Is there any way to enable battery use on a 3ds demo-unit?

Hi there!

I recently got a Nintendo 3ds which can't run from battery alone.

While connected to a charger, everything is fine. It can play regular 3ds games, do software updates, etc, but as soon as the cable is unplugged, the system shuts down.

I disassembled the 3ds and checked the usual suspects:

• The charge port was fine and showed conductivity at every connection
• Both fuses F1 and F2 showed conductivity
• There are no signs of water damage or physical damage on the motherboard
• The battery packs seem to charge. The orange charging light switches off after a while and both packs read open-circuit voltages at 4,12V(Nintendo) and 4,09V(3rd party) after charging.

After further research, I think this might be a demonstration unit for use in stores and therefore shows this special behavior:

• If connected to a charger, it automatically starts up. After pressing the power button and choosing 'power off', the system will shutdown completely and after second automatically starts up again.

• If the charger is pulled out at any point, the system will power off immediately. Pressing the power button has no effect.

Since I don't own a retail 3ds, I couldn't check the mainboard for missing traces or parts.

I'm curious how this behavior is forced and if it's software or hardware controlled, so if anyone has an idea or fix regarding that, I would really appreciate that :-)

I took some photos of my mainboard, if that helps:

1. Bottom right (battery connector)
2. Top right (charge port connector)
3. Mainboard side A
4. Mainboard side B