So my sister's 2 year old daughter got a hold of her DS and jammed a game in backwards. Now it will not read DS games. It still powers on fine and still reads GBA games, it's just the DS slot that doesn't work. We took a peek inside and it looks like some of the pins are bent. I offered to take it apart, but when I got the case off, I ran into the metal shielding surrounding the game slot that's soldered directly to the circuit board.
Anyway, while I think I can get the shielding off without wrecking the thing, I'm not all that confident in my ability to put it back on. Is shielding even necessary, or could I just leave it off in the end? Is it even worth my time to try and fix it?
If you can de-solder the shield from the circuit board, it should go back on just as easily. Worst case senario, you can't get the shield back on, it should still work OK.
In my experience, the shield holds the cartridge latch/spring mechanism in place, so would really need to be put back on. Could be easier to buy a replacement cartridge port and replace the whole bit, then you would just have to unsolder the shield/pins and not have to disassemble/reassemble the shield/plastic bit.