Gameboy games dont save...

[Tr3vor]

ok, my pokemon yellow and donkey kong games dont always save, so obviously i checked the battery. they bolth had 3 volts, so it wasnt the battery.

 

does anyone have any problems like this? if so, how do you deal with this?

 

 

Tr3vor

[BDW]

A lot of my carts used to BS around with me like that, I just replaced the battery, and that normally works. When I would go in there, my multimeter would say the correct voltage, but I replaced them anyway.

[Atariboy]

How do you know they're not saving? When you boot it up and discover it's not there?

 

Do they always work on the first try? I've never had it happen with GameBoy games, but I've noticed SuperNes titles like to lose saves if they don't boot up correctly when you try to play one. If it's taking a couple of trys to get a game going, perhaps that is why your saves aren't always there when you return? If so, I'd give the contacts a good cleaning and see if that doesn't improve their stability.

[Tr3vor]

How do you know they're not saving? When you boot it up and discover it's not there?

 

Do they always work on the first try? I've never had it happen with GameBoy games, but I've noticed SuperNes titles like to lose saves if they don't boot up correctly when you try to play one. If it's taking a couple of trys to get a game going, perhaps that is why your saves aren't always there when you return? If so, I'd give the contacts a good cleaning and see if that doesn't improve their stability.

 

 

no, the games boot on the first try, but the saves arn't there. the contacts are fine and i clean them every once in a while.

[shadow460]

Check the connections of the SRAM chips to the boards. The battery is supposed to have about 3.3 volts. My Square release of The Final Fantasy Legend had 3 volts a few years ago, and it still saves fine.

 

If the SRAM chip is getting power, though, the best battery in the world does you no good. There's a regulator circuit that needs checked, too. The SRAM draws power from the Game Boy when the Game Boy is turned on, but it draws power through a regulator and I think through a gate when the Game Boy is off. Also, the save state may be held in the Game Boy's memory when the unit is on as well.

Are the graphics OK in Pokemon? IIRC, Pokemon Yellow uses the SRAM for graphics during game play. If you're getting odd graphic glitches, then the SRAM is bad or has disconnected itself from the board. I know that sounds crazy, but I've seen those tiny ICs peel right up. If you've got a steady hand you can solder them back with an iron.

 

Another option you have is to use the snapshot mode on a GameShark. It'll only work for one game at a time, but it'll keep your progress saved. I don't know if you can transfer Pokemon with it attached, but it'll give you access to Celebi anyway.

[Tr3vor]

Check the connections of the SRAM chips to the boards. The battery is supposed to have about 3.3 volts. My Square release of The Final Fantasy Legend had 3 volts a few years ago, and it still saves fine.

 

If the SRAM chip is getting power, though, the best battery in the world does you no good. There's a regulator circuit that needs checked, too. The SRAM draws power from the Game Boy when the Game Boy is turned on, but it draws power through a regulator and I think through a gate when the Game Boy is off. Also, the save state may be held in the Game Boy's memory when the unit is on as well.

Are the graphics OK in Pokemon? IIRC, Pokemon Yellow uses the SRAM for graphics during game play. If you're getting odd graphic glitches, then the SRAM is bad or has disconnected itself from the board. I know that sounds crazy, but I've seen those tiny ICs peel right up. If you've got a steady hand you can solder them back with an iron.

 

Another option you have is to use the snapshot mode on a GameShark. It'll only work for one game at a time, but it'll keep your progress saved. I don't know if you can transfer Pokemon with it attached, but it'll give you access to Celebi anyway.

 

 

the game is just fine. I never even caught MissingNO on that one. and the Red version, i have caught MissingNO and it still works. everyone tells me that that glitch kills the game. the game works.

 

so, i should check the solder on the ram chip?

i tried re soldering the battery's tabs that connect to the board. i dont think that it did anything.

[Classic Pac]

I actually had this happen to me once, I just cleaned the contacts and it started to save once again.

[the.golden.ax]

I've also seen it where the battery just isn't actually making contact. Some times heating up the solder points with a soldering iron will fix it as well.

 

AX

[Tr3vor]

what are the chanses of a ram chip going bad?

mabe the ram chip just cant hold anything anymore, because those games erase EVERY time. it wont save for a while and then erase, i swear that they dont even save.

[Video]

My first guess would be to clean the cart, but since you already do that, I'd say pop the battery out and put it back in, it could have a dirty connection and won't work even with a good battery. After taht, there's a few connections you can check between the battery and IC to make sure it's got a good trace, it may need reheated to solder back on.

 

As for rom/ram going bad, I have very rarely had it happen, but it is possible.

 

Another thing, is the cart living in the gameeboy, or kicking loose or whatever? It could be, especially if there's a loose connections somewhere, that it's getting bumped and loosing data.

 

Hope you get it fixed. IMO Yellow is th best of the Pokemon for DMG, and DKland is just cool, though hard.

[Tr3vor]

its been sitting in a box for 2 years, i just found it and tried it out, so it hasnt been beat up very much.

[hex65000]

I've noticed in a handful of Gameboy games that the save doesn't work, it's usually the battery isn't making contact because one of the solder tabs broke off. I used to be able to tell by giving them a pretty gentle shake. You can feel the loose battery vibrate inside the cart. I did once go to a batteries plus and they spot welded solder tabs on a battery for me, but it's been years since I did that and I don't know if they are even in business anymore.

 

Obviously, you have to open the cart to inspect the battery, the shake test was a quick and easy way to tell if I was being snowed and how much work is the repair job gonna be.

 

Hex.

[ Every cart has the right to live again! From the rarest of Chrono Triggers to the lowly Pac-Man... ]

[shadow460]

Agreed with hex, check that the terminals are still spot welded to the battery. After opening the cart, you will probably be able to see them. Pull up on the battery a bit and check the voltage at the solder points on the board. It should still be 3 volts. If it's not, the welds have busted. If it is, you should have the same 3 volts between the Vcc pin on the SRAM chip and the ground loop on the board. You'll have to Google the SRAM chip's part number to know ehre the Vcc is. If you've got 3 and it's still not saving, the chip has died.

Pokemon Yellow needs that chip is order for the game to run right. If that chip isn't working at all, some of the graphics will not appear at all. Boot it and start a new game. By the time you get Pikachu and exit the professor's house, you will have some graphics displayed that need the SRAM chip. If they show up, either the battery is bad, or the connections are bad. Most likely if the graphics show up OK, you have a faulty connection or the battery just isn't putting out enough juice at 3 volts to hold a save. If the graphics are not showing, the chip isn't getting power at all from the Game Boy or it's gone bad.

When Pokemon Yellow is running, the SRAM chip that holds your game save is used for graphics in addition to your game save, and the SRAM chip is powered from the Game Boy itself. When the game is turned off, only the game save remains on the SRAM and the SRAM is powered by the battery in the cartridge. That's how it works on the DMG-A03-01 cartrigde board.

This could also be a problem with the memory controller on the cartridge board.

 

Here's what I recommend:

1. As stated, boot the game and play it through until you get Pikachu and can exit the town. If you don't notice any glitches in the graphics, skip ahead to step 3. If you do notice glitches, go to step 2.

2. Open the cart and carefully check all the pins on the SRAM chip and the other two small chips in there. If any have peeled up, carefully solder them back if you can.

3. With the cartridge out of the Game Boy, open the cart and follow both of the traces from the battery to the next solder joint. One should go to a joint near R1, and the other should go to Pin 32 on the cart connector. Check to see that you have 3 volts between these connections. Don't try checking on the battery since that won't tell you if a weld joint is busted.

4. If you don't have 3 volts, take the cart to a battery shop and have them change the battery. There's no point in just spot welding the old battery back up just to have to change it when it dies in a year or two.

5. If you can't find any lifted pins and the voltage above is 3 volts between those terminals, it is likely that the game cannot be repaired. If it plays OK in the Game Boy but just won't save, I recommend using a Game Shark to save your place. I did this with Zelda: Link's Awakening DX until I figured out why it would not save and repaired it.

 

I checked two carts to write this post. They were the Zelda cart mentioned above, and my Pokemon Yellow cart. The board in Zelda is a DMG-A03-01, and the board in Pokemon Yellow is a DMG-A02-01. The only difference is that the DMG-A02-01 board has an 8 meg ROM, and the DMG-A03-01 has a 64 meg ROM. It is entirely possible that your games may have a different board, but they do work in similar fashion and everything is well marked inside the cart.

 

EDIT: Oak and Pikachu appear within ten seconds of starting a new game. If they don't show up or they show up as black boxes, that's a graphical error.

Edited October 8, 2009 by shadow460

[shadow460]

Pictures added to try and clarify things. The black cart is Zelda: Link's Awakening DX and the yellow one is Pokemon Yellow.

[Video]

One more thing, I don't know that all games do it, but most IIRC will not save on a DMG AND a color system. If you save on one, it will require deleting the data to play on the other. Dunno why the hell that is, but ifyou play on your Super Gameboy at home, and try to play on your GBC/GBA on the road, it most likely won't work.

[Tr3vor]

One more thing, I don't know that all games do it, but most IIRC will not save on a DMG AND a color system. If you save on one, it will require deleting the data to play on the other. Dunno why the hell that is, but ifyou play on your Super Gameboy at home, and try to play on your GBC/GBA on the road, it most likely won't work.

 

 

Oh, like Wario land 2... or whatever its called?

[Video]

Yeah, IIRC that's one that won't save in both DMG and Color formats....maybe it has something to do with the color game accessing more memory on the CGB or something?, still I never saw a reason for it to not boot in DMG mode if saved in DMG mode so you could still play on the color :\

[Tr3vor]

wtf?!?! AND NOW IT JUST DECIDED TO START WORKING!?!?! i hate electronics when they do that.

 

yeah, i'll i did was resolder the tabs to the board. after that it didnt work for about a week, now it works...

 

what a peice of junk

[shadow460]

wtf?!?! AND NOW IT JUST DECIDED TO START WORKING!?!?! i hate electronics when they do that.

 

yeah, i'll i did was resolder the tabs to the board. after that it didnt work for about a week, now it works...

 

what a peice of junk

 

Loose connections for certain. I'd check the stuff mentioned above. It would suck to get hours into the game and suddenly poof! All your Pokemon are gone.