3ds not reading games, pins were corroded and cleaned easily

[@Afterthought419]

Did I really just look at the same pins for 8 mins expecting something other than repeating "that looks like corrosion"

[@jasonbrown467]

i really dont know, how ever if short form video with trendy music are what you are after, perhaps tiktok might be more to your approval

[@ImZirconium]

So about a year ago, I caught wind of the E-Shop Closing. Now the thing is is that my 3ds had stopped reading games, and this video had helped me learned why in 2 ways. 1. Corrosion of the reader and 2. Dirt and gunk. But we’ll go into more depth of this later. After learning about the closing of the E-Shop and so I worked hard by mowing lawns and doing work around my neighborhood and house. After a while of saving and research to make sure that I had no other option, I was able to finally buy a back up of the games that I wanted to play, Mario, Kirby and Pokémon. HOWEVER! today I had been wondering if I could have done more, so I had worded the question to KZbin different of how to clean the reader and LOW AND BEHOLD! This beautiful man right here had the exact solution I needed. I got some vinegar and and q-tip and now all of my cartridges work again. I’m ranting about this as a warning. Do your research, Thorough research. VERY FINE THOROUGH. Search every corner of the internet for a solution, a free one, then do a costly back up. Goodnight you all, be better than me.

[@noobula7]

Bro actually thank you, the vinegar and moving the cartridge in and out did the trick!

[@jasonbrown467]

then back to pokemon lol. jk i have zero problems with pokemon. my nephews only play pokemon on their 3ds's. even though they have switches, gaming laptops, xboxs, ps4 lol, but they always come back to pokemon

[@joeypavlov]

It actually works! I followed the tutorial on my childhood console the Nintendo 2DS I am so glad it worked thanks man!

[@jasonbrown467]

glad to have helped. but mostly i am glad to hear its working again

[@WunderwaffePrime]

Certainly shows that you should always do some poking around and research before just getting rid of something, but hey, you got yourself a decent deal out of it!

[@thenewbgamer6416]

That flap in the cartridge slot IS for protection of the pins, it is normal. It's on all DS and 3DS systems.

[@anotherthing]

It's also to make sure the pins make contact with the cartridge contacts.

[@jamesgarrett3000]

putting alcohol on the cart and rapidly putting in and out seemed to do the trick for me. great video!

[@QuilLocke]

It kind of doesn’t for me. I’ve tried spraying some isopropyl alcohol inside the cartridge slot on my 3DS & the games sometimes work & other times they don’t. I think my cartridge pins might be corroded so I might try the white vinegar instead.

[@angell1432]

thank you so much i bought a “tested” ds xl for 140$ (no refunds as is) and it didn’t read any of my games, and i have a new 2ds so i knew it wasn’t the ds and it reads the same games just fine. i tried this and it worked!

[@westminster20]

some of my pins are bent. I don't think there is any way to fix them other than taking everything apart and repairing it

[@swtony_1202]

Same bro I have some of them bent

[@MyFallenshadow]

Nice! Now I feel like a DS technician

[@Snek86]

I have a 3DS XL that was last used in 2017 and it wont read Pokemon Moon. I need help.

[@Psychokyuubi666]

I’ve learned a lot of techniques & how to repair Handhelds thanks to KZbin & videos like yours. Much appreciated:) My N3DS may need cleaned once again. It’ll read the Carts, but if the handheld is tapped any or bumps a surface of some sort, it’ll stop the Game from operating. So only a few things could cause that. I’e the cart isn’t making a good connection with the Pins, or the cartridge slot is dirty again and may need cleaned.

[@grandmashotspot]

I just used a Q-tip as the little pin since I lost mine, and just rubbed it in the reader, it works now.

[@norbertruiz5110]

On mine, on top of the pins, one of the black plastic pie es came off and my game cards dont fit inside I don't know if that the problem, please help

[@Bourne2Ride07]

Dude you saved me. Your amazing.

[@jasonbrown467]

thanks!!

[@lauren444]

Thanks :) my 6 year old copy of smash bros is working on my childhood ds again

[@lauren444]

This was only temporary. The vinegar took all of the gold of the cartridge and now the game won’t read at all. At least I have a second unharmed copy. Maybe I used too much vinegar? My ds also still has green on the pins. Oh well.

[@itsmesteve1081]

I'm happy this works for some people, but this didn't help me. I'm assuming the previous owner ran it over with their car or something because the cartridge pins don't look like they have corrosion and this method didn't fix it. i think the whole cartridge slot might need to be replaced. Yeah, I'm not doing that. I would have to buy a whole soldering kit and learn how to do it. I'll just install custom firmware on it and call it a a day

[@quin13g]

Worked great, thanks!

[@izzatyussof5684]

It works for me, just dab some vinegar to the cartrige and put it in and out of the game should work and vinegar dosent hurt the cartridge

[@jasonbrown467]

yeah, most people wont need to be as in depth as i was trying to be, as i didnt know if it would work and i wanted to visually see the progress. the only concern with rushing thought i would be concerned about would be turning the console on with the pins shorted on the game due to the liquid creating a conductor, but i have no idea about how electricity may flow through distilled vinegar, maybe electricity doesnt flow at all in such a low voltage low amperage circuit?

[@QProduction_s]

I missing one of those gold things in middle does that mean I have to get it repaired

[@jasonbrown467]

maybe, you are missing a pin?, maybe have to solder a new card reader on, and i bet that is a challenge

[@quepedocntigo]

@@jasonbrown467 mines are there but 2 are a little bit bended, that would be easy to fix?

[@jasonbrown467]

@@quepedocntigo i really dont know. i never messed with these pins before or after shooting this video. maybe good light and a stiff needle

[@blob4750]

Tysm I tried so many other things but this 1 worked I'm so happy ty ty ty

[@sakura44560]

i got kine from hollywood movies and games llc cost me 224.15 wont read my game i try to clean it too still wont work

[@jasonbrown467]

do you mean you got your 3ds from hollywood movies and the 3ds isnt working? i honestly dont remember how long i took to clean my pins up, meaning, i dont know if it was 20 seconds or 30 minutes of doing the same thing over and over until it worked. but if you have a warranty, maybe try that? did you pay $224.15 for a 3ds?

[@sakura44560]

@@jasonbrown467 yep it cost that much

[@loganksu8981]

That better be Mexican pesos. You paid waaayyyh too much for a used 3ds

[@its_elser]

yes 3ds console have shot up in value recently

[@rogeroropeza516]

40 bucks for that? That's a steal!

[@jasonbrown467]

maybe it was then, but maybe even more so now days

[@Feedbacker17]

@@jasonbrown467 yeah, considering now a regular 2ds xl will set you back 200-400 Considering how FRAGILE they are (speaking from experience 😭) thats an incredibly overpriced price You can find a N3dsXL on amazon for around 100 bucks tho which isnt that bad

[@silly-yamo]

@@jasonbrown467 I am getting one for about $25

[@ShiningStarAhsokaTanofan]

Would this work the same way on a potentially corroded cartridge? I'm having an issue with my Pokémon Moon cartridge never reading, and I know the cart itself is the problem because my new 3ds XL reads other carts(X, Omega Ruby, Ultra Moon, Pearl) just fine. Edit: you can poke at my latest community post for a picture of the pins on the cart. None of my other carts have it.

[@jasonbrown467]

i am not an expert i would think it would work. may have to dissemble the cart to get to all pin surfaces

[@ShiningStarAhsokaTanofan]

@@jasonbrown467 how would I do that?

[@jasonbrown467]

@@ShiningStarAhsokaTanofan by the tool to open the cart, its cheap. remove the board and dip just the pins into the white vinegar

[@ShiningStarAhsokaTanofan]

@@jasonbrown467 my dad got the cart to read by blowing into the slot

[@oddfox6776]

​@@ShiningStarAhsokaTanofanthats just going to get it more corroded

[@tadejradojcic]

wouldit also work with isopropylalcohol 99,9%? An coul it also work with an apple vinegar or a different vinegar ?

[@jasonbrown467]

i am not a chemist, but the reason why this works is the vinegar is acidic and it cleans up the corrosion. i dont know why. alcohol will clean but it doesnt do much for corrosion from my experience

[@x8e]

$40??? What a steal!

[@temmieflare3000]

What about to get rid of the smell?

[@jasonbrown467]

the smell of vinegar? i think then rubbing alcohol took care of that for me

[@octosponge1499]

U saved me a shit ton a money

[@jasonbrown467]

i heard prices went up on most of nintender stuff due to lock downs, glad i could help. i just played this back i got on my own nerves, with the breathing into the mic, audio some how got out of sync, fighting the camera and the zoom. glad i could help someone, to be honest i forgot i even did this.

[@imleaving7196]

good vid

[@chocolaterocher]

how would you prevent this

[@jasonbrown467]

honestly i dont know. i am guessing kids get the games wet with slobber, or more likely spilled drink then put the game, now with the contaminants on the game cart pins, into the console transfering the contaminates to the console pins. then slowly the chemical reaction begins and over time covering one or more of the contact points creating a barrier between the game cart and the console pins. or someone got liquid in the console directly. i wish i knew as much about chemistry as i do about electricity. i know not all liquids cause corrosion, and some liquids can obviously remove it. you have me curious, i bet i uploaded this video several years ago. i should go test that ds and make sure it still works. i will go do that and report back edit: it still works, i just loaded a game and it played fine. i was afraid that maybe i didnt get all the corrosion and maybe it grew back, but it seems it didnt and all is fine

[@wildstallions258]

Oh no LOL the vinegar on the table is just going to add patina no worries

[@Dururugi]

Thanks for the video

[@edwardwebb704]

this worked for me

[@RedFaceeee]

Better to remove the battery before doing this

[@jasonbrown467]

isopropyl alcohol cant not conduct electricity, but you are probably right

[@Feedbacker17]

Question, with the console off will cleaning the reader with isypropyl alcohol with a q tip damage the system at all?

[@jasonbrown467]

honestly i dont know. i dont know how conductive alcohol is. i do know alcohol will not remove corrosion though

[@samuelortiz8817]

My DSi was reading the games partially sometimes running them sometimes freezing, other times it wouldn’t read at all. Checked for corrosion and 2 of them had started with a bit of green… just cleaned it the same way and corrosion is gone. The little flap is a protection for the pins I believe

[@jasonbrown467]

i looked inside another 3ds xl, and the flap was flat. i think someone jammed something in there and got it stuck and pulled on it bending. glad you got the ds working good

[@samuelortiz8817]

@@jasonbrown467 hmm cause mine has a flap. I have 2 other DSi and the flap is there’s aswell

[@GamerDetected]

No fuxkin bro thank you it worked

[@FireNightDragon]

Mmmmmm yummy