Introduction

Got your old DS and looking to relive some childhood memories? Too bad. Here we take a look into the guts of your toy, and go into the Teardown of your device. This tutorial shows how to disassemble your DS device, and see how that piece of magic had worked. Enjoy!

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    • First things first, get out that old DS. Admire it in it's glory, because it's not going to look like that for long!

    • Note that it may be hard putting it back together, so there's no going back!

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    • Using the Phillips head screwdriver, remove any and all screws from the back ports of the DS.

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    • Following this, then remove the back panel, and take out the battery using your spudger.

    • Be sure to put all of your screws, batteries, and panel parts in an organizer so that you don't lose them.

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    • Place the spudger in either of the line edges near the game port, and then place it inward, forcing it to separate the two parts.

    • Taking this, then gently but firmly move it along the inside until the edge of that side of the DS, making sure not going in too far into the DS.

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    • Pull out, and then repeat with the other sides of the DS.

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    • Also remember that following this, you need to remove the left and right trigger buttons from their sockets.

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    • After removing all of your larger machine components, you need to have the electronics board and plastic segments entirely seperate.

    • Take your spudger, and lightly place it underneath the small Wi-Fi Board, beginning to apply small amounts of pressure. Remove the board.

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    • Take the board, and put it with your screws after removing it.

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    • Now take the black and white wires present near the Wi-Fi Board, and start with placing your spudger thumbnail on the black wire.

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    • Again being firm in your force without putting too much strain on the piece, seperate the black wire piece from the board.

    • Repeat this action with the white wire.

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    • Now, being extremely careful, flip the black wire piece upside down, and gently slide it underneath and out of the game cartridge slot.

    • Keeping the right corner attached, you can now separate the mother board from the upper case, and from the lower case plastic covering.

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    • Partially seperate your upper case and lower motherboard, creating a short distance between the two.

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    • Apply either your spudger or your finger, and gently pull the connecting ribbon cable from the top left trigger socket.

    • If you are looking to completely separate your upper case from the rest of the DS, you can also move the Wi-Fi wires through following the Ribbon Cable.

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    • It's at this point that most DS Teardowns and Part Replacements end.

    • Further Teardown focuses more on the previously mentioned ribbon and wi-fi cables connections to the upper screen, and with this the presence of the microphone ports.

    • To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order. Be sure to be very careful with the screw and cable placement of separate components of your DS, misplaced parts can either break or damage your system

    • Further information and process steps can be found here.

KC Harris

Member since: 03/06/15

342 Reputation

One comment

Thank you for this tutorial! I have a nintendo DS that I'd like to replace the screen on and maybe switch cases. Just wondering if you can reassemble everything without having to solder? (sorry if that's a silly question, electronic repairs both terrify and intrigue me lol)

Thanks! -Stacey

staceydandrews -