Whoo, boys (and girls?), I had a tasty score last night.
There was an ad posted yesterday with the title "broken DS Lite, $25" and located in Culver City, very close to both my office and my home. So I figure, what the hell, I'll vet the ad and give it a shot, especially since the ad just popped up.
So I call the number posted and see if they have it and what the problem appears to be. The lady tells me she has it, it belonged to her son and it just doesn't turn on. Neither the red light nor the green light go on, plugging in the charger does nothing, blah blah blah.
I tell her I'll give her $20 for it "since I like playing with electronics, and for $20 I'll give it a shot." She agrees, then proceeds to call me back and tell me she couldn't find it.
Okay, she will still give it to me once she finds it. Then she calls me back again and tells me that her "wife" (???) took it with her to her work, and was planning on taking it part, blah blah blah, but she didn't take it apart and will bring it home that night.
So I get over to her place on the way home from the office, and hands me an onyx black (sweet, the color I was hoping for) DS Lite and the charger (it had its original stylus and the GBA slot cover) as I slip her a twenty. No box though, damn it. Tell her thanks, I will play around with it, blah blah blah.
I get it home and the thing is in excellent shape. No scratches or damage of any kind on either screen, nothing broken or cracked, just a perfect looking unit. I try turning it on, nothing. I try plugging it in with the charger, nothing. I try my own charger (I also have a black DS Lite), nothing. I take out the battery and replace it with my own unit's - bingo.
The thing turns on just fine. So I put the battery for the unit into my unit, sure enough it doesn't turn on. But then I plug in my unit for charging with the battery in it, and it turns on, begins to charge, etc.
So then, cluing in, I try to charge the other unit with my own battery still in it, and it doesn't light up. So the connection is bad. It doesn't matter which of the 2 chargers I use, so I check the unit's 5.2 V DC power input. Once I compare it to my own unit, I see the problem. It looks like the connection piece in there was bent so there was no connection.
I take a small screwdriver and fix it, and it charges just fine and turns on just fine. I charged it with its own battery today, and it plays just fine. All buttons work. Touchscreen is flawless. No dead pixels, nothing.
Now I just want to sell it on craigslist for some quick cash - how much should I ask, LOL???
x. Maybe it was for the better.
COD4 for $15. Sure, it sounds stupid since everyone has this game, but considering that it's still selling at MSRP I think I got a good deal.
