Nintendo DS Lite: GBA Cartridge filler

[JoeXIII'007]

Long time, no posting, sorry, I have been catching up with life on the last summer before senior year.

But anywho, got a question for those with DS Lites. The GBA cartridge filler, if anyone has opened it up with a screwdriver, has a little circuit board that does nothing, and that's a problem in my opinion.

Has anyone done any modding with it or seen a mod that does something either useful or just plain cool?

-Joe

[Greg Marra]

From what I have read, that circuit board is needed, because it is the interfacing with the pins of the cartridge that actually holds it in place.

[PandaMan]

Never knew that. Why would nintendo put in an extra circuit board? Sounds kind of fishy to me. I'll check with one of my friends (works at gamestop). He knows this stuff inside out.

[JoeXIII'007]

Originally Posted by Greg Marra

From what I have read, that circuit board is needed, because it is the interfacing with the pins of the cartridge that actually holds it in place.

how??? when I take out the filler, it doesn't do anything. System still says there is no GBA cartridge in slot.

edit: and yes, the pins will be connecting with the contacts on the cartridge filler, but looking at the board, all lines lead to holes, there are no chips or anything in there, its just an electrical dead end. (picture attached)

[Joe Matt]

No idea, my guess is just to keep the contacts clean and working. I know the smaller GBA cartridges are coming out for the DS lite version of Opera.

[Greg Marra]

Originally Posted by JoeXIII'007

how??? when I take out the filler, it doesn't do anything. System still says there is no GBA cartridge in slot.

edit: and yes, the pins will be connecting with the contacts on the cartridge filler, but looking at the board, all lines lead to holes, there are no chips or anything in there, its just an electrical dead end. (picture attached)

From what I understand, and I don't own a DS Lite, nor have I inspected the GBA filler: The contacts are there for the mechanical purpose of holding the filler in place, and serve no electrical purpose at all. They are just a point of contact to hold the cartridge in place.

[JoeXIII'007]

Originally Posted by Joe Matt

No idea, my guess is just to keep the contacts clean and working. I know the smaller GBA cartridges are coming out for the DS lite version of Opera.

Its out in Japan already, cannot wait for a US release.

But yeah, anyone with any idea on how to take advantage of the circuit board (solder an LED or two to it? something), I'd love to hear'm.

edit: and if anyone knows of the two contacts that provide electricity to the cartridge (I don't know anything about cartridge technology, but I'm assuming at least one or two provide voltage to help generate the signals sent back to the CPU of any computer), that may help...