Support Needed My DS won't play GBA games or my Pokemon Fire Red cartridge is broken

[Ethendor]

My DS won't play GBA games, when I try to play it will either crash immediately or crash five minutes in also if I can get it to work moving the DS screen also seems to cause it, and for clarity sake it works with DS games and I only have Pokemon Fire Red as my GBA game so it could be the cartridge but I do not know which one it is. If you guys have any solutions to fix this please let me know as nothing seems to be working as I have tried cleaning the cartridge. Also which do you think is broken the DS or the cartridge.

 

[Pandaxclone2]

It's honestly hard to say. Without a control GBA cart for you to check it's difficult to figure out which is the cause. That being said though, GBA carts don't just give up the ghost for no reason. Check the contact pins on the cart with a flashlight or similar. If you see any corrosion or damage to the pins (like small holes or worn streaks in the contacts, but mainly the former) then it's likely the GBA cart that's broken. Otherwise there's a fair chance it could be the DS.

I would suggest purchasing a cheap GBA game from a second hand store (if they have a GBA handheld there, you could either test your cart or the bought cart to make sure it works) then try it in the DS. If it doesn't work then it's your DS giving you problems.

 

[Ethendor]

Thanks I will do that

 

[etrian_warrior]

Another thing you could check is whether or not the contact pins are actually connecting to the cart when you are playing. This is a simple test which can usually be determined by inserting the cart itself. If it has difficulty going in it could be bending or not connecting to the contact pins to begin with, even a few minutes in with a warped contact pin or an improper connection is one nudge away from a crash. So, that could be one thing to check. Another thing to check would be cleanliness of the contact port, if it is beginning to become dirty apply a drop of water to a Q-tip (water isn't really necessary but it helps to stick to the dust, just I can't stress this enough ONLY A DROP) and apply to the contact pins. Other than that the only other problem that I can see in this case is that a contact pin is broken and you will have to send it to Nintendo (if they even still repair DSs anymore) or as you said the cartridge is broken (but you already said that). Either way, hope you get your system working again.

 

[Pandaxclone2]

Agreed with all of the above but I would suggest using isopropyl alcohol to clean your cart. It's less risk and better performance that way.