Old 3DS screen looks “washed” and without color?

[formal thorn]

I have this issue with my old NES 3DS XL where the screen looks awfully washed out and without any color. I have already took it to a repair shop and didnt even know what my problem was. What can cause this issue?
I took some photos, but you cant really appreciate how “washed” the colors look.
Also, sometimes the console randomly shuts down, but rarely happens (maybe after 3 hours playing)

[mental hare]

looks normal to me, tn screens arnt the most vibrant

[formal thorn]

it didnt used to look like this

let me get a better example

shot conparison between the upper and bottom screns

[cold cloud]

i'm not sure of the cause

if your console is modded you can use luma screen filters to tweak the gamma and contrast

it should help bring both screens to parity

perhaps not the perfect solution, but worth a try

okay nevermind i take that back

that seems much worse than what a screen adjustment could fix

[grizzled cargo]

This can happen with a GBA SP (and I believe DS lite) if the potentiometer for the screen is incorrectly adjusted or failing.

I don't have any idea if that's the case for the old 3DS XL,

but maybe?

A potentiometer is a tiny kind of uhhh... I guess like a screw(?)-type mechanism that can be turned and adjusted. In the case of a GBA SP screen it decides (I think) how much voltage goes to the screen(?)

If it fails it could be sending the incorrect amount ig

[grizzled cargo]

I don't know I'm not super big on mechanical knowledge, but yeah.

Also unless I'm seeing things it seems like there's a weird checkerboard pattern going on with the top screen. No idea what that is

https://youtu.be/_Fo0HDgBzzc?si=uatF017-phK1IDJW

This video shows how to fix it on a DSi but It's possible the potentiometer is somewhere inside of the 3DS instead of on the back if there's one (?), which would make things difficult

[fallen tundra]

That could be what it looks like through picture but not in person.

[grizzled cargo]

I guess maybe. But he's pointing out a problem specifically with the top screen having different brightness/a washed out effect, and there's definitely something wrong. It's too vastly different from the bottom screen's contrast.

[fallen tundra]

Sure I was just bringing that up because I just listed a 3ds. If I took the photo at a certain angle it would show those lines.

[grizzled cargo]

Ye lower resolution/compressed photos tend to not do well with things like scanlines, etc. But his was pretty high res (2160x3840). Can also happen if a really high resolution photo is scaled down. Idk. Might Just be the photo, tho. But the checkerboard/scanline effect is similar to things you get with other systems having potentiometer issues

I know 3DS inherently has these sorta scanline-y things going on

[fallen tundra]

Do you know if they are more common on tn screens?

is ips better?

[grizzled cargo]

IPS and TN arent necessarily better than each other. I mean over the two I prefer IPS when it comes to something like a PC monitor. It has better viewing angles and better color accuracy. But for a 3DS it doesn't make much of a difference.

If an IPS panel on 3DS is less colorful and has worse blacks or something you can just adjust it with Luma nowadays. It's not perfect but yeah

The 3DS is already washed out by default. If you ever play on Citra it looks significantly more colorful because the screens on the 3DS pretty much suck. Sometimes developers will counter that by making the games more aggressively colorful so they display normal on the iffy screen

Not really worth hunting down or paying more for an IPS 3DS that's slightly better but still not great

Idk. I only know this stuff because PC gamer and I've modded a stupid number of Nintendo handhelds. Generally not that great at advice heh

[fallen tundra]

Hey information is information. Learning things helps me trouble shoot other consoles because a lot of these consoles share the same tech.

[formal thorn]

yeah, you can see that pattern in person

i dunno its so weird

[formal thorn]

maybe i could try that, thanks for the info

[grizzled cargo]

I wouldn't personally do anything yourself, and I'm having a hard time finding any information about a potentiometer for the screen inside of the system

But it might still be the issue

Honestly a new screen might be the best route.

[fallen tundra]

honestly would a battery going dead cause this?

is it happening in only one screen?

[grizzled cargo]

Nah It's definitely not the battery

I think it's just one screen based on the comparison photos

[fallen tundra]

he says the console randomly shuts off though

so maybe look at the connectors and the ribbon cables

[fallen tundra]

have you opened the console before?

My guesses are

screen is bad

battery is bad

connectors are bad

some ribbon cable is bad

Wait OP is your top screen the one with the problem or the bottom one?

If it is the top screen does your console turn off when you move the top screen?

I feel like whatever is causing your console to turn off is causing your screen color problems also

[formal thorn]

the top screen

[formal thorn]

yeah

sometimes

also the battery is totally cooked

it randomly shuts down when unplugged

[formal thorn]

so if this is the case, what could be causing the problem?

[fallen tundra]

If the console turns off when you move the top screen it pretty much tells me the ribbon cable has a tear in it. Which the only way to fix is to get a new top screen.

Everything in the top screen is primed to break at some point because it moves with the screen.