Nintendo DS Lite : Repair a broken console (blown fuse)

I. Disclaimer

First, you need to know if your DS has a fuse problem. It has been reported that DS Lite with blown fuse(s) starts with the Power LED on and immediately shutdown. If you're not sure you have the same problem and still want to try bridging fuses, you can do so. I'm not reponsible for any damage caused to your device. If you're not sure about what to do, stop it.
However, you shouldn't get in trouble as your remove the battery and power plug during the manipulation.

II. What you need

  •   Two DS Lite
  •   A tri-wing screwdriver (to open the DS)
Tri-wing screwdriver

  •   Thin wire (to replace the fuse, should be QUITE THIN)
Thin wire

  •   An iron solder (to solder the small wire replacing the fuse)
Iron Solder

  •   Wire solder (also used during solder)
Wire Solder


III. Open the two DS


  •   Remove the battery cover
  •   Remove the battery
  •   Unscrew every tri-wing screws with the screwdriver

DS Lite Back


IV. Finding F1 & F2 fuses

To find the F1 and F2 fuses, take a look on the DS motherboards pictures below (there are several kinds) and locate them on your DS too.
usg-cpu-01 motherboard

usg-cpu-x3 motherboard

These are DS Lite motherboards with different serials (USG-CPU-01 and USG-CPU-X3).

ntr-cpu-01 motherboard

ntr-cpu-01 motherboard

These pictures are from an old DS (serial NTR-CPU-01), in case you want to repair one.

V. Testing and bridging fuse(s)

As I don't know what kind of fuse are used in the DS and as users reported that using wire to bridge the fuse wasn't harmful, I'll explain you with this method.
You should first check with a multimeter which fuse is blown, then bridge it. Most of the time, F2 fuse is the blown one.

Take a look at the pictures below. The first one is a zoom upon the F2 fuse.
The second explains you where to solder.
F2 Fuse

Soldering

The red line represents the small wire. It has to touch both contacts.
Now solder by doing two little points of wire solder (represented by the blue squares).

After soldering the blown fuses, assemble your DS back and try to start it.

Your DS should work after that :).

Thanks to scdev.org members for information (bitblt for F2 pictures too).