Nintendo DSi Not Working - Help Please **fixed**

[oldheadbanger]

I'm trying to help my friend's daughter get her DSi working. It was working fine, but recently while she was playing it the screen just "shut off". She thought the charge level was fine though when it did this, so it is kind of puzzling. One time recently, she did charge it again and it worked for about 2 hours and then the screen did the same thing.

Now, it is not working at all, not even after trying to charge it. All I get when I try and power it on is a blue light comes on momentarily (where the power light is).

Just wondering if this sounds like the battery needs replacing or if you think it is some other problem with it. Didn't really want to buy a new battery for it without getting some advice from people who have more experience than me with the DSi.

Thanks in advance!

[Sunnyvale]

Dunno if this helps or not, but here's a recent related thread:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158247

[Nophix]

Look up replacing the F1 fuse. Its a pain to do, but this is usually a sign. <ight as well replace F2 as well, since they usually go at the same time.

[Sinizar]

Sometimes removing the battery completely and then putting it back in helps.

[oldheadbanger]

OK, thanks very much for all the replies. I will try the battery removal thing and go from there. I guess it will be a process of elimination, starting with the battery.

[oldheadbanger]

Update - I purchased a brand new & proper battery for this online, and just installed it. The battery package said it is not charged when shipped so I tried to charge it once I got it installed. Initially, the orange light comes on the DSi and it looks like it is accepting a charge. But then after quite awhile, the charger actually "shuts off". I mean the orange light goes out, and there is no light on the indicator display, not green not orange not anything. It's like it is refusing to charge. It did the same thing with the old battery too. I try to power it on, and all I get is a quick blink of a blue light on the "power" indicator.

It did come on once for me after I installed the new battery. For about 5 seconds, it powered up and looked like it was going to work! Then it completely shut off by itself and I've had no luck getting it to power up again, despite taking the new battery out and putting it back in numerous times. I talked to my friend's daughter and I guess it did this same thing before to her brother when he tried it also. Powered on momentarily, only to completely shut down again by itself.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, or if someone has had a similar problem, perhaps they know what the trouble could be. Thanks again.

[oldheadbanger]

Ok, I think I got it working now after taking it apart, and working on it over an hour since my last post. When I took it apart, I noticed a bigger black square thing (not sure the technical name lol) was loose/hanging inside by its connection and it was obvious after looking at the end of the connection/wire to it that it was made to fit/"snap" together to the piece underneath it. Also, there was one "ribbon cable" that had a very small end on it that was loose and after looking at it, it fits onto the main board, but it is tricky to get it to stay in place. I had to partially close the DSi, reach inside with a small flat screwdriver (with the DSi partially closed), and then use the screwdriver end to press it onto the board (to get it to stay in the proper place as I closed it up).

Put the screws and battery back in, and now it works everytime! Never had a DSi apart before (nor even a DS!), but it was kind of fun and I learned something.
Hopefully, this might help someone else with the same kind of problem.