The following is just the long-winded story of how I fixed my DS Lite myself. Next time I think I'll leave it up to someone else.

I forgot to post this when I did it.

I recently swapped shells on my DS Lite, because I had the notorious cracked hinge on mine. After I went to a game store that does repairs, I saw a pile of DS Lite cases and asked him about the hinges. He said if the left hinge breaks (not the one with the power light) it has a chance to snap the video cable. Man that sucks. So hearing that I decided to buy a DS Lite case and swap them myself. After all, I had seen a video on youtube about taking one apart, it didn't seem hard!!!

So I begin by purchasing the Cobalt and Black case off ebay. I have my supplies ready.

[[ All the supplies are ready, now to get down to work! ]]

Taking the DS apart wasn't too hard. It was the putting it back together again that was the real bitch. All the tiny parts are so fragile feeling. The thing that gave me the most grief was the paper-thin video cable that you have to feed through this tiny slot from the top screen to the motherboard in the bottom of the DS and the L and R buttons. (I still think my L button is popped, but I'll be damned if I'm taking it apart again, it still presses for the most part)

[[ Here it is with the top screen reassembled, it still has the white outline around it because that shit wasn't coming off, and the new one it came with had a super scratched screen. Why would I put a scratched screen on my DS? ]]

So then I FINALLY got that paper thin cable through to the bottom with the motherboard and everything. I was happy, I went to put the bottom of the case on, but HOLD UP. It won't go on, WHUT. It took me another hour of trying to get it on to figure out what was the problem. It's easiest to describe with a picture.

[[ Manufacturing error? ]]

Not to mention the L and R buttons are put on with springs so every time I removed the bottom of the case they would pop out and sometimes shoot across my desk. I took a picture of one of them to illustrate their evil.

[[ EVIL ]]

Basically that little metal piece sticks into that "u" shaped holder so the button is held tight and reacts like a trigger. It also makes it so if you barely lift the metal piece from the u shaped holder it shoots out and then you have a limp button. IT'S SO MUCH FUN. It was what I'd imagine putting a bomb together would be like. If you touched it just wrong L or R (or both!) would pop out. UGH.

In the end I couldn't figure out the fail of the case so I took it down to the repair shop. He fixed the case pretty easy but then told me not to use it anyway, since the mold was bad and the power button didn't slide easily. He informed me that if I had used that case it would have snapped off the power switch from the motherboard. Yea, then there is no fixing my DS. So instead I put the white part back on the bottom, since the cracked hinge was fixed with the top screen replacement parts.

The result?

The weirdest DS Lite ever.

At least now if I bring my DS over where someone else has a DS, everyone will know which one is mine. The R button is a bit limp; it works, but it feels like the spring probably popped out. It's also VERY creaky and squeaky sounding now. Probably from using two cases to repair the damn thing. But hey, the system plays, and it's just fine for the repair fee of FREE.