So it's a ds lite. It boots up properly and plays fine with stylus only games. I can play touch the dead for example all day long with no prob. But soon as I start using the a b x y buttons the system just powers itself off. Has anyone ever had this problem before or know what the problem is and could tell me hw to fix it or fix it for me for a reasonable price?  Its been broken for a year and I miss it.

Nobody?

Last bump. Still looking for help.

PM Benihana , he may have an idea.

Uh oh....did you get it wet? sounds like you are getting a short somewhere on the motherboard...

P.S.
It would be cheaper to get yourself a new one than to pay somebody to fix it. They are a BITCH to put back together if you don't know what you are doing...

I guess I'm accepting offers on a for parts white ds.
Thanks for the input

So you need parts? or are you selling the broken one for parts?

I disagree. Well maybe... I've had my DS phat apart on several occasions (deciding if I wanted to go with black/silver case). They can be a little tricky, but like anything a little time and patience will pay off and save you a bit of money to do it yourself.

EDIT: Are the DS Lites harder to disassemble/reassemble than the DS phat?

Yes they are...I have no problem with DS Phat's. There is just something about the lites that don't go back together well...then again...it could just be me.

I dont have the patience for it. I'd probably get frustrated and throw the thing. I've seen broken ones go for damn near 50 bucks on feepay so I'll probably go that route. Then again, It may just need something simple like a power switch replacement.

Nah, I have done power button replacements on both the DS's and the PSP. Your problem sounds like something different all together...

The springs for the trigger buttons can be a bitch and the cables for the touch screen are annoying. Beyond that, taking one apart, fixing it and putting it back together really isn't all that bad. I'd ten to one rather work on a DS Lite than a PSP, that's for sure.

ahh... good to know

i'd like to be able to tear one down just for the experience, but i'll have to wait until somebody in the family breaks theirs

I know this is kind of a necro-bump, but I have a DS Lite with the same exact issue. I read that there was a piece of plastic inserted in later DS Lite models to keep this from happening, because it was causing pressure to be put on the motherboard and it would bend, causing a short. 

Did you figure out a fix or did you just sell it?
 

I can't speak for the OP as to how this turned out, but having worked as a high level technician doing board level repairs for several years, I can let you know right now that there really isn't any permanent fix for something like this.  Once a board has bent or bowed in such a manner that one of the traces shorts (internal or external), there's not really any permanent way to fix it.  At best you might be able to find both points at which the offending trace comes to the service and run a jumper wire between those two points, but that would require troubleshooting out which trace it is that's causing the issue.  You still wouldn't be able to stop it from shorting, so you'd probably still experience intermittent issues, even with a jumper wire in place.  As the OP last stated he was going to, it's probably best to just offer it up for parts at this point.
 

ds repair is annoying i would get a used one off ebay. there pretty cheap now

I never did fix it. I sold it for parts witth the original box and everything. Never did get another until several years later. By the time I finally got one again, there were 100 games I wanted and most were pretty cheap.

EDIT: I REALISE NOW THAT THIS IS TOO LATE

Did you get it wet? I think thats a short.... You may want to try spraying the buttons with compressed air and let it dry. another thing can be that something went into the console, such as metal dust, and pressing those buttons makes it contact with something else. last resort, you can try opening it and cleaning the buttons and surroundings with rubbing alcohol, but again, last resort. If the warrenty is valid, DONT do this, send it to nintendo for a free repair.