Water in Nintendo DS

[Chris1992]

Amy + revenge = ruined DS.
Current mood: pissed off

Basically, what happened today is that when I was taking a shower, Amy (my sister) put my Nintendo DS on the sink ledge. We have a shower curtain, not door, so there's a lot of water leakage onto surrounding fixtures. The sink is in close proximity to the shower. So, my DS got water all over it and was completely RUINED. I dried it off, then tried turning it on. Only the lower screen lit, and even then with no text on it (usually comes up with a health and safety warning). I removed the battery straightaway to prevent further fryage (there was a short afaik because the speakers were crackling when DS off) and it's currently drying in my house. Amy owes me $130 plus the cost of any games damaged. She could also serve up to 90 days in a juvenile detention facility, along with 6 months probation.

Any chance my DS is not completely ruined?

[willawake]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

should have dried it completely before turning it on. a lesson well learnt

[cods69]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

should have dried it completely before turning it on. a lesson well learnt

So true.

The missus got a glass of water in her running laptop a few months ago.
Lucky I saw it happen. Grabbed it, tilted it real quick and dropped the battery out.
Dried it for about 4-5 days, disassembled, check for moisture, safety blowdry, then powered up.
All was fine. I attribute that to the quick power off.

[Chris1992]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

Ok willawake but I myself didn't turn it on, my mom did. I guess my blog posting doesn't make that real clear.

[Rainbow]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

Disassemble it and dry everything with hair dryer. Make sure everything is completely dry. The most tough areas are under the chips, especially BGA. Check the PCB for corrosion. Also check battery voltage. If everything is dry and seems to be OK, try it again.

[Chris1992]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

I can't disassemble it - it uses some proprietary screw looking like Mercedes-Benz logo.

[Rainbow]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

That's bad... I hate non-standard screws. Flat screwdriver and some force helps with some of them - but not all.

[willawake]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

its called a Tri-Wing Screwdriver you can get them from online game mod etc stores.

i have another different type wierd screw on a charger, it is like a triangle in profile. just when you were happy with your torx set, there is yet more to buy.....

water is not that conductive anyway, salt water is what you need to really screw something up.

[Chris1992]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

ah. I'll prob be getting a tri-wing screwdriver.

[Newbie2]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

One time I accidentally dropped my Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP (Cobalt color) into the sink, and that sink was full of water. Dried off my SP, turned it on, the screen lit up, but it was a bright white and nothing else. Shook it hard, some water came out. Turned it on, the screen was now all still white, but lowly lit. Put a game in it and turned it on. It showed the introduction but it was mostly bright white. Took out the battery and the game, and left it alone. The next day, put the battery back in, put the game in, turned it on and it was working normal. Without opening my Game Boy.

I guess I was lucky that time.

I also hate proprietary non-standard screws.

[Chris1992]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

My SP is Flame. My DS is now Cobalt since Amy was ordered to give up hers to me. (the waterlogged DS is Platinum) And yes, Newbie2, you were über-lucky based on what I've heard. I'll leave the Platinum DS overnight and check in the morning. The outcome may be different because mine was exposed to a rain-like flow and yours was exposed to an accidental drop into water. I'm guessing my DS was getting water for around 5 minutes. Of all the days to choose to take a long shower....

[jarobi]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

My daughter's cellphone has gone through the washer TWICE and been completely resurrected using the method Rainbow described. My wife just thought of it. The second time she took the thing apart and put in the oven @ 150F for awhile. Both times it took about an additional 48 hours for the phone to come back to life. I would've used my aerosol contact cleaner to douse everything and let it air dry for a week (battery was of course excepted from the above tortures). Nokias are tough I guess.

[Chris1992]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

One of my RadioShack calculators has been through the wash about 4 times and just been set out to dry without disassembly. It still works. However, calculators are not quite as complex as a DS or mobile.

[kc8adu]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

a friend who had a stroke and is confined to a electric wheelchair bought a new fancy motorola cellphone.declined the insurance and headed to the restroom.
yep he fumbled it into the commode!.5 minutes after buying it.he pulled the battery and tried to add the insurance but couldnt.
i got it and washed it with distilled water and let it dry on my monitor a few days.
it still works fine 2 years later.
but we still give him crap about it.hey you got a really shitty signal!
you sound like you are under water!
remember that water is harmless to electronics.
pull the plug/remove the battery as fast as you can.you would be surprised what you can save.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

Haha, now I feel confortable to tell my own little tale... Many moons ago I was into watercooling... Due to a too tight bend on one hose too little water was coming through... So I shutdown the comp and flipped the switch on the wall to turn off the pump too...

Just took a few rags and placed around the hoses and then pulled them apart, to my suprise not much water at all spilled out... Went down into the basement to get a different hose that should bend better than this one...

When I come back up I see all of the water being flushed into the powersupply! My damn sister had started the computer, argh!!!

Flipped the switch on the wall, saw that almost all water in the reservoir was gone, about 1L...

Water was now flowing out from the PSU, down on the mainboard, heatsink, graphicscard, filling the bottom of the case and then finding holes out of it onto my wooden workbench, down on the floor... You get the picture...

Disassembled the computer, took the mobo and GFX card and put in the oven at 60-70°C for about 30 minutes... It still works to this day, that was about 4 years ago!

Lesson learnt; don't have a sister

[Chris1992]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

lmao Per. My sister has messed up loads of my stuff.

[Newbie2]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

My SP is Flame. My DS is now Cobalt since Amy was ordered to give up hers to me. (the waterlogged DS is Platinum) And yes, Newbie2, you were über-lucky based on what I've heard. I'll leave the Platinum DS overnight and check in the morning. The outcome may be different because mine was exposed to a rain-like flow and yours was exposed to an accidental drop into water. I'm guessing my DS was getting water for around 5 minutes. Of all the days to choose to take a long shower....

With my story I missed something. I was afraid at that time (didn't know much) of the original battery having a little water inside even though it worked so I had to purchase a new SP battery from Toys R Us (Manufacturer Link) to replace the original battery.

I have heard the charger and battery for the DS is the same for the SP, so a DS charger can be used with an SP and a DS battery can be used with the SP, and vice-versa those two.

[Chris1992]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

Charger, yes; battery, no. IIRC at least.

[AK0R]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

So, a week-and-a-half later, what's the status of the Platinum DS?

[willawake]

Re: Water in Nintendo DS

yeh and why didnt Amy post her side of the story, jury is confused as hell.