How can i fix a game boy cartridge

[galagagamer1092]

Hello I just got a copy of a broken Pokémon red. I was wondering how could I fix it and how much it might cost. Here are some photos of it

[Slottr]

Have you tried blowing on it

[galagagamer1092]

Yep

[KarathKasun]

You will, at minimum, need a new battery.  At most you will need to neutralize the corrosion and patch up any broken traces with wire and solder.

[galagagamer1092]

1 minute ago, KarathKasun said:

You will, at minimum, need a new battery.  At most you will need to neutralize the corrosion and patch up any broken traces with wire and solder.

How would I do that

[Razor Blade]

There are many...many...many videos on YouTube about repairing game boy cartridges. Here are just a couple for convenience.

 

 

Pick up a can of deoxIT (just the red and black can will work) using the spray and a toothbrush, it should help clean that corrosion off.

[KarathKasun]

Just now, galagagamer1092 said:

How would I do that

Unsolder all of the parts, remove the solder mask over damaged traces, solder down wire where the tracks. are damaged.  Once everything tests good, re-solder the chips back onto the board.

[galagagamer1092]

2 minutes ago, Razor Blade said:

There are many...many...many videos on YouTube about repairing game boy cartridges. Here are just a couple for convenience.

 

 

Pick up a can of deoxIT (just the red and black can will work) using the spray and a toothbrush, it should help clean that corrosion off.

Could I also use CRC contact cleaner?

[KarathKasun]

Just now, galagagamer1092 said:

Could I also use CRC contact cleaner?

No.  That is not going to help that cartridge.  You will, with almost 100% certainty, have to disassemble the chips from the board and repair the PCB.

[galagagamer1092]

3 minutes ago, KarathKasun said:

No.  That is not going to help that cartridge.  You will, with almost 100% certainty, have to disassemble the chips from the board and repair the PCB.

Do you know any chip testing methods to try before repairing the board. I don’t want to try repairing the board and find out the chips don’t work

[KarathKasun]

That requires equipment that costs a decent amount of money.

 

The practice soldering will be its own reward TBH.

[galagagamer1092]

Is it possible you could send me some tutorials on how to print a pcb

[KarathKasun]

5 minutes ago, galagagamer1092 said:

Is it possible you could send me some tutorials on how to print a pcb

Use the YouTube search feature.

 

You can NOT do multi-layer boards with simple at home tools though.

[dDave64]

You could look up Voultar on YouTube. I don’t think anyone is as good as this guy.

 

 

You may not be able to fix it though. You can’t just get a new PCB as they vary depending on the game. You’d have to find someone that already has a pcb layout design of this exact game. I believe all the game data itself actually exists on the black chips though.

 

In my opinion, this isn’t worth fixing unless you just want to do it for a fun project and have soldering skills.

 

This may be really hard to do if you don’t have a proper desoldering tool. These things are pretty small. (If you do it, don’t use lead-free solder, use flux, clean with isopropyl, and don’t use hot glue.) a soldering iron in the 40-60w range would be good for this project.

 

My recommendation is to try to clean the corrosion with isopropyl and maybe electronic contact cleaner. What I’m afraid of is that the game got wet and was powered on which could have fried at least one of the chips, rendering it useless. It sure looks like it could have happened. If you look under the main ROM (the biggest black chip) there does appear to be some charring and the solder joints on the bottom right don’t look quite right. Maybe it looks different in person.

 

On the plus side, it does look like you got an original copy of the game and not a bootleg based on the board I see there.