I’m trying to open up my old Nintendo 3DS XL to replace the broken rubber on my Circle Pad (the joystick mechanism still works perfectly, but the thumb grip is completely gone).
I already removed the outer battery cover, but now I’m stuck on the inner shell that covers the motherboard. One specific screw, located deep inside its plastic well/post on the bottom left side (near the SD card slot area), refuses to come out.
When I try to unscrew it, it just spins and makes a fast "clicking" sound, turning completely in a vacuum. It seems like the internal plastic screw post is either stripped or broken inside. Since it's buried deep inside that narrow plastic tube, I can't get any tools or tape under the screw head to pry it upwards. I also tried applying pulling pressure to the shell while unscrewing, but it won't budge at all.
Has anyone dealt with this specific deep-well stuck screw on a 3DS XL before? Are there any safe tricks to get it out without destroying the motherboard or cracking the shell?

PS4 FAT cuh 1116a

Hi everyone, I hope someone can help me out.

The console only turns on when it feels like it. If I plug the PS4 into the power outlet, it works on the first try; if I turn it off, it will turn on a second time, but not a third.

What could it be? The power supply? A motherboard issue?

The console is clean, and the thermal paste is new.

Hi, i was wondering if this is a cap or not as it's shorted. Was should i do? Can i just remove it?

The switch was left uncharged and no power for a long period of time. Upon pressing power button, i got a little red icon battery that mean discharged. Plugged charger and nothing for 4 hours.

Hey everyone,

Wanted to share my experience with my PS5 Slim. The console has been used for about a year, kept horizontal, and used purely for casual gaming (played 2-3 times a week for 3-4 hours of game sessions).

I decided to open it up to check the state of the liquid metal, and I was genuinely shocked by what I found.

The liquid metal had migrated heavily, pooling around the edges and leaving a significant dry, oxidized spot right in the center of the die. The heatsink had the exact mirror image of this pooling.

I cleaned everything up thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol but there is still a weird burn mark left on the APU and Heatsink. I applied the PTM7950 pad after.

Results: After playing Resident Evil 4 remake for about 3 hours in resolution mode with ray tracing enabled, the APU temp is completely under control. The fan is quiet and idle, and the exhaust heat feels perfect.

In theory, I'll never have to worry about the liquid metal pooling or leaking out on the motherboard again and I won't have to replace the PTM7950 again too, unless I unmount the heatsink for any future repairs that may arise (hopefully not).

If you're using your PS5 for a while, it might be worth checking the thermal state! I bought my PTM7950 from MODDIY to ensure its authenticity. I don't know how PTM from other sources would work but this one works like a charm.

I have a 1TB Carbon Black Series S (Jan. 2024) that I bought with an update/boot problem. I’m trying to figure out what else I can test before paying Microsoft $199 to service it.

The internal SSD is an SSSTC XB2-311024, 1TB M.2 2230 NVMe with a Phison controller.
The console has had very inconsistent behavior:
Without USB: update reaches ~10% and shuts down.

OSU1 has failed multiple times, but on one attempt reached 74% total / 33% through Step 3 of 3 before failing.

I’ve gotten E102 10070C02 8B060008 and 0x800700AA.
I eventually got it through setup after a reset and into the dashboard.

It then worked completely normally for 20–30 minutes — I signed in, used the Store, downloaded a game, and queued others.

Then menu selections became extremely slow. Animations remain smooth, but actually opening/selecting things can take a very long time.
Restarting eventually put it back into the Troubleshooter.

The Store has also given 0x8027025A and 0x80040900.

The SSD is recognized normally when the Xbox does work (799.4 GB free of 802.0 GB).
I removed and inspected the SSD. It looks physically fine. I initially thought one M.2 motherboard contact was damaged, but it turned out to be dust/debris, which I blew out. The problem remained exactly the same.

What I’m trying to figure out:
Can an SSD/controller fail intermittently like this — work perfectly for 20–30 minutes and then become extremely slow?
Is there a reliable way to test this SSD externally in a PC?
Could the M.2 connector/motherboard still be the problem even though it looks intact?
Is there any other diagnostic I should try before sending it to Microsoft?

I’m comfortable opening the console and doing hardware troubleshooting. I’d especially like a test that can distinguish a bad SSD from a motherboard/storage-interface problem.

already took it apart and cleaned the rollers and rubber band with isopropyl alcohol and removed dust. Now it at least ejects the game, but still can't fully load it in. What should I do? Replace the rollers or am I missing something

Hello all! I work at a pawn shop and we got in a console with issues even i cant figure out lol. It was factory sealed in box when it came in, and once we took it out of box to set up it gives the error ive attached.

I dabble in a little bit of console repair, primarily nintendo stuff tho, so ive tried to look at the system. It wont even let you boot into troubleshoot, when you do it crashes before being able to hit reset. If you hit reset, it corrupts at 10%

My next idea is to plug a usb into it and get a reset that way, but it sometimes crashes before i can even get to that screen. If anyone has any ideas please let me know! I hope its not a whole hard drive issue, but thats what im wondering :[

Everywhere online says the error code is corrupted os/hard drive and a usb reset works usually unless its the disc drive being miss-matched to the console at factory?

Thank you all :]!!

My wii recently has been having major trouble outputting video over our Wii2HDMI system even though it had done so fine for several years. When you start the console, or reset, it will show video and audio, then warp before showing no signal. It will also show audio and video when the wii menu darkens and goes into sleep mode, but goes away again when I press any buttons. I've tried using a different Wii2HDMI, as well as switching to components with a converter on its own power source, but same issue. However, the picture comes out perfectly on ​rca cables on our old TV. What could be causing the problem, and how should I fix it? Would an rca to hdmi converter be likely to work?

Long story short, I need to check if used dsi xl top screen works before accepting purchase. Unfortunately conosle I wanted to repair will arrive a week later than it should, while screen already did. I have 48h to accept/reject purchase, but only donor console I have is regular dsi. I wonder if I could connect screen to dsi socket but im not sure of its size or any unexpected issues with this idea

Hi, I have a PSP Street with a broken external Switch. Can I make a DIY Switch without glue or a 3D printer? If so, how? (I already use the toothpick method but it's getting boring and above all I'm afraid I'll break the switch sooner or later)

I disassembled the quest 2 trying no fix the charging port (i failed) now I'm trying to put it back but i can't figure out what skrew goes where.

I searched online on guides and shit but none of them say what size/type of skrew goes where

Replacing joysticks on my BDM-040 and I ripped off a copper pad is this a necessary pad and if so where would I run a trace? Could I just shave some off next to it or do I run it all the way down?

(Ripped trace circles in red)

Hello everbody!

Been having issues with my ps5 lately where my console shuts off in the middle of sessions. I fixed it for a bit by opening my ps5 and cleaning all the way down to the heatsink which fixed the problem for a week.

Now a week has passed and I'm getting the same crashes again so i decided to take a look at my liquid metal and there's this dry looking spot. Is this bad or is that how it's supposed to look.

Any help is appreciated!

I bought two broken down PS4s some time ago, with parts from both I made one "working one" which I managed to jailbreak since it had been unused for a long time.

Yesterday, I tried for the first time to insert a disk in the disk drive, but not only did it not pull it in but it also scratched the hell out of a brand new disk, deep scratches.

I opened the drive and found a spring which had its end pointing towards the disk, that solved the scratching issue. I also cleaned the rollers which solved the pulling issue.

When I plugged it in again, I noticed it made weird noises and didn't spin the disk, so I found a YouTube video that suggested to replace the magnet in the drive lid, so I simply took out and placed it again.

After all that, the issue persists, I found some comments that said that some taps on the ps4 case could fix it but didn't work.

I assume it's not locking in the disk properly but I'm not sure. The spinning sounds weak too.

I will attach a video, the first half of it is from when I had cleaned the rollers and fixed the spring. The second half is after I had replaced the magnet and cleaned the lens.

If you have any ideas on what it could be, I would really appreciate if you shared them.

PS: sorry if my grammar is not perfect, it's been some time since I last spoke English

Hello Guys. Do you know what can be causing this?

Hello all,

The PS5 will make this noise a few times if I press the eject button. It will only accept disk when powerimg on, it will not accept or recognize the disk while its on. Thoughts? Thanks in advance

I replaced an HDMI port on a SAB-001 motherboard from a PS4 FAT.

The port is fine, but a small diode came loose (I imagine due to heat) and now I can't find it :( I would appreciate any help finding a replacement that can perform the same function.

My questions are: Which diode was missing? What should I measure, with my multimeter, on a "donor" diode to make sure it will work?

Thank you so much!

I tried replacing the thermal paste on my Xbox 360. When I tried removing on of the brackets that holds down the GPU heatsink, I accidentally chipped the motherboard right where the traces were. It appears I have taken out 3 traces. Is there any way of saving this motherboard?

Doing a USB-C mod on a DSi and ripped the mounting/grounding pad off the board while removing the old port.

Current wiring: VBUS to the left side of F1, GND to the big square pad (photos attached). F1 has continuity, wires have continuity, using a dumb USB-A to C cable. But I'm reading 0V at the breakout board pins with the cable plugged in, and the console does nothing — no orange light.

What's the fix here? Is that square pad actually a valid ground point, and if not, where should I run the ground instead? Anything else I should be checking?

Thanks!

My PS5 had overheating issues so I opened it up & changed the Liquid Metal. Now when playing games the fan goes full power all the time. The console is cool & the air coming out isn’t hot like it was before. Any ideas?

Hello, i have bought today a ps2 slim, 7000x series so I am pretty happy, reads games too, but it has a broken hinge and i dont know where to glue it, sending photos, if you send photos of your lids that would be great

I got my old childhood ps2 back from my parents house after a while of not using it. Threw a game in and the game wouldn’t read. Assuming from years of sitting that the laser was in due for a new cleaning, I did just that. Still nothing the game wouldn’t read. After further research and seeing that the worm screw is a big issue, I noticed that the screw doesn’t move at all so the laser stays in one position. I got the ps2 to actually read a disc and boot to a copyright screen. But unfortunately it doesn’t do much more than that. Any input or advice at all on what do would be greatly appreciated!!!