How to solve any custom firmware 3DS problem – 100% working tutorial

[rvtr]

Something could have failed in the charger that would have caused it to send wrong voltages that the 3DS can't handle, I hear that this is a common issue with old Commodore power supplies for example.

I heard Commodore. And yeah don't trust old power bricks. The voltage regulator goes and then you fry your chips. (mainly the RAM iirc)

 

[Julie_Pilgrim]

I heard Commodore. And yeah don't trust old power bricks. The voltage regulator goes and then you fry your chips. (mainly the RAM iirc)

Fun fact: if you say "commodore", you'll summon Ian

 

[banjo2]

@KleinesSinchen could you PLEASE make a version for 2DS XL?????????????????

 

[rvtr]

Fun fact: if you say "commodore", you'll summon Ian

Or CBM or BASIC v2 or C64 or C64c.

 

[Julie_Pilgrim]

@KleinesSinchen could you PLEASE make a version for 2DS XL?????????????????

Tutorial:
Get a better 3ds lmaooo(ignore my sig)

 

[banjo2]

Tutorial:
Get a better 3ds lmaooo(ignore my sig)

tried it doesn't work

 

[Julie_Pilgrim]

tried it doesn't work

How???

 

[banjo2]

How???

didn't work, please send a video guide

 

[KleinesSinchen]

I'm guessing it would go to the charging IC and then it's up to it to handle that voltage or decide to shut itself off until the higher voltage is gone. Thinking of it now, those fuses probably only protect from overcurrent/short-circuit, so a worse higher voltage might still be able to get past the fuse and fry the charging IC or even the rest of the system.

That is a big problem. Fuses will indeed only blow on too high current.
You remember this? We already know a bit about how a 3DS reacts on providing 9V to the battery terminals. Sadly the topic was never fully resolved.
Ideally the charging IC provides protection against high voltage. Maybe a diode could protect against wrong polarity. No idea if Nintendo went this far. Having their propriety connectors and saying "Only use WAP-002 for charging!" is probably enough for them to not being sued because of missing abuse tolerance.
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Serious question (not an EOF comment):
Anybody willing to sacrifice/lose a damaged or totally worn console for science? I mean testing slightly higher charging voltages; a lab power supply would be ideal. Maybe viewing the motherboard with a thermal camera when gradually increasing voltage would show what part is stressed.
Grrrr. My half knowledge (←at best) on these topics is unsatisfactory.

The only thing I already did myself was comparing practical voltage of two USB sources with the official charger.
I won't risk my testing O3DSXL as it is needed for "softbrick research".

 

[IC_]

Anybody willing to sacrifice/lose a damaged or totally worn console for science? I mean testing slightly higher charging voltages; a lab power supply would be ideal. Maybe viewing the motherboard with a thermal camera when gradually increasing voltage would show what part is stressed.
Grrrr. My half knowledge (←at best) on these topics is unsatisfactory.

I might be able to do that with one of my junk DS (not 3DS) motherboards, but I don't have any good variable power supply or the other tools you mentioned.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

I might be able to do that with one of my junk DS (not 3DS) motherboards, but I don't have any good variable power supply or the other tools you mentioned.

Now that you mentioned junk DS: I have two dead DSi motherboards. Charging should still work.
The lab power supply: I've been thinking about ordering one for at least 10 years (not kidding). Time to get one! Such a thing will come in handy anyway. Buying a decent thermal camera just for this would be insanely expensive… guess the only temperature sensor will be my index finger.

Blog entry about this will come – but it will take a while.

 

[8-Bit-Giraffe]

Thanks! My 3DS is working perfectly now. It even runs in 8K 120 FPS and plays Switch Games!

 

[KleinesSinchen]

While I VERY MUCH regret creating¹ this nonsense thread, I'm happy that an off-topic discussion which actually makes sense, arose from it.

The cheap lab power supply arrived. And a water-damaged scrap DSi with hopefully still working charging electronics was also in my "No, I will not throw this away – I may still need it at a later point"-box. Maybe the multimeter can be convinced to measure temperature on the charging IC and/or the EM1 filter while charging a battery with various voltages.
Thermal camera is just toooo expensive for this small experiment. When would one need this again?



Thanks @IC_ for bringing up the voltage topic. Looks like I will have to solder some wires to the power connector… oh well. Hope it works.





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¹ Lesson learned: This will not happen ever again.