My 9-year-old daughter has a DS lite that she tried to "fix" and totally corroded the DS slot. I desoldered the corroded slot and tried to solder an extra slot from an older broken DS, but think I overheated two of the four brass pads that the slot rests on. Plus, one of the pins came off of the replacement piece -- I've tried unsuccessfully to cannibalize pins from the corroded slot but they're hard to remove and I keep breaking them. The DS still works but I can't get it to recognize the DS slot (and at this point I don't think a 2nd soldering job would be a good idea -- those individual pins were a bear, and there are too many broken parts...) Anyway, before I spend the money on a new DS, is it possible to use the GBA slot to play DS games? I've read something about Superpass Key that sounds a little like what I'm looking for, but am not sure how it works -- if I've broken any of the DS slot connections on the mainboard would another method still work? I'm basically looking for some type of adapter that will allow the GBA slot to function as a DS slot. Any ideas? Thanks! Monica
There are passkey devices that let you load DS games from the GBA slot, but they arent going to do the job for you. You see, they're called pass devices because they 'pass' the DS rom from the GBA slot to a device in the DS slot. Basically they function like a modern flashcart but with the storage memory seperate from the main cart. Without a slot 1 device they cant work because the DS cant run games in DS mode without something in slot 1 that it believes is a DS cart.
Thanks Penguin98. I had no idea how the carts or anything else worked. Oh well. Guess I'll be purchasing another...
Best bet is to buy a new slot 1 - you can then easily remove the old one and replace it - if the only solder pads that have come off are the ones on the side then it will still be fine, the ones on the side are to hold it in place. You can buy a new slot for £10 / $15
Thanks Kittymat. I was astounded to hear my daughter say that she got one of her DS games to work in the slot -- I think it's a bit intermittent (not sure at this point if it's the fact that the slot is missing a pin, badly soldered, etc. or a corroded game) -- but I'm going to see if I can get away with leaving it alone for a little while. At least that proves what you said about the pads -- it was one or two of the four that you describe that I ruined -- I was afraid they made part of the required connection. If this slot doesn't work out I'll buy a new one. Thanks for your comments. Monica
