Something I found quite satisfying was repairing a batch lot of broken game boys brought cheaply from ebay. All were in grubby condition so everything was stripped down and cleaned before any repairs could begin.
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| Old Cases Being Washed |
Repairs were mostly simple, replacing broken cases where the hinge had snapped. This meant ordering new cases and transferring them over, something that does require a bit of patience but is not impossible. Of the 13 ordered, I was able to repair 10, with the parts of the other 3 being donated to make the others usable.
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| A common fault: Faded Screen |
Faded Screens
For faded screens I found re-soldering the brightness trimmer pot usually worked, if not replacing the pot entirely with a spare.
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| Broken Screen Underneath |
Screen Not Working
A few models I brought the screen was no longer working, confirming the unit worked using another gameboys screen, I choose the best working parts to make a frankenstein gameboy, with the less reliable ones becoming doner machines. You could also order a replacement screen from the internet if you don’t have the space machines.
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| Parts Harvesting |
Cartridges Not Being Read
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| The card reader: A pain, but not impossible. |
When game cartridges could not be read, first I’d try re-flowing the solder, and cleaning the pins with alcohol. If this didn’t work, then you’d have to de-solder the whole thing and replace it with a new part.
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| Mutilated Board with working Vol Slider Pot removed |
Broken Volume Pots
When some people try and replace the cases to their Nintendo Ds’s, they end breaking the volume slider when forcing the case back on (I didn’t do this I promise you! – be sure to check the alignment). The only way I found to fix this was by using a spare from a doner machine.
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| The most common problem: A broken Hinge |
What I gone Learnt
Repairing these was a good lesson in fault finding, as well as the art of patience (Nintendo really over-complicated the design of these things). It’s also pretty good to have rescued some broken machines from the rubbish dump.
So if you’re thinking about trying to repair some old Gameboys, I’d say go for it.
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| A selection of Repaired Gameboys |
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| With new cases and screen protectors they looked as good as new. |
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| Ready for a new life |
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| Like new |