#game fails after ips mod

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

gaunt flume
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game fails after ips mod

slate solar
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On the 5th pic, the via on the bottom could use a bit more flux and a solder reflow, it looks like there's barely enough solder keeping the wire in place. Hardly seems problematic though, just a longevity thing. As far as the game glitching like that... I'd doublecheck and reseat your ribbon connections, and the solder globs in the first pic of the black wire (both ends) are scary. Excessive solder there. But again, I don't think those could be an issue. Can'y imagine they'd be large enough to short against anything to cause game corruption like this. What are you using to power up the Gameboy Color? Fresh AA batteries sometimes help.

reef night
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You may have cracked a joint on the cart reader when you trimmed the pins. You can try checking for continuity between the pins and the corresponding vias -- above the CGB-CPU-02 designation -- or just jump straight to reflowing all the pins

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Any issues with other games?

slate solar
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Another thing you can try is cutting down a magic eraser to roughly the size of a GB cart PCB, putting it into a GB cart shell, and using that to clean the Gameboy Color's connector pins. It's gentle on the pins while also good at gently scraping off gunk.

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I've had dirty pins goof up so many things, it's crazy.

green plank
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Is it having problems with any other games? I know you said it was working fine before the mod, but would still be good to figure out if it’s affecting anything else

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Have you checked the insulation on your start/select wires? I think that spot where they’re taped is right behind the CPU, so if there’s any exposed copper shorting against those vias, it could lead to weird behavior

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I had a kit like that once where the insulation on the wires was bad, and they kept shorting against something and erasing my saves. Ended up replacing the wires

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Oh, I just read the part where this is using a flash cart. Try downloading another ROM of that same game and see if it has the same issue

green plank
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I'd probably go back to checking/cleaning the cart reader pins, like froggo and jayro suggested

reef night
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How did you check? Hairline fractures are a thing, and are generally non obvious

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That's the ground pin, and that's expected

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Sticks out further, I think

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Close up shots of the pins with the kapton tape removed might help

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But really, I suggest getting a multimeter if you wanna keep doing this stuff. It comes in handy a lot

green plank
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This seems kind of sus, especially since it’s a different console

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Whoops, sorry for the tag

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Do you have the original cart or a different flash cart you can test with?

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There are a couple of Reddit posts from people having issues getting the SML2 DX ROM hack to work properly with the EZ Flash Jr. on IPS-modded GBCs. Even if this ROM isn’t patched, maybe your cart is just extra sensitive

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On a related note, the EZ Flash uses quite a bit more power than a regular cart. More broadly, I've heard of people having issues with it because their batteries were low or on a console with limited power overhead, like the Pocket. Maybe check your caps and power switch. Obviously, if the cart itself is failing, though, that may not make a difference

green plank
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If you haven’t cleaned your power switch, that’s probably worth doing anyway, even if you’re not going to recap it

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The fact that the flash cart is being weird on the GBA, too, though, makes it seem like the cart is the likely culprit

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Try to avoid buying from RetroSix if you can

abstract carbon
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you generally don't need to recap consoles btw

green plank
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You can order the caps from any old electronics retailer, but if HDR thinks you don’t need to recap, I'd take that to heart

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Back to assuming the flash cart is the issue

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No idea. Depends what the issue is. Makho has a video where he reflows an EZ Flash that’s having issues. Their soldering fab and QA is a little iffy, so sometimes a joint will break from the board flexing during insertion/removal

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So…it might be fixable, but whether it’s worth the effort depends a bit on what the issue is and how comfortable you are with that kind of soldering. It’s more involved

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In his case, the cart wouldn’t boot at all. Might not be worth it in your case since it seems like the cart is still mostly functional

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Might also be worth checking with the retailer if it’s still under warranty

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That battery issue you had with the first one happened to mine the first time around, too. I think it’s pretty common. After a couple of days of that, it just stopped booting completely, so I swapped it, too

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Fwiw I've been much happier with the Everdrive GB x7

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(You want the GB x7. The GG one is Game Gear)