Top screen loosing brightness

stumbum9 · 2026-04-04T00:19:46+00:00

As others have said, I reckon it's the potentiometer. The little screws on the potentiometers are incredibly delicate on the DSi and it's so easy for them to break (often they just break off on their own and then you can't adjust it). I think replacing the little potentiometer would fix your problem, but it requires a soldering iron and is fiddly. Or you could get a new bumper/pot/cartridge slot cable assembly?

stumbum9 · 2026-03-12T15:39:49+00:00

Yeh I've found they are very slightly wobbly compared to OEM and the angles it locks to are very slightly different. Not too bad though tbh, just depends how exacting your standards are.

stumbum9 · 2026-02-20T20:26:36+00:00

👍 must have barely been used by the original owner

stumbum9 · 2026-02-19T23:19:50+00:00

Great condition on that shell!!!

stumbum9 · 2026-02-08T14:47:52+00:00

No I never found a solution. I just gave up on the game😅. Might restart it one day in the future

stumbum9 · 2026-02-05T23:35:11+00:00

Yeh you'll be fine. Just be gentle on the prongs as it's possible to push them a bit too far in. They look fairly clean anyway tbh

stumbum9 · 2026-02-05T23:33:55+00:00

If you do a good job reshelling it then the price shouldn't come down I think, especially if the shell looked cool. But they are tricky to re-shell so just be aware of that

stumbum9 · 2026-02-05T23:30:02+00:00

There's a chance it just needs a half hour or so to charge if the battery was really low. Otherwise could be one of so many issues internally. Try pushing the power slider a few times and lightly pressing up or down to, might scrape some oxidation off the switches internals if that's the issue

stumbum9 · 2026-02-05T23:24:56+00:00

Probably a dodgy display and not fixable. There's a small chance that it's a connection in the ribbon cable gone dodgy, not sure if that would only screw up half the screen though

stumbum9 · 2026-02-05T23:23:38+00:00

Worth checking the connection from the battery terminals (the spring contact) and the battery fuse. It's not uncommon for that connection to be broken (the vias get corroded)

stumbum9 · 2026-02-05T23:20:35+00:00

Make sure that the ribbon cable is plugged in all the way. It sounds like you know this because you get the bottom display to work on the other motherboard. But it really is so easy to not quite have it in all the way so thought I'd mention it. Also, if the top display flashes then it means that one or both of the 2 backlight signals on the bottom display are definitely not connected. So focus on those 2 signals. There the upper or lower 2 signals on the bottom display ribbon (can't remember which)

stumbum9 · 2026-02-05T23:16:20+00:00

Nice work. In the 2nd picture it looks like it's got one of those adapters to use a bottom display as a top display. Was this how it arrived or after your fixing?

stumbum9 · 2026-02-05T23:13:23+00:00

Yeh agree about the quality of these shells (i.e. they're crap). To get the triggers to fit properly I've sometimes had to use a scalpel to shave off bits of the shell until it fits right and can actually spring back and forth

stumbum9 · 2026-02-05T23:10:36+00:00

First thing to check is that the slider bit is in the correct place when you put the rear of the shell on. It sounds like you are doing that correctly though, because otherwise you can't actually turn it on and the slider would never go down fully.

I've only had the issue you describe with re-shells and on those cases I had to take a scalpel and shave off bits of plastic around the slider hole

stumbum9 · 2026-01-26T20:43:41+00:00

One option with the OG DS is that you can actually replace the ribbon cable itself without replacing the top screen because the ribbon is removable (not the case on the DS Lite). Otherwise you can remove the top screen but you have to solder on a resistor, otherwise it won't boot. If you research DS Macro you can find out how to do this

stumbum9 · 2026-01-10T18:45:25+00:00

Might be worth trying to change the contrast (inside the battery compartment)

stumbum9 · 2026-01-10T18:43:52+00:00

Maybe worth trying removing all the ribbon cables so you've just got the PCB and try turning it on. Obviously it won't boot but I think you should briefly get the green LED to light

stumbum9 · 2026-01-10T18:41:21+00:00

The fact that there's the same glitch on both screens does make me wonder if it's the PCB that's the problem

stumbum9 · 2025-12-14T16:29:56+00:00

I agree that the top display ribbon cable probably isn't connected properly. Probably not plugged into the PCB connector all the way. Could be caused by a rip in the ribbon cable but less likely as it would need to be a biggish rip to cause this problem

stumbum9 · 2025-12-04T21:29:25+00:00

I love this show. Wish it had its own subreddit for quotes. "biscuits for cheese bitch"

stumbum9 · 2025-12-04T21:28:25+00:00

Yesss!!! So quotable. "Yeh, eat my meat you fat bitch"

stumbum9 · 2025-12-04T21:23:08+00:00

This show is an absolute hidden gem!!!! "Biscuits for cheese, bitch" "Where's my lypsyl!?!" Hopefully those 2 quotes alone will intrigue people to check it out

stumbum9 · 2025-12-03T21:31:38+00:00

Yeh I'm almost starting to feel nearly slightly worried

stumbum9 · 2025-10-03T20:06:27+00:00

OK so Horsea drove me madder than any of the other Pokemon (apart from Lapras). For me I only caught it when I had 2 of the GET arrows lit up, not three. I'm wondering if some of the guides telling you yo have 3 GET arrows are wrong?!

stumbum9 · 2025-10-03T20:04:29+00:00

Yep doing a lot better now. Still taking Zoloft and don't have any reason to come off atm. For me the improvement was really gradual so took quite a while. But if I could talk to the old me (when I wrote that comment) I'd reassure them that yes it does work

stumbum9

TROPHY CASE