this post was submitted on 01 May 2024

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Console Repair

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v1605

I need some help finding the issue with an Attic found Gamboy DMG-1 (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/consolerepair

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This gameboy was gifted to me from a Family member who found it one day in their Attic. I've tried fixing it a year ago, but since some parts never got delivered, it kinda slipped out of my mind until now.

The main thing I've replaced where the crusty green battery Contacts, but it did not seem to help with the original issue.

Upon turning it on, a bunch of stripes appear and then quickly disappear. Sometimes the whole screen is stripes, sometimes only 1-3. With disappearing I mean that they oddly seem to disintegrate in a very unnatural way. Its less pixels turning off, more like a liquid esc thing if I had to describe it.

How fast they stay and start disintegrating is dependent on how high the contrast is set, with it all the way up causing them to go almost instantly. With the contrast all the way down, on very rare occasions, I can see a corrupted Nintendo Logo like in the picture like its trying its best to start.

I only got 1 Game to test it all. The Motherboard inside looks a bit rough with the big metal thing in the middle looking a bit rusty. The screen board looks pretty good tho. I could not locate any leaking Capacitors, but some hard brown goo could be found sometimes. With all of that said, I can't pinpoint if this is a Motherboard or screen issue, so I'm not sure which to try and replace, do any of you folks have any suggestions? Thanks

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (2 children)

This looks like an issue with the cart or the connector between the cart and the mainboard. Clean those thoroughly, use a bit of vinegar if there is any corrosion on the connectors. After using vinegar be sure to clean thoroughly to prevent the vinegar from doing damage after the corrosion is cleaned off.

[–] kusttra 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Something similar happened with the one I repaired for my mother-in-law. I had to scrub the cartridge loader contacts in the game boy pretty vigorously with a toothbrush and 99% isopropyl alcohol before it would reliably load appropriately. I would suggest doing the same scrub in the cartridge, as well.

IIRC, Game Boy games do a handshake with the system before anything can load, and that is shown on the screen. When the handshake is successful, you get the normal Nintendo logo. When something in the handshake is wrong, you get the corrupted logo screen.

If that gets you past the logo screen, but you're still having lines on the screen, that's probably a bad ribbon cable connection. You can reheat the connection points to get a proper connection again, but it's definitely an exercise in patience. There are a bunch of guides on this one on the Internet.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I just tooth brushed the living hell out of all the connectors and the screen does seem to work now... after a bunch of reinserting the cartrage we get a fully working nintendo Logo as well... but that's where it stops...

No sound (the speaker may be busted), and it gets stuck on the Nintendo Logo...

[–] kusttra 1 points 7 months ago

Progress! Yeah, I think I scrubbed at the game boy for about a half an hour before I could get a reliable connection. My guess is that the handshake still isn't quite completing correctly, and maybe more scrubbing would work? It would be really helpful if you had a known-working cartridge with which to test. Beyond that, though, I would have to do subs Google sleuthing to find anything else.

I will say, though, that your screen seems fine, so it's probably not that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Cleaned it all off with Isotope alc since thats the best I got around for tech and after a few tries of reinserting the card, the screen seems to work perfectly now... but thats also where it stops... No start up sound (which may or may not be the speaker being busted), and it just gets stuck on this screen...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Then it would be a lot harder to fix. You can thoroughly clean everything and look carefully for damage to the components and traces on the PCB. You could try to replace something like the caps with a chance it would improve things, but I doubt it. The caps aren't under much stress in the Gameboy and are of good quality produced before the plague happened.

After that you really needs things like a scope to figure out where the issue could be. If I were to fix this I would try the following things:

Try a different cart, if the cart is bad it invalidates anything you try on the Gameboy. So rule that out ASAP, it's also the most easy step.
Check out the connection between the cart and the mainboard, this is the weakest point with a high probability of breaking
Check out the RAM, if the cart is good but the RAM is bad you get random crashes or games not starting at all.

You can pretty much rule out the screen, if you get to this point the screen is just fine. If the screen were to have issues, it would be all dark or all light or have random lines over the screen. If the Nintendo logo sweeps from top to the middle, the screen and the connection to the screen is fine.

In most cases fixing a Gameboy mainboard isn't worth the effort as they sold very well and thus are easy to get. If you want to you can put in a dozen hours trying to figure out what's wrong and fixing it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Do you have another cart to try?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Not yet im afraid, I can try looking for another one

[–] v1605 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I would make sure to clean the cart and the slot. A quick way for the slot is to load up the cart contacts with ipa and insert it a few times. For the game itself, I'm a fan of using a white pencil easer, followed by ipa.

For the lines, it could be the contrast wheel is dirty. Adding a few drops of ipa and working the wheel could help, though long term deoxit would be better.

Beyond that, more pictures of the board would help.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Just got done with thoothbrushing all connectors and a bit of the slider, and the screen itself seems to be working perfectly now... after reinserting the cartrage a bunch, I get a full Nintendo logo as well... but thats it. No sound (the speaker may be broken) and the screen gets stuck on the Nintendo logo...

I can take a few pictures a bit later if you like

[–] v1605 3 points 7 months ago

More pictures are always useful. Assuming the pins in the connector aren't bent out of shape, your issue sounds more like a problem with the game. A common issue is that some pins need to be reflowed on the rom and ram chips. Here is an example video of what I'm referring to https://youtu.be/Hg21VeFM-_Y

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Unhelpful trivia: The logo seen when turning on the gameboy is actually a game protection sequence used to validate if the cartridge is official.

This is one of the reasons why cartridges on gb are so finicky.

[–] Downcount 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Have you considered to replace the screen?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Considered yes, but that kinda comes down to if the screen or the motherboard is the issue, because I could see it as being either.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Replace the electrolytic capacitors. Check and clean the flex ribbon for the screen and the connector.