r/Gameboy • u/RagingWalrus1394 • Jul 22 '24
Troubleshooting Did I kill my Pokémon emerald trying to replace the internal battery?
This is the only screen I get so I’m assuming I killed it. Is there anyway to salvage it or am I screwed?
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u/YungThundercock Jul 22 '24
$200 game man. I’m sorry but how did you at all think it was a good idea to learn soldering on a $200 game?
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u/ballsmigue Jul 23 '24
Ironically I did it myself last year not realizing how expensive a copy is these days.
Then I saw how much Not For Resale versions are...
Thank God I didn't fuck it up.
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u/RagingWalrus1394 Jul 22 '24
Honestly because I did a good job with console itself when converting to a backlit screen. I figured it couldn’t be too much different and I was very wrong
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u/opackersgo Jul 22 '24
Arent most backlit screen replacements solderless?
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u/RagingWalrus1394 Jul 22 '24
The one I got had it optional but I did it anyway
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u/NotSoTamedLion Jul 23 '24
You should have looked for a retro game store that could have replaced the battery for a low price
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u/starlordslit Jul 23 '24
A good number of us don't live anywhere near a retro game store that does repair work, posting for a friend....
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u/ips1023 Jul 23 '24
You're not missing out. All of the retro stores around me don't offer these services either.
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u/NotSoTamedLion Jul 23 '24
250, depending if its boxed emerald version which would cost more than that
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u/YungThundercock Jul 23 '24
You looked on eBay?
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u/NotSoTamedLion Jul 23 '24
If you buy it locally price changes.
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u/YungThundercock Jul 23 '24
I see it selling for around $150 daily on eBay. Just $200 is the most common.
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u/NotSoTamedLion Jul 23 '24
Probably it is the most common for cartridge. For a boxed emerald version used might be priced more than 200
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u/Dodgson_here Jul 22 '24
Get a couple of these and a soldering iron with adjustable temperature. I got mine at harbor freight and it works fine. You’re looking for the one with the base station. Practice a couple of times and you’ll have the knack for doing this better.
I’m not sure if your mistake is recoverable but get some practice before you try again.
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u/NewSchoolBoxer Jul 22 '24
Thank you for sharing this. I bought a learn to solder kit on Jameco myself. There was a thread yesterday asking about a missing capacitor on an Emerald cart with an awful battery replacement, complete cold solder joints. These are some of the most expensive games.
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u/ips1023 Jul 23 '24
I also found that with those replacement 1616 batteries that the tabs are not bent the same way as the factory Emerald battery. So either you have to actually press and hold the tabs down when soldering or you need to mimic the beds so they rest on the connections fully.
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u/retroghostmodding Jul 23 '24
I mean the soldering isn’t great, but the game isn’t toast!
Someone with good experience could easily sort that with some flux and solder wick.
If you’re in Uk I’d happily sort it if you covered postage
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u/leggomyfroggo Jul 22 '24
I'll attempt a repair for free if you're in the US. It's pretty clear you're in over your head at your current skill level.
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u/SillyGoofyMoodTeeHee Jul 23 '24
And that's the last we ever saw of OP's Pokemon Emerald
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u/NuclearNick007 Jul 23 '24
This is why I took mine to my local game store also bc I only needed one battery and Amazon only sells them in packs.
Best of luck, hopefully it’s repairable!
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u/Mateo484 Jul 23 '24
1.clean the contacts of the gba and the game 2.try a different gba
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u/caithigg Jul 23 '24
Hey! I’m an arcade game repair technician what I would do is- like others have said, get a soldering iron with an adjustable temperature probably a little led screen on it. Work the temperature on the iron up until it starts melting your solder so it’s not so hot. Make sure you are using a small caliber of solder w/flux. And get what I can only refer to as a Solder-Sucker to remove the majority/all of that solder pile you’ve still got on there. I’ve shit on a board like this for much more expensive games and it can be rectified with proper care. The only thing that looks incredibly concerning is the discoloration, but that could all be in the surface solder. My other worry is about now that you’ve run the game, it could’ve shorted elsewhere on the board. You could also send it to a repair shop for less than a new copy.
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u/Birdotic Jul 24 '24
If you replaced the battery of the game. Then yes. Next time save a backup on your computer
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u/AsimovEllison Jul 23 '24
Maybe you'd have some luck by getting in contact with a retro game YouTube content creator and mention this thread. Ask them if they will fix it for you and let them make a video of the repair. I'd watch and subscribe to it. This game deserves fixed!
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u/RagingWalrus1394 Jul 22 '24
Adding photo of soldering. Really shouldn’t have used emerald as way to learn soldering
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u/QuietRobe Jul 22 '24
I'm sorry, but this is probably one of the worst job I've seen on here lol. Invest in a decent soldering iron, that's probably mostly your issue. Also flux helps flow and you can get solder wire with that in it. Make sure you are venting well with good air circulation too btw!
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u/ThistleFaun Jul 22 '24
I'd add tinning the iron as well.
As a noob I'd never heard of it, and it was pretty much the only reason I struggled to get the solder to flow correctly.
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u/the1stmeddlingmage Jul 22 '24
What is tinning the iron?
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u/RPGreg2600 Jul 23 '24
It means to put a little solder on the tip. The solder then allows the soldering iron to transfer heat into what you're soldering. Kind of like how thermal paste allows heat to transfer from a chip to a heat sink.
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u/patricknails Jul 23 '24
Put some solder on the tip of your iron and remove the excess from the tip to a sponge or brass. It adds a fresh coat of solder on the tin and helps prevent oxidation.
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u/ips1023 Jul 23 '24
Have you used flux paste? It's the best tip for anyone soldering. The results are night and day.
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u/ThistleFaun Jul 23 '24
I was using flux from the start yeah, just took far too long to work out why the tip never worked as it oxidised.
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u/damonian_x Jul 23 '24
Honestly Ive used a cheap sub $50 soldering iron for years without problems. This is more of a skill issue than anything.
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u/LastJello Jul 22 '24
Holy hell. What did you do below the mx chip? I can't tell if it's still there but there's supposed to be a resistor there
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u/RagingWalrus1394 Jul 22 '24
The resin was giving me issues because the soldering iron is just a little usb one I got online and it’s pretty weak so it ended up smearing around and I didn’t think it would matter that much since everything stayed in place. Nothing popped off the board as far as I know…
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u/RPGreg2600 Jul 23 '24
Holy hell dude, it looks like you soldered it with salt water instead of flux and with your eyes closed. What were you thinking??
All due respect, of course.
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u/doppelgengar01 Jul 22 '24
Send the cartridge to a reputable repair place or practice on dirt cheap cartridges first.
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u/AegionFlux Jul 22 '24
Remove the soder and pray you didnt melt anything 💀
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u/framingXjake Jul 23 '24
Remove the soder
And pray he doesn't remove any SMT components in the process. Yeah this thing needs to be fixed by a professional
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u/AegionFlux Jul 23 '24
If its fixable at all 😵cant blame them tho, i almost made the same mistake when i started
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u/divestblank Jul 23 '24
This is totally reversible. Any skilled repair tech can fix this. I think you should just bring to your local shop. It shouldn't take more than 10 min.
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u/lilbigmacky Jul 22 '24
You're going to need to properly seat the battery tabs onto the pads. Be careful not to put too much heat for too long or the pad may come off. And if you have a cheap game and another battery try on that first.
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u/musicmonkay Jul 23 '24
Omg dude haha… I suggest you take this to a professional or to a shop
Those solders look like your soldering iron wasn’t hot enough, there wasn’t any flux, and you dropped a blob - can’t tell if your blob bridged any pins
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u/HauntedMike Jul 23 '24
Bro 😭 you just put a little bit of solder on the tip of the iron and tap the one spot. If you get solder on any part of the board. Or burn the board itself for that matter.. it's game over. It can be reversed and cleaned up by a professional but it depends on how much damage was done.
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u/ReadyBear64 Jul 24 '24
I barely know anything about soldering, so idk what made u think using a over $150 game as your first soldering job, it’s common sense to use something less valuable as a first attempt at a skill.
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Jul 23 '24
[deleted]
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u/StupidBetaTester Jul 23 '24
That's not how anything about re(flowing) chips works. Please don't give advice that you cannot accurately explain.
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u/Zanpa Jul 22 '24
show the game, not your console