Troubleshooting

[hidden basalt]

I'll have to try tomorrow(beddy bye time), thanks :)

[dry wadi]

i know this is a 2.6 and yours is a 2.7 but i hope this helps. there is noting on R16 and with my fluke 114 R7 is .5-.7ohms my leads measure .4ohms. i really dont know what it should be

[toxic oracle]

thanks Mike, I appreciate that. I only had a 2.2 version so I couldn't test it myself. Let me see if I even have such a low ohm resistor

[tropic obsidian]

I have an SP that I’m trying to open up, and I’ve gotten the 4 corner screws out, but I can’t seem to get the flat screws out (the one that goes under the battery and the one that goes under the cartridge). They’re not stripped, I just can’t get either of my Y bits to catch.

These are the screws, in case this does count as stripped.

[dry wadi]

Y00?

[tropic obsidian]

If I have a Y00 it’s missing, I have a Y2.0 and Y3.0

[dry wadi]

thats way too big. Y0 is already kinda too big

[tulip urchin]

Is this trace busted now?

[fickle hare]

looks still connected. but you should fix it with soldermask for example

[tulip urchin]

Should that trace be connected to plus side of that capacitor?

[fickle hare]

it is no longer? here you can see the trace. its connected from the positive side of the capacitor to pin 8 from u4 and one side of c55

[tulip urchin]

Let me test…

Still connected. ..

[fickle hare]

then electrically everything is fine. but try to fix the loose pad. soldermask ist cheap

[tulip urchin]

I tested it wrong, it’s actually busted

Dug out a multimeter to test properly…

Any idea if it’s fixable?

If I add a wire?

[dry wadi]

youre asking internet strangers to judge your skill

it is fixable, the board scan above shows the trace

[tulip urchin]

Lmao I fixed it for a moment by adding a wire to C55. But I broke it again trying to reposition the wire and pulled C55 out

[digital otter]

3D printed battery mod housing and the battery doesn't fit in it, but the housing is perfect in my GBA SP

is it
A. battery misshapen? i have some problems with it, can't keep a charge
B. something wrong with the height of the print
C. i am stupid
D. all of the above

[dry wadi]

A/B. prints are inconsistent, pouch batteries are inconsistent.

trim and sand the print or just dont use the print

[digital otter]

all right, thankers

i have access to a 3D printer and i thought i might as well use it lmao, so i wanted to try it out

[hidden basalt]

Alright I feel like I'm going crazy but I'll ask about this in here just to see if other people notice it. I got my funnyplaying ITA Laminated Kit and installed it, everything's working. I've configured it with the potentiometer using that aging cartridge flicker test and everything.

It's much more noticeable in person, but look at the bubbles in the ground when the screen moves, specifically the really basic ones. Notice how they sorta go dark for a second when it starts scrolling? For me, in person, they stay dark as long as the screen is scrolling and go back when it stops. I've described this as a "shimmering" effect but I'm really not sure what it is.

I've noticed it a ton of times on different screens and devices, I was hoping a perfect little ITA wouldn't have this issue. Is this just an inherent issue with screens and scrolling? I notice it on my IPS too. Is it even a real thing or am I just going crazy

[tropic obsidian]

If my Pocket won’t power on unless I spin the batteries, but the battery contacts have been cleaned, is this something where the answer is gonna be “did you check the power switch” or is there something else probably wrong?

Batteries are tested and working

[icy stag]

Power switch cleaning is the next step

[tropic obsidian]

I was afraid that was the case. It’ll have to wait until Saturday at earliest then, that’s when my iron arrives.

[icy stag]

Don’t forget

[scarlet aurora]

be careful with the power switch parts after you open it, they're easy to lose, speaking from experience

[tropic obsidian]

Trust me, I won’t. I’m ordering that tonight, along with a mat and stand. It’s just that I won’t be able to provide further commentary on what I find until it arrives.

*wont forget

I realized replying to “don’t forget” with “I won’t” and replying to “please practice off the GameBoy” with it are two completely different meanings

[icy stag]

Also pocket switches are a bit harder than agb. So take extra care anyways.

[tropic obsidian]

I haven’t touched the switches to any other device of mine, when I get that practice in I’ll check the switches after.

[dense frigate]

Hello there guys

Help

What's wrong with the screen?

[neat linden]

Looks like damage to the polarizer filter

Unfixable, so ignore it if you can

[dense frigate]

Wut

No way to fix?

[neat linden]

Correct.

[dense frigate]

Not even with another screen?

[neat linden]

That'd be replacing rather than fixing, but yes, you can replace the screen

[dense frigate]

That fix

My problem

Isn't?

Haha

[neat linden]

Mind that you'd, of course, have to replace the whole screen

[dense frigate]

Help

A good place

Online

To get a screen

[neat linden]

Please consolidate your comments into one post. If you're based in the USA you can get a new backlit screen here https://retrogamerepairshop.com/collections/gba-sp-displays

If you're looking to replace it with the same type of screen (a frontlit 001 display) you'd have to try your hand at either AliExpress or a reseller market (eBay)

Once you've been in this Discord for 30 days, you can try #1049401311101206649 to see if anyone here has a spare display

[dense frigate]

Sooo, a new backlit screen should be the way to go isn't?

[neat linden]

That's my recommendation

Just bear in mind your own skill at modding, and whether you think you can do it without destroying your Gameboy

[dense frigate]

I am not in USA, I don't think the Marketplace would be useful for me

[dense frigate]

I am gonna ask my usual shop is they can do it for me

It is hard?

[neat linden]

We had a user just earlier today who failed to even open their Gameboy

[dense frigate]

I can Open the cover to get the battery at least

[icy stag]

It will be quite more involved than that.

[neat linden]

https://gameboy.github.io/consoles/advancesp#backlight-kits---summer-2022

[dense frigate]

But for both screens you need the same procedure isn't?

[neat linden]

Here is a list you can reference for screen kits

[icy stag]

If you’re at all uncertain I’d take it to your local shop that handles these sort of things.

[dense frigate]

My gosh , they are like 60 bucks wow.

[dense frigate]

If is the same procedure as a normal screen, I know they can do it in my usual shop

[icy stag]

There’s usually a solder point but basically yes it’s about the same as replacing it with another similar screen

[dense frigate]

Got it, but is too expensive for me at the moment... I rather get the normal screen.

Btw, a good site to get the batteries for the GBA SP model 1

The one that doesn't iluminate the whole screen

[icy stag]

The style of the first picture or the second?

[dense frigate]

First picture

The SP that doesn't iluminate the screen really well

I actually own 3 GBA, The original one, the SP model 1 and SP model 2

[icy stag]

https://www.zedlabz.com/products/replacement-battery-for-nintendo-game-boy-advance-sp-by-helder-800-mah-zedlabz here if you’re European.

[dense frigate]

Latino

[icy stag]

Ah well then this https://retrogamerepairshop.com/collections/gba-sp-power/products/gba-sp-game-boy-advance-sp-rechargeable-850mah-lipo-battery-mod-by-makho?variant=32212802109514 is probably better

But this may not come pre soldered someone will have to say so I’m not sure.

[dense frigate]

That battery how much it goes by in AliExpress?

[icy stag]

Probably isnt on Ali.

[dense frigate]

Or Ebay

[dense frigate]

I hear there were batteries on AliExpress, not the same model as the one you showed though

I guess

[scarlet aurora]

RGRS doesn't ship to latin america

[icy stag]

I mean you can search for them.

[icy stag]

Rip

Sorry lol

[dense frigate]

But it is a good bet?

[icy stag]

What is a good bet

[dense frigate]

Don't worry, courier

[dense frigate]

The AliExpress ones

[icy stag]

I mean I bet they’re on there. Quality is another question. I’m not big on using aliexpress.

[scarlet aurora]

Funnyplaying sells similar batteries I think

[icy stag]

That I would trust

[dense frigate]

How much

[scarlet aurora]

meh I think they're out of stock, just checked it

maybe try searching them on Ebay, idk

[dense frigate]

Ebay, got it.

[dense frigate]

Guys got a question

I decided to go buckwild with tuning up my GBAs

So a good site to buy retroiluminated original GBA screens?

And does it require soldering?

[neat linden]

Some do

[neat linden]

This list should mention which do and which don't

[dense frigate]

March you are a lifesaver, thanks a bunch!!!

I noticed the guide is for the GBA SP, I was looking for the original GBA this time around.

[dry wadi]

same wiki has information about the original GBA

this sounds like youre asking for #modding advice and not #1006386432065155083 a broken game boy any more

please move over to #modding to keep the channel available for broken game boys

[dense frigate]

Got it, apologies.

[digital otter]

got access to a multimeter and am trying to test the continuity on my GBA SP's charger port and want to make sure i'm doing this right, i'd have one terminal on PIN2 and the other on the outer housing of the port? if not, where exactly

[remote bobcat]

Testing continuity determines whether a circuit is complete or broken. Are you trying to test the voltage coming into your charging port? If so, then you'll need to have your multi-meter in the correct mode (DC V) and have the red probe on Pin 2 and black probe on the shielding.

[digital otter]

i believe i did this right, and this is the read i got which i believe is in volts

[remote bobcat]

Looks like you are in diode mode.

And it looks like you have the same multi-meter as me

[digital otter]

i did not realize how shotty the picture came out

[remote bobcat]

That's the picture I meant to show

[digital otter]

yeah that's the one i have lol

should i have my charger plugged in

yeah with the charger it gave me a reading ~5 V

only one way to find out if everything is good

[remote bobcat]

I'm assuming you have charging issues with your SP? Have you gone through the troubleshooting steps in the wiki?

https://gameboy.github.io/consoles/advancesp#charging-issues

[digital otter]

yeah and yeah i have

i believe with this multimeter testing i have done everything besides buying a new charger

but i narrowed to down to it not being my charger or battery, because my other GBA SP is able to charge the battery just fine

i did clean the pins inside up a bit too

[remote bobcat]

What happens when you plug in the charger? Does the charging LED (orange) light up?

[digital otter]

with the battery in, yes

it just doesn't do any actual charging

[remote bobcat]

And it stays lit?

[digital otter]

yeah

and whenever i tried to change the brightness on my IPS screen, it would die immediately

[remote bobcat]

Can you open up a new thread and post pictures of your motherboard? Both sides. I'm curious now

[digital otter]

yeah sure

but i'm not going to be arsed to desolder the brightness control >:(

ok trying to make a post just put me in slowmode and didn't actually post anything

[cunning iron]

did you make and delete a post? cause that will not remove slow mode.

[digital otter]

no

i wasn't able to make any at all

even from my phone too

[cunning iron]

then I leave it to the mods

[digital otter]

and restarting my client keeps what i entered and resets the slowmode but then does the same thing when i try to post it

[cunning iron]

if you are in slow mode there is nothing to do but wait sadly

I was just trying to help you figure out why it happened

[digital otter]

i think discord is just being discord again and not working

doesn't seem to put me in slowmode for real, but then doesn't let me actually post something either

[cunning iron]

I can't enter any of the forum posts so something is up

can only enter the ones I am following since they are under the channel on the list, but can't select anything in the posts list

[digital otter]

awesome

can't even make on in a server with no slowmode
they're just broken right now

[cunning iron]

hmm. fully closing discord helped

[digital otter]

not for me it seems

i'm just gonna put this thing back together and try killing it and shit

@remote bobcat if you're still interested in my motherboard, just let me know and i'll send them here or in DMs

[cunning iron]

just post here

[digital otter]

okie

[remote bobcat]

How are you verifying that your battery isn’t charging? Can you probe your battery and give the voltage?

[digital otter]

well i knew it wasn't charging when i plugged it in while the battery was in GBA 1 and after some time, it was still red and couldn't handle changing brightness and then it working perfectly fine in GBA 2

[remote bobcat]

So the power LED staying red is a symptom of a dirty power switch. Have you cleaned the contacts inside the switch? Changing brightness shouldn’t have anything to do with charging

Could be a pinched wire or short somewhere but I’m not knowledgeable on GBA SP IPS kits and their brightness controls.

[digital otter]

i did clean the switch yeah and it did the same thing

[remote bobcat]

Desoldered the shielding and scrubbed the inside?

[digital otter]

i just said that as it was still low and thought that it couldn't handle it going to a higher brightness with more power to send

[digital otter]

yop

and my wire seems to be fine

[remote bobcat]

What’s the voltage coming out of the battery?

[digital otter]

oh yeah that

let me do that now

4.033 volts

[remote bobcat]

That should be higher than the low battery voltage cutoff. Can you plug in the charger and let it sit for 10 minutes or so. Then take the battery out and measure voltage again

[digital otter]

well the battery isn't dead as of currently

is green in a GBA

you still think i should charge it?

[dry wadi]

is this a new battery?

[digital otter]

as new as i got it for christmas

makho battery mod from RGRS

[remote bobcat]

Plug it in the SP with the ‘charging’ issue and plug in the charger and let it sit for 10 minutes. Then pull the battery and measure the voltage again. If the charging circuit is working, the voltage should be higher than the baseline of 4.033V

[digital otter]

all right, got it

[digital otter]

it is 4.038 V

it definitely went up, though i'm not sure how much it should after 10 minutes

could've been of a result of cleaning the port itself and such

[digital otter]

i am just gonna let it charge more

[remote bobcat]

4.033 might be at the top end of the voltage range for the battery. Do you have a less charged battery to test?

One at like 3.8V

[digital otter]

yeah, i have one at 3.829 V

this is the stock one that came with this AGS-101

(which is GBA SP 2, GBA 1 is AGS-001)

should i charge that one for 10 minutes?

[remote bobcat]

In the broken charging SP and see what the voltage is after 10 minutes. Trying to isolate whether or not its actually the charging circuit

[digital otter]

figured you mgiht say that so i did indeed do that

3.842 V

so it looks to me like i fixed it i think?

[remote bobcat]

I don't think it was broken in the first place

Still have the issue with the red battery indicator and the brightness change right?

[digital otter]

i'll have to kill the battery to test that

so i will do just that lmao

will report back o7

[digital otter]

well i did some testing to see if it charged and these were my results with both systems

GBA SP 1
starting voltage: 3.390 V
after 10 minutes of charging: 3.414 V

GBA SP 2
starting voltage: 3.933 V
after 10 minutes of charging: 3.505 V

though, after the very last test, one of my wires broke so yeah :)

[digital otter]

both my battery's wires broke, and now they're too short and i messed up shrink wrapping them
i'm just gonna replace my thing with a USB-C already

[median pebble]

hey is it normal for my gba sp to last only an hour on a full charge?

Im using FP IPS V3.0 with a new battery from OSTENT 850 mAh on amazon.
I typically play with full brightness and sound on low.

I get around 40 mins of playing before my battery turns red.

thanks.

[neat linden]

That's not normal, but a few things

1. That battery likely has less, if not far less, capacity than advertised

2. Are you using a flashcart? Those will suck up more juice than normal games

3. Have you desoldered the shielding on your power switch to clean the contacts

[median pebble]

sorry forgot to mention i am using an everdrive mini

I havent tried desoldering the shielding on the power switch to clean it bc i havent felt comfortable yet

[neat linden]

Between steps 1 and 2 that's where most of your juice is going

Now, when it turns red, that normally means it's about to die

But between all your mods and, more importantly, your dirty power switch: your Gameboy is likely going red far before it's actually about to die

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's turning red at about 40% remaining battery

[median pebble]

alright thanks i appreciate the feedback, ill eventually clean out the power switch sometime later

[dense frigate]

Hello guys

[neat linden]

Awful

Skip

[dense frigate]

If this battery useful

Woww

Didn't even finished haha

[icy stag]

Yeah no.

[dense frigate]

I love this place

I almost did something stupid

Soo..

Mmm

Is AliExpress a good place to get batteries for my AGS

001?

Instead of posting pictures at random to know if they are good or not

I rather listen to you guys, where do you buy batteries

[dry wadi]

https://gameboy.github.io/consoles/advancesp#bad-batteries

[icy stag]

It’s really worth it to invest in a solid proven battery

[dense frigate]

I agree

Ok , I saw the resources , so Retro game repair shop is the same as Funny playing right?

[neat linden]

Retrogamerepairshop is a USA distributor

Funnyplaying is a Chinese manufacturer

[dense frigate]

So Funny mades and retro just sell it at USA

https://retrogamerepairshop.com/collections/makho/products/gba-sp-game-boy-advance-sp-rechargeable-850mah-lipo-battery-mod-by-makho?variant=32212802109514

Any thoughs on this battery?

Looks like it needs soldering

[spare apex]

it’s the highest capacity battery
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/19XQH36IGooG8Mt1FNpmsqI8DTvbR6hicbCa4-d_VVAs/htmlview

[trail nexus]

If you don't want to solder you can always grab one of these https://www.retromodding.com/products/makho-game-boy-advance-sp-battery

I believe it's the highest capacity drop in replacement on the market

[dense frigate]

Just what I was looking for

So the SP 101 and 001 model use the same battery from the look of it

[neat linden]

Yes

[dense frigate]

I am learned a lot here, thank you guys

[dusky whale]

My ags 101 has no sound and I can’t for the life of my figure out why, I tried several speakers and cleaned it quite well

[dry wadi]

cab you post photos of the mod and any troubleshooting steps that youve done

[dusky whale]

It’s just a normal motherboard, but yea one sec

It was missing a capacitor originally, so I tried to take one off an old motherboard and soldered it onto this one

[dry wadi]

those are very cold joints

was this a working board otherwise

[dusky whale]

Cold joints?

[dry wadi]

bad solder job

[dusky whale]

Yup, turns on and plays

Oh yea I suck at soldering

[dry wadi]

i would not call this motherboard clean there is corrosion on the memory so i would bet there is corrosion in the volume wheel. you can measure the resistance on the wheel and compare to the schematics
https://github.com/Gekkio/gb-schematics/blob/master/AGS-CPU-11/schematic/AGS-CPU-11.pdf

[dusky whale]

Is their a multimeter or something you recommend to check, I’m not sure of a good one to order

[dry wadi]

anything youre comfortable using with all the functions you may need in the future

[dusky whale]

Ah ok thank you, if their is corrosion inside the volume wheel will IPA fix that or will it need to be replaced do you know?

[dry wadi]

replacements are listed in our parts sheet in #998610706133954830

[dusky whale]

Is their a solution to this missing pad

[remote bobcat]

You can run a jumper wire to that trace/via

What exactly are you trying to do though? The board looks pretty corroded

[dusky whale]

It works and everything, just no volume so I wanna see if I add a capacitor that was missing, it that will fix the problem

[formal oar]

Hello everyone,

I'm seeking some guidance on fixing the sound on my Gameboy Color. Here's the rundown of the issues I'm facing:

When using the headphone jack, the sound output is fine, but there's a minor hum/hiss in the background.

The built-in speaker doesn't work at all. I've tried replacing it with two different new speakers to no avail.

The volume wheel acts strangely when headphones are connected. Although it mostly functions, it does so inconsistently.

I've already cleaned both the headphone jack and the volume wheel thoroughly.

Any suggestions or advice on how to proceed with these repairs would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[remote bobcat]

Hi. This is HoZy's CGB audio issue troubleshooting guide. It sounds like Pins 4 & 5 of the headphone jack aren't continuous so the CGB thinks that headphones are still inserted and therefore disabling the speaker.

[formal oar]

4 & 5 appear to be continuous. I reeallly appreciate you posting this though

[formal oar]

New problem. Same game boy.

When I screw the back of the shell on the display only appears black. seriously. this doesn't happen when the back of the shell is removed. Im perplexed.

i loosen the screws: no problem
I tighten them: problem

[neat linden]

Pics

[formal oar]

what do you want to see? the black screen or the loose screws?

im asking unironically haha sorry im new to this

[neat linden]

The board and connections

Anything that could provide troubleshooting information

[tiny bane]

Anyone got a fix? I wiped the contacts with ipa

And made sure its seated properly

[neat linden]

Does it do this on other Gameboys?

[remote bobcat]

Got a multimeter? Those traces look a bit suspect

[tiny bane]

Nope

Is there a send in service

[neat linden]

Like, someone you can send it to to have it repaired?

[dusky whale]

I always see an eBay listing of an advertisement of this guy who you can send in a GameBoy for him to fix, never tried it though

[tiny bane]

Yeah

[ionic gust]

If you’re located in the US I can take a look at it.

[tiny bane]

rip im from downunder

[ionic gust]

Dang. If you really wanted to send it it would just take longer to ship back and forth and it would be more costly.

[ebon path]

Hello! I had some battery leakage on this GBC but after cleaning I see that the solder was eaten. Should I replace the capacitor or resolder it? Any way to check if it's still good?

[ionic gust]

If the cap is original replace it.

[cunning iron]

looks like you are missing a pad.

[ebon path]

I think it's original. Maybe I should replace all of them?

[cunning iron]

have you soldered before?

if you are new to soldering you are likely to break it more by going around replacing caps willy nilly.

[ebon path]

Ah yeah maybe... the cap is still attached to the board though

[ebon path]

I am new, I just did practice kits and changed carts batteries

[frosty stirrup]

You may want to think about commissioning this one. Someone skilled will make quick work of it

[ebon path]

I actually want to learn :)

[cunning iron]

this is not the place to start tho 🙂

practice on simpler things first.

[ebon path]

That's why I have practice kits

[dry wadi]

you can practice desoldering on the kits as well. solder them up, remove everything, then put it back together to see if it still works.

[frosty stirrup]

Do you have a hot air station?

If so, you can remove the cap to see the real damage underneath. It's possible the pad is salvageable and just needs a good scrub with a fiberglass pen or a steel bristle brush

[ebon path]

I don't have a hot air station unfortunately.

[neat linden]

Removing a surface mount capacitor with just an iron is a fast track to ripping pads

While it can be done, it's best to hold off for now

[ebon path]

You are right, I will wait until I have the right tools.

In the meantime, can those mounted capacitors be checked with a multimeter?

[dry wadi]

no. capacitors should not be measured while installed

you can meter the circuit on both sides to make sure the traces arent damaged but nothing more than that

there are board scans in #troubleshooting-archived

[spare apex]

measuring continuity is a good idea IMO. flux + reflowing with fresh solder helps clear corrosion too

[dry wadi]

yes i agree. flux and the iron alone might drive out some of the contaminants on the joint to at least let you see the joint

and visually you can determine if the trace is broken

[ebon path]

Do you mean by testing continuity?

Looks like something is missing on mine 👀

[spare apex]

refer to a schematic or sanded PCB scan to see where those pads connect. use a multimeter to test for continuity between the pads and the traces they're supposed to be connected to. that said sometimes a multimeter will report continuity even though the connection is not good enough for the circuit which is why reflowing helps

[dusky whale]

Could that missing pad be the reason I have no sound?

[remote bobcat]

Pad 4 is NC so it doesn’t connect to anything. So no, not a reason you wouldn’t have sound

[dusky whale]

That’s what I saw somewhere else too, I’m not sure why their is no sound then

I just replaced the capacitor too hoping that would be the fix

[dry wadi]

there are schematics pinned in #troubleshooting-archived

its for a CPU-11 but the audio circuit after U3 is largely the same

[safe spire]

I have a GBC with no power (just a quick flicker) and its power regulator doesnt give 5/15/13V and D2 has 2.6V instead of 0V. Do you know what could be the problem?

[dry wadi]

how are you measuring D2

because that is a reverse polarity protection diode and it should not be seeing voltage at all. do you have the batteries or your battery clips on backwards?

[safe spire]

I supply 3V with a external power supply through its terminals in the pcb and it should show 0v I think if I put the negative terminal of the multimeter on the top side of the diode and the positive one at the bottom (that is what i see on a yt video and I have also checked with a known working pcb)

[dry wadi]

can you post a photo

[safe spire]

Of the diode or the measure?

[dry wadi]

your setup with the power supply and how its hooked up to the game boy

[safe spire]

Ok, i will post it as soon as i get home

20-30 minutes more or less

[dry wadi]

do you need to set your current limit on your supply

because it looks like you have it set to zero

looks like you have to set the current limit

[safe spire]

I dont understand what you mean exactly (maybe because of my language). Do I have to set a limit voltage?

[dry wadi]

im asking if you know how your supply works and if you are using it correctly

because im not familiar with that supply and the one that i use requires to set voltage and amperage limit

[fickle hare]

this is meant

[safe spire]

ah ok, yes I set the voltage before I plug the terminals in the gbc pcb

[fickle hare]

you have voltage and amperage. if it´s 0.00A then no juice is going to your game boy

on some psu you need to short plus and minus and then you can adjust the max amperage. but you should take a look into your manual how to setup your psu

[safe spire]

about amperage, I dont change it and it works with other (known working) pcbs

[dry wadi]

that is a strange design

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/332487991383687169/927769085918474290/unknown.png

try this guide

[safe spire]

ok i will try. Anyway this is what the pcb does with batteries and also with the psu

my first thought was a dirty power switch but I cleanned it with no luck

[remote bobcat]

Can you check if any of the power rails are shorted to GND?

[safe spire]

Following the guide I have no 5V/-15V and 13.6V in the power regulator (as I said in my first comment)

[dry wadi]

are any of them shorted to ground

[safe spire]

nope

[remote bobcat]

And fuses have continuity?

[safe spire]

I saw also (in the YT video I mentioned before) in U7 I should have 3V between pins 3 and 5 (I dont remember exactly now) and when I measured I had 0V

[safe spire]

yes

[trim jolt]

and batteries are fresh? :D

[frosty stirrup]

He's powering from a variable bench PSU

[dry wadi]

are you following the guide that i posted?

[trim jolt]

Oh missed that

[safe spire]

Yes

[frosty stirrup]

I think he's got some corrosion bubbling underneath the mask

[safe spire]

This?

[dry wadi]

yes and all the corrosion on the vias (holes)

[cunning iron]

how does the back look?

[safe spire]

so maybe that (corrosion) is the problem and it has no fix?

[dry wadi]

there are schematics pinned in #troubleshooting-archived and we are working to move the board scans to the wiki

but you have to clean up the corrosion and make sure the traces arent damaged. you might have a broken trace on VDD5 or VCC since that is the area that you have corrosion on

[cunning iron]

yeah. do a thorough cleaning before you prod anymore and add power to the mix.

[safe spire]

and maybe is more corrosion than I can see

[safe spire]

is there replacement for the power regulator?

[frosty stirrup]

Several

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1422095615/frogulator-game-boy-colorpocket-dc

[remote bobcat]

Note that you won’t be able to use the OEM screen with almost all the aftermarket power regulators

One thing you can try is desoldering the OEM regulator and attaching your power supply to VCC to see if the regulator is outputting the correct voltages

[frosty stirrup]

Why is that?

[remote bobcat]

OEM color screens need the 5V, 13.6V and -15V rails. Aftermarket regulators usually only have the 5V rail available and therefore can only be used with IPS screens

[safe spire]

I have done and yes, apart of the pcb it shows the correct voltages so it might be right

[trim jolt]

Maybe you can follow the schematics and see where the voltage drops?

https://wiki.console5.com/wiki/File:Nintendo_GBC_Schematic.png

[safe spire]

My problem is I am not good at all with the measurament. I mean, if I get 3V from battery or psu to the regulator but it doesn´t give me the rest of voltages, there should be a trace or component between the 3V line from terminal to regulator that is bad right?

[trim jolt]

Red markings should read 5v

[remote bobcat]

So I’m confused. You desoldered the regulator and it’s working correctly outside of the rest of the PCB? When attached, it doesn’t output the correct voltages?

[safe spire]

Yes, that is

[trim jolt]

Oh and this

[safe spire]

If I read it I dont get 5V however I have continuity

[remote bobcat]

Sounds like there’s something shorted to GND on the power rail line. Can you check C32?

[trim jolt]

Is your meter set like this?

Can you take a picture and show us how you're measuring?

[safe spire]

Here is the regulator outside the board

[safe spire]

It has just one side bridged to GND

[remote bobcat]

Regulator looks like it’s working. So there’s an issue on the side of the power rails. You’re going to have to probe around. Use the schematic as your guide. Clean up the corrosion first as well.

[safe spire]

The thing is, when do you know the corrosion is cleaned properly? Because the line with more corrosion (in my pcb) is GND (I think) and I have continuity in the hole area even the capacitor (c47)

this

[trim jolt]

Did you poke around and check the 5v points i marked? Are they shorting to bat-?

[safe spire]

They are not shorted to bat-

[trim jolt]

well thats great :)

are you reading 5v then?

[frosty stirrup]

You can pull electrolytics in case one is dead short

[safe spire]

I dont get 5V in these points in fact, I think I dont get 5V in the hole pcb

[trim jolt]

Not even pin 1 on the cart slot? :o

well that narrows it down at least

[safe spire]

Yes, its like from the cartridge connector to the top I have no voltage

[trim jolt]

welp, grab the board scans and follow the trace :)

https://moddedgameboy.club/assets/images/gallery03/728ed97d_original.png?v=e317bf0a

https://moddedgameboy.club/assets/images/gallery03/a9e1f95f_original.png?v=e317bf0a

[dusky whale]

This is a 101 screen, does it just need a new polarizing film?

[neat linden]

It needs a new 101 screen

[cunning iron]

yeah that badboy is dying

[dusky whale]

So I can’t really fix the screen at all?

[lucid gull]

Yeah, by replacing the LCD, because it's dying

If you want a close replacement: https://retrogamerepairshop.com/collections/gba-sp-displays/products/gba-sp-game-boy-advance-sp-ags-101-replacement-lcd-panel?variant=32517173444682

[dusky whale]

Darn ok, thank you for your help

[dusky whale]

Bought a replacement power switch that said it works for GameBoy advance/SP, but this does not look like it’ll fit. Am I missing something

[dry wadi]

yes that looks wrong can you post a link of where you purchased

and do you have a multimeter and know how to use continuity mode

[dusky whale]

Yea I’ll send the link, no I do not have a multimeter but I was looking to buy one and learn how to use it

[dry wadi]

you also have a bridge on the CPU

[dusky whale]

If you shop online, check out Route. Everything you order, tracked in real-time, in one place. No more searching for tracking numbers. Enjoy! https://handheldlegend.com/products/game-boy-advance-sp-power-switch-replacement?_pos=1&_sid=46f934185&_ss=r

I saw you guys’s dislike for hand held legend after I made the purchase fyi

[dry wadi]

game boys are a bad place to learn electronics. its a complex schematic

[dusky whale]

Is something like an N64 easier?

[dry wadi]

even more complex

you can make the power switch you have work, but its not ideal. it looks like there are a lot of complaints in the reviews

https://retrogamerepairshop.com/products/game-boy-advance-sp-power-switch-oem-new-replacement

this costs more but its actually new stock of the SP power switch

https://www.retromodding.com/products/angry-helders-sp-power-switch

also costs more than what you bought but also fits better than what you have

[dusky whale]

What do you recommend starting with?

[dry wadi]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256802256490400.html

cheapest of what i linked, but also a better fit that what you have

start with solder practice kits

they have simple circuits and include schematics that you can learn from in conjunction with electronics videos

[dusky whale]

Ok I’ll look into it, thank you

[dry wadi]

the battery terminals also look to have been overheated but the solder joints are cold

if this is still part of you trying to fix junk boards, youre in for a difficult time ahead

actually didnt you say you bought like 5 of them? why not just take a switch from another board?

[dusky whale]

I bought a lot of 10 for 45 each hoping to sell them for more, that’s a good idea but it’s been a bit of trouble trying to get some of the other switches off on the junk boards that aren’t able to be fixed

[dry wadi]

thats what the seller did also

[dusky whale]

I mean like fix them and then sell them, not just sell them broken

[dry wadi]

and the seller thought they could do the same also until they realized they were in over their head on the repairs

but they made out selling boards at market price for working boards.

im stepping away from your problems. youre looking to make a profit off of our free assistance, when you should earn it. the resources are available and searchable. glhf

[dusky whale]

Umm ok

[night compass]

Didn't think it needed a separate thread. I know the issue; just not how to go about fixing it 😅

Question:
I wanted to ask how I could remove the excess solder from the hole on the PCB. I don't have a solder sucker on hand at the moment.

I've used a wick to soak up some of it. It was flooded before, when I got it.

Also don't have flux at the moment

[dry wadi]

its connecting two giant copper planes. you have to turn the heat up to make sure the entire slug of solder stays molten

when you use wick cut pieces off so youre not putting tip heat into heating the whole roll of wick

[night compass]

Ah, I see. I'll try it with higher heat. That might be the issue.

[night compass]

and thank you for the tip ^^

[dry wadi]

flux both sides

[night compass]

yeah, that's the main issue. I've run out of flux 😅

It'll definitely make it easier though

[terse dew]

Are both the pad and the via not ground there?

[night compass]

Not sure to be honest. It was like this when I got it

There seems to be a little gold outline there on the back side. So, it's probably still there

[frosty stirrup]

Solder in via's is okay. Not worth the risk of damaging or burning/lifting something

[terse dew]

Yeah 'struggling with wick' is prime time for lifted pads

[night compass]

oh, okay. I'm just worried about it shorting something, since it's connected to the negative pad. Not too familiar with how the vias work.

[frosty stirrup]

A via connects a trace or plane to the other side of the board

[night compass]

Ah, to avoid overlapping on one side, I assume

[frosty stirrup]

exactly

some boards have multiple layers but in this case it's just top and bottom

[night compass]

oh, alrighty

I'll just separate the pad and the via and call it a day then, since there's nothing else in there.

Thanks for the help and info

[terse dew]

I'm not familiar with the board but i'd guess they're both GND anyway; looks nice and easy to clean up so you may as well though

[frosty stirrup]

^ correct, that entire section is ground plane, no need to clean anything there.

Does that game even boot, the right side of the FRAM chip looks rough

[terse dew]

Possible short on the bottom left two pads of the ROM too

Fwiw, flux and a clean iron would be ideal to clean those bridges up. I'd stay away from those legs with wick, especially without flux and especially since someone's been clowning around in there and may have done damage

[night compass]

Ah, gotcha

Yeah, that's a bridge. I'll have to get some flux for that. My tip isn't very ideal

and some scratched up mask

[neat linden]

What tip?

Any shape can do it

[night compass]

oh

I'm using a knock-off Goot TQ-77.
It's got a rounded conical tip

Lemme grab a pic

[frosty stirrup]

That doesn't look too bad, just needs tinned a bit better

it's too clean, always keep a thin layer of solder on it to ward of oxidation

[neat linden]

If I were you, I'd use the side of that tip instead of the point

Flux, and slowly drag with no pressure across the pins

[frosty stirrup]

"comb" the pins outward

[neat linden]

Rather than heat the bridge, yer gonna heat all of the pins so the solder flows evenly across them

Nah I wouldn't even go outward

Just distributing it across the pins should be enough

[night compass]

Oh, okay. Yeah, there's not too much on there at the moment

[frosty stirrup]

he is out of flux, going to need that first regardless, plenty of time to watch video's on removing a bridge in the mean time

[neat linden]

Oh yeah if you don't have flux then this project is on pause

[night compass]

Ah, okay. Sounds good then.

[frosty stirrup]

what temp are you soldering at?

[night compass]

It'a got no temp control aside from a button to heat it up more 😭
I've no idea, haha

it's rated at 200W

[neat linden]

Alright so getting a better iron is step 2

[night compass]

yep. With time :p

[neat linden]

I dunno about waiting on this one

Temp control is too important

[night compass]

That's a fair point. It is a hassle with this.

Any suggestions for a decent iron with temp control, that's still affordable?

[frosty stirrup]

200w?? those mains powered hot sticks are usually 25-45w

[night compass]

20 / 200W* whoops.

I guess that's for the extra button

20W at normal operation

[frosty stirrup]

200w can't be right for it's "boost" mode maybe 20/40

200w would turn that tip cherry red

[night compass]

It does glow slightly red if you hold it down too long 😅

which, I mean, you wouldn't really meez anyway

[frosty stirrup]

ok yeah, don't use that iron for this any longer

[night compass]

need*

[frosty stirrup]

What country?

[night compass]

Not the original one

[frosty stirrup]

your country I mean

[night compass]

Cant take off the tip either. It's one solid piece

[frosty stirrup]

Normally we suggest pinecil, not sure if they ship there. Aliexpress might be your best bet

[night compass]

The one from Pine64?

[fickle hare]

small clip how you can remove solder bridges. you can not see the bridge but how to remove them. no solder wick needed, only flux and a clean tip https://youtu.be/DIr7-_25_kU

[night compass]

Found it. $30 shipping though, haha

[frosty stirrup]

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2255799906019322.html flux
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2255799996774332.html iron

[frigid bronze]

I've attempted to sanitize your url: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2255799906019322.html

[frosty stirrup]

those are decent affordable options

[night compass]

I'll get some practice on something else first, but thanks for this

[night compass]

and thanks. I'll take a look at this

oh, that's the flux I used last time :D

good stuff

[night compass]

I'm sorry. I got impatient :(

I went to practice on a junk board I had laying around and did a thing. Came over to this board afterwards.

Small amounts of heat + carefully soaking up excess solder with bits of wick.

I then used the side of the tip and gently dragged away the remaining solder between the pins. Took about 25-35 mins.

I understand that there may still be some thin bridges I may have missed since I didn't use flux.

I plan to run through the pins using flux (when it arrives), as a precaution, before booting it up.

TL;DR: Not worth the risk and effort 😅

[dry wadi]

the AI smoothing from your phone is kinda crazy but it looks pretty good from the photo

[night compass]

but I wanted to ask about this.

Ths yellow part, yes, I'll clean it up later.

The red part though, would that affect anything? It runs onto the exposed bit there. Would it do the same with flux? Just planning ahead. I've paused work on this

Yeah. I kinda wish I can turn it off. It's annoying sometimes 😅
Pixel 6

[dry wadi]

looks fine

[night compass]

Ah, that bit is no issue then.

[frosty stirrup]

luckily looks like they only scratched up a ground section

check continuity from the two blue circles and you should be gtg

[frosty stirrup]

how about the short you had on the rom chip?

[wicked shale]

Im I doing this right ? The image is not showing up 😭

[cunning iron]

it would help if you added a better picture of the board so we could inspect the soldering.

🙂

also the rp204 can be difficult

[wicked shale]

I would assume I messed up on placing the files or maybe the display 🤔

[night compass]

Sorry, I was asleep.

The reading shows 002, between the two points in cyan. It's the same as my working Ruby cart.

The ROM chip is fine. It was just the pad for the negative terminal of the battery, and the via right below it, that were connected together by a huge blob of solder. It's looking much better now.

Anyway, I'll take a peek at the kicad files when I'm home again 👍

[spare apex]

Watch out on Mac, it adds junk files that start with ._ to the flash drive and the code.py script doesn’t handle this, delete the hidden files using a terminal

[wicked shale]

Are these files important 🤔

[spare apex]

you can leave those. basically noise you can’t fully opt out of but won’t break the script

[fickle hare]

resolder the rp2040, few pins look like they are not connected properly

[ionic gust]

The pad on the side of the chip is an alignment marker. The pad you need to worry about is on the bottom of the chip.

Won’t hurt to touch that up but as long as the chip is flat to the board it should be making a connection.

[fickle hare]

right what you say. but the pad on the pcb has so little solder that in my experience there is almost never a good connection to the IC in such a case. as you say, it can not hurt to re-solder it and thus possibly eliminate problems

[ionic gust]

100%

[scarlet aurora]

yo people, just finished assembling a cart with a JRodrigo adapter, used a JP Pokemon Silver. Hooked up the wires to A20 and WR, but I'm getting this message, tried cleaning the contacts a bunch, no success

I'll post pictures of the cart in a sec

oh and I got continuity from the start of the wires (or the pads I guess) to the MBC3 chip

does anything pop out as wrong?

[tropic obsidian]

I’m no expert but I would like to ask: you’re certain there’s no bridging with the wire at this spot? I can’t tell with the resolution but I assume someone would point that out

[cunning iron]

that pad is supposed to bridge those two

[tropic obsidian]

o7

[cunning iron]

carts can be difficult. you might have some bad contact on the pins of the chip on the adapter, so I would try to make sure that they are soldered

[scarlet aurora]

ok

I'll go over the pins with the iron again

[cunning iron]

picture is not the best but it might look like somethin is bridged in the bottom right of the adapter.

but yeah try to make sure the pins have contact

[dry wadi]

where did this adapter come from?

[scarlet aurora]

Jrodrigo's Tindie

[dry wadi]

ok was gonna say sometimes the PCB fab ones are just made poorly. the ones from him should be fine

[scarlet aurora]

I think I found a bridge

this

the other side looks like this

[scarlet aurora]

I got this to show up once with the "analyze flash cart" button but it went back to the previous message when I tried to write something to it

[frosty stirrup]

solder seems dry overall, using lead free?

[lucid gull]

This is an understatement, sometimes everything can look perfect and your cart will still refuse to flash, but will work the next day

[scarlet aurora]

I got it to work

reflowed everything

multiple times

[spare apex]

unevaporated IPA sometimes can be an issue. if it's underneath a component it takes a good while to dry. helps to sanity test before cleaning

[night compass]

Hey. Here's an update on the Sapphire cart. This is solved now. o7

Thank you for the help, advice and suggestions
I've also placed an order for the soldering iron.

[frosty stirrup]

So getting a ton of false 'up' presses with a brand new FP DMG kit when hitting left and right. Is it more likely to be the membranes or the dpad itself? Seems like raising the pivot point would help that but not sure.

[hidden basalt]

Uhhhh the what? Is this something that was supposed to come with the unhinged kit???

Oh I think this is from the donor console?

[tropic obsidian]

Is there a safe way to clean up what I assume is yellowed adhesive? Or should I even bother?

[scarlet aurora]

that's flux

from the factory

[tropic obsidian]

Oh, interesting.

[scarlet aurora]

you can clean it with IPA

it's a little annoying to clean

[tropic obsidian]

Well, the latter part of the question is now more pressing: should I bother?

[scarlet aurora]

you don't need to

[tropic obsidian]

I’ll leave it then, it’s in an opaque shell

[scarlet aurora]

it's non conductive flux

if it were conductive the MGB would be dead already

[jolly elm]

I'm unable to open a ticket with Funnyplaying, they ignore my emails, what do I do?

[ionic gust]

Your only options are:

E-mail them again
Be patient
Or file a charge back.

They’ve always responded to my emails in the past but they’re in China so it’s usually in the middle of the night for me.

[neat linden]

It takes them some time to reply in my experience

[jolly elm]

It's been

months

I received this on january, last answered email was before march

[tropic obsidian]

Are you sure the email you last sent isn’t in your outbox and did actually send?

[jolly elm]

Yeah, definitely sure

[digital otter]

drive up to them and sue

[worldly wagon]

forgive the silly question but Im at my wits end does the headphone jack need to be in for a GBC to turn on?

the whole jack attached to the board

[dry wadi]

the DC jack does

[worldly wagon]

that is present

Im getting the right voltages, theres continuity from fuses and the power board to the switch, its a new switch, fuses are good

[remote bobcat]

Pictures of the board?

[worldly wagon]

The same one that's been plaguing me. The black board worked perfectly the first time but I feel like this red one develops a new issue every time I boot it ha

[remote bobcat]

You're getting 5V out of pin 7 of the DC/DC regulator?

[dry wadi]

where did you get that power switch

because there is a board design problem with early designs from helder where the pinout is incorrect

[worldly wagon]

It is a helder but recently ordered

[worldly wagon]

Maybe my understanding of checking the voltage is lacking, Im checking between the switch and pin 7?

[dry wadi]

no just what is the voltage that pin 7 has

[remote bobcat]

Battery connected, switch in the "on" position, meter in DC Voltage mode, black probe on Pin 4 or 3, red probe on Pin 7.

#troubleshooting-archived message

Bucket Mouse's guide is great to troubleshooting no CGB power

[worldly wagon]

that is the most amazing photo. Im getting 2.58 with that

[remote bobcat]

2.58V on Pin 7 of the DC/DC board?

[worldly wagon]

yes, negative lead on BT- and positive on 7, DC mode

[dry wadi]

you either have a short or misplaced component on the 5V rail or you have a failed DC-DC

you can power and meter the DC-DC out of circuit

when looking at the CGB schematic it is the VDD5 rail

[worldly wagon]

Im going to guess failed dc/dc because it was working and playing games prior

following the power test from that image, 7-4 are all reading 2.58

[remote bobcat]

You should test it out of circuit to verify. Desolder it from the board and if you have those battery alligator leads, attach the negative one to Pin 3/4 and positive to Pin 1. Then measure Pin 7 to still see if you have 2.58V

[worldly wagon]

Ill try that

[remote bobcat]

If you do still have 2.58V, then it's the voltage regulator. If it reads 5V then you have a short or misplaced component on the board.

[worldly wagon]

4.93 but what could I have shorted or misplaced that let it play games just fine for a time

Ill consult the image and check things out one by one, thank you all

[remote bobcat]

I'd start with the capacitors on the 5V line to see if any of them are shorted.

But yeah, you're probably going to have to probe around

[formal oar]

any idea why ALL the buttons on a gameboy color would fail? (at the same time as the sound!)
like yeah its dirty im cleaning it rn but its weird that it just reads no inputs at all right? seems like a problem "up the line" so to speak?
the contacts arent corroded at all

ok. controls working after cleaning. insane lol.

[uncut pier]

Any specific reason that a cart would be consistently dumping with one byte different from a known good dump? Picked up a copy of emerald and its reading the same incorrect byte across five dumps and three dumpers.

[dry wadi]

assuming youre doing a hash check against another dump online?

[uncut pier]

that and another cart that i have on hand

[dry wadi]

iirc there is a v1.1 revision of the gen3 carts

[uncut pier]

I don't recall seeing another version of english emerald in the dat-o-matic

[trim jolt]

a revision wouldnt be just one byte off though. It seems unlikely at least

Maybe it really just is a reading error? Did you reseat the cartridge a few times maybe?

[uncut pier]

reseated and cleaned with q-tip and iso

[trim jolt]

hmm strange

What kind of reader are you using?

[uncut pier]

I'm almost positive its an error since the byte is 0x19 in a group of 0x11's

[uncut pier]

gbxcart 1.3, gbxcart 1.4a, sanni cart reader v5

[trim jolt]

oh thats even more weird

maybe you have a r@re copy :D

[spare apex]

i'd think dirty contacts would be more likely to affect multiple bytes. since just one bit is off and it's always the same bit, i wonder if there's either a bug in your cart reader software or your ROM is faulty

[uncut pier]

if it helps the specific byte is around 0x00331b90, I can post the output of diff as well

[trim jolt]

MD5 (Pokemon - Emerald Version (UE).gba) = 605b89b67018abcea91e693a4dd25be3```

[uncut pier]

$ md5sum Pokemon\ -\ Emerald\ Version\ \(USA\,\ Europe\).gba 
d00c3508bf01156fc19202be4fccc94f  Pokemon - Emerald Version (USA, Europe).gba
$ md5sum Pokemon\ -\ Emerald\ Version\ \(USA\,\ Europe\)_known_good.gba 
605b89b67018abcea91e693a4dd25be3  Pokemon - Emerald Version (USA, Europe)_known_good.gba

running both roms through xxd, then doing diff on the output

$ diff emer_bad_4.hex emer_good.hex 
209338c209338
< 00331b90: 1111 1111 1119 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111  ................
---
> 00331b90: 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111  ................

[spare apex]

hm nothing about that address stands out to me. i'm not sure if the address matters since afaik the GBA doesn't do bank switching (except maybe video carts)

[uncut pier]

oh i just realized

this is a single bit different

[spare apex]

yea

not sure how to diagnose this further without getting a second cartridge and swapping the ROM chips

[uncut pier]

that is well above my comfort level with soldering

its also a really good condition cart so I would have some reservations about doing that

[digital otter]

i was trying to mess with my battery with my GBA SP and now it doesn't want to turn on at all and i have no clue why all of a sudden

[neat linden]

Post pictures

[digital otter]

true

gonna check the switch just in case right now

[dry wadi]

what troubleshooting steps have you done

[digital otter]

i just checked the switch which was fine, tried both my stock battery and my mahko battery on another GBA SP, both of which all worked fine and cleaning the contacts on my motherboard with a bit of rubbing alcohol

my USB-C port seems to be working, as it will light up for a second when plugged in, but not stay on, with or without battery

[dry wadi]

have you checked the fuses

[digital otter]

i've'nt; how would i do that exactly?

[dry wadi]

do you have a multimeter

youre checking continuity on F1 and F2

[digital otter]

i do not have one unfortunately

i was just borrowing my friend's for other stuff, but at this point i'll just get my own

[dry wadi]

i dont know how to help you further without a multimeter. check your work, make sure there isnt anything shorting

[digital otter]

yeah i figured, thanks!

[frosty stirrup]

@twin plinth I can't imagine it being anything other than the volume pot itself, I've triple checked every component around it and referenced olDirey's board

[twin plinth]

B103 is 10 and 3zero so 10k

[lucid gull]

Most likely issue is the pot based off my experience

[twin plinth]

i just am not sure if 14k would make it louder or quieter

you can get them cheap on ali or console5 isnt to bad

[frosty stirrup]

thanks, that's reassuring. I checked over all passives and they look good

maybe didn't like the ultrasonic cleaner twice in one day

[twin plinth]

i washed mine and it went to 1M ohm lol

[frosty stirrup]

there's 5 contacts, which should I be measuring across?

[twin plinth]

outer 2 i think would measure 10k when the wheel is in the max position

[lucid gull]

I once spent about two hours troubleshooting low volume issues on a board. Replaced cap, dc jack, headphone jack, and even volume pot, turned out that I just needed to reflow the amp

[twin plinth]

or maybe the outer 2 always measure max i forget

[frosty stirrup]

Yeah, 14.3k on outer two in lowest volume setting

7.7k on highest volume setting

[lucid gull]

Volume pot is 10k x 2

[frosty stirrup]

Amp is soldered in pretty good

so it should be 20K at lowest volume setting?

[twin plinth]

https://components101.com/sites/default/files/component_pin/5-Terminal-Thumbwheel-Potentiometer.png

kinda just confuses me more lol

[frosty stirrup]

no that's helpful, 3 and 4 are the wipers

[twin plinth]

so 2 and 5 should also be 10k

[frosty stirrup]

should 1 and 2 be a dead short?

[twin plinth]

i just tested and it is when the wheel is in the low position

when its max its OL

max meaning wipers are all the way to 5

[frosty stirrup]

opened up another working CGB, 1 to 5 is 10k, 5.7k at max vol

2 to 4 is 10k, 12k at max vol

so it would seem my pot is F'd

seems a little sus anyway. should the other 3 contacts have that gray strip?

[twin plinth]

Might be the conductive material

[frosty stirrup]

Anyways, I'll sleep better tonight knowing it's probably just the pot. Thanks you two

[twin plinth]

You can also borrow them from a DMG I think the wheel is just thicker

[frosty stirrup]

I have to order battery contacts anyway

Console5 won't carry the battery contacts as well will they?

[lucid gull]

Try retromodding

[frosty stirrup]

ok, pot and battery contacts ordered

[scarlet aurora]

hi people, got this analysis from FlashGBX for my HDR flash cart I just built:

ROM Title: 
Save Type: 512K SRAM (64 KiB)

Flash ID Check:
[     ROM     ] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
[WR   / 555/AA] FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 
[WR   / 555/A9] FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 
[WR   / AAA/AA] FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 
[WR   / AAA/A9] FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 
[AUDIO/ 555/A9] FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 
[AUDIO/ 555/AA] FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 
[AUDIO/ AAA/A9] FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 
[AUDIO/ AAA/AA] FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 

Common Flash Interface Data: No data provided

Cartridge Type: Unknown flash cartridge – Please submit the displayed information along with a picture of the cartridge’s circuit board. For ROM writing, you can give the option called “Generic Flash Cartridge (WR/AAA/AA)” a try at your own risk.

FlashGBX v3.26 | GBxCart RW v1.4a – Firmware R41+L9```

any idea of what it could be based on that? I can post pictures if not

seems like the memory is being read at least

got this now

[cunning iron]

post pictures of cart

[scarlet aurora]

ok, just a sec

[cunning iron]

looks like there is something on the mbc

[scarlet aurora]

in one of the chips I didn't know exactly which one was the 1st pin. it looks like this, so I assumed the one where the two lines + the dot are is the 1st one

[cunning iron]

pictures are not the best. don't know if it's only dirty or something is up here as well.

[scarlet aurora]

I think the pin is a little bent yeah

[cunning iron]

nobetween the pins

[scarlet aurora]

oh that looks like solder

[cunning iron]

pins looks good enough, but if there is something between them shorting you are going to have problems.

[scarlet aurora]

alright I'll go over those spots, thanks man

👀

[lucid gull]

Hopefully you also ram FRAM test

[scarlet aurora]

idk what that is

[cunning iron]

oh yeah. you should do that.

[scarlet aurora]

is it in FlashGBX as well?

[cunning iron]

run that

[scarlet aurora]

oh I should write that like a rom?

[cunning iron]

it will check your fram and see if everything is ok.

yeah write it

[lucid gull]

I think the latest FlashGBX does it as well but need to double check

[scarlet aurora]

I did update the firmware today for my GBxCart

but not FlashGBX

anyways the test is running

this tests every memory address?

[cunning iron]

yeah

[frosty stirrup]

Cypress FRAM is hot or miss. Hopefully it works for you

[scarlet aurora]

I guess they never miss huh

[cunning iron]

nice. go enjoy your game now

[scarlet aurora]

🫡 yessir

[broken kernel]

Hi guys, can someone help to troubleshoot a cartridge GBA. The battery is around 2.9 volts but the save files are not getting save every time I power cycle the gba

Not sure what could be wrong

[lucid gull]

What game is it and can we get some pictures of the board?

[broken kernel]

Hi Jack, is a Metroid Zero Mission

[neat linden]

Can you take higher resolution/clearer pictures?

I see stuff that could be damage but I can't tell with this quality

[broken kernel]

I checked continuity of those paths of the board that looks weird

And the multimeter was beeping correctly

I will try to get better quality photos

[ionic gust]

Clean it with some IPA too. The board is dirty. It’s harder to see if there are any rotted out traces / vias with the dirt still on it.

[nova nexus]

Hi i need help on my left gba. I changed the polarizer on that one and somehow it’s darker than the right one. Any idea on whats the cause?

[nova nexus]

Okay so i followed a video on the orientation of the back parts on the polarizer now myscreen doesnt turn on

I also peeled off both sidese of the polarizer incase anyone asks

oh i fucked up the ribbon cable 😢

are the ribbon cables still fixable or do I need to just buy the ips one now

[lucid gull]

Ribbon cable repairs are not easy. IPS would be the easiest

[small yacht]

My color wont turn on, ive cleaned with iso with no luck. Does the capacitor look like it needs replacing? Or any other ideas?

[neat linden]

How did you clean the power switch

[ionic gust]

That battery terminal looks kind of effed. Any corrosion on the board?

[neat linden]

Also yer battery contact looks hella rusted, hows the re-

Welp

[robust lynx]

Looking at the screw and the contact I’d say you have corrosion issues.

[ionic gust]

You can also boot the console without that cap. It goes to the speaker

[neat linden]

Also C38 would only really affect the audio

Goddammit dude

[ionic gust]

You got this. I’m going back to hatching eggs in Violet. 20 hours in

[neat linden]

[neat linden]

But yeah:

1. Provide pictures of the rest of the board
2. No the capacitor does not need replacing
3. Make sure you open up the powerswitch to clean it instead of just dripping ISO into it

[haughty bluff]

I'm having exactly the same issue as this Reddit post, but on a 40-pin GBA: https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/10kc1p4/brightness_changing_by_itself_on_funnyplaying_ita/

Usually after 30-60 mins of gameplay, the brightness will start cycling on its own. Additionally, I can make it start happening immediately by displaying a screen with many vertical lines (easy repro: "full screen stripes" set to vertical on the 160p test suite rom).

Makho also experiences it here, at 28:22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWBGmjLxyK0&t=1702s

What I've tried so far:

• Taping the sensor to the rear half of the shell
• Cleaning the power switch

I know I can disable touch entirely by removing the TC233A chip, but ideally I'd like to fix this while retaining touch, as I prefer it over buttons that conflict with in-game inputs (though I do have the buttons wired up for now). Reddit post detailing removing the touch chip due to the same problem: https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/11rmms7/i_was_able_to_completely_and_permanently_remove/

[spare apex]

the datasheet in a tweet linked from that second reddit page says you can adjust the sensitivity with the capacitor Cs between a range of 1 to 50 pF. looks like it corresponds to C5.

[haughty bluff]

Will have to check the values on the ones FP chose. Hopefully it won’t be too hard to poke at those tiny SMD parts with my multimeter

Some other ideas I had for troubleshooting:

• check if the problem still occurs with the touch sensor not folded to be near the display ribbon
• check if the problem still occurs when fully disassembled, with the adapter board away from the rear of the screen

[haughty bluff]

Still occurs with the touch sensor unfolded. Still occurs after snipping off the sensor. Does not occur with the adapter board away from the rear of the screen (fully disassembled)

Unfortunately the caps and resistors on the adapter board are way too small for me to measure or replace, so adjusting sensitivity that way isn’t an option see below

So, I’ll go ahead and just remove touch by desoldering the TC233A chip

On second glance, C5 is actually missing. Can somebody else with this kit confirm that’s standard?

also, I managed to measure R15 at 990 ohms

My board matches what the datasheet recommends: "it can be left in the air" for the capacitor and "the typical application is 1K" for the resistor.

The photo in the Reddit post linked above is different though; they're missing R15 but they have a capacitor at C5.

[small yacht]

I'm sorry to be the annoying one but how do I get the cover off? 😅

[scarlet aurora]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7U-Ix3TBks

like this ☝️

[robust lynx]

I see a lot of corrosion on the board. All the blue stuff needs to be cleaned. ( I’d recommend using vinegar then clean it off with ipa) and then I hope no traces have been damaged.

But I fear this is not going to be an easy repair.

[small yacht]

Other than on the button contacts, under the power switch and general grime, is there anywhere else I should be cleaning? Other than that I thought it didn't look too bad tbh

[neat linden]

You don't need to clean

Cleaning won't fix it if it won't work (other than cleaning the power switch, that one will help)

You need to test any corroded parts with a multimeter to make sure no traces have been corroded away

Then jump them if they have

[robust lynx]

I have always been told that if the battery corrosion isn’t removed it may lead to more damage in the future.

[neat linden]

Yes, that's true, moreso the point I was making was "it won't magically work if you clean it". You're totally right, removing the corrosion is important to keep it from spreading, I should have clarified that

[small yacht]

Thanks for the info you two, I've enjoyed tinkering with these and love learning how to solve the issues

[robust lynx]

But this contact really looks like it has seen better days.

What I’d normally would do:

1. Use a battery package with croc clips, connected at the base of the battery contacts rather then the spring. ( be careful to not let the plus and negative side make contact with each other, also make sure polarity is correct. )

2. Clean power switch even if the Gameboy doen boot. I’d also reflow the contacts of the power switch while I am at it anyway.

3. If all failed grab a multimeter to check traces and fuses. I’d normally start with the fuses.

Not that I have a lot of experience however only brought a handful of Gameboys back from the grave.

[small yacht]

Hey everyone, me again. I've pulled the polarizer off of one of my pockets and it looks like this..

Ik i still have some glue to clean, but how do I fix the darkness? 😅 I've only seen guides for replacing the polariser, is there something ive missed?

[terse dew]

does it look like the darkness is behind the glass if you hold it at an angle? iirc there's also a rear polarising film behind the glass but if you're replacing that, you'd basically be removing the reflective layer with and doing a backlight mod

if it looks like it's in front of the glass, it's possible you took off the layer in front of the front polariser but not the polariser itself

(i am reasonably sure i managed to do this too when i tried to pull a front polariser for the first time)

[small yacht]

Thanks for the info! It's definitely behind the glass, when i tap with my finger or a blade, its definitely on glass, not on a film or anything

So next step would be to look into a backlight mod?

[terse dew]

yeah pulling the rear polariser + reflective layer is a bit more involved than a nice simple front polariser swap though, and doing a backlight mod will involve a little soldering to give the backlight panel power

worth a look if you're set on getting that particular screen usable again though

probably clean up that adhesive first just to see if maybe you got between the layers after all - you're gonna need to do that either way

i can't see the sorta seam you'd expect if that were the case, but it just may not have come out well in the photo

[small yacht]

I'll definitely give it a clean up tomorrow and make 100% sure!
I'm not too worried about that screen, but if a backlight mod is the next step to getting it working, it sounds like a learning experience

I bought 5kg of gbs to tinker with 😂 the more i can get going, the happier ill be!

[terse dew]

damn you know you're buying in bulk when you refer to it by weight instead of count

anyway good luck with whatever way you decide to go with it :)

[robust lynx]

Honestly if you have that much I’d wait with ordering parts for mods. Maybe there are a couple you can’t get to work and use as donors.

But that’s just me. I prefer keeping things as original as possible. ( unless it’s a Gameboy I end up playing with)

[urban skiff]

dead/stuck pixel fix? been there since i got it this lammy kit (top left)

[robust lynx]

Looking at the shape I would assume it to be dust. Rather than a stuck pixel. ( dead pixels will be completely black)

As you say it’s a laminated kit, I fear it’s tough luck as warranty tends to end the moment you install the screen.

[urban skiff]

wouldnt that be like a really fucked up reason to end warranty, you wouldnt know until you install and turn it on

[scarlet aurora]

I think they mean when you install it in the shell, sometimes the way you install the screen in the shell can damage the screen

if it's dust as Yuekram mentioned then it's not an installation problem, but sellers usually ask you to test screens before gluing the screen to the shell to know for sure it wasn't a problem that happened when someone did a bad install

and also because you can't remove the screen once you glue it with the adhesive (at least not easily afaik)

[robust lynx]

And I do agree it being bogus that limited warranty. But normally it’s totally doable to test the screen before permanently installing it into the shell. I have learned it the hard way as well the limited warranty.

[cunning iron]

This is why you test screen flat put on the table. As soon as you put it in a shell there is nothing to do. Cause you might have done something during install.

Like this

So you don't have to install the screen to know

[urban skiff]

you are supposed to glue the screens to the shell? lol its not been glued for sure

[scarlet aurora]

I mean if you can get away without gluing them I'd say don't do it

[urban skiff]

it was a perfect fit, i messaged the seller and they offered a half refund. said its best they can do since been installed

lesson learned for next time i suppose

[delicate locust]

My L button came apart while I was preparing to reshell my SP, how do I fix this? I dont know which way the spring goes in and I dont want to break it

[dry wadi]

#troubleshooting-archived message

[delicate locust]

tysm!

[tame zinc]

I just got a Zelda Oracle of Ages that is making short when booting it up with my gameboy

[neat linden]

Pics of inside the Gameboy and game

[tame zinc]

gameboy works fine

[ionic gust]

Have you cleaned the contacts on the game?

[tame zinc]

Obviously

[ionic gust]

You’d be surprised how many people skip the obvious and go straight into asking.

What’s going on here?

[tame zinc]

the ---> side of the contacts is scratched with something sharp that made part of the contacts to be lost

I tested and the continuity is fine

but should I give it some soldering just in case?

[ionic gust]

Give what some soldering?

[tame zinc]

To these contacts. I'm not sure if that's causing the problem

[ionic gust]

No, never solder the contacts on the board. They’re plated with hard gold. You solder them it’s game over for the board and it’s going to damage your game boy.

[tame zinc]

oh

Got it.

[ionic gust]

The photos are too grainy for me to really look at the traces above the contacts. It’s common for traces there to break.

[tame zinc]

Well, I actually see no issue overall on the contacts

or in the traces

aside the notorious scratch

[ionic gust]

So if you’re 100% sure that your contacts are clean, you can start very gently nudge testing the rom and ram to see if there are any loose pins.

Start with the ram

[tame zinc]

would it be the issue to make short and make the game to not to boot up?

[ionic gust]

What do you mean short? Like voltage is shorted directly to ground?

[tame zinc]

Nope

I say that this game when I put it on my gameboy, the console turns off immediately after I turn it on.

[ionic gust]

Does it do that with any other game too?

[tame zinc]

It's not an issue from my gameboy whatsoever.

[ionic gust]

This is a Game Boy Color, yeah?

[tame zinc]

GBA SP

[neat linden]

Do you have any other CGB games to test with? Just because you're sure it's not the Gameboy doesn't mean we're sure it's not the Gameboy

[tame zinc]

It's definitely the problem of the game.

Something in the cartridge causing short and doesn't allow the console to boot up.

[tame zinc]

I'm not sure what could be the issue

I got a Game & Watch Gallery 3 that has the same PCB and it's working normally after fixing it a broken trace

[tame zinc]

after checking the PCB of Zelda, I just noticed some of the condensers/capacitors are making contact between them like a bridge, something that shouldn't happen

and at least checking out two games of the same pcb and that boot up, the problem is that the capacitors on C1, C2 and C4 are making contact which doesn't happen on working ones.

[urban skiff]

£10 charity store find. what tf am i looking at? never had a dmg look like this before.
only fakes i known are ones covered in black blobs

[cunning iron]

pretty sweet fake you got there 😛

[urban skiff]

hot glued mess lmao

[twin plinth]

ya id rather have that then a real DMG

[urban skiff]

is there value in fakes im missing? xd

only thing borked is sound, but i can see there's loose wire on speaker

[cunning iron]

not really I think. it's just neat to have

[urban skiff]

would you happen to know where id reattach the speaker wire, ill take closer up photo

[twin plinth]

probably not a ton of people collecting DMG clones so not much value, but there pretty uncommon

[cunning iron]

looks like there is some wire strands there, so I am guessing there

but pop that out and see what it says on the other side

[urban skiff]

photo above

[urban skiff]

?

[cunning iron]

I was correct

you can see it says sp

[urban skiff]

so sound should be fine if i reconnect those

closer pics of each piece near speaker

[cunning iron]

connect the white lose wire to the empty sp one

[urban skiff]

gotcha, ill make sure to do that when my iron arrives

thats between boards, cant get to it with how tight its hotglued

[fickle hare]

you need to reattach the small pcb to the speaker or need to get a new one

[cunning iron]

that too

[urban skiff]

i can glue that down, make sure the connections touch?

[cunning iron]

but if it all fails you can just buy a replacement speaker if you want.

[urban skiff]

would that work on a fake okay? lol

[cunning iron]

I guess? most likely

[fickle hare]

can you see the small copper wires on the speaker? you need to solder them to the pcb

[urban skiff]

yeah i see them

[urban skiff]

looks like it was held with double sided tape previously

by some miracle it worked despite its condition and being fake tho lol

[frosty stirrup]

Is the shell authentic?

[urban skiff]

idk how to spot a fake dmg shell

[olive pike]

Does this battery look damaged? It’s been having this thing where it’ll flicker between green and red after only an hour or so, but it’ll fluctuate between for like another two hours minimum, never tried to play until it died. So before I pull the whole thing apart and try to clean the power switch, does this thing look damaged? The discoloration was concerning me

[neat linden]

Pulling that apart = 💥

That looks like a cheap cell and is probably just toast. No fixing it, you'll need to replace it

In the meantime, do try cleaning your SP's power switch anyway

Just to really make sure the batt is the problem

[olive pike]

I meant pulling apart the system lol, and yeah it was my first time buying a replacement battery, I’ll stick with the other one I bought, I think it was better, or if you have any suggestions! Thank you btw for letting me know it is in fact toast

[haughty bluff]

Both of these are excellent batteries for the SP:

https://www.retromodding.com/collections/game-boy-advance-sp/products/makho-game-boy-advance-sp-battery

https://www.retromodding.com/collections/game-boy-advance-sp/products/angry-helders-game-boy-advance-sp-battery

[olive pike]

and i could use a standard charger for those?

[neat linden]

Yup

I recommend the top one

[olive pike]

Okay just picked up 3 B)

[wicked shale]

Or this too https://shop.giltesa.com/product/game-boy-advance-sp-battery-adapter-kit/

[ionic gust]

Looks redundant. Those batteries already have a protection circuit. Looks like you remove the protection circuit already included on the battery and solder the battery to a board that has a protection circuit. Why?

[twin plinth]

i think its to get a wire free install

[cunning iron]

Its much more unsafe. People who don't know how to handle batteries can have them blow up in their face

[distant pewter]

Guys I need some help. The last few days I played Dragonball Z legendary super warriors a lot. Today as I played, it suddenly got a black screen with no sound, but the gbc is still turned on and the power light as well. Can someone tell me what the problem is? It happens with other games too. I've modded my gbc with an ips screen, and another power light which changes when the battery is running low.

[mossy mirage]

Kinda sounds like your batteries are just dead

Try fresh batteries

[distant pewter]

You're right. Funny that you answered, because I have your Power led which should switch colour. It worked pretty good in the past but now it didn't change. Do you know which could be the reason that for?

[mossy mirage]

What kind of batteries are you using?

[distant pewter]

Panasonic Eneloop 1.2V 2000mAh

I also have the IKEA Ladda 2450mAh 1.2V, but I haven't used them yet

[haughty bluff]

My experience with the battery indicator mod is that it does change to the low battery color, but when it gets low enough that the IPS display turns off, the LED switches back to the high color

Also on Eneloop

[distant pewter]

Hmm didn't notice the change. Maybe I've overseen it. At the moment I don't have empty ones. Earlier i used some non rechargeable Duracell plus with 1.5V. Is there any possibility the voltage is the reason for not changing?

[haughty bluff]

IIRC it changes at 2.15V? Unsure when alkaline batteries are considered “dead”

[mossy mirage]

Seems unlikely it would shut off without the low battery indicator tripping, even briefly. Stock regulator?

[distant pewter]

Yep, stock regulator.

[thorn storm]

Shoulder pins are cut

@solemn goblet

[dry wadi]

no need to ping its a public troubleshooting channel

can does the screen have pressure marks with the board outside of the shell

you can carefully power on the SP outside of the shell with the screen ribbon connected

[thorn storm]

It still does

I just did it

Ok, so I took out the triggers, and just put on the shell, powered it on and it’s still there, might be some pressure from the pcb

Its right by the link port

[dry wadi]

did you get the slate with the screen pre-assembled from RGRS

[thorn storm]

Yup

[dry wadi]

do you have pictures of the pressure area

like what the screen looks like

[thorn storm]

Yeah, let me just put the battery in real quick.

Ok I just finished screwing everything back, dude it’s such a faint pressure mark, but it’s there, if I send a picture of it you’re gonna think I’m crazy lmaoo 😭

[dry wadi]

im trying to figure out if its pressure from the front or the back of the screen

[thorn storm]

Bottom left corner

It’s kinda hard to see in picture

[dry wadi]

yea your camera and discord compression isnt helping you out here

[thorn storm]

Fr dude

How about this one

Can you see that mark?

[dry wadi]

yes. proceed at your risk, but you can try to remove the laminated screen to try to reposition or check if it still has the pressure mark outside of the shell

assembling and reassembly requires a lot of finesse as the screen and lens area have tight tolerances for a nicer end product

[thorn storm]

I completely understand what you mean, but honestly won’t risk it, because if I break the lcd then it’s game over, worse than having a pressure mark.

It’s only noticeable when the screen is white or when pitch black, when I’m playing a game I can’t really notice it, it’s mostly my brain just telling me there’s something there.

[surreal aurora]

Hi, guys, I bought a GBA a while back and it has a finicky power switch, it needs to be lightly turned on and careful not to move after it's on, do I just need to replace the button? It's supposed to be modder fodder and if I have to remove more, I will

[scarlet aurora]

probably just need to clean the power switch, soldering is required though