#console repair

[medicalmishapwaiting2happen]

Well shit. Nobody's willing to do my son's gender affirming surgery (the shell swap on my steam deck) so now I'm stuck either doing it myself at risk of breaking something or putting it back together now and praying I didn't already break something other than the haptics cable I already had to get fixed :/

[librarian-raichu]

An hour ago I knew nothing about 2DS XL repair, and now I’ve just finished replacing the C-Stick unassisted. I feel so fucking sexy right now it’s incredible.

[uncle-jj]

[aobasfiance]

hi i need to make 515 cad within the next two weeks here are some things im selling.

1st edition hank j wimbleton makeship plush- authentic but missing hang tag. asking 100 cad plus shipping.

authentic emmet the lego movie plush- 20 cad

1995 tenderheart plush- asking 60 cad

grumpy bear backpack- 20 cad

wacom intuos tablet- large size. never used. missing accessories therefore is discounted. asking 200 cad. these go for much more online.

newer furby lot. asking 150 cad for the whole lot or can be sold individually. 2023 is 50 cad, connect is 30, booms are 15 each. one of the booms with the green ears is missing a base. only the 2023 has been tested.

consoles in need of simple repairs. asking 50 each. both are in working condition but need very simple repairs, issues have already been identified i just dont have the motor skills to do it myself. xbox needs its laser reader cleaned and the 2DS has sticky buttons and needs a deep cleaning. 2DS is also homebrewed with luma.

payment can be taken over paypal or etransfer. thank you!!

[xx-chia-nanami-xx]

New project !!! (^o^)

XBOX one S - took a fall down a flight of stairs and doesn’t power on now!! </3

[hekknisanidiot]

I'm an amateur at soldering. I just successfully overcame the notorious Steam Deck bumper repair.

I'm gonna start this off by reiterating that I am NOT an expert, and if you follow any of this advice, this is your own risk you are taking of your own volition.

I'm an amateur at soldering. I just replaced both of my Steam Deck (LCD)'s bumper microswitches with the middle pad missing.

The Story:

One day, many months if not a year or so ago, my Steam Deck's left bumper became incredibly fragile, and would only actuate if I pressed it in with force, close to where it would thin out. As you could tell, this was very uncomfortable.

I had only ever opened my Deck once before: to replace its SSD. It went mostly pretty well, save for that I stripped one screw in the back. Otherwise, though, it went well enough.

After my left bumper decided to cease proper function, I decided to turn to Google for answers. I found a few posts mentioning that they could just physically move the microswitch and it would work just find for a while, so I decided to give that a try.

I had been following the standard disassembly tutorial, I don't remember if it was Valve's own YouTube disassembly or the IFixIt one, but one of those two, to access the bumper microswitch.

I saw it, and saw how it was pushed out of reach. No matter, I'll just carefully bend it back, like I was recommended. Before closing it back up, I figured I'd give it a quick test.

I pressed the bumper's plastic, expecting the usual click. Instead, I heard something strongly resembling the death/destruction sound in a Lego game as the entire microswitch disassembled itself right then and there- taking the middle pad of the bumper on the motherboard with it.

Oh. Oh no.

I've broken my deck.

I've gone from barely being able to press the bumper, to not being able to at all.

I had attempted many times, and failed, to somehow reassemble the microswitch. The metal shielding was still attached to the board. I don't really know what I was going to do, even if I had successfully reassembled it.

I eventually just decided to cut my losses and reassemble it with the missing bumper. Hey, at least GameCube games are still playable, yeah?

Anyways, Christmas 2025 passes, and I ended up doing a shell swap for my Deck. It was certainly a process, but it turned out well, and I was fairly happy with the results. Wouldn't recommend it to a new Deck user, but for me, it was honestly a really nice refresh that reinvigorated me with possibilities for my Steam Deck.

I also got a hot air gun.

I ended up buying a thing of 10 DS microswitches, and looking up how I'd actually go about performing this repair. On the 28th, I got my microswitches, and got to work. I decided to start with replacing my right microswitch, since it was fully working and it shouldn't have been a difficult repair.

After successfully desoldering the microswitch by applying hot air to the back of the board to melt the solder without melting the plastic, I tried to resolder it... by doing the same thing in reverse.

I ended up losing ~2 or 3 microswitches on the floor. The repair was unsuccessful.

The next day, the 29th, I went back out there to try again. That was when I ended up ripping the middle pad of my right button board. I'd say that was the moment I felt lowest doing this repair.

I went back inside to think for a moment, and decided:

I would move my workspace to not on top of a clothes dryer

I would sit down

I would continue my search

I would attempt the repair once again

I set my workspace up under a light, and went back to work.

The Checklist (for inexperienced solderers)

The best advice I can tell you if you have 2 working bumpers is to make sure you never drop them on the bumpers themselves. This is how you get a broken deck.

If you have a broken deck, don't open it up. RMA it. Don't touch it.

If you've already opened it up and the microswitch is already broken off with the middle pad, get someone else to repair it for you, if you can.

If you're too broke/don't have anyone who can repair it for you, weigh out whether or not it's worth it to attempt repair or map the bumpers to L4/R4.

If you've decided it's more worth it to open it up... good luck. Don't breathe the solder fumes, and wash your hands when you're done. Buy all the equipment you think you need. You will use it again.

What Worked for Me (I'm reluctant to call this a guide)

Full disclosure, I got most of this from this video.

Desolder the microswitch (or, what's left of it, yes that includes the metal piece that went over the microswitch) by applying hot air to the back of the motherboard (I'm told to heat a lot of the surface area around the actual solder points to prevent board delamination)

Using your solid iron, apply extra solder to the electrical pads, as well as the 2 bits up front (Soldering the shielding will make worlds of difference in terms of strength and stability)

Apply flux to the whole area (Not optional! Flux creates strong solder joints! Especially important with an otherwise free-floating part that's going to receive a lot of pressure)

If you're using DS microswitches, use some pliers bend the bits of the metal shielding that stick out around the bottom 90 degrees, to make a nice and flush even surface where the board meets the switch

If you're using DS microswitches, Bend the middle pin out just a tiny bit so you can easily access it once it's soldered on

Align the microswitch with the pads (make sure you remember how far from the top you aligned it, you'll want to keep both sides around equal, assuming you're resoldering both sides)

Solder the 2 bits up front to the metal housing of the microswitch

Solder the pads where the board meets the pins to the microswitch, taking care not to bridge to the middle pin

Take a small piece of wire, strip just the end, cover it in solder, and solder it to the middle pin of the microswitch

Wrap your wire around to the other side, find where you need to solder the other side according to this guide, cut it to length, strip the end, cover it in solder, and solder it to the test point on the back of the board

Cover the 4 corner solder joints in flux one more time, and hit them with the iron just to be double sure that the joints are strong, taking caution to not bridge any 2 joints. I'd recommend against doing this with the middle pin.

Use isopropyl alcohol to clean up the area, and you should be done. Test before fully closing.

Aftermath

I'm writing this past midnight on the 30th. In this same waking period, I've just succeeded in the hardest solder job I've ever done.

Both bumpers work. I didn't align them equally with the top, so one's super clicky, while the other one's almost mushy. Not as bad as it was, though.

I know most people would say "I would've RMA'd it and gotten my time back", but I did try to RMA it. My damage was user-negligence-inflicted, meaning unfortunately that the warranty doesn't cover it. I'm not spending over $100 on having Valve officially repair this, though. If you can RMA it, absolutely RMA it, but if you can't, I'd compare this to building a PC. Not actually that complicated, really, but it's one heck of a process. Although, for me, it was more like building a PC without having previously gone on an LTT binge.

Hope this helps someone, or at the very least that someone finds this entertaining to read.

Cheers.

[tekgeekster]

Took apart my first Atari 2600 today. Doing a coaxial cable swap for a client. Surprisingly easier than I thought.

[porygoose]

Dannie’s Adventures in Repair, part one!

This time I’ll be talking about the Nintendo GameCube I disassembled and cleaned! 

Here’s a fancy picture of the Gamecube disassembled :) (Notice that the top emblem thing is missing; it didn’t come with one and I’ll need to buy one in the future)  I also didn’t realize that it had an IBM chip, which I think is pretty neat! 

(Warning: This post will mention bugs (specifically a type of cockroach) and infestation. No pictures of bugs will be shown, nor will it be overly descriptive, but as I understand that even mentioning it could be really distressing and/or triggering to some people, I figured I would give a warning in advance.) 

Also because this is a long post and also mentions bugs, I’m going to put the following under a read more section! 

So back around Memorial day I was looking for a Nintendo GameCube on eBay. Specifically I was looking for one listed “for parts/repair.”  In my experience, those tend to be cheaper, plus I just really enjoy taking consoles apart. I found an untested GCN for a reasonable price; after looking at the pictures and reading the description I bought it for about $45 (that’s including shipping).

I even went back and looked at the listing again; none of the images showed any signs of bugs. But when I got it, there were bugs everywhere. None of them were alive, but as a result, the console itself had a rancid smell.  

It wasn’t until this last week that I finally could open it. I didn’t realize beforehand that I’d need a gamebit for the outer screws. It was when I’d opened it that I finally realized what I was truly in for.

After much scrubbing with soap and water (for the outer plastic), isopropyl alcohol, and baking soda, I got the console completely cleaned up and looking pretty good! I’m fairly convinced that baking soda is actual witchcraft because it can be used for so many different things and completely neutralized the bug smell. 

While I’m currently not done with this project, I’m really happy with how this console has turned out. As you probably noticed in the picture, the top case is noticeably stained, but I plan on trying the retr0bright process on it in the near future (and who knows, maybe I’ll show update pics). 

Even if it doesn’t work it was still a (relatively) fun experience, minus the bugs. And hopefully getting the cords, a controller, and some games for a reasonable price (srsly people charge way too much for GCN games auGH :/) 

That’s all for this episode of Dannie Takes Shit Apart™, tune in next time where I’ll most likely take apart the broken wii my girlfriend gave me to fix (maybe I’ll livepost it?)