After navigating the confusing labyrinth that is the Nintendo repair help website, I finally found a description of the problem that matches the one that I have with my almost four years old 3DS: "System makes a crackling or popping sound, then powers off." Awesome, soon I'll be able to run errands for my villagers again. However, the link that talked about my exact symptom took me to a page that insisted that my 3DS symptom was "Error Message: Cannot Connect to the Wii U Console, Please Power Off the GamePad." WAT. The page even confirms that the console about to be repaired is a 3DS. Um, please understand?
So, should I continue with the repair and leave a comment for the repair man and be like, "I know it says something about a Wii U and a GamePad, but you're actually going to be repairing a 3DS with a broken top screen ribbon or whatever." Seriously, this is blowing my mind right now.
Also, is there anyone responding to this post that has sent in a 3DS for a similar repair before? It says on the website they might have to replace your console if it's broken beyond repair. I'd rather not lose all my save data and I don't have another 3DS to perform a system transfer. And should I take out any game cards or SD cards before I send my system in? Would they send them back after the system is repaired? These are the real questions they need to answer.