oh god ds is breaking my heart

[DukeNukenFourEver]

It seems like my left side button (L trigger or whatever it's called) is starting to refuse to work for me. I'll keep pressing it and pressing it until something finally happens - let's say I am playing Mario Kart... Can't shoot a weapon until I've pressed the L button twenty times and in twenty different ways until it decides to copulate fire the damn thing. Or in Mario 64 DS, I can't change the camera angle behind Mario as I please because the damn L button doesn't want to work.

Before I contact Nintendo, I've got to ask - do they make you pay for repairs or... what's that whole deal? I've never sent a console/handheld back to a company because it's acting up, so I don't know how this generally works.

Also, is there something else I could perhaps do that wouldn't (or, if I want to take it to the extremes, would) void my warrenty (even though I've had this thing for two years)? It's a white Lite, I think one of the first that came out...

Customer service would be cheaper than dropping another hundred or so dollars on another DS, right?

[grahf]

Having it repaired is certainly cheaper than getting a new one. Repairing it yourself is even cheaper.

[bicostp]

If you're handy with a soldering iron, you could replace the switch yourself. Just go to the local dollar store and pick up one of their FM scanner radios. It should have at least one tact switch inside. (This method is cheaper than ordering them if you only need one or two.)

I think when you "send it in for repairs" they send you another refurb, not your original DS back. It's a lot easier and cheaper on their part.

[sipsorz3]

I'm having the same problem also with the L button, which DS do you have, I have the old DS.

[GoldenfrankO]

Might help to take it apart and clean it up. The contact of the L Trigger might be dirty.

[Life of Brian]

I seem to recall that it's just a tact switch for the shoulder buttons, which are pretty easy to replace. Open it up and take a look!

[Jongamer]

If you're handy with a soldering iron, you could replace the switch yourself. Just go to the local dollar store and pick up one of their FM scanner radios. It should have at least one tact switch inside. (This method is cheaper than ordering them if you only need one or two.)

I think when you "send it in for repairs" they send you another refurb, not your original DS back. It's a lot easier and cheaper on their part.

yeah, but they probably do what they do with a Wii, Take the Guts out of yours systems, put a refurb into your old system's case. At least telling from my Wii case has the same scratch on the case as it did after I sent it in, but Im not sure if they left my old optical drive in it or not, because they had to replace the whole motherboard in my Wii because of a fried GPU, twice

[Seaniccus]

this is actually a common and fairly easy to fix problem.

So easy it's going to sound like i'm joking, but i'm not.

Put your mouth over your L trigger, like a harmonica, and blow. That's right, blow as hard as you can, like an NES cartridge. Or used compressed air i guess.

I have no idea why this works, but it seems to fix the problem. It's probably just cleaning it out.

[CronoTriggerfan]

Might help to take it apart and clean it up. The contact of the L Trigger might be dirty.

It's a tact switch, not a pad.

It could be a cold solder joint, or perhaps just a broken joint altogether. Before you go replacing the tact switch itself, try re-soldering the current one. If that fails, go grab one from another device and replace it, really shouldn't be too tough.

[Reven]

This seems to be a common problem with the ds. When my L trigger died, I took my ds apart and tested it with a multimeter. Once verifying that it was truly dead, I finally broke down and spent 12 bucks for a new tact switch(expensive, yes, but I couldn't find any other replacement that was small enough).

[palmertech]

You cannot use a normal tact switch, the DS one is specialization sized, with custom supports.

The tact switch fails after heavy use for a few years, it is a fact. No way to fix it, except get a new one. I know someone who can fix it...Like me.

Try to fix it yourself first, though.

[Seaniccus]

I'm telling you, it's an old nintendo "blow trick."

[palmertech]

It is not, unfortunately. The way the switch is designed, the spring inside just keeps getting pushed farther and farther in. Eventually, it just stops reaching the end. No real easy fix. You never know, though, it is worth a shot.

[sipsorz3]

you know, I had the same problem with the L trigger of my DS and then I tried the old nintendo "blow trick" as some people said and it (surprisingly) worked.

[Exdeath]

If you're handy with a soldering iron, you could replace the switch yourself. Just go to the local dollar store and pick up one of their FM scanner radios. It should have at least one tact switch inside. (This method is cheaper than ordering them if you only need one or two.)

I think when you "send it in for repairs" they send you another refurb, not your original DS back. It's a lot easier and cheaper on their part.

yeah, but they probably do what they do with a Wii, Take the Guts out of yours systems, put a refurb into your old system's case. At least telling from my Wii case has the same scratch on the case as it did after I sent it in, but Im not sure if they left my old optical drive in it or not, because they had to replace the whole motherboard in my Wii because of a fried GPU, twice

I experienced that too. Only, they just gave me a new Wii, serial number and all.