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Holy moly I had a GBA That I never figured out why it needed like 30 seconds between reboots to work ! and it had no sound due to it beeing a water damaged console I removed the headphone jack and never got sound out ot it plus that discharge resistor ! I had to replace the powerswitch and the resistor was missing ! Thanks ! You just upgraded this GBA from the Junk pile to sitting in a new Shell !
Really awesome video. I just got into fixing and upgrading GBA's. This is really educational for understanding how PCB's work and how you can use a multimeter to devine the problems on a broken board.
Cheers for posting this - helped me confirm that the problem with my GBA was a blown F1 fuse. Thought I'd messed up something more major than that when instaling new triggers, so was relieved :)
Super cool, love this deep dive. Back in the day I shorted my NGPC by using a mobile phone charger rather than my NGPC power supply, I then took it in to my local game shop and they said their is no hope for it so sadly it went in the bin... wish I still had it as I'd feel a little more inspired to fix it and give it a new lease of life!
I have watched a couple of your videos... This is pure gold! After being a happy customer of your shop, I am now a happy viewer of your videos! If I have any requests...It would be PC Engine GT stuffs (products and videos) :D
This is so good! I was only looking for game boy mod videos and ended up in this video, but I watched every minute of the video and learned a lot. Thanks for sharing! So interesting 😁
Loving these videos, find them so interesting! In terms of soldering, would you ever do a video on replacing a GBA carts batteries? Something I’ve been looking at for a few weeks but seeing a few different ways of doing everything
@@RetroSix This helped me fix my GBA, thanks again! For anyone else interested, these fuses worked for the F1 fuse since the originals have been discontinued. www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bel-fuse-inc/C2Q-1.25/615039
Wow super informative!! I have a question. I have a gba where the sound works great when first turned on, but slowly gets quieter and choppy until there's no sound at all. Sound works perfectly from the headphone jack though. What could be going on?
Bravo! Best video along this line I've seen thus far. I have GBA that starts about 1 out of 5-8 attempts. When it doesn't complete, the power light flickers with each failed attempt. When it fires up it's gtg until turned off. The power switch was cleaned and then replaced with the exact same results. The battery terminals are gtg. When back to back attempts to fire are quickly done in succession, the power light flicker is less bright each time until dark at about the fifth attempt. Capacitor?
I have 3v from positive battery pin to left of f1 and out the right of f1 in off position.also have 3 volts on pin 2 of the power switch while in off position.when I turn it on I get 0.06 on pin 2 of the power switch any help?
I have the same corrosion problem, I think the Q7 is bad, the u4 has to modulate to 6v, right? If so, I lack that voltage, the truth is I don't know how to continue ...
Hi, would there be any way for me to fix mine? It’s been scratched on the motherboard around two screws that kept it in place, one near where the speakers connect and one next to the thing that says c44, to the right (sorry I’m not really too great with names). It doesn’t turn on, the display didn’t work on it when it turned on before, when the one on the left was scratched, and the sound doesn’t work. First only the display didn’t work so I tried to take out the screw on the right side, but some yellow stuff has been revealed at the bottom. I’m sure that it isn’t because of corrosion because it wasn’t like this before I opened it a while ago.
Great content, I have a question, off topic , I have 2 GBA AGB-001, one works with Ni-Mh batteries (total 2.6v) so the batteries ain't the problem, and the other one only makes a pop noise, power switch is cleaned and battery contacts are fine, possible causes ?
i replaced the resistor on mine and it still didn't work. I think the circuit is trashed and the pad for 1 is lifted off the board so I tried running a 30awg wire to R13 and it still has discharge issues. Kind of at a loss actually
Love this video, my Gameboy advance won’t turn on. I cleaned the power switch and checked the fuse and also the blue inductor. There is all 3v but if I turn the switch on the light is just flickering and goes off, it does the same if i turn the switch into off position. What should I can do?
I'm getting audio out of headphones but no audio from speaker, replaced speaker, volume wheel works with headphones in... possibly bridge pin 4 to pin 5 to fix the problem? what do you suggest?
Great video you have there! I have a GBA but whenever I tried to turn it on, its never turned on, the green light shows for a second and then its off. I already cleaned the power switch but no luck, maybe its not a power switch related issue?
Hey RetroSix, thoroughly enjoyed the educational video! I used it to try and diagnose why the GBA I've been working on has no sound out of the speaker or headphone jack. Unfortunately, I still haven't solved the problem. I had soldered a wire similar to you did in the video (pin 4 to 5), but no sound came out still. I've cleaned both the volume potentiometer and headphone jack with IPA, and replaced the speaker. Is there anything you may know that could be the problem? My next course of action was going to be to replace the volume potentiometer.
@@Syngii it's likely the inputs into the amp then or volume wheel. For volume wheel just test with multimeter the voltage at pin 10 of the amp. As you move wheel up and down it should go from around 0V to 3v
Great video, I'm having some similar issues. GBA used to boot, but suddenly stopped, no sound or display; lights quickly flicker once when switch on or off. I checked the power switch's continuity and it doesnt seem to have any problems; when on common gets supply voltage and when off goes to ground. If anyone has a tips where to look next I'd greatly appreciate it
This is video is very educational, and it has helped me on troubleshooting my on-going GBA project, it also helps me getting better on my soldering techniques. I did encounter and issue similar to the one for R13 after cleaning my power switch. The system will only boot after 10-15 seconds only. I tested the resistor and it works, using my multi-tester I keep getting a consistent 150 ohms reading. Could it be the power switch is faulty or that the C pad does not join to R13 when the console is turned off? Just in case i am ordering a new power switch and i am looking for similar 150 ohm resistors. But what would you recommend?
@@RetroSix Thank you! The far right pin in the power switch to the top of resistor has zero continuity, and same from the bottom of the resistor to ground. From your experience does that mean that by trying to clean the switched I made it worse?
You sure there is no continuity on both? Usually the bottom resistor is on ground. Very hard to damage that. Either way if bottom of resistor isn't making contact to ground solder a wire from ground to bottom of resistor. Then if top isn't making contact with right pad of switch solder a wire from top of resistor to right pad
@@RetroSix Thank you so much for all your help! Yeah, I did not get continuity from "1" to the top of the resistor. I did get continuity from the solder point from the far right switch (where the cover is soldered and it says off) but I am not sure if that was the point you meant. at this point I will use a wire to make contact. thank you so much for answering my questions, and I must say that I am a fan of your products! 😁
good day sir! may i ask what would be the potential issue if the sound on the speaker is very low but the headphone jack sound is normal? thank you for your input.
I've checked everything, changed capacitors, I get the 3V everywhere it's supossed to be, but when try to turn on the green light just blinks once then no power and when turning off same thing, I'm goign crazy with this... Any ideas??
@@RetroSix Thank you very much, gonna check into it!! But L1 was just replaced and don't see any shorts on the rails, probably T1? Btw the power regulator is it U4?
This was extremely informative. I do have a question, I have a GBA board that seems to be booting GBA games fine, however, when Gameboy games are put in, you can hear them boot and play, but I have nothing on the screen.
Hmm. Only thing I can think causing that is the S1 and S2 power rails. The mechanical switch in the cartridge slot that sends 5V to the cart instead of 3.3V. So worth checking that, pin 2 on CPU and R5 for any damage, shorting or similar. Also check S1 and S1 pins on cart connector have 5V and 3.3V present
350 to 380C. Better starting at 350 until you are used to how solder flows and timing get a feel for soldering then go to 380 so you can work faster and spend less time transfering heat further into the board
