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DS Lite flaw! DS Lite owners read!

F

Flame of Time

Guest
Hi, I'm a user from the nintedo forum, and I decided to post this here to let you know about this.

http://forums.nintendo.com/nintendo/board/message?board.id=ds&message.id=2471802

A user on that forum (not me) found a crack on the DS Lite, and the other people found that they have the same crack as well. Up to now, more than 50 people from different forums ont the net, have the cracks on the DS Lite on the same place and they haven't abused the DS one bit. It looks like it was a design flaw from Nintendo. Here is what he wrote:

"Now that we are aware that many people have had the cracked hinge on their DS Lite, I may have a really good theory about this.
The crack results from closing the DS Lite from an open, "LOCKED" position.
When the DS Lite is locked open, it requires some amount of force (torque) to break it loose from locked position. That force may not feel much since you are closing it from the farther end of the lid, but the amount force at the hinge is great.
Since the plastic there is too weak for that kind of force, it cracks when trying to get it out of locked position.
It shouldn't crack upon opening, because it doesn't lock in the closed position.
It also seems that it's possible this happens after amounts of time of closing.

NOTE: The hinge having the locks (clicks you hear), is ONLY on one side. The other side does not have the locking hinge, that means great amount of force is required on ONE hinge to keep it locked open.
You can see the locking mechanism only on one side of this disassembled DS Lite:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/fatfree69/photo1.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/fatfree69/photo2.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/fatfree69/photo3.jpg


Here is a picture to illustrate what I'm trying to say (rought idea of the hinge):
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d165/fatfree69/hinge.gif

Also, the hinge doesn't have to be made like that for the crack to occur upon closing. The hinge could be a different type, but the resistance of the locked position is the same, so the crack will always occur on the outter side since thats the side we are putting force to close it.

If the locking hinge was on the otherside as well, then the amount of force for each hinge is divided in half since the locking force isn't relied only on one anymore, but two hinges, which will lower the chances of cracking."

People speculated that if you let this crack be, the upper half of the DS can fall of. Post here if you got the same crack.
 

Puffs

...NINE-THOUSAND!!!!
mine is fine, and I've opened and closed it many time in the two weeks I've owned it (3-4 i've opened all the way)
 

RedStarWarrior

Forum Tsar
It may just be a defect in material quality of one shipment of DSes, which can go multiple places. Opening the DS farther than it supposed to can cause a similar situation.
 

Bayleef

Onion?
It sounds like a poor excuse for a flaw in the hardware, but all the DS Lites with that problem appear to be White so far (At least from what I have seen). That includes Lites from here in the States, to Japan, and Australia.

I couldn't tell ya whether that was just a coinicidence or not. But I have owned a Navy Lite for near four months now and it's fine.
 

Bulk

Well-Known Member
Nope, never happened to me. I've opened my DS about 100 ince I got it, and it's not broken. As RedStarWarrior said, it coud very easily just be one batch of DSLites.
 
After reading this I sold my DS Lite(Black) to my brother.
I don't like the shiny black, nor the iPod like white DS Lite.
And I hate it that it feels so fragile. I will buy a new normal DS tomorrow...
 
Your flaw is flawed =P

No seriously, your 'supposed' flaw doesn't hold true to ALOT of people, trust me. My DSL seems fine. *glomps DSL*
 
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RBTransformed

ev trainer
I have that crack in the exact same spot! Ididn't even do anything to it. I tried calling Nintendo, but they said it was my fault. I treat my DS like I would a baby and I have never dropped it. I got my dsl at launch. I hope Nintendo does something about this...
 

Swampy

Crack the Skye
RBTransformed said:
I have that crack in the exact same spot! Ididn't even do anything to it. I tried calling Nintendo, but they said it was my fault. I treat my DS like I would a baby and I have never dropped it. I got my dsl at launch. I hope Nintendo does something about this...
That doesn't seem like Nintendo to me. =| They've replaced/fixed my friend's GCN two times now within the last five years. They have also fixed his old DS when it's screen cracked. O_O; Most people don't even need a warranty with Nintendo considering they are quick to fix problems and keep people.

I'm assuming the DS Phat has thicker plastics, therefore, it could very well be a HUGE design flaw in the DS Lite. However, it seems to be a rather small problem affecting only a small number of people. Kind of reminds me of the melting 360's, not that many people were affected on a large scale...it only SEEMS that way. =/ Contact Nintendo, tell them you have a warrenty, and poof, your problem should be fixed within 3-4 weeks at most. ;D
 

RBTransformed

ev trainer
I know what you you mean, Swampy Groudon, and I tried to converse with them. (It was a live person btw). But yeah, I've never had any problems with Nintendo products and I completely understand what you mean about not even needing a warranty, usually. It's just strange that the EXACT same thing happened to so many people other than me. And seriously, I understand why many of you think that this is all just a coincidence, but it's not. (read the forums that Flame of Time linked, that convinced me)

The crack is very small and probably won't affect anything as far as gameplay goes, just appearance. This kind of thing is inexcusable, though. Especially for such a great company like the big N. Well, I guess I'll just have to call again!

P.S. Thanks FoT for making this thread and raising awareness! (I have nothing against Nintendo, but I really want to see something done to fix the problem)

OK I just called Nintendo about the issue and this time a different person answered and really helped. I am now able to send it in and get it fixed for free! So if anyone else has this problem, Nintendo is now repairing the lites for free!
 
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Aptenodytes

Well-Known Member
Mine thankfully doesn't have that flaw, and I hope I never get it. Although if I do, Nintendo better repair it for me under the warranty because I take care of mine very well.
 

Swampy

Crack the Skye
RBTransformed said:
I know what you you mean, Swampy Groudon, and I tried to converse with them. (It was a live person btw). But yeah, I've never had any problems with Nintendo products and I completely understand what you mean about not even needing a warranty, usually. It's just strange that the EXACT same thing happened to so many people other than me. And seriously, I understand why many of you think that this is all just a coincidence, but it's not. (read the forums that Flame of Time linked, that convinced me)
It's a flaw that appeared on a certain amount of shipments for the DS Lite. I'm sure within 2 weeks or so this will be gone, the DS Lites will be repaired, and this shall all be behind us. ;>
I guess I'll just have to call again!

OK I just called Nintendo about the issue and this time a different person answered and really helped. I am now able to send it in and get it fixed for free! So if anyone else has this problem, Nintendo is now repairing the lites for free!
The first person must of just liked being a dick to you. =| Happens when workers don't get this thing called "sleep". Trust me, Nintendo doesn't want to have a bad name..it's not good for sales. Think about it:

"Person A: I'm gonna buy a DS!
Person B: **** that! Ninie wouldn't fix mine and you could get the same problem. =/
Person A: Really? I think I'll buy the PSP instead..it can play movies! 8D"

See? Kinda reminds me of the PSP pixel problem. Only difference is Sony didn't fix the broken PSPs while N is NOW fixing the DSLs...
 

Hero of Legend

Advanced Missingno.
Mine is perfectly fine! *sighs in relief*:)

I was thinking of making a poll to see how many people has cracked hinges on their DS Lites, should I do that?
 
SwampyGroudon said:
It's a flaw that appeared on a certain amount of shipments for the DS Lite. I'm sure within 2 weeks or so this will be gone, the DS Lites will be repaired, and this shall all be behind us. ;>

The first person must of just liked being a dick to you. =| Happens when workers don't get this thing called "sleep". Trust me, Nintendo doesn't want to have a bad name..it's not good for sales. Think about it:

"Person A: I'm gonna buy a DS!
Person B: **** that! Ninie wouldn't fix mine and you could get the same problem. =/
Person A: Really? I think I'll buy the PSP instead..it can play movies! 8D"

See? Kinda reminds me of the PSP pixel problem. Only difference is Sony didn't fix the broken PSPs while N is NOW fixing the DSLs...

Excuse me? Then how did I call Sony and get a replacement? Yeah.
 

RBTransformed

ev trainer
Hero of Legend, you could make a poll about this, but we already have this thread. Sure there are many people with this problem, but it has only occured to a RELETIVELY small group of people. If you want to see how many people have reported this problem on the Nsider forums just follow the link in the first post. There are probably about thirty by now, maybe more, that have reported it on Nintendo's forums... but I haven't checked it since yesterday so the numbers could be different.
 

Bayleef

Onion?
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6154389.html

^OMG 0.02% of U.S. owners could be affected by this crack! :O

If you think about it, whenever you see alot of people complain about something on the internet, odds are it's hardly a big issue because there are so many other people who haven't complained.
 

Chris

Old Coot
Alchemist said:
Excuse me? Then how did I call Sony and get a replacement? Yeah.
Note your location. Unless you imported your PSP, then a majority of the problems that the PSP had were fixed when it was released in the US. Ken Kutaragi would not allow anyone to have their Japanese PSP's fixed when it came to the disc launching, square button jamming, and dead pixels when the PSP was released in Japan.

Hell, he even said that the PSP has to have at least 40% (or somewhere around that) of its screen affected by dead pixels in order to be replaced or fixed. His claims for the square button jamming was that he didn't want to change the design of the PSP because he thought it was perfect (the button would become stuck against part of the screen underneath the casing).
 

kingboo30

Dynamo Trainer
Edward Elric said:
Note your location. Unless you imported your PSP, then a majority of the problems that the PSP had were fixed when it was released in the US. Ken Kutaragi would not allow anyone to have their Japanese PSP's fixed when it came to the disc launching, square button jamming, and dead pixels when the PSP was released in Japan.

Hell, he even said that the PSP has to have at least 40% (or somewhere around that) of its screen affected by dead pixels in order to be replaced or fixed. His claims for the square button jamming was that he didn't want to change the design of the PSP because he thought it was perfect (the button would become stuck against part of the screen underneath the casing).

Appearance over quality I suppose. Sony has always been a ****** up company when it comes to fixing things.
 
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