machjas Nintendo DS Lite Side-Project

[machjas]

I'm not doing anything special here, it's mainly so I can get some familiarity with the guts in this handheld.

I bought a DS Lite on eBay for $65. Cosmetically, it's a little beat up, some scratches on the cover of the bottom screen, scratches on the case, the D-pad feels wonky (it's hard to explain), Hinge clicks... Other than that though, the battery seems to hold a charge and the screens look great, functions 100%.

I decided to rehouse this in a new enclosure and set up an R4i flash card for it. I'll be documenting the whole process, taking as many pictures as I can for reference and documenting the R4i setup process.

Here's what I've ordered (currently waiting for them to ship):

R4i Flash Cart:
http://www.priceangels.com/R4i-SDHC_Upg ... p2018.html

DS Lite enclosure:
http://www.priceangels.com/Full_Replace ... _p794.html

Here's some pics of the DS Lite right after receiving it in the mail:

It has some gnarly scratches on the bottom screen cover, which would be easier to see if I had taken the pic with the device powered off.

A few nicks and scratches here

I know it's not really visible, but if you were apply pressure to the plastic right above the slot2, it would click as if it's not entirely closed up.

Also, I would like to get a slot 2 flash cart that I can load backups from, similar to what a lot of the slot 1 cards do for DS. Can anyone make any recommendations as to what I should use?

 

[XCVG]

If you wanted that functionality, you probably should have gone with an EZflash or M3DS Real, both of which are availible with slot-2 RAM packs and GBA functionality stock. That said, you can probably get it working with the R4i and the EZflash 3-in-1. I don't know a lot about this, so wait for a second opinion.

That's a pretty good deal for $65, considering it could be used as-is. I don't really like the blue/black color scheme, but that's just me. I like the clear ones, but I just like looking at electronics. And if you don't mind me asking, what's wrong with the d-pad? Is it loose? Is it mushy? Something else? Undescribable?

 

[Mako321]

AceKard2i is the best flashcart for the money, fully featured and all that(could be considered best on the market, as far as I remeber) Also, R4i setup as in hardwiring the cart?

 

[XCVG]

Eh, I like my M3. The GBA/RAM pack is nice and works perfectly, Sakura firmware is great. It is kind of cheaply built, and doesn't support DSi. When I bought it, though, there was no DSi, and most of the cards that are so popular now didn't even exist.

 

[Mako321]

My TTDS was amazing.

 

[Blurt]

I just got a R4i happy box edition with a sandisk 4 GB card. I already have about 30 games and it has never crashed. All the games loaded within 10 seconds too

 

[machjas]

And if you don't mind me asking, what's wrong with the d-pad? Is it loose? Is it mushy? Something else? Undescribable?

It feels both loose and mushy. I wanna say the D-Pad I had on the DSi I had a while back would click. I've never owned a DS Lite before, so I'm not sure what it's supposed to feel like.

 

[XCVG]

It doesn't click, it's a bit loose and mushy but in a good way. I know a lot of people don't like it, but I do.