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[phoood]

Its on the left hinge; right between the left speaker and the d-pad.

Do I call them up?  Where can I find the number?
Do I send it to them before I call them?  How do I package it?  And where to?

I've never really had to worry about broken stuff, except for my iPod, but there was a local Apple store and I had bought the warranty.

So can someone tell me what to do?  It's less than one year old.

[dOoBiX]

I need to know what to do with my Nintendo DS Lite's broken hinge too!!

[onekelly]

Either return it for repair to nintendo (see their site) or return it to the store you bought it at (this is what I did to the two of mine that broke, returned them to Target with reciept of course. That is why I haven't flashed mine yet and also why I bought at that type of store for the ease of returns.)

[Mota]

Mine's cracked too, even though I take very good care of my DS. I don't think it's ever received a bump of any kind.

I don't really feel like returning this DS lite - I've already had to return 3 or 4 DSes due to dead pixels, faulty d-pad etc. (I have really bad luck, none of my friends have had any problems) and the cost of buying new screen-guards alone is mounting up.

...Not to mention postal costs, train fares to return them to shops etc. Plus I've flashed my DS and really don't feel like unflashing it now. And this is the one DS where I actually managed to get the screen-guard applied perfectly without bubbles or dust. I'm proud of that

So I think I'll just go buy some poly glue, I doubt it'll ever have a problem in the same place after I've used that stuff. For those that don't know, it melts plastic surfaces together, and the bond is usually stronger than the plastic itself.

Anyone that has good electronics + assembly skills that's really bothered by a crack could just get themselves a replacement shell from here: http://nds-central.com/ (note that the chrome one does not replace the cracked bit) - Don't try this if you're not sure about it though. It's easy to mess up, I managed to wreck the ribbon cable on my DS-Phat doing something very similiar, and the lite models are probably even harder to do.

Ramble ramble...

[onekelly]

I also took care of mine as well, never had a drop or as much as a bump.

Careful glueing it as you don't want to glue it to the inside piece.

[PharaohsVizier]

Ummm, you find the book that your DS came with and call the number at the back, they will tell you what to do.  You send it by FedEX and it is free of charge, and you only send the ds, no GBA slot cover or stylus, and maybe a receipt if they ask you for it.

[rocky]

Or you could look on the bottom of the ds it has the number printed on it but its really hard to read.

[Mota]

Well, I repaired mine today. If anyone's interested, here's how it worked out:

as you can see, there's a slight discoloration of the plastic, but nothing serious. I figure this is probably better than replacing it for another one that'll probably break as well.


EDIT: Had to remove the url cus I did something stupid, will rehost the picture.

[supersnout]

I can't believe this, but i'm the latest that this has happened to.  Man, and i'm so careful with my stuff too.

Contemplating about sending it back, but my unit is flashed as well and I no longer have access to my superkey for me to unflash, and reflash the replacement unit.

This really sucks.  And yea, i'm pretty anal about my stuff so this hair pin size crack really bothers me.

Hey mota, i'm gonna need them tips of yours to superglue it to avoid having the crack spread and get bigger.

Thanks all!

[Mota]

Yeah I was seriously annoyed too. I really don't think it's worth sending back though, as the next unit will probably do the same thing eventually.

I rehosted the image on my band's website. It doesn't allow direct linking so you'll have to go to http://www.drgougeous.co.uk and click on 'Temporary Photo Gallery' . If you like heavy music you might also want to download the EP   and leave a comment  

DON'T USE SUPERGLUE (for it sucks)

Use the stuff made for airfix kits - it's called polystyrene cement or 'poly glue'. As I said before, it fuses the surfaces together instead of just making a mess. The resulting join will be stronger than the plastic itself.

You can get it as a paste in tubes, or as a liquid in a pot with a brush. The latter is best as you can use the brush to slowly drip glue down into the crack. I had to use the paste as there's no shops near me, but it still turned out ok. Any residue can be sanded off when it's dry.

I suggest NOT trying to squeeze the crack closed as it dries. The glue should bridge the gap and not forcing it will alleviate the excess pressure on that joint, hopefully preventing it from cracking again.

[supersnout]

looks good.  better than nothing.  i'm gonna try that out.  thanks again mota!

[Mota]

Just remember to go slowly, there's no hurry. Better to do it several times over a few days than use too much and glue your DS closed

[supersnout]

hey, saw this one too.  Those who are hesitant on sending the units back to Nintendo might want to invest on these (not sure if it's been mentioned on here already)

http://www.nds-central.com/market.htm

[PharaohsVizier]

Umm chances are they don't check for flashme.  Just send it in anyways...  And you don't need a superkey to reflash a new version of flashme (stealth), so do that.

Umm, I don't know about the send it in, how it works, but I know in the walk-in service in Richmond BC, they replace your DS with a refurbished one (meaning one that was broken and fixed in the factory to make it look new).  It looks new, the software is reset, everything is exactly what you would expect in a new DS, exccept the sticker on it says REMANUFACTORED.

[onekelly]

The info is on the nintendo service portion of the site and I think they explain how to mail it in. I would assume you will need to get an rma number of some sort before mailing it in.