2x Gameboy Advance eBay Easy Repair! 'Dead Board' and 'Flickering Screen'

So I purchased these two Gameboy Advances off eBay for £19.99 + Free Delivery. They were both described as Faulty and for Spares and Repairs.
One had a sticker saying flickering screen, this was a very simple fix.
The other however, had some bad corrosion that had spread on the board and caused no booting, no image on the screen, no audio and even only booting up in GBC mode!
Discord:
/ discord
Music:
/ warm-nights
Equipment:
Camera: Sony A6000 w/ 16-55mm Lens
Light: Neewer T120
iFixit Mako 64 bit amzn.to/2BN3Hpi
Instagram:
/ the_retrostation

[@Espingify]

You did an amazing work with the purple gba! Can‘t believe you fixed all of its problems!!

[@TheRetroStation]

Thanks! I agree, this was one of my favourite fixes I've done on this channel! I learned so much and everything that was wrong was able to be repaired/fixed. Thanks for the comment :)

[@Guzman_j]

This video really helped my fix my gameboy advance that my friend said it wasn’t working anymore thank you so much.

[@georgedwaller]

This channel is so underrated! This is absolute quality content for the GB restoration and modding community! Glad I found your channel! Keep it up mate, whatever your doing your doing it amazingly!

[@curtismurray250]

Thank you

[@pietronetutube]

Hey awesome ! I have a challenge on my GBA too at the moment! I have random reboots if the batteries are not very fresh ! Once it gets a bit discharged after like 15min it has random reboots. If you have any tips or where to loop ! I cleaned the board with IPA and the power switch too, even if the power switch has to be managed gently still. Thx

[@CJ-tf6vq]

with the power switch replacement can you recommend any links to get a decent poweer switch? i have seen some vids that say the pins dont line up very nicely on some 001 model switches

[@gamer-sama7769]

Hey there, I just picked up a non-powering GBA myself alongside a tool kit to open it up. From look of the pictures, I'm assuming it will be because of corrosion or the switch is messed up. I have watched yours and a few other tutorials in preparation and I think I will probably go with the white vinegar/toothbrush route to clean it up. However, this is my first time doing it, is there any reccommendations you would give beforehand? Thanks for reading!

[@jonjon4661]

I’m super late but did you fix it?

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Not sure if you still reply to comments but I had a question. I recently put in a IP Backlight drop in screen. Everything was working great but then I took it back apart to realign the screen because it didnt look right. I put it back together and now when I go to power it on, the power button flashes for a split second and nothing happens. Any idea what could be wrong?

[@9-30am]

1:19 Jesus christ that camera zoom! lmao

[@zackgalasso523]

Is there a difference between distilled and regular white vinegar? I have a gameboy with a lot of corrosion and I'm having a difficult time cleaning it

[@joerodriguez2645]

Having trouble with start button I've used alcohol to clean it buts not the strong percentage its 70 some percentage alcohol..do I need stronger ?

[@ginmil3436]

Hey there so I got exactly the same issue that had that purple GBA except that I don't manage to get it to boot I've already clean up many times but it's still not booting!. I manage to get it to boot once by bridging pin 13 and 15 on U4 but still I didn't had image now I don't know what to do please some advice!! Power switch is clean everything is working but it just don't boot..

[@iko111]

I had a problem with my gba, when i start a game it boot and show me the main menu and looks fine, but after start the gameplay it only show a black screen with no sound, I tried the same game with another gba and the gameplay works

[@DanVanGaming]

What is the tool you are using @14:33 to power the GBA with the motherboard out of the housing? Great vid BTW your channel has helped me alot

[@TheRetroStation]

This is just a simple battery holder with positive and negative wires attached. I actually got this from a BBC MicroBit that I owned.

[@MikeyJMJ]

My GBA is completely dead and I'm not sure what to do. I cleaned up the terminals with vinegae and I took it board apart and scrubbed it with alcohol, but still nothing. What I noticed was some of the metal bumps seem to have crusted /dried over time, compared to the others that are shiny. I'm not able to remove it though.

[@TheRetroStation]

If you don't have access to a soldering iron I would say you've got no chance of repairing, and if you do it sounds like a lot of the solder points are corroded which could mean the copper trace's are no longer making a solid connection with what they are supposed to be connected to. You might be able to get some more advice if you take some really high quality and close up images of the board and post them on the gameboy repair discord you can find from the gameboy sub-reddit.

[@MikeyJMJ]

@@TheRetroStation Ah bugger, will take some photos then. Thanks for the advice

[@TuMalaCon100cia]

Hi! I have a GBA like the second one, but the corrossion is worst. I tried to desoldering the entire power switch, and the small four tracks brokes, what can I do for repair it? I thought that one solution can be make 'bridges' in spanish 'puentes' between point X to Y, without using the track broked, can you understand me? My english level is so bad! Greetings from Barcelona. Thanks.

[@TheRetroStation]

Hi there, yeah if you're not careful that will happen quite a lot! I would suggest using the discord (Link should be in the description) to ask for help in there, purely because it's easier than using KZbin comments - but you're going to need to find the point on the board where that pad would trace. nintenfo.github.io/repository/systems/GBA/documentation/schematics/ Use that website above to look at the schematic for the GBA as well as some PCB scans so you can see where the traces go. Good luck!

[@daniellikahong]

Hi, thanks for uploading this repair video. But I found my GBA to be shutting off randomly when I have installed a new IPS v2 screen in it. Any idea how it comes?

[@TheRetroStation]

There could be issues with shorting, make sure all parts of the IPS screen has some insulation from touching any part of the board

[@daniellikahong]

@@TheRetroStation Hi, thanks for answering my question. Although the touching part of the board I have taped it all off from touch, it didn't helped. Also a common problem about the switch on/off resolder + cleaning > did not helped. Although the GBA does come on, but it shuts down right at the moment when the game starts to load > perhaps a fried chip? I think the new IPS screen V2 draws a lot more power from the battery > maybe it is from that, that it fried something. Do you have a GBA with IPS v2? It is the best upgrade imho for the moment. The screen looks stunning, it is even better than the AGS101 replacement.

[@TheRetroStation]

Hmm, quite possibly. Have you joined the Gameboy discord? I would recommend joining there and posting your problem, there are a lot more knowledge people on the discord :) discord.com/invite/gameboy

[@daniellikahong]

Perhaps it can be a metal piece from the motherboard stuck inside of the gba cartridge (i had used a nailclipper), it had to be done when you want to install the IPS v2 screen. (clip those long solder joints at the back that sticks out) BUT it can maybe be the cartridge switch > I have not tried this yet :P

[@ACtechGod]

what liquid is that you use to apply on the board to get the corrosion off???

[@randallraygoza9397]

any alcohol 91% and above should do ....isopropyl alcohol 91% or higher

[@cosmicspidermanx9569]

Will putting a new fuse in restore the board? I blew two fuses installing an ips v2 mod I've put more electric tape down on the screen components to prevent another short. Any advice would be great

[@TheRetroStation]

If the fuse is blowing it is more likely to do with the battery - have you installed a rechargeable battery mod?

[@cosmicspidermanx9569]

@@TheRetroStation no right now its just an amp and the screen. After soldering the wires to the controls for the brightness I taped over the screen components and placed the board back in. I checked it with the multimeter before screwing it back down and it was fine so I continued to close it and flip the switch just for nothing to happen. I open it up and check the fuse with the meter and nothing :( then I see that people recommend lots of tape to prevent the solder points from touching the board. They say it could fry the board but I don't want to give up yet so I ordered some fuses and a backup board.

[@TheRetroStation]

Yeah always good to have a few replacement fuses on hand. I would tape up as much as possible too like you said - hopefully that was the cause so you can prevent it

[@cosmicspidermanx9569]

@@TheRetroStation hoping so I'm also hoping I didn't short the screen but ill have to wait for the fuses or the new board to show up first. Hope I get good at this because I'd really like to make some for friends as well

[@sergioandreslarrottareyes2552]

i have a game boy advance which does not work with some games, and sometimes shows a error on graphics like entities of other escenes and sometimes work well just with 2 games super Mario and Bomberman .... before it was working very well but i did open it to clear some terminals buttons, then it does not work as same :S please help me to find what is the problem with it

[@TheRetroStation]

Hi, sorry for the late reply! Seems like there is some dirt or corrosion on the cartridge reader pins inside the GBA. Best option is to clean them with some IPA on a cotton bud/q-tip or something that is not too big to fit inside the cartridge reader and clean the pins. You don't want something too big as you could damage/bend the pins.

[@gamingchinchilla7323]

I recently tried a repair project on one of my Gameboy Advance consoles. The console would randomly konk out even with fresh batteries so I decided to try and give it a good clean with the appropriate alcohol. I ended up breaking the shield on the power switch when I was trying to remove it, then I had a terrible botch job trying to solder it back together. After a complete cleaning with the alcohol my fear was confirmed, the console would not power on at all! Is it possible that I fried the motherboard while I was mishandling the soldering iron? I'm new to the craft so obviously I'm terrible at it :P Maybe if I attempt to remove the soldering and find a replacement for the power switch shield I can get it back working again?

[@TheRetroStation]

Do you have a multimeter? If so I would test to see if the F1 fuse has blown - this would be confined by putting the multimeter in continuity mode and testing for continuity, if you hear a beep then the fuse is in good shape, no beep it’s fried. Otherwise I would consider joining the gameboy Reddit and asking for help there as you can get instant communication/help which will be better than commenting on here 😊👍🏻

[@gamingchinchilla7323]

I do actually. I'll pry the thing apart again tomorrow and toy around with it. Thanks for the advise and I'll give that forum a go sometimes too :)@@TheRetroStation

[@timbabila]

If you want the alcohol to evaperate faster just use a hairdryer

[@MoneyJuiceDaddy]

My issue is the same as your purple one. Green led flickering on turning on/off. Cleaned the powerswitch, cleaned the board about 8 times. Sometimes, after cleaning, the light would stay on with no screen or sound, so I would clean it more. And everytime it went back to the first issue. I'm not sure what to do right now, you guys have any idea ?

[@TheRetroStation]

When you are cleaning the board I assume you’re using IPA? My initial thoughts might be that you’re not letting the board dry for long enough before trying. Also, cleaning the power switch can result in the switch itself not sitting against the contacts fully which can cause issues with consistent power. Has the screen and sound worked - just to rule out any other issues with the board?

[@MoneyJuiceDaddy]

@@TheRetroStation Yes I am using IPA. I let it rest for 12 hours after cleaning it with white vinegar and IPA before sending my first comment. I reopened my power switch and realised the moving part of the switch was oxydized so I gave it the vinegar treatment last night and mount it back after cleaning it again. I have just now changed my fuse because it was blown and tested for continuity (left side of the fuse with left pin of the power switch when switch is on on-position) and it's working. Once it's dry enough, I'll test to see if I can get the screen and sound to work. Thanks for your answer Retro

[@MoneyJuiceDaddy]

So after changing the fuse I'm back to my initial problem now, light flickers once when I turn the GB on or off. Still no screen, still no sound. My C8 capacitor copper line was scratched but continuity is still good. Power switch works, I checked the continuity on both positions. I'll post imgur pictures of my board if you have the time to take a look, I'd greatly appreciate it. imgur.com/a/lVVMPH9 imgur.com/a/sZp4hb1 imgur.com/a/4Pl8hgb imgur.com/a/HTDwAe2 imgur.com/a/KkAPizY The F1 fuse looks rough on these but it still work perfectly.

[@TheRetroStation]

Hey sorry for not replying - have you managed to sort this?

[@MoneyJuiceDaddy]

@@TheRetroStation no worries, and no, it's still giving me headaches. I tried cleaning it with deoxit, i resoldered the pswitch pins, change the shield and the inside part, continuity checked all the pins of the power controller, and it still just flicker once as usual. Though, i still manage once to have the power stay on after cleaning (no boot still) but after cleaning it more It went back to flickering lol

[@moondocks2492]

Could anyone help me with my gameboy i broke something on the motherboard and I’m trying to fix it

[@TheRetroStation]

Check out the Gameboy subreddit or discord - make sure to include photos of what you have damaged.

[@aemirae]

What can i do if the screen are not so clear/bright?

[@TheRetroStation]

Well, the GBA screen was never bright since it isn't backlit or even front lit. You could replace the capacitors which could improve the quality of the screen but only marginally. Ideally you would either replace capacitors so it's back to original, or replace with a backlit screen.

[@aemirae]

@@TheRetroStation alrighttt thank youu😆

[@masterairastv2728]

sir .. you use vinegar in board of gba???

[@ronniewhitedx]

Absolutely destroys corrosion. Just use a small amount and make sure you clean up the rest with IPA and it'll be all good.