Not Your Average Sound Fix on a Game Boy Advance SP (No Audio)

In this video I repair a troublesome audio issue on a GBA SP. After confirming the speaker was working, and the volume slider/potentiometer was working--and still not getting any sound response--I had to dig deeper to solve this one.
The fix could potentially apply to any gaming handheld with a similar issue.
Tool List (I get a small commission if you buy from these links, thanks for helping me out!):
Soldering Iron: amzn.to/3IoqgyQ
Kapton Tape: amzn.to/3anWT3f
Fine Wire: amzn.to/3uACHSt
Solder Wire: amzn.to/3ayhmT1
Flux Pen: amzn.to/3uE8lym
Solder Wick: amzn.to/3c6rTVK
Tweezers: amzn.to/3c4pURU
Screwdriver Kit: amzn.to/3OWja76
#fantasticquack #quackfix #retrorepair #videogames #nosound #audiofix

[@DashRetro]

This video has better pacing and storytelling than most movies.

[@FantasticQuack]

Haha thanks for the kind words!

[@nathanhornbacher8109]

Great video Joe. Glad you were actually able to figure it out and not let it defeat you

[@FantasticQuack]

Me too! thanks for the kind words

[@bennyo39]

INCREDIBLE! I found your channel after looking for a fix for my flakey SP power switch and found one of the most informative and entertaining channels I’ve come across in a while! You’ve earned a subscriber! Keep it up!

[@FantasticQuack]

Thanks so much for the kind words, glad to have you here!

[@wyattalexander4041]

This is so awesome and worth it ! I really did get to take a lot from it and man I wish there were not so many different circuit board types for the GBASP 😫 so frustrating but this truly helps me understand the sound issues better !

[@FantasticQuack]

Thanks for watching, tricky to troubleshoot these for sure!

[@seanmorton8061]

great instructional commentary! I've wanted to repair systems like this for a long time, and this video helped me feel like I can do it with a little time and ingenuity

[@FantasticQuack]

Thanks! Glad this could give you a little inspiration :)

[@Rmac35]

Wow…this is one of the most helpful videos I’ve come across! Thanks for your work!

[@FantasticQuack]

Glad to hear this, thank you!

[@jessemccardjr8524]

Nice video that’s still helping out today! Kudos to you for working all the way through the problem! It’s always suuuper gratifying when you see something to completion 🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼

[@FantasticQuack]

Glad to hear this helped you out, cheers!

[@nhlvan]

Thank you so much for this video!! I got a cheap GBA from Japan off ebay and it had a volume slider that was damaged (the slider part snapped off) and even after I replaced the slider, the audio still didn't work. Almost thought it was my solder job since I had lifted some pads and used some wires to reconnect the broken pads to the appropriate legs of the volume slider. Since I didn't have a clue what else to do, I went on KZbin and saw your video, connected the AGND pad to a leg of the capacitor on the other side like you did... low and behold the audio now works perfectly. Again, thank you!

[@FantasticQuack]

Awesome, glad you got it working!

[@whipflash191]

​@FantasticQuack ill probably be giving this a try myself. I have the same revision model and this video has been a wealth of information 🙏

[@0xteriod141]

Amazing, great job! The first and easiest bending trick solves my problem when using those new cases. TY!

[@FantasticQuack]

You're welcome! Glad to hear!

[@fjdogar]

Amazing, great fix. Perfect pace. I'm having the same issue, no audio after i tried cleaning the volume slider with wd40.

[@FantasticQuack]

Thanks for watching!

[@ForsakenGaming666]

I got a nice clear red shell for my SP, and I noticed the speaker cut out if I hit diagonal movements on the D-pad. I thought it was the shell somehow prohibiting the sound, due to pressing down in certain spots. That was not the case, thankfully. I then thought the speaker itself was going bad, and tried one from my broken black SP (same exact color as yours), and that gave NO sound whatsoever! I then replaced that black SP speaker with my original red SP speaker, and still... no sound. I then looked it up, found this video, and saw the part where you bent the connectors up a bit. I tried that, and huzzah! It works, with full sound, and no cutting out (yet). ONe of my connectors was laying totally flat. I'm just glad mine was an easy fix. Awesome video! Thanks! I dropped a Like.

[@FantasticQuack]

Thanks for sharing this story, this is what I always wish every sound problem ends up being, but for me I haven't been so lucky yet!

[@calebgoodlett9244]

The pacing in this video is amazing. Great work and great vid!!

[@FantasticQuack]

Very glad you think so! Thanks for watching :)

[@r0ckskip]

great video. i have 4 motherboards that have sound issues i've been trying to find where to start, this will definitely help me. thank you

[@FantasticQuack]

Glad I could help, although I wouldn't ever recommend going through this much work unless you really like to tinker :) Hopefully it is just a speaker/pin contact issue for you

[@r0ckskip]

@@FantasticQuack a few months ago i bought a multimeter, solder pen to practice with(not on the boards yet lol), bunch of tools and have so many gbasp parts so i’m definitely interested in spending a lot more time tinkering w these, but i keep coming back to this video to rewatch bc there’s so much to learn. didn’t see this until now, appreciate you man

[@petruccilewis]

That is a lot of patience! It must have felt so rewarding to hear it working again

[@FantasticQuack]

I put way too much time into this so by the end it definitely carried the satisfaction of conquering a worst enemy.. thanks for watching!

[@petruccilewis]

@@FantasticQuack I can totalluñy relate, quacktastic!

[@enragedgecko]

I've actually fixed a Japanese SP the same way you did, Using the same soldering points, albeit had to solder the SP point to CL5, basically upper right of the start button, then probed all points had continuity, and later added the battery to test and BOOM!!! it Worked perfectly!! Thanks so much for showing and actually drawing that schematic, it really helped me !!

[@FantasticQuack]

Awesome, glad you got it fixed!

[@enragedgecko]

@@FantasticQuack Yes! I do have a Gameboy pocket with the same issue, and subbed too

[@JakeSimmons]

Solid video! Helped me save another SP!

[@FantasticQuack]

Glad it helped!

[@speedehs6661]

Thanks mate, this really helped!

[@FantasticQuack]

Glad to hear it!

[@johneygd]

Congratulations,you saved a gba sp from was turned almost into an accidental trash into a fully working handheld again,just never give up and i think that repaire services from whether nintendo or apple etc,,, could learn from this😁👍

[@FantasticQuack]

Heck yeah!

[@Zackprojects]

wow great work! I love it.

[@FantasticQuack]

Yay, thank you!

[@dnielshino3518]

i'm happy for you bro 😁 I wish I could fix mine

[@FantasticQuack]

Thank you! Hope you can get yours fixed one day!

[@Etson013]

- Muito bom, resolvi meu problema graças a seu vídeo, muito obrigado amigo!

[@FantasticQuack]

Happy to help!

[@eathenalexander2836]

Great video

[@FantasticQuack]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@JuicyJakeRepairs]

that went from zero to 100 real quick with them wires haha

[@FantasticQuack]

Ha that's a fact! After getting stumped for a while, I spent a lot of time on it off camera and went back to filming after I had some new info.

[@alexisgarza1223]

tengo el mismo problema con mi Gameboy Advance SP modelo 101, espero poder arreglarla porque se escucha muy bajo el volumen, probablemente se haya dañado la placa. tú video me será de mucha ayuda, gracias amigo!!😄

[@FantasticQuack]

Glad it could help, cheers!

[@AdriMario]

X2, mi altavoz se escucha muy bajito y al conectar el adaptador de los cascos se escuchan los bajos por los cascos y los agudos por el altavoz, muy extraño

[@PreciousPika]

Hey thank you so much for making this video, it is inspiring me to try and repair an sp I got off of ebay for parts, and it has the same issue. Do you know if the em4 and 5 traces are supposed to be directly connected on a rev 11? I'm very thankful for the help, just tryin to find a solution for this thing

[@FantasticQuack]

Sorry but I would need to inspect the board myself to be able to answer that. I'm glad the video has been helpful for you and wish you the best in getting yours fixed!

[@GoodVibeCollecting]

It can be hard to sell something with patch work like that. Even though it works fine, I think most people want it to be stock as possible. That's now a tester system LOL.

[@FantasticQuack]

I'd need to sell this for 10x market value to match the amount of labor I put into it... I'll be keeping it :)

[@agpascual7991]

I need this.

[@FantasticQuack]

Hope it helped!

[@agpascual7991]

@@FantasticQuack bro I did this last weekend. And it worked out great! Man I can't thank you enough. I was supposed to throw it out but luckily I found your video. Man, thanks again!

[@6ryper6]

I have a similar issue vut my sp gives very low aydio (even changing the speaker) ive wonder if changing the capacitor like whit the game gear should give it back

[@FantasticQuack]

Might be worth a try since that's much easier than spending all day hunting down broken traces on the board!

[@6ryper6]

@@FantasticQuack actually it worked! the audio got back like new its bit dificult to solder it out the pins are very fragile but whit patience it can be be put it out i used another cap from a broken board since i can find so cmall caps in my country (not in the slectronic shops from here)

[@sashaaudi]

Thank you! Mine had a very low voice output even when the volume was at the highest, so I'm worried about how to fix this!

[@FantasticQuack]

Would not recommend going down this path haha

[@treeugo]

I have a GBA SP 001 with dead audio (It slowly died over time until it disappeared). I tried just switching the speaker with a new but it didn't work. How do I know if I need to change the capacitor or if I can follow your guide? I have a multimeter but I'm not sure what/where to check for problems. Thank you in...advance!

[@FantasticQuack]

I would recommend just trying the capacitor swap since they're inexpensive, if it doesn't work you're only out a few bucks. If it's a problem with the circuit board like in this vid it can be very time consuming and usually not worth it for most people unless you really enjoy this type of work.

[@treeugo]

​@@FantasticQuack thank you for your answer! This was one of a few useful videos on the entire internet on this subject. Your diagram helped me a lot. I had a short between AGND and the + of the capacitor, I bridged it and got low volume sound back. Now the problem seems to be the potentiometer of the volume slider. I don't get your readings but just 2V between points 1 and 2 and 1.08 between 2 and 3 regardless of where I put the slider (if max or min volume). What do you suggest for that? Thank you in advance

[@Robfly80]

Hello, can you help me, I don't have sound in my 101, change it. the audio capacitor and the volume switch and still no sound

[@FantasticQuack]

If you have a problem with corroded/open traces like on this unit then you'll need to track them down manually with a meter like I did here. It can be very time consuming and for most people I wouldn't' recommend it. It's possible the sound chip went bad which would be another no fix since getting a replacement requires harvesting from another working main board. Otherwise you can test the speaker by placing it into a known working unit and replace the speaker if it is bad. Sometimes the speaker can have a poor connection so you can clean the tabs and bend them out a little bit to maximize their contact pressure to the board.

[@KoryutaTakafuma]

So for me, i am modding my system with a new shell and new screen and a new speaker. The old one doesn't produce sound anymore but the new one has the same result as the old one when i purchased the unit, low sound. So maybe this fix will work? I did clean the board and it's still producing low sound even at max volume.

[@FantasticQuack]

Sounds like a similar issue as here where the board has a connection problem and the speaker is fine. You could try reflowing solder joints on the audio amp, cap, and volume switch as a first step. Then go hunting for open connections with a multimeter if it's still not working.

[@Meng239]

Hello, my classic and sp model got low speaker sounds, did you know what's wrong and what's the right way to fix it? Will replacing the speakers fix this problem?

[@FantasticQuack]

On the SP I'd try cleaning the contacts and bending the tabs up first. Replacement speaker as next step if needed.

[@Meng239]

@@FantasticQuack omg thank you for the answer! I'll try it

[@dapanda5992]

I just did a reshell on my gamboy sp. it had sound before but now it doesn’t… what should I try first?

[@FantasticQuack]

Try cleaning the speaker pins and contact pads with alcohol. You can also bend the pins slightly upward to increase pressure on the contact pads when assembled.

[@SakuraandSesshomaru]

Hey I just tried something odd but it worked for me anyway. You know the holes between the buttons the volume comes out of? Well I pressed down really hard on it and my volume started working again. Wonder if maybe the soundboard came loose?

[@FantasticQuack]

The speakers pins were losing connection and when you pressed on it they made contact again. A more permanent fix would be to take the speaker out and bend the pins outward more to increase contact pressure against the main board when reassembled. Also clean the pads on the main board because they can get dirty and cause connection issues as well.

[@SakuraandSesshomaru]

@@FantasticQuack I can’t. The springs below the circuit board come out and I can’t get them back in.

[@aluc26]

Hi thx in advance, we have the same mobo, before your video no sound, now only low sound (we checked all the connections of your schematic 2 have lost connection agnd to c77 and em4 to c77) now the volume is always low whether we raise or lower the volume. we have change c77 capacitor and volume trigger. do yuo know how we can check more?

[@FantasticQuack]

Good work on getting that far! Honestly the only way is to brute force it by checking various lines with a multimeter hunting for an open circuit. Another thing to try is reflowing solder joints at the volume slider, audio amp, etc. any component involved in the audio output. You can't rule out the possibility of a bad audio amp or other component, but more often than not the culprit is a bad connection.

[@aluc26]

@@FantasticQuack thx a lot i try again

[@aluc26]

have any complete scheme of thet board?

[@FantasticQuack]

@@aluc26 I wish. I came up empty handed searching online for a good while. The partial diagram I drew was done manually just by probing the board.

[@jarkorino7090]

I have a similar problem, the speaker line has no voltage, it reads around 0.2V sometimes but then it disappears, I also replaced the volume slider and still nothing. Help me please :c

[@FantasticQuack]

If it's damage on the motherboard like in my case, the only thing to do is hunt for the problem with test probes unfortunately. Sometimes it's not worth it!

[@ers740]

Ive got the same problem except its just really quiet where should i start?

[@FantasticQuack]

I'd start by inspecting for any problems with the speaker and the volume slider

[@BashoStrikes]

I had a board that worked fine for the headphone jack but nadda with the single speaker. I taped everything off around the slider and removed it with a heat station. Prepped the pads and replaced the potentiometer and gtg.

[@FantasticQuack]

Glad to hear it was just a bad switch. Much easier to replace that than repairing board corrosion!

[@BashoStrikes]

@@FantasticQuack Oh yeah, trace repair is high art in my mind, an art, at which, I have not yet arrived.

[@maximodejesus5001]

Very good video but you need a graph to also do it, because the points where you should weld in the video are not clear, you can upload a photo where you should weld. thank you

[@FantasticQuack]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@SakuraandSesshomaru]

Expect when I once took an SP apart the springs broke loose and I couldn’t get them back in.

[@FantasticQuack]

Shoulder button springs? Those can be a bit tricky, keep trying!

[@giglypuff3180]

I have a problem that it have a bit volume. I can adjust the volume level but it still not loud enough 😢

[@FantasticQuack]

Try cleaning & bending up the tabs on the speaker. If no luck then replace it.

[@giglypuff3180]

@@FantasticQuack thank you sir

[@dennisdamenis6831]

Nostalgia

[@FantasticQuack]

SP was a vibe

[@8bala8]

My SP has sound before, but it doesn't sound now. And I plug in the earphone, the earphones have sound. I don't know how to fix it😢

[@FantasticQuack]

A couple simple things to try if it isn't a larger problem is cleaning the volume slider and cleaning/bending the speaker pins to make sure they are contacting the board pads well.

[@dennisdamenis6831]

❤

[@FantasticQuack]

Thanks for the heart!

[@victorstk]

low melt solder could have saved that pad on the volume slider, you went pretty far to fix it, I would have just switched the capacitor and called it a day

[@FantasticQuack]

Probably. Me finding the issue earlier would have saved that volume slider also. I think I removed and re-soldered it 4 or 5 times before they finally gave out, but it turned out in the end that I didn't need to remove it at all. The solder mask was lifting in that region from whatever liquid had started eating away at the board, so the pad bonds likely were already weakened. Switching the capacitor would not have solved anything so I'm not sure what you mean there. The traces on the board were damaged from corrosion, there was no issue with the capacitor.

[@leobgoo6350]

🙀

[@FantasticQuack]

🐕

[@NPC-Electronics-Tech]

nice! fucking great video keep em coming!

[@FantasticQuack]

Will do, thanks for watching!