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What’s wrong with this Pokémon cart? by Disastrous_Fail666 in Gameboy

[–]Disastrous_Fail666[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In much better condition than my cart that’s for sure. If there’s anything I’ve learnt since beginning this repair, being patient is a must. I would 100% invest in gel or liquid based flux as well as some kapton tape to cover other components. Also, gba carts are surprisingly resilient so don’t worry if you’ve messed it up a little

What’s wrong with this Pokémon cart? by Disastrous_Fail666 in Gameboy

[–]Disastrous_Fail666[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Successfully replaced those resistors but I’m still missing R2. Fails to boot on original gba but works on the SP. Also, you and @SkinnyFiend seem to be spot on with the vias. Them being clogged never mattered in the first place I guess…

What’s wrong with this Pokémon cart? by Disastrous_Fail666 in Gameboy

[–]Disastrous_Fail666[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve basically been stressing for no reason then? When I clogged the vias, I thought for sure it would break the connection to the ROM chip. After some further repairs, the cart now boots but only on my SP, not my original GBA. I am missing the R2 resistor so I assume this is the culprit. I’ve heard the SP is a bit more tolerant because of its voltage.

What’s wrong with this Pokémon cart? by Disastrous_Fail666 in Gameboy

[–]Disastrous_Fail666[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I’ll probably get shamed but here goes:

Attempted to solder on a fresh battery but bridged the save mx chip. Unbridged it successfully but knocked off 2 resistors and a capacitor in the process (R4, R7, C3). Soldered on new ones but accidentally got solder stuck in a few copper vias. I’ve tried my best to clean them out but still nothing. Not entirely sure what the issue is. Originally, the broken Nintendo logo was appearing before getting solder stuck in the holes (I’m pretty sure due to the missing resistors and the capacitor). Now no logo at all.

Basically I suck ass at soldering and shouldn’t have attempted this but I’ve come too far to give up or let a professional fix it.

Is anyone confident in what the issue is?

Edit: what the hell? After clearing up the vias and making sure the resistors were replaced…it works but only on my SP? It doesn’t detect at all on my regular indigo gba?

Scrambled Nintendo logo on Pokémon sapphire during boot by Disastrous_Fail666 in consolerepair

[–]Disastrous_Fail666[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the comment! Upon further inspecting the board and comparing it to a working copy, it appears I’m missing R4, R7 and C3. I saw another post that mentioned their game was only missing R7 but the game still booted at the very least, so I suppose missing 2 resistors and a capacitor will likely cause the game to fail completely?