Chosen Solution
When I turn my 3DS on after about a minute or so it will say “An error has occurred. Hold down the POWER Button to turn off the power, then turn it on and try again. For help, visit support.nintendo.com.” I have checked the website and tried to turn it off and on several times, but nothing seems to be working. I believe I know what caused it, while reaching for something I knocked my 3DS off of my desk maybe 2.5-3 feet. Anyone know whats wrong and how to fix it?
Hey guys, please spread the word, I found a fix! I have had no problems playing with wifi enabled. As a test I even played 2 entire circuits on Mario Kart 7 multiplayer with a friend. I also was able to browse the internt, and play my various other games. I was having the same problem, if wifi was on, I would get the black screen of death telling me to hold down the power button and restart. Anyways, I opened my 3DS XL, found the wifi card, unplugged it, and plugged it back in. Here is a picture of it http://img.gawkerassets.com/post/9/2012/… Just be careful when unplugging it. You should grab on each side and just wiggle back and forth. DO NOT PRY IT OPEN like a leaver, as the connector is a tiny strip on the edge closest to the center of the 3DS. Here is a picture of it unplugged, so you can see what I mean about the tiny connector plug in spot, so BE CAREFUL. http://img.gawkerassets.com/post/9/2012/… Opening the 3DS in this fashion will not void any warranty’s, so don’t worry, there was no warranty sticker that I had to tear through to get this far, thank god. Also when I opened the 3DS, I noticed my “R” button was unplugged, so I plugged that back in as well. That was not what fixed it, because I immediately tried it after that, and still got the same error whenever I turned the wifi back on. So, in short, just pop her open, unplug the wifi card, and plug it back in firmly till you hear it click. Mine clicked twice before it was all the way in, so make sure you push down firmly. And just like that, I was back in busyness with my 3DS with the wifi turned on! For me this has been a permanent fix. If this is just a temp solution in the long run, then at least it will help you to do a system transfer to back up all the stuff you might have bought on the 3DS online store. That’s actually my plan, I just bought this thing a week ago, so I am going to take it back and do a system transfer with Best Buy, just to be on the safe side. I hope this helps! Edit Aug 7 2014 For those of you having issues finding all the screws and opening it, here is a video showing how it is done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWmoXDuUy…
Open it and look if everything is in the right place. If so try to unplug one thing you think it might be damaged and start the 3DS. I can imagine the Wifi-Device or the SD-Slot are damaged. Maybe the 3DS starts after that without an error-message.
Can’t seem to get a consistent response. It looked like the R was unplugged and then all worked fine. That was yesterday. Today, the message re-appeared. I have followed the suggestions and carefully removed the WIFI card, unfortunately it’s made no difference. If it’s related to the SD card or insert, I can’t figure out why or how as all looks AOK. This !@#$ thing has only been used since mid-August (it’s now mid-December) and I’m stuffed if I can’t get it working before Xmas. Nintendo will accept it for return to be looked at but that’s no good until after Xmas day. It seems to work fine without WIFI so I’ll set it off but that’s not a long-term fix for us as my son watches the videos, gets demos etc from the online shop. If anyone else knows anymore on this error message PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!!! Thanks everyone for all the suggestions so far :)
Haha weirdest thing but i actually fixed this by gently banging the bottom of my 3ds against a table a few times, so i suspect the error message is caused by a loose connector….. but if you cant fix this by doing this you can get it repaired or if you really dont need the wifi just turn it off
All good technicians will know that in all Nintendo consoles: DS lite, DSi, DSi XL, 3DS the console will turn on but will not shown any image if : WiFi card is damaged, disconnected or removed.Top or Bottom screen are broken, in short circuit or having the flat cable broken.In 3DS all of above + disconnected or broken cameras. Recommendation: DO NOT HIT THE CONSOLE TO TRY TO FIX IT. Open it and replace or place the broken/loose component in place. JMMA - Montreal
i would recommend You Complete These Steps: Power the console off and then back on again. Check to see if a system update is available that has not yet been installed on your Nintendo Switch console. Play your system and see if the error code appears again. If the error does not occur again, continue to use the system as normal. for more Visit Fix Nintendo Error See if this Helps You to fix error .
I pulled and re-seated my battery and haven’t had the problem resurface. It’s been several weeks since I did it.
Hi. I can confirm this fix working for the 2DS as well. This 2DS always came up with this error message after about 15 secs after boot and had to be turned off. I opened it and reinserted the wifi card and after that it worked.
If I break the orange cable connected to around my L button, does that effect anything?
Hello. My 3ds xl is giving me the same issue. Turn it on, 10-15 seconds and black screen with an error has occurred message. My wifi card was still plugged in so disconnected and reconnected it but same issue occurs. So I disconnected the wifi card again and kept it out. Now when I turn it on it stays up but when I try to load anything it locks up. Reconnect the wifi card and original issue returns. I think I have a bad wifi card, anyone agree?
If resetting your wifi card doesn’t work there is another solution: If you notice that it only gives the error message to one particular game, you may need to repair software. Go to eshop>settings/other> redownloadable software> downloads and select on the game that is giving you difficulties. Scroll down and click repair software. This should fix any problems you may have. Hope I helped and God bless!
I had this same problem on a Nintendo 3DS XL, reseating the wifi card did not fix issue. Bought a replacement card and that did not fix it either. Come to find out it’s just an issue with putting enough pressure down on the card. So I added an extra bit of padding on top of the wifi card. Pushed it together and the 3DS recognized the wifi card again and started working perfectly fine. So for all the people that tried reseating the card and that not working try adding extra padding on top of the card so it pushes it down more.
But did the top answer work for the original poster, Isaac Reid?! We may never know… But I will try out the top answer. Hopefully it will work. I got this 3DS for Father’s day.
