Nintendo DSi Wi-Fi Antenna Board Replacement

Step 1

Unscrew the two Phillips screws securing the battery cover to the lower case.
The screws remain captive to the battery cover.
Grasp the battery cover and lift it out of the lower case.
If it's difficult to grasp, lightly tap the opposite side of the device.

Step 2

Using a spudger tool (or your fingernail), lift up the battery from the top.
The liquid damage indicator sits underneath the battery. Pry gently, or you may damage the indicator.
There's a small tab on the top of the battery to make removal easier.
Grasp the battery and remove it from the DSi.

This is also where the water damage indicator is located, if that's important

[REDACTED] -

Step 3

Two screws are hidden underneath two rubber feet highlighted in red.
Use the tip of a spudger to pry the rubber feet out of the lower case.
Depending on the age of your device, the rubber feet may crumble apart as you pry them out. If so, use a fine-tipped tool to scrape out any stuck pieces of rubber.

One of the feet did break on me, tweezers came in handy for picking it out

Willie Narvaez - 12/05/18

I unfolded and sharpened a paperclip. You can use that to stab and hook the rubber without tearing it, as the rubber is thick enough to reseal when reinserted.

Keegan Andersen - 30/12/18

Nasty, broke my spudger and the feet in this step.

TimedIn -

Step 4

Remove the following screws securing the lower case to the body of the DSi:
Six 5.2 mm Phillips #00 screws.
One 2.7 mm Phillips #00 screw.

Impossible d'enlever les vises… trop serré! comment faire?

evrobert03 - 08/05/19

i can't get the screw by the gamecard slot out, PH#00 is too small and PH#0 is too big

Iblowup -

same problem here. maybe try a JIS?

darth mango -

Step 5

Insert the spudger in between the lower casing and lower panel near the top right corner of the DSi.
Carefully run the spudger along the edge of the outer casing, creating an opening between the body and the casing.
Continue running the spudger around the body of the DSi until the majority of the lower case has been separated.

Step 6

Carefully lift the lower casing from its bottom edge.
The lower case is still attached to the motherboard by the volume and SD board cable highlighted in red. Do not try to completely remove the lower case of the DSi yet.
Pry the volume and SD board cable up from its socket on the motherboard using a spudger.
Once the cable is completely removed, then you may take off the entire outer casing.

Step 7

Pull the Wi-Fi board away from the motherboard by its edge closest to the headphone jack.

Step 8

Pry the Wi-Fi antenna connector straight up from its socket on the Wi-Fi board.

After reassembling it, I switched my Nintendo DSi xl On and only the blue power light, is on after that it doesn't respond any more, except while charging it blinks

Phillips - 07/05/17

Step 9

Use the tip of a spudger to pry the power board connector out of its socket on the motherboard.

do not pry up! pull to one side so you don't disconnect the clip from the motherboard!

Lisa -

Actually Lisa, you are incorrect. If you pull to one side you WILL end up pulling the connector off the motherboard. It is designed so that you ARE MEANT TO pry it upwards out of the connector. All you need to do is use the point or corner of the flat edge of a spudger (or a small flat-headed screwdriver), push it ever so slightly under the middle of the small white plug where there is a small recess in the connector for just this purpose. Prying the plug up in this fashion you should clear the connector with the spudger by prying it up through the recess rather than catching the connector and pulling it off the board.

James Gravestock -

how to fix if the clip comes off of the motherboard?? please help!

jaime -

Push it back in straight if it is still in one piece.

Tman Tech - 23/05/20

If the socket comes off the motherboard along with the connector, what’s the best way to fix it?

Kimberly Meyer -

it has to be soldered back on, so if you can't do it yourself, find someone who can (maybe a local repair shop).

just some mango -

I already pull it off from board new i have to learn how to weld it back

Mussa Ding -

Step 10

Use your fingernail or the edge of a plastic opening tool to flip up the retaining flap on the following three ZIF sockets:
Lower touchscreen cable
Lower LCD cable
Power board cable
Be sure you are prying up on the hinged retaining flaps, not the sockets themselves.
After flipping up the locking tabs on all three sockets, use your fingers or a pair of tweezers to gently pull the cables straight out of their sockets.

I accidentally broke the retaining flap off of the lower touchscreen’s socket. Is it possible to reattach it?

Thewolfpack23x - 09/10/17

Mine broke off too. At first I thought it would just pop back in, but when I looked at it under magnification, I can see that a tiny piece of plastic actually snapped off the flap. I think we're farked. Looks like the only way to fix would be to solder on a new cable connector.

trevorsklar - 31/12/17

i love and hate flex cables.

they are flat and awesome, but every single flap for the connectors has broken for me (past experience vent lmao)

[REDACTED] -

Step 11

Use your fingernail or the edge of a plastic opening tool to carefully flip up the touchscreen ribbon cable retaining flap.
Make sure you are flipping up the retaining flap, not the socket itself.
Use the tip of a spudger to pull the touchscreen ribbon cable straight out of its socket.

When I was putting mine back together, the flap popped off and when I tried to put it on with a tweezers, it snapped. Any suggestions other than scrap it or use it without the touchscreen? Pictures at https://sites.google.com/site/memesbyluc...

Lucas Hoekstra (Lucas9810) - 21/03/17

This little flap is a pain in the butt to get back in! If there is any way to bypass the removal of this, my advise is to do it!

Tamara Girodie - 27/12/20

Adding on: The cable actually ended up breaking as the tweezers I used to put it back in scraped part of the gold ribbon off. Be extremely careful!!!

Tamara Girodie - 27/12/20

Step 12

Use your fingernail or the edge of a plastic opening tool to carefully flip up the dual camera ribbon cable retaining flap.
Make sure you are flipping up the retaining flap, not the socket itself.
Use the tip of a spudger to pull the dual camera ribbon cable straight out of its socket.

Step 13

With the tip of a spudger, Pry the microphone antenna up off its socket on the motherboard.

Step 14

Remove the following four Phillips screws securing the motherboard to the DSi framework.
Three longer screws.
One short screw.
Pull the microphone and Wi-Fi antenna cables out of the notch cut into the motherboard near the headphone jack.

Step 15

Slightly lift the motherboard upwards to reveal the upper LCD ribbon cable above the ABXY buttons .
Use your fingernail or the edge of a plastic opening tool to carefully flip up the upper LCD ribbon cable retaining flap.
Make sure you are flipping up the retaining flap, not the socket itself.
Remove the motherboard from the DSi.

I actually chose to leave this ribbon cable connected, and had no issues completing the rest of the steps around this. Just be careful not to pull the cable!

Tamara Girodie - 27/12/20

Step 16

Use the tip of a spudger to pry the metal backing of the lower LCD up from the DSi's framework.
Lift the lower LCD assembly out of the DSi.

It’s not mentioned here, but I found it easiest to just remove the buttons and rubber backings here as well - they will likely just fall out anyway when moving the case around and you may lose them.

Tplan - 07/09/19