Repair a Faulty Power Switch with a Working One | Gameboy Advance

[@rorykelly8275]

Hey great video, I'm waiting to get my replacement switch through the mail. I ripped my pads removing the switch with the iron tip but it's an easy trace repair for me. Many thanks for putting this video up man.

[@totalfix877]

Thanks for the kind words and I appreciate you dropping by! Good luck on your repair 😀

[@oOignignoktOo1]

If it makes you feel better I made that same mistake with the pad labeled 1. Luckily that connects to the top point of r13 near the pad. I didn't completely tear the pad but it's not stucturally secure to the board anymore and not sure if it will melt when applying solder.

[@rorykelly8275]

@@oOignignoktOo1mine is all repaired now and sold

[@BashoStrikes]

I taped off everything around the switch with kapton and removed it entirely with the heat station. That way I didn't have to worry about dislodging the tiny resistor to the right of the switch; the "off" side. That resistor is not essential to power on, but is necessary for quick power off and on. I cleaned all excess solder off the pads so that particular style of switch board could rest flush to the contacts and then micro clipped the board, properly aligned, onto the motherboard. That made it real simple to apply solder to the tip and transfer it to the contact indents and anchors. I've found if one doesn't solder the board flush, leaving too much solder originally on the pads, there is a greater possibility of misalignment with the exterior plastic slider. Hope this is helpful.

[@totalfix877]

That's great advice and you are absolutely correct. Thanks for the feedback! Always looking for ways to improve 😀

[@SOLBLADEMASTER]

I tried two of these. I am certain i put them on correctly. It worked when it was open. Just slid the switch over and it turned on. Then when I put it all back together, I found that the case kept the slider from flipping the switch all the way it needed to go. Opened it back up and sure enough it just needed to be pushed over a hair more to turn on. Again this happened TWICE. Decided to order an OEM part. Really wish an aftermarket sold switches that were identical to the original.

[@totalfix877]

Yeah, I completely understand what you’re referring to. There are ways to make that installation easier by simply cutting some of the PCB that is sticking out from the slider side with some flush cutters. OEM parts are always better since aftermarket pieces tend to be inconsistent at times which can be pretty frustrating. Hopefully you were able to get it working!

[@SOLBLADEMASTER]

@@totalfix877 The PCB wasn't the problem. Best fix I could come up with would be to file the case so I could push the switch over a little further but I really didn't want to do that. Another would have been to lift and move the aftermarket switch closer to the off side but then the contacts wouldn't be center. It could come off. I did get it working with the OEM part but I'm not satisfied with it. It's not a clean job. I don't have all the tools I need to do it properly so I'm just hoping the solder holds.

[@xDevilZz]

​@@SOLBLADEMASTERFinished my soldering today and ran into the same issue. Seems a common problem. I put a a tiny double sided tape between the plastic switch who trigger the Power Switch. Worked realy well. Sorry for my bad english 😅

[@Hotges]

Same problem here, not shure yet how to solve it

[@thatfellow96]

Hey so I just noticed that the screen of your GBA has a near-visible burn on it. If you haven't, you should make a video on how to replace the polarizer on the GBA screen. Great tutorial, btw.

[@smoke_mota13]

A I was doing this with the soldering iron but on the last pad you can tell it pulled out but not all the way , will this be a problem once I order a new power switch ?? It’s the last one on the right , I’m just asking before I order a new switch for it not to work

[@Joeysan24]

I need to replace my power switch on my GBA and GBC but I’ve never soldered before. What soldering kit do you use?

[@SoundToxin]

I've got a power switch that is probably fine after cleaning, but I seem to have lost or broken the metal from inside the top part of the switch, so there's nothing to make contact. Could I just replace part of the switch to keep the original on the board? Could I take that part off an aftermarket switch or find it separately? I didn't like the look of a whole additional pcb being added on top like in the video.

[@totalfix877]

you def can, there will be quite a bit of work involved to get it fitting just right, but to answer your question, yes!

[@O_Scud]

Hello! Do you have any recommendations on what to do if the continuity test works, but it still doesn’t turn on?

[@SavageOra]

In the process of removing my faulty switch, I used an exacto knife help remove it. However I ended up pretty much ripping the 4 contacts off the PCB, so now I can't really fully solder the new switch onto the board because theres no where for the solder to adhere to. Is there a way to add new contacts or is this board just ruined?

[@totalfix877]

You can still fix it, although it gets a bit trickier. You would need to scrape a bit off the PCB masking to expose some of the contacts and bridge the connections. There is plenty of videos on youtube that can show you how to do this process. If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask. Good news is that it can still be salvaged!

[@SavageOra]

@@totalfix877 If you can throw a video link my way I'd greatly appreciate it! Also thank you for replying. I'm pretty new to restoration/repair so I didn't really know where to go for help -- your video was one of the first few videos I watched to prep for the replacement.

[@Keithjordan101]

@@SavageOra do you have a link to the fix? I stripped my contacts off as well and not sure how to repair. @totalfix

[@Gabs.89]

Hello, thanks for the content. Mine sometimes turns on and sometimes it doesn't, I need to turn that switch on and off a few times. Would this procedure work? 

[@totalfix877]

Im not sure if something got linked, but I don't see the procedure you are referring to 😅

[@Gabs.89]

@@totalfix877 Sorry, I'm not an English speaker. I was referring to what was done in the video 😬

[@totalfix877]

No worries, but I know what you may be referring to. In those cases often times replacing the capacitors work for me. I don't want to say that's what is happening in your case, but it MAY be.

[@ph1llyg24]

What temp was your heat gun?

[@totalfix877]

I had it at 420c & 120 Airspeed on a Quick brand heating station

[@markmaxwell1565]

@@totalfix877 what about your soldering iron

[@ChewyChicken589]

Helder has switches for $2 each. Shipping is usually like five bucks

[@bruceinaustin]

"Had made" is redundant because the past tense of "make" is "made" and the past tense of "have" is "had." Thanks for the video, pardner!

[@knivez.official]

I repaired my by just cleaning the old power switch by removing the metal plate

[@totalfix877]

That'll do it! Glad you got it working again!😀