Holy moly I had a GBA That I never figured out why it needed like 30 seconds between reboots to work ! and it had no sound due to it beeing a water damaged console I removed the headphone jack and never got sound out ot it plus that discharge resistor ! I had to replace the powerswitch and the resistor was missing ! Thanks ! You just upgraded this GBA from the Junk pile to sitting in a new Shell !
Bro, I appreciate this video a ton. Last night, my modded gba crapped out while I was testing the brightness. I legit had no idea that there were fuses on these boards. That's what went out on mine.
Рік тому+2
Great explanation and very detailed. You helped me a lot to understand how the GBA works!
Really awesome video. I just got into fixing and upgrading GBA's. This is really educational for understanding how PCB's work and how you can use a multimeter to devine the problems on a broken board.
I have watched a couple of your videos... This is pure gold! After being a happy customer of your shop, I am now a happy viewer of your videos! If I have any requests...It would be PC Engine GT stuffs (products and videos) :D
Cheers for posting this - helped me confirm that the problem with my GBA was a blown F1 fuse. Thought I'd messed up something more major than that when instaling new triggers, so was relieved :)
Super cool, love this deep dive. Back in the day I shorted my NGPC by using a mobile phone charger rather than my NGPC power supply, I then took it in to my local game shop and they said their is no hope for it so sadly it went in the bin... wish I still had it as I'd feel a little more inspired to fix it and give it a new lease of life!
Loving these videos, find them so interesting! In terms of soldering, would you ever do a video on replacing a GBA carts batteries? Something I’ve been looking at for a few weeks but seeing a few different ways of doing everything
@@RetroSix This helped me fix my GBA, thanks again! For anyone else interested, these fuses worked for the F1 fuse since the originals have been discontinued. www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bel-fuse-inc/C2Q-1.25/615039
Wow super informative!! I have a question. I have a gba where the sound works great when first turned on, but slowly gets quieter and choppy until there's no sound at all. Sound works perfectly from the headphone jack though. What could be going on?
Bravo! Best video along this line I've seen thus far. I have GBA that starts about 1 out of 5-8 attempts. When it doesn't complete, the power light flickers with each failed attempt. When it fires up it's gtg until turned off. The power switch was cleaned and then replaced with the exact same results. The battery terminals are gtg. When back to back attempts to fire are quickly done in succession, the power light flicker is less bright each time until dark at about the fifth attempt. Capacitor?
I know this is educational, but I was still watching and screaming at the video because you didn't do the most obvious fast enough😂 Really good video, I am just a dork
I have the same corrosion problem, I think the Q7 is bad, the u4 has to modulate to 6v, right? If so, I lack that voltage, the truth is I don't know how to continue ...
Great content, I have a question, off topic , I have 2 GBA AGB-001, one works with Ni-Mh batteries (total 2.6v) so the batteries ain't the problem, and the other one only makes a pop noise, power switch is cleaned and battery contacts are fine, possible causes ?
i replaced the resistor on mine and it still didn't work. I think the circuit is trashed and the pad for 1 is lifted off the board so I tried running a 30awg wire to R13 and it still has discharge issues. Kind of at a loss actually
Love this video, my Gameboy advance won’t turn on. I cleaned the power switch and checked the fuse and also the blue inductor. There is all 3v but if I turn the switch on the light is just flickering and goes off, it does the same if i turn the switch into off position. What should I can do?
Hi, would there be any way for me to fix mine? It’s been scratched on the motherboard around two screws that kept it in place, one near where the speakers connect and one next to the thing that says c44, to the right (sorry I’m not really too great with names). It doesn’t turn on, the display didn’t work on it when it turned on before, when the one on the left was scratched, and the sound doesn’t work. First only the display didn’t work so I tried to take out the screw on the right side, but some yellow stuff has been revealed at the bottom. I’m sure that it isn’t because of corrosion because it wasn’t like this before I opened it a while ago.
Hey RetroSix, thoroughly enjoyed the educational video! I used it to try and diagnose why the GBA I've been working on has no sound out of the speaker or headphone jack. Unfortunately, I still haven't solved the problem. I had soldered a wire similar to you did in the video (pin 4 to 5), but no sound came out still. I've cleaned both the volume potentiometer and headphone jack with IPA, and replaced the speaker. Is there anything you may know that could be the problem? My next course of action was going to be to replace the volume potentiometer.
@@Syngii it's likely the inputs into the amp then or volume wheel. For volume wheel just test with multimeter the voltage at pin 10 of the amp. As you move wheel up and down it should go from around 0V to 3v
This is video is very educational, and it has helped me on troubleshooting my on-going GBA project, it also helps me getting better on my soldering techniques. I did encounter and issue similar to the one for R13 after cleaning my power switch. The system will only boot after 10-15 seconds only. I tested the resistor and it works, using my multi-tester I keep getting a consistent 150 ohms reading. Could it be the power switch is faulty or that the C pad does not join to R13 when the console is turned off? Just in case i am ordering a new power switch and i am looking for similar 150 ohm resistors. But what would you recommend?
@@RetroSix Thank you! The far right pin in the power switch to the top of resistor has zero continuity, and same from the bottom of the resistor to ground. From your experience does that mean that by trying to clean the switched I made it worse?
You sure there is no continuity on both? Usually the bottom resistor is on ground. Very hard to damage that. Either way if bottom of resistor isn't making contact to ground solder a wire from ground to bottom of resistor. Then if top isn't making contact with right pad of switch solder a wire from top of resistor to right pad
@@RetroSix Thank you so much for all your help! Yeah, I did not get continuity from "1" to the top of the resistor. I did get continuity from the solder point from the far right switch (where the cover is soldered and it says off) but I am not sure if that was the point you meant. at this point I will use a wire to make contact. thank you so much for answering my questions, and I must say that I am a fan of your products! 😁
Great video, I'm having some similar issues. GBA used to boot, but suddenly stopped, no sound or display; lights quickly flicker once when switch on or off. I checked the power switch's continuity and it doesnt seem to have any problems; when on common gets supply voltage and when off goes to ground. If anyone has a tips where to look next I'd greatly appreciate it
Great video you have there! I have a GBA but whenever I tried to turn it on, its never turned on, the green light shows for a second and then its off. I already cleaned the power switch but no luck, maybe its not a power switch related issue?
I have 3v from positive battery pin to left of f1 and out the right of f1 in off position.also have 3 volts on pin 2 of the power switch while in off position.when I turn it on I get 0.06 on pin 2 of the power switch any help?
I'm getting audio out of headphones but no audio from speaker, replaced speaker, volume wheel works with headphones in... possibly bridge pin 4 to pin 5 to fix the problem? what do you suggest?
good day sir! may i ask what would be the potential issue if the sound on the speaker is very low but the headphone jack sound is normal? thank you for your input.
This was extremely informative. I do have a question, I have a GBA board that seems to be booting GBA games fine, however, when Gameboy games are put in, you can hear them boot and play, but I have nothing on the screen.
Hmm. Only thing I can think causing that is the S1 and S2 power rails. The mechanical switch in the cartridge slot that sends 5V to the cart instead of 3.3V. So worth checking that, pin 2 on CPU and R5 for any damage, shorting or similar. Also check S1 and S1 pins on cart connector have 5V and 3.3V present
I've checked everything, changed capacitors, I get the 3V everywhere it's supossed to be, but when try to turn on the green light just blinks once then no power and when turning off same thing, I'm goign crazy with this... Any ideas??
@@RetroSix Thank you very much, gonna check into it!! But L1 was just replaced and don't see any shorts on the rails, probably T1? Btw the power regulator is it U4?
350 to 380C. Better starting at 350 until you are used to how solder flows and timing get a feel for soldering then go to 380 so you can work faster and spend less time transfering heat further into the board
I need to say that you are an excellent teacher. Every time I sit down and watch your videos carefully I learn a lot. Thank you for this material.
Your welcome
Holy moly I had a GBA That I never figured out why it needed like 30 seconds between reboots to work ! and it had no sound due to it beeing a water damaged console I removed the headphone jack and never got sound out ot it plus that discharge resistor ! I had to replace the powerswitch and the resistor was missing ! Thanks ! You just upgraded this GBA from the Junk pile to sitting in a new Shell !
This was great. Such a detailed explanation of the procedure you use,its so useful. Please do a game gear. Loving these.
Glad you like. I'll do some game gear soon
Bro, I appreciate this video a ton. Last night, my modded gba crapped out while I was testing the brightness. I legit had no idea that there were fuses on these boards. That's what went out on mine.
Great explanation and very detailed. You helped me a lot to understand how the GBA works!
I had alot of fun watching this video, please make more of them!
Great video! Thank you for taking the time to upload this
Thanks for making this! I happened to knock off resistor 13 while cleaning a gba I picked up. Good to know it’s non essential.
Hey this is a great tour of troubleshooting and repair.
Glad you like it
Watching from Philippines,
Thank you!
Really awesome video. I just got into fixing and upgrading GBA's. This is really educational for understanding how PCB's work and how you can use a multimeter to devine the problems on a broken board.
Glad it's useful. Remember to checkout RetroSix.wiki also if you haven't already
I have watched a couple of your videos... This is pure gold! After being a happy customer of your shop, I am now a happy viewer of your videos! If I have any requests...It would be PC Engine GT stuffs (products and videos) :D
Good to know. Ill be sure to do videos when I open up and start restoring mine
@@RetroSix With RGBDRV and LCDDRV hard to find...a GT clean screen mod kit would be amazing!
You helped me solve my audio issue. Thanks for the video!
No problem glad it helped
Cheers for posting this - helped me confirm that the problem with my GBA was a blown F1 fuse. Thought I'd messed up something more major than that when instaling new triggers, so was relieved :)
Glad I could help
Keep the videos coming. Learn so much watching this video
Thanks. Spread the word and share the channel and so long as it helps enough people I'll keep doing it
Super cool, love this deep dive. Back in the day I shorted my NGPC by using a mobile phone charger rather than my NGPC power supply, I then took it in to my local game shop and they said their is no hope for it so sadly it went in the bin... wish I still had it as I'd feel a little more inspired to fix it and give it a new lease of life!
Yeah that's a Shane. Very likely easy to fix
Loving these videos, find them so interesting! In terms of soldering, would you ever do a video on replacing a GBA carts batteries? Something I’ve been looking at for a few weeks but seeing a few different ways of doing everything
Yep we already do that but I can show how to do that too. Any requests just ask and I'll do 😁
Thx alot! I was able to fix my sound by cleaning the headphone jack. There was a lot of corrosion.
Great GB advance Master class!!!
Thanks for the video bro! Very educational. Keep the trouble shooting videos coming!
Thanks and will do
Awesome troubleshooting video! Very informative indeed. Thanks for sharing Luke! Greetings from South East Asia :)
Greetings. Awesome to see people watching from all over the globe 🌎
Great video. Learnt such alot and thoroughly enjoyed it
Your welcome
Amazing job! Just keep up!
Great job!
Very educative.
Awesome video. Very informative. Thank you!
Your welcome
@@RetroSix This helped me fix my GBA, thanks again!
For anyone else interested, these fuses worked for the F1 fuse since the originals have been discontinued. www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bel-fuse-inc/C2Q-1.25/615039
Wow super informative!! I have a question. I have a gba where the sound works great when first turned on, but slowly gets quieter and choppy until there's no sound at all. Sound works perfectly from the headphone jack though. What could be going on?
Bravo! Best video along this line I've seen thus far. I have GBA that starts about 1 out of 5-8 attempts. When it doesn't complete, the power light flickers with each failed attempt. When it fires up it's gtg until turned off. The power switch was cleaned and then replaced with the exact same results. The battery terminals are gtg. When back to back attempts to fire are quickly done in succession, the power light flicker is less bright each time until dark at about the fifth attempt. Capacitor?
Try replacing or bridging fuse. Also do you have any mods? The regulator basically thinks there is a short so stops
I know this is educational, but I was still watching and screaming at the video because you didn't do the most obvious fast enough😂
Really good video, I am just a dork
I was like "BRIDGE THE TWO AT THE HEADPHONE JACK" half of the video😂
Nice 👍🏻
Could you have just put some solder down to fix the trace on between the resistor and the shoulder button? If so, why didn't you?
I have the same corrosion problem, I think the Q7 is bad, the u4 has to modulate to 6v, right? If so, I lack that voltage, the truth is I don't know how to continue ...
Good work man. Really very well. Gba Restaured. Like; Returne here.
Great content, I have a question, off topic , I have 2 GBA AGB-001, one works with Ni-Mh batteries (total 2.6v) so the batteries ain't the problem, and the other one only makes a pop noise, power switch is cleaned and battery contacts are fine, possible causes ?
Power regulator circuit. L1 or T1 often fail
i replaced the resistor on mine and it still didn't work. I think the circuit is trashed and the pad for 1 is lifted off the board so I tried running a 30awg wire to R13 and it still has discharge issues. Kind of at a loss actually
Love this video, my Gameboy advance won’t turn on. I cleaned the power switch and checked the fuse and also the blue inductor. There is all 3v but if I turn the switch on the light is just flickering and goes off, it does the same if i turn the switch into off position. What should I can do?
Join discord.gg/RetroSix for more advice. Could be T1, L1, a bad regulator IC, a short on output or other things
Hi, would there be any way for me to fix mine? It’s been scratched on the motherboard around two screws that kept it in place, one near where the speakers connect and one next to the thing that says c44, to the right (sorry I’m not really too great with names). It doesn’t turn on, the display didn’t work on it when it turned on before, when the one on the left was scratched, and the sound doesn’t work. First only the display didn’t work so I tried to take out the screw on the right side, but some yellow stuff has been revealed at the bottom. I’m sure that it isn’t because of corrosion because it wasn’t like this before I opened it a while ago.
Hey RetroSix, thoroughly enjoyed the educational video! I used it to try and diagnose why the GBA I've been working on has no sound out of the speaker or headphone jack.
Unfortunately, I still haven't solved the problem. I had soldered a wire similar to you did in the video (pin 4 to 5), but no sound came out still. I've cleaned both the volume potentiometer and headphone jack with IPA, and replaced the speaker. Is there anything you may know that could be the problem? My next course of action was going to be to replace the volume potentiometer.
Do you have audio in headphones? If you do and you still don't get audio are you using a CleanAmp or just stock?
@@RetroSix There is no audio coming out of the headphones either, and it's stock.
@@Syngii it's likely the inputs into the amp then or volume wheel. For volume wheel just test with multimeter the voltage at pin 10 of the amp. As you move wheel up and down it should go from around 0V to 3v
This is video is very educational, and it has helped me on troubleshooting my on-going GBA project, it also helps me getting better on my soldering techniques.
I did encounter and issue similar to the one for R13 after cleaning my power switch. The system will only boot after 10-15 seconds only. I tested the resistor and it works, using my multi-tester I keep getting a consistent 150 ohms reading. Could it be the power switch is faulty or that the C pad does not join to R13 when the console is turned off? Just in case i am ordering a new power switch and i am looking for similar 150 ohm resistors. But what would you recommend?
Test continuity with your multimeter from far right pin on power switch to top of resistor. And from bottom of resistor to ground
@@RetroSix Thank you! The far right pin in the power switch to the top of resistor has zero continuity, and same from the bottom of the resistor to ground. From your experience does that mean that by trying to clean the switched I made it worse?
You sure there is no continuity on both? Usually the bottom resistor is on ground. Very hard to damage that. Either way if bottom of resistor isn't making contact to ground solder a wire from ground to bottom of resistor. Then if top isn't making contact with right pad of switch solder a wire from top of resistor to right pad
@@RetroSix Thank you so much for all your help! Yeah, I did not get continuity from "1" to the top of the resistor. I did get continuity from the solder point from the far right switch (where the cover is soldered and it says off) but I am not sure if that was the point you meant. at this point I will use a wire to make contact. thank you so much for answering my questions, and I must say that I am a fan of your products! 😁
Yes pin 1 should connect to top of resistor. Bottom of resistor should connect to ground including the metal shield of switch
Great video, I'm having some similar issues. GBA used to boot, but suddenly stopped, no sound or display; lights quickly flicker once when switch on or off. I checked the power switch's continuity and it doesnt seem to have any problems; when on common gets supply voltage and when off goes to ground. If anyone has a tips where to look next I'd greatly appreciate it
Jump on our discord channel we can help
Great video you have there! I have a GBA but whenever I tried to turn it on, its never turned on, the green light shows for a second and then its off. I already cleaned the power switch but no luck, maybe its not a power switch related issue?
It's a dead short on the console somewhere or a bad regulator. I'll do a video on it when I get time but look for shorts
I have 3v from positive battery pin to left of f1 and out the right of f1 in off position.also have 3 volts on pin 2 of the power switch while in off position.when I turn it on I get 0.06 on pin 2 of the power switch any help?
I'm getting audio out of headphones but no audio from speaker, replaced speaker, volume wheel works with headphones in... possibly bridge pin 4 to pin 5 to fix the problem? what do you suggest?
Bridge 4 and 5 to confirm. If that works your headphones spring needs cleaning or port swapping
Short question: can I use an electrolitic capacitor to replace C26? I ripped off mine by accident
If you have Dehum kit installed just leave C26 off and make sure pad of C27 isn't bridged. No need to replace as Dehum kit has one on
คาปา 4v 470uf ทำหน้าที่อะไรครับ
Hello,im having very low sounds on my gba..will your amp will resolve this issue?
good day sir! may i ask what would be the potential issue if the sound on the speaker is very low but the headphone jack sound is normal? thank you for your input.
Sounds like bad speaker try swapping that
Thanks for the quick response. will subscribe either way.
This was extremely informative. I do have a question, I have a GBA board that seems to be booting GBA games fine, however, when Gameboy games are put in, you can hear them boot and play, but I have nothing on the screen.
Hmm. Only thing I can think causing that is the S1 and S2 power rails. The mechanical switch in the cartridge slot that sends 5V to the cart instead of 3.3V. So worth checking that, pin 2 on CPU and R5 for any damage, shorting or similar. Also check S1 and S1 pins on cart connector have 5V and 3.3V present
@@RetroSix so it seems that S2 has 4.75 on boot, but S1 looks to be 3.27.
@@RetroSix are those values supposed to change if GB/C is installed compared to GBA? No matter the cart it seems to be S2 4.75 and S1 3.27.
@@joshuajacobson2102 C1 next to them should switch between those voltages the 5V for GB games
I know its and older vid to comment on but what causes a GBA to play GB/GBC games but fail to load GBA games past the Advance boot screen?
Upon inspection of the pcb R6 is missing.
I've checked everything, changed capacitors, I get the 3V everywhere it's supossed to be, but when try to turn on the green light just blinks once then no power and when turning off same thing, I'm goign crazy with this...
Any ideas??
That's when there is a short on one of the output voltage rails, a bad T1 or L1 or a faulty power regulator
@@RetroSix Thank you very much, gonna check into it!!
But L1 was just replaced and don't see any shorts on the rails, probably T1?
Btw the power regulator is it U4?
What is that fluid at 31:24??
Would you happen to have the link to the R13 resistor I need?
RetroSix.co.uk > Parts and components > Passives. Then you want the Resistor Book (0402)
@@RetroSix thanks 🙏🏽
What would you do if you deduce that the U4 chip is dead?
I'll be making a regulator or full board replacement soon
What temp do you have your iron at?
350 to 380C. Better starting at 350 until you are used to how solder flows and timing get a feel for soldering then go to 380 so you can work faster and spend less time transfering heat further into the board
So what happens if I still have no sound and have done all these things? Lol please help
Anyone know what size the resistor r13 is I got 150 ohm resistor but they were too big
It's an 0402 SMD resistor, 150R
@@RetroSix thanks
Teach how to fix Sega gane Gear
Excellent video!!
Thanks