Is Your DS Lite Ill???

Arcadium

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Jun 19, 2006
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IGN said:
Is Your DS Lite Sick?
Some problems have been popping up with Nintendo's successful redesign. We investigate.

The Nintendo DS Lite may be one of the sleekest and sexiest handheld systems the company has ever released, but that doesn't mean it's the most durable. Or even unsusceptible to defects or design issues. The system has only been on the market for a little more than a month now in the US -- add another couple of months to that thanks to the earlier launch of the system in Japan. And in that time, tiny issues have sprouted up from the purchasers of the first generation units.


Don't consider yourself lucky if you've escaped the wrath of these defects with a pristine Nintendo DS system - perfection is the way it should be, and the chances are high that a perfect system is what you'll get. Status quo. Instead, consider yourself unlucky if you happen to find one or more of these symptoms in your handheld unit.

If you feel that you do have a defect, Nintendo of America's customer service is notoriously top-notch. Representatives will do everything in their power to make sure you're happy with your purchase, and if you do end up with a problematic Nintendo DS Lite system under its 12-month warranty. If it breaks on your own accord, you may be required to pay a repair fee. Contact information for Nintendo's customer service is located on the bottom of your Nintendo DS system.

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Symptom: Dead pixels on one or both screens

Description: This is easily the most common of the handheld market, and it's not solely an issue with the Nintendo DS. Any LCD display is susceptible to an always off or always on pixel in its display, a defect that slips through the quality assurance check at the LCD manufacturing plant. The Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance SP, and PSP have had this issue since they hit the market - cellphone, computer desktop PC, and HDTV LCDs are also at risk.

"Dead" pixels can be black, white, red, green, blue - essentially a "dead" pixel is one where one of the millions of dots on the screen remains on or off even when it's supposed to be a specific color. They're noticeable on a very white or very black image, but stick out like a sore thumb because they don't move when the image does.

Recommendation: It's all depending on your tolerance for unmoving tiny dots, and where the dead pixel is located on the screen. Contact Nintendo's customer service if the pixel gets unnerving and distracting, or you have more than one to deal with.

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Symptom: Cracked hinge.

Description: On the external portion of the Nintendo DS Lite system, a single - but obvious - crack will form along the hinge. According to sources, this is caused by an overtightening in the Nintendo DS Lite manufacturing process. It's a common defect, but in the swing of things, it's an uncommon occurrence.

Recommendation: The crack is only cosmetic on the plastic surrounding the hinge mechanism - it doesn't affect the integrity of the hinge itself. If the crack really affects you in a Tony Shaloub's Monk sort of way, then Nintendo will replace your system if you contact them.

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Symptom: D-Pad has weak diagonals.

Description: The D-pad has four internal contact switches: up, down, left and right. In order for Nintendo DS games to recognize a diagonal direction from your thumb, it has to press two contacts at the same time: up + right, up + left, down + right, down + left. The Nintendo DS Lite system seems to require a little more pressure to activate a diagonal direction. If you let up on the pressure, even if the D-pad is still pressed into the system, your on-screen character may end up just going in one of the up/down/left/right directions.

Recommendation: Unfortunately, this is just the way the DS Lite's D-pad was built. Most of our systems have this issue. One of our systems in particular feels like it has a physical abnormality inside of the unit that causes a plastic-against-plastic "pop" effect. This is the extreme case - if your D-pad "pops," contact Nintendo for a replacement. Otherwise, just learn to press more firmly for the diagonals.

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Symptom: Shifting Touch-screen

Description: Pressing on the corners or edges of the Nintendo DS touch screen will cause the panel to slightly "give" under the thumb. It's a slight, insignificant, but noticeable shift.

Recommendation: It's a harmless "settling" of the touch screen panel over the LCD screen that you shouldn't be concerned about. Though we've had a touch screen that eventually lost its sensitivity and it had to be replaced. If your Picto-Chat sessions start getting all screwy and scribbly that's not due to your lousy penmanship, contact Nintendo for a replacement/repair.

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Symptom: Yellowish screen.

Description: One of the screens has a slightly yellower tint than the other.

Recommendation: Live with it. This is something that's only noticeable on bright white screens - like, say, the boot up screen where it displays the Nintendo DS logo and the Seizure warning on a flat white screen where you can compare the two displays on the same level. Two of our DS Lite systems have the differing coloration, but we only noticed it when a reader asked if we had the problem. Unless there's a drastic difference in contrast, you shouldn't worry.

Source: HERE!

Well, here are the answer of the people from IGN
 
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #2
IGN said:
I purchased the original DS which came with a copy of Mario Kart DS and enjoyed the hell out of it, though I eventually stopped playing after a while and moved on.

After purchasing a DS Lite, I surfed the IGN Boards and someone claimed that occasionally while playing Mario Kart, the kart would stop accelerating, as if the DS Lite didn't recognize that the "A" button was being pressed down.

So I put my copy of MKDS into my brand-new 'Lite and after a few hours of playing, I noticed the same effect, especially when racing against my brother (who kept the original DS) in more intense races than any one could have against an AI opponent - when pressing firmly down on the "A" button in the heat of a race, the kart would sometimes suddenly stop accelerating until I let go and hit "A" again. MKDS is the only racing game I have for DS, but I imagine this happens in other racing games where "A" has to be kept held down.

This never in the hundreds of hours I spent playing MKDS happened when I played on the original DS.

Julian

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Fellas. You missed one thing. How easy it is to scratch the touchscreen playing hectic touchscreen games like warioware. Now trust me, Im as gentle with the stylus as Im gentle helping grandma out of her wheelchair. I read all the manuals. But still, I got a couple of big, beefy, butt-ugly scratches on my touchscreen thanks to those games. Right now it's only cosmetic and doesnt really affect the games. You think Nintendo would fix this? After all it is their stylus causing these problems!

Ryan

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I had actually just exchanged my DS today for a cosmetic defect I've noticed only on mine. Since day one I was able to see the back lites for the bottom screen shine through the plastic right above the gba slot. The reason for this, I discovered was due to the plastic being slightly separated from the actual casing causing a small gap for the light to shine through.

Jason

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One unimportant, yet common problem with DS Lite that hasn't ben listed is the loose volume slide bar. I also seem to loose plastic above the GBA slot. Like I can push it up and down. Dunno if that one counts.

Vaztor

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I had a problem with my DS Lite shutting off for no reason. At first I thought I was not charging it long enough. So I left it on the charger for a full day. Shortly after I started playing my game it would shut off. The problem started to get worse. I would turn it on and it would turn back off automatically. I decided to take it back to Target and exchange it. I have not had this problem with the new one. At least not yet.

Michael

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Now don't get me wrong, the Lite is easily the best gaming device I have purchased since the SNES. With the wealth of killer apps and the free wi-fi, I couldn't be happier with this wonderful machine. I have noticed, however, that the half of the unit that has the top (non-touch) screen has shifted or tilted the slightest bit clockwise from its original position. An easier way for me to describe the minimal change (which is purely aesthetic and doesn't effect gameplay) is that when I close the two halves onto eachother, the top one doesn't quite align with the bottom properly. No biggie, but I figure others might see this happening to their Lite.

Joe

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My black DS lite has a problem with the x button that manifests itself when playing NSMB. When Mario has a fire flower and I am holding down the x button to run, every now and then (about once per level) he will fire off another fireball as though I've let go and re-pressed the button. Sometimes when I press it he will fire off two fireballs as though I've pressed the button twice. This never happens on my original DS. Further investigation revealed that if you keep the button pressed but move your thumb to the edge of the button and back, it registers that as a new button press. This is mildly annoying as you need to hold x to carry a shell - now you can't be sure that Mario won't spontaneously let it go whenever he feels like it!

Ben

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After using the DS lite for over a month of constantly opening it and closing it the top screen started to blink. It got to a point where the top screen would blink out completely. It eventually degraded further and the top screen would stay white unless i clicked it fully open. After a little while the top screen died completely. It would stay solid white. After calling nintendo of america they confirmed that this happens to about 1% of all DS lites where the top screen connector comes loose. They just have to reseat the top cable.

Richard

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My DS Lite has some of the problems you listed. It has the crack on the hinge, and the shifting touch screen. But one other problem I've been having since I bought it is that a lot of the time, it won't read the game cartridge. Sometimes I have to re-insert the game 10-15 times before it will read it properly. The games play fine on my normal DS, so the cartridges aren't the problem. Should I contact Nintendo and see if I can get a replacement?

Brandon

Source: HERE!

Well which are your opinions???
 
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #4
... remember is only 1% so u have to be veeeeeeeery unlucky that it happens to u... anyway I already got mine and its working perfectly
 
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