On the DS Phat, these are in the upper right part of the front of the main board. What you need to do is solder a resistor between the test pads LEDA2 and LEDC2. While it might work, it is dumb, and adds useless bulk inside an already cramped case. I've seen tutorials which say that you need the ribbon cable from the top screen to solder your resistor to. The one thing that will give a reliable result 100% of the time is a resistor of the correct resistance.

While it might work for some, it's not a reliable method, and LEDs combined with the attached wires makes for too much wasted space inside the DS' case.

I got to 5 before I ran out of LEDs and gave up. My second test, after discovering that jumping the test pads doesn't work, involved attaching a series of LEDs to the test pads. I've also seen tutorials suggesting that using a LED will work. I've seen tutorials saying that you just need to jump (connect two points with wire or solder) the test pads marked LEDA2 and LEDC2, but I've tried this on two DS Lites and a DS Phat, and I can tell you that it will not work. You will need a source of resistors to make this work. The small black bar on the connector hinges up to allow the cable to be removed and reinserted. On the DS Lite, it runs to the left on the same side of the board. On the DS Phat, it runs through a hole in the board to its' connector on the back of the board. The one ribbon cable we need to be careful with and not ruin is the one which attaches the lower screen to the main board. Despite what other tutorials might say, we don't need it. If you tear it or it's been torn already, don't worry. The ribbon cable for the top screen can sometimes be difficult to remove. Don't lose it! The DS Lite will not boot without it! However, the cable attached to it can be removed and left off. On the DS Lite, the WiFi board is plugged into a slot. On the original DS, the DS Phat, the WiFi board is soldered to the main board and cannot be removed. If you can't work it out, go ahead and clip it. The WiFi antenna cable is small and black, and runs under the DS slot. I ripped one apart on accident once, but it's not important since we won't need the touch screen for GBA games. The ribbon cable for the touch digitizer of the lower screen is tiny, and it's connector is very fragile. You'll also need to disconnect all the ribbon cables inside. There are a few screws on the inside that secure the main board, and you'll need to remove them. You remove the battery cover and battery, remove all the tri-wing screws, and open the case. I'm a fan of white with black accents, so I used a white primer topped with a few coats of a clear enamel, since that's what I had in my garage at the time.ĭisassembling the DS Lite is rather straight-forward. I'm sure you can find it at any auto part store.ġ0. I bought my can of bondo at WalMart, of all places. I bought a set of smaller files and larger rasps at my local hardware store some time ago for a different project.ĩ. I have a basic Dremel tool, available at hardware stores.Ĩ. If you want it to work and also want it to look good, Then you will need the following as well:ħ. The above covers everything that we need to make this mod work. We'll talk about these in their own step. Not required, but will help very much with the resistors.Ħ. I got a set from the 99 Cent Store, among other stores.Ĥ. You can get these from various on-line shops, I got mine from Amazon.ģ. This cannot be done with a DSi, as it has no GBA slot.Ģ. So when the owner of the local game shop offered me a stack of 'broken' DS Lites for $15, I knew what I needed to do: I was finally going to build the Gameboy Macro I've been lusting over for some time.ġ. But I hate the fact that it's not back-lit and that it takes AA batteries. I love the form factor of the original model, with the controls on either side of the display. It's the only system I've ever preordered and stood in line for.

Gameboy macro stl