OG Gameboy Restoration

[4300]

Picked up this guy from a Japanese seller on ebay for fairly cheap,  in mostly working condition.  It's filthy,  badly yellowed and has vertical lines out.  Overall,  should be an easy fix up. 

Almost 1/4 of the screen is out. 

Disassembled and cleaned.  Certified hand cheese free. 

Placed the shell in a zip lock full of peroxide.  I'll set it in the sun for today and a UV light overnight. 

In the meantime,  I'll work on fixing the vertical lines by soldering the cold joints on the ribbon cable.  I'll clean the pcb, contacts,  switches and pots while it's out. 

Good as new. 

 

Hopefully,  tomorrow I'll have a nice non yellow shell to post...

[Pixelboy]

I always wondered if the missing vertical lines on the screen could be fixed. I never really looked it up though, so glad to learn it's possible from the above post. 

 

[4300]

8 minutes ago, Pixelboy said:

I always wondered if the missing vertical lines on the screen could be fixed. I never really looked it up though, so glad to learn it's possible from the above post. 

 

It seems it's a pretty common problem and an easy fix. 

[0078265317]

33 minutes ago, 4300 said:

Picked up this guy from a Japanese seller on ebay for fairly cheap,  in mostly working condition.  It's filthy,  badly yellowed and has vertical lines out.  Overall,  should be an easy fix up. 

Almost 1/4 of the screen is out. 

Disassembled and cleaned.  Certified hand cheese free. 

Placed the shell in a zip lock full of peroxide.  I'll set it in the sun for today and a UV light overnight. 

In the meantime,  I'll work on fixing the vertical lines by soldering the cold joints on the ribbon cable.  I'll clean the pcb, contacts,  switches and pots while it's out. 

Good as new. 

 

Hopefully,  tomorrow I'll have a nice non yellow shell to post...

How much was it?  I also got a mint condition loose gameboy original on ebay several years ago for 10 dollars and free shipping.  Fully functional.  Except plastic screen was glue on but with some velcro I fixed that.  And it looked slight lighted crooked screen so I opened her up but could not fix it.  No lines though and no yellowing.  He said he had no batteries to test and seemed odd.  But I took a chance and it worked great.

[0078265317]

 

[Tanooki]

Umm you better hope it's a sold solder joint on that ribbon cable.  Don't act like it's always an easy fix.

 

Back in February I got a lead on a DMG all complete in the box that had some kind of screen issue.  The owner of the store forgot they had it in the back for a few years carried between a few locations but the employee knew of it, and told me to come back and talk the owner up about it.  It cost me all of $20 and I figured like you, easy fix.  Yay cheap CIB original 1989 Gameboy.  Yeah no.  There is an increasing amount though slowly (not like game gear caps issues) problem not with the ribbon itself but the chip on the ribbon failing.  When it goes, no amount of brushing your tip over the ribbon to re-heat the solder joint will fix it.  Ultimately it required a new LCD and since they're attached directly to the board that both drives it but also has all the button contacts, the whole part had to go.  I ended up getting yet another GB I had and swapping its board, then buying one of those 2019/2020 new backlight multi-color choice LCD panel/board setups and fixing the donor system with that to keep the 89 unit minty nice and working.  Just a warning is all, if you do hit this problem, just get the new screen you won't regret it unless you have to have stock, then you'll need to kill another Gameboy to do it.

[4300]

27 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Umm you better hope it's a sold solder joint on that ribbon cable.  Don't act like it's always an easy fix.

 

Back in February I got a lead on a DMG all complete in the box that had some kind of screen issue.  The owner of the store forgot they had it in the back for a few years carried between a few locations but the employee knew of it, and told me to come back and talk the owner up about it.  It cost me all of $20 and I figured like you, easy fix.  Yay cheap CIB original 1989 Gameboy.  Yeah no.  There is an increasing amount though slowly (not like game gear caps issues) problem not with the ribbon itself but the chip on the ribbon failing.  When it goes, no amount of brushing your tip over the ribbon to re-heat the solder joint will fix it.  Ultimately it required a new LCD and since they're attached directly to the board that both drives it but also has all the button contacts, the whole part had to go.  I ended up getting yet another GB I had and swapping its board, then buying one of those 2019/2020 new backlight multi-color choice LCD panel/board setups and fixing the donor system with that to keep the 89 unit minty nice and working.  Just a warning is all, if you do hit this problem, just get the new screen you won't regret it unless you have to have stock, then you'll need to kill another Gameboy to do it.

See the pic of the repaired screen above. 

[Tanooki]

Yeah I see it, it's just a general warning, the on ribbon chips are starting to fail too, or if it not the chip the little micro traces off the chip into the ribbon itself which just sucks.  There is no fixing it.

[4300]

The shell is finished and ready to be put back together. 

And the finished product. 

Edited October 3, 2020 by 4300

[0078265317]

Or get another cheap gameboy as tanooki said and mix top half with screen with the bottom half of the non working gameboy.  No soldering.

[CatPix]

That is impressive. I once ordered a remade shell from China, because the GB I got had been smashed and hacked (screw wells melted to allow a too large screwdriver to fit in).

I kept the original D pad and buttons (the fake were much lighter in colors).

I was quite impressed by the quality of the shell; without telling, most people would be fooled.

[SkipRogers]

What temperature do you set your iron to when working on ribbon cables?

[CatPix]

Minimal one. Some people advice to use a cloth iron.

[4300]

I went full 850 degrees and only held it on for a few seconds. The cable seems pretty resistant to heat

[Tanooki]

The GB I treat the same as the VB since it's very thin and flimsy, minimal setting which i think on a lot of irons is around 200F maybe a little lower.  It takes time, but it's enough to soften the solder traces keeping it in motion while not bacon frying the plastic base of the ribbon the metal sits within.