Help Identify Japanese or NTSC Nintendo 3DS Motherboards

[scovitz]

I have an interesting problem I am hoping someone can help with... Over time, I have obtained and swapped out the motherboards of several Nintendo 3DS XL motherboards mainly to allow playing U.S. (NTSC) Region games on unique/rare Japanese hardware. This has worked great. Now I want to sell the excess motherboards that I have, but I cannot identify which motherboard is NTSC and which is Japanese. I know I have 2 Japanese and 1 NTSC. Can anyone tell from these motherboard photos as to which is which?

Thanks!

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[Gameguy]

Since the one in the first picture is the only one that looks different from the other two boards, I'm going to guess that it's the US board and the other two are the Japanese boards.

[scovitz]

I initially thought the same, but given the package that it was in from the store that did the board swap for me, I feel it is a Japanese one, just an older model. I am hoping someone has more detailed knowledge of these boards beyond pattern matching.

[Niku-Sama]

any shots of the other side?
usually theres a revision printed some where on a pcb, its not just a Nintendo or video game thing, pcb's in generally have a revision silkscreened on them if they are made from decent manufacturers.

any way I don't see any sort of revision on those pics and I have a feeling that along with that revision you might find that region it was meant for.

problem is its hard to tell from the component on the board because I am pretty sure the region lock out on 3ds's is a sortware thing, programmed into the firmware, that's more common these days.
its not often you find hardware region lock out in a modern console or handheld they left it all up to software and that way to, some companies left it up to publishers to make it region specific.

Nintendo is pretty good about silkscreen part of the region code on the pcb's so it should be on there someplace

[Gameguy]

I initially thought the same, but given the package that it was in from the store that did the board swap for me, I feel it is a Japanese one, just an older model. I am hoping someone has more detailed knowledge of these boards beyond pattern matching.


any shots of the other side?
usually theres a revision printed some where on a pcb, its not just a Nintendo or video game thing, pcb's in generally have a revision silkscreened on them if they are made from decent manufacturers.
How about the sticker on the first board listing an FCC ID? It's something that would only be required for the US version.

[Niku-Sama]

oh yea that's true too, I forget about the FCC....but for other reasons...

[scovitz]

Here are photos of the back sides of the boards.

The whole reason I purchased the physical region motherboards to swap was that from my research, Nintendo had done a great job thwarting region lock hacking. Such that any of the known hacks would break as soon as there was an upgrade so even if it is in the firmware, I guess it is not very easy to reflash.

In any case, please take a look. Any help to solve this puzzle is greatly appreciated.

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[Niku-Sama]

Ok I am going to go out on a limb here and say the one on top is most likely your American board and the 2 on the bottom are Japanese.
the only reason I say this is because the only discernible difference between the 2 is where they placed the bar code with what looks like a serial number.

one has it on the cart slot side and the other 2 have it on the reverse side.
i'm supprised not to see any thing else different between the 2

[Ozito]

Do you have the vital components to boot them up? If you do, you could always insert an ntsc game and see which doesn't run it.

[scovitz]

No. I don't have the equipment to boot it up. I am leaning toward the top one as well, but checking on a couple other paths to figure this out as well.

[Gameguy]

Ok I am going to go out on a limb here and say the one on top is most likely your American board and the 2 on the bottom are Japanese.
the only reason I say this is because the only discernible difference between the 2 is where they placed the bar code with what looks like a serial number.

No. I don't have the equipment to boot it up. I am leaning toward the top one as well, but checking on a couple other paths to figure this out as well.
This should already be clear and decided. For anyone unfamiliar just look up what the FCC is and what the FCC ID is for.

http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/help.html


Manufactures of devices that posses the potential to cause radio frequency interference to other devices are required to meet the FCC technical requirements which may include the granting of an FCC ID number. The rules, located in 47 CFR 2.803 and 47 CFR 2.1204, require that most devices be authorized before they can legally be imported or sold in the USA. These rules also require that labels with the information prescribed by the FCC be affixed or accompany the device.

So which board is meant for the US? The one with an FCC ID clearly displayed, or one of the two identical boards with no FCC ID at all? Also the FCC is an agency of the US government, there's no reason for anything intended for sale specifically in Japan to have an FCC ID at all. The Japanese boards wouldn't have an FCC ID on them.