13 replies to this topic

[Animan]

Tomorrow, my 3DS is being sent to Nintendo for repairs. Let me explain the situation.

As many 3DS owners may know, the 3DS has a design flaw that, when closed, will "scratch" the top screen area. At first, these are just marks that can be wiped off, but eventually they become permanent scratches.

There are 3 known "fixes" for this problem:

1. Put a screen-protector on the top screen (protects the screen, and the 3D works fine, but putting them on good is very difficult)
2. Put a business card or fabric thing inside the 3DS when closed (this seems hit or miss. It didn't work too well for me)
3. Attach rubber-feet to your 3DS, making it not close far enough to scratch itself (I've been using ones that I stole from my Flashback 2)

I've been using the third technique for awhile now, and it's worked so far, but a new problem has arisen from it. Because the 3DS doesn't close all the way, it allows the top part to be "bent". This is especially problematic when the system is in your pocket.

The other day, I was playing my 3DS, and when I set it down the 3D screen suddenly became very dark, with a blueish tint. At first, I tried resetting the system, thinking it was some weird software glitch, but it didn't work. Eventually, I tried tapping the system on the top, and it restored to its normal colors. More fiddling around and I discover that by lightly bending the top part, the screen switches back and forth from a glitched screen to a normal screen. The 3D still works just fine, and the brightness settings still work.

So far, it hasn't been a major problem, but I'm afraid it will permanently become broken. I called Ninty Tech Support, and they said I'll have to get it repaired. It'll be 2 to 3 weeks before I get my system back, and there's a small chance my save data will be erased (they said all my downloaded games can be redownloaded at no cost, though).

Just posting this as a warning.

Oh, and their tech support was excellent. The guy I was talking to spoke clear English, didn't force me try a bunch of crap to "fix" the problem, and they even played Zelda music while I was on hold! Total time on the phone: 16 mintues.

[Chuplayer]

Animan, on Sun Oct 9, 2011 12:34 PM, said:

As many 3DS owners may know, the 3DS has a design flaw that, when closed, will "scratch" the top screen area. At first, these are just marks that can be wiped off, but eventually they become permanent scratches.

What? How does a design flaw that bad make it past the development stage? Heck, that's the type of mistake they should have already put measures into place to avoid all the way back on the original fat DS.

First, they absolutely botch the 3DS as a system. Then, they botch the system's identity by making the marquee games N64 ports. Now, they go ahead and do this. The more I think about it, the more Nintendo is becoming a joke. Don't even get me started on the extra AAA battery-powered analog nub that is probably going to make reaching the A/B/X/Y buttons an absolute chore.

I want the late 90s Nintendo back.

[Video]

It's the fault of having two different sized screens. The top screen is bigger than the bottom one, so when the system is closed, the bezel of the bottom screen (which is raised, for some odd reason) touches, and rubs the screen itself on the top half. Like the op said, this leaves a mark, and eventually a scratch about a quarter to third of an inch in from the edge of the screen.

I went with a screen protector myself, this doesn't "solve" the problem, it just means the cheap protector is scratched instead of the upper screen, which I'm not sure you can replace. Well, Nintendo could, but eh...

And yeah, while I personally enjoy the 3DS, there are a lot of "douchey" things Nintendo did with it (screen scratches, low battery life, lack of original software, etc)

Edited by Video, Sun Oct 9, 2011 2:07 PM.

[Animan]

Chuplayer, on Sun Oct 9, 2011 1:15 PM, said:

Animan, on Sun Oct 9, 2011 12:34 PM, said:

As many 3DS owners may know, the 3DS has a design flaw that, when closed, will "scratch" the top screen area. At first, these are just marks that can be wiped off, but eventually they become permanent scratches.

What? How does a design flaw that bad make it past the development stage? Heck, that's the type of mistake they should have already put measures into place to avoid all the way back on the original fat DS.

First, they absolutely botch the 3DS as a system. Then, they botch the system's identity by making the marquee games N64 ports. Now, they go ahead and do this. The more I think about it, the more Nintendo is becoming a joke. Don't even get me started on the extra AAA battery-powered analog nub that is probably going to make reaching the A/B/X/Y buttons an absolute chore.

I want the late 90s Nintendo back.

To be fair, the problem only occurs when you carry the system around in a small pocket often. I doubt that's the kind of tests they used during the development stages.

I think the guy at tech support mentioned the scratching problem as something their trying to fix right now.

Edited by Animan, Sun Oct 9, 2011 2:21 PM.

[Chuplayer]

Animan, on Sun Oct 9, 2011 2:20 PM, said:

To be fair, the problem only occurs when you carry the system around in a small pocket often. I doubt that's the kind of tests they used during the development stages.

To be fair, the problem only occurs when you're using the product as intended.

Total junk. I almost got one close enough to the price drop to get the 20 free games plus a price adjustment, but now I'm really glad I got an old PC Engine instead. I was glad before, but I hadn't heard of this problem before.

[Emehr]

I'm pretty amazed the engineers didn't catch this. Is it a matter of when the system is closed the two surfaces don't touch, but when there's pressure on it the top part flexes just enough that there's contact?

[AtariLeaf]

Is it still ok to put rubber duckys on your 3DS? I hope so because I love doing that.

[Animan]

Emehr, on Sun Oct 9, 2011 4:42 PM, said:

I'm pretty amazed the engineers didn't catch this. Is it a matter of when the system is closed the two surfaces don't touch, but when there's pressure on it the top part flexes just enough that there's contact?

I think the latter is the case. Maybe Nintendo got too comfortable with using clamshell designs, and forgot something like this could be a problem. In my view, something like this is justifiable and excusable. Nintendo has certainly made worse mistakes in the past (*cough* original GBA screen *cough*).

[MagitekAngel]

Add this to the ever-growing laundry list of reasons to wait for an inevitable 3DS Lite or what-have you. There may even be a few more games by the time it drops.

[Mord]

Animan, on Sun Oct 9, 2011 8:03 PM, said:

Emehr, on Sun Oct 9, 2011 4:42 PM, said:

I'm pretty amazed the engineers didn't catch this. Is it a matter of when the system is closed the two surfaces don't touch, but when there's pressure on it the top part flexes just enough that there's contact?

I think the latter is the case. Maybe Nintendo got too comfortable with using clamshell designs, and forgot something like this could be a problem. In my view, something like this is justifiable and excusable. Nintendo has certainly made worse mistakes in the past (*cough* original GBA screen *cough*).

I disagree with that. This kind of design issue really should have been obvious to the engineers, and having a company make worse mistakes in the past doesn't really excuse it from making silly errors. Being too confident in your ability to sell whatever you make simply because you made it doesn't justify putting out poorly designed products that apparently don't even take into account how the product is likely to be used by the customer.

[SlowCoder]

Animan, on Sun Oct 9, 2011 2:20 PM, said:

To be fair, the problem only occurs when you carry the system around in a small pocket often. I doubt that's the kind of tests they used during the development stages.

Another problem with this statement is that Nintendo has been around too long to make these elementary mistakes. They know what kind of "abuse" these consoles will endure, and they failed to consider them effectively. Of course, this is capitalism and consumerism at its finest. They send out a lackluster product, defining what users "should" do with them, knowing full well it can't happen. The consumers buy it, and break it, and buy another one. Where is Nintendo out on this one?

Animan, on Sun Oct 9, 2011 2:20 PM, said:

I think the guy at tech support mentioned the scratching problem as something their trying to fix right now.

It's good they're working on it. But it doesn't necessarily help people who have already bought the product. Unless they'll replace everyone's top screen, which would be an expensive proposition for them.

[Rex Dart]

All it needs is some silicone rubber "bumper" similar to what you've done, but one that actually fits & doesn't cause the top half to bend under pressure.

[Animan]

Rex Dart, on Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:03 AM, said:

All it needs is some silicone rubber "bumper" similar to what you've done, but one that actually fits & doesn't cause the top half to bend under pressure.

The issue was the rubber feet were too tall, and they both were near the opposite sides.

[Rex Dart]

That's what I figured.