3DS XL freezes unless squeezed

[/3ds]

Hey guys I bought a used 3DS XL from gamestop (first mistake) and it worked fine for months. I hadn't played it in about a month and decided to sell it to a friend of mine for his son. Only now the screens won't turn on (not even the backlight), only the blue power light.
Tried the UP+A+LB+RB trick and it fired up and I was able to update it, but the problem persisted. Eventually after much trial and error I found that as long as I was squeezing the bottom portion, like gripping the backplate tightly, it would run fine. As soon as I release pressure from the backplate it freezes instantly with faint colored horizontal bars on one or both screens and the location, color and number of bars will change or disappear as I put pressure on the backplate.
I've never removed the backplate and I'm not sure if doing so would void any kind of warranty that I might need should I have to send the thing in to Nintendo. I'm pretty good with soldering (including surface mount) and general electronics repair, so if anyone knows precisely what's going on and can tell me about any connections/chips which may need to be repaired or reseated then I may be able to do so. I just want to avoid opening it up if I'm not going to know what I'll be looking at inside anyways and voiding my only opportunity to fix the issue or to get a replacement by doing so.
Any advice is greatly appreciated! If more information is needed for a diagnosis please ask!
Sláinte

submitted by /u/InfinitiveDerivative
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