers, never mind if they are plugged into a DS.

Basq

witnessmenow wrote: »

I honestly think you'd be quicker opening it, but it should do the same thing ok. Its just very awkward to cut the plastic of chargers, never mind if they are plugged into a DS.

Yeah, that's what I've been considering!

Have exchanged a number of e-mails with Nintendo about it and they told me that the warranty isn't valid outside the US, but that they'll (and I quote) "sort it out for me". Whether that means they'll charge me or not I'm unsure so I'll find out what they mean by that before I open it.

witnessmenow

The Ds has no warranty sticker as such, if its put back together they cant tell if it was opened.

Thats funny wording! Maybe they'll just keep it :P

Basq

Ahhhhhh... guess I'll pass on using the crazy glue, sticky back plastic and glitter when I open it!

Funny wording indeed.. talk about being obscure!

Oh and cheers for the help and advice witnessmenow - it's much appreciated!

witnessmenow

no problem, glad to help.

BTW it does look like its possible to resolder the charger connection, my soldering iron is shagged so i couldnt test it , but it looks like just 4 points that holds the outer casing of it, then another two for the power pins, they are fairly big too. If they come off easy enough it definitly wouldnt be hard job to put it back on

Kimbot

witnessmenow wrote: »

no problem, glad to help.

BTW it does look like its possible to resolder the charger connection, my soldering iron is shagged so i couldnt test it , but it looks like just 4 points that holds the outer casing of it, then another two for the power pins, they are fairly big too. If they come off easy enough it definitly wouldnt be hard job to put it back on

Dude, I might have one lying around the house your more than welcome to it FOC. Just drop me a PM and if I find it I can post it out to you.

Basq

Just an update on this...

Nintendo have decided to ignore any follow up e-mails. Dicks! :mad:

But my boss bought two of the Trigram screwdrivers from DealExtreme so I brought them home with me.

Opened up the DS a while ago. Loosened the little clip on roof of the charger port (as shown in witnessmenow's picture), and the charger came out with ease.

So then I'd to put it back together - getting the right and left buttons to stay secure were as fidgety as feck. And when I closed it the first time, the power button got stuck (the plastic piece for the switch wasn't aligned I assume). But everything works fine on the second closure.

Thanks for the advice witnessmenow.. and Nintendo's support can go f*ck themselves - they've really pissed me off! :mad:

witnessmenow

No problem, glad to help.

I've come to realise over the last few year that nintendo are a bunch of d1cks!

Retr0gamer

If you don't have the correct screwdriver you could try the bic pen trick unless the screws are really small. Did this on a SNES when I didn't have a gamebit screwdriver. Basically you take the outer casing off a bic pen, melt the end (don't breathe the fumes and mould the melted end on the screw. Voila, you have a nice screwdriver substitute.

Star Lord

Works, and works well, but it tends to loosen very fast so it loses it's grip on the screws, but there's always more pen casing to melt

witnessmenow

Retr0gamer wrote: »

If you don't have the correct screwdriver you could try the bic pen trick unless the screws are really small. Did this on a SNES when I didn't have a gamebit screwdriver. Basically you take the outer casing off a bic pen, melt the end (don't breathe the fumes and mould the melted end on the screw. Voila, you have a nice screwdriver substitute.

McGiver-esc advice there Retro! Just BTW these screw drivers are less than a euro delivered on Dealextreme, heres a "set" that has a small phillips as well.. still less than €!

Basq

Those screws are so finicky and small (especially the ones under the battery) that I wouldn't attempt the BIC pen trick on them anyways!

Retr0gamer

It doesn't work on small screws so probably wouldn't have worked for you

I currently hate modding consoles. Tried to softmod xbox during the weekend and needed a TV beside my PC. Tried to move my parents portable and it ended up falling on my head along with about a thousand books that were propped up behind it

Fecking TV was built in to the unit so couldn't move it anyway.

witnessmenow

Its a bit OT but you can get away without having the TV if you have sound . If you can plug the red an white wires of the xbox into the Aux port of a stereo.

Are you using longfield/supercells guide? Instead of putting music on the xbox and pausing it and plugging out the IDE cable ,you can plug it out when the green x is on screen during the boot up, it makes a (oh here it goes) "diddledidle-neooooow" noise when it is so you can tell by ear when to plug it out. Then just follow the rest of the guide normally.

Retr0gamer

Might give it a try when the swelling goes down Thanks.

tentpole

Take it back where ever you got it from. Immediately.