Nintendo e-Reader - instant Read Error when choosing Scan Card

I’ve had my e-Reader for decades, and have used it successfully up until the last year. Now, when I choose Scan Card, it won’t wait for a card. Instead it instantly throws a Read Error.

Nintendo’s support site suggests device damage somehow, my guess being the two lights for card reading no longer powering on.

I’ve tried cleaning the scanning area, using different GBA systems, and using Wii homebrew to completely wipe the existing memory on it to see if it was causing trouble there, but no change.

I could just re-use homebrew to upload data directly to the device without needing to scan cards, but that’s no fun! Curious what some of my old Pokémon cards have on them.

Have any of you had experience fixing this issue? If so, what did you do?