platforma
Offline
uk

I've purchased a backlighting kit from e-bay the other day and had a go at fitting it this evening. I followed the guide, although the kit is a little different to mine it looked similar. Everything went fine but when I turn the brick on, the screen lookes a bit smudged, runny i guess. Well, i'll show the pictures:

This is how it's wired together

This is more or less visible screen of LSDJ

Full brightness

Soldered ends

I did check everything i could. It seems to that the signal at the screen (without the film behind) is looking exactly the same as with it. So I'm thinking it's got nothing to do with backlight. I hope it's not a damadged screen ribbon, but it's looking okay.

Any ideas? :)

Last edited by platforma (Jul 21, 2011 11:09 pm)

nkogliaz
Offline
Europa surfing on the monolith

need clearer pictures of the soldering work ( with the game boy turned off), the left side of the lcd pcb where the resistors are, and the front and back of the top left of the lcd pcb where the resistor is soldered on and where the 2 leads are ran off the board for the back-lite switch...

nkogliaz
Offline
Europa surfing on the monolith

by the looks of the screen also, you've crossed a connection either with a wire or with solder down by the screen contrast pot and its causing issues...

platforma
Offline
uk

Okay, just give me a sec so i'll set up a light and make some pics.
Back side, diode LED and resistor taken off

Backlight pins soldering, ignore the blue thingy, camera glitch...

From the side. There's a bit of black isolating tape aroung one of the pins. None of the pins are touching the contrast pot, or eachother, where they aren't suppose to. Although, the very bottom layer of the plexi module might be touching the right connector of the contrast pot...

inb4:mad soldering skills

Last edited by platforma (Jul 22, 2011 12:01 am)

kitsch
Offline
matt's mind

i think the panel is in upside down.  you can see the printed part too clearly.  or else you peeled off the diffusion film.  but by the looks of it in the first set of pics you've got it in upside down.  (you can still see the LEDs somewhat upside down, but rightside up you shouldn't see the printed dots at all)

Apeshit
Offline

Yeah, if that panel isn't upside down, they look awful. I've seen those panels around... The installation is extremely outdated and they're overpriced.

The LCD problem is mostly likely the ribbon cable. One of them somewhere. Could be the big white one, or the brown one under the screen. There's a bad connection somewhere. You may need a new LCD. But you may have just not plugged it into the socket all the way.

platforma
Offline
uk

Damn it. Apeshit, what are the new methods of backlighting a DMG? And where can I purchase them?
I'll try desoldering everything and flipping the panel upsidedown. Ribbon cables don't look damaged or scratched at all. Thanks for your answers gentlemen!

Apeshit
Offline

Nowadays backlights have just two wires to solder instead of component legs. They also connect to the regulated 5v source instead of to the batteries.

You can pick them up from Kitsch, and I sell the ones that he doesn't have in stock.

The damage to the ribbon cable most likely won't be visible. To me, it sounds like the brown ribbon cable under the LCD broke slightly. If you push on it with your finger while it's on, the screen should kind of flicker from normal to distorted. Sometimes fixable, but it's definitely not the backlight causing the problem. It would have happened during the removal of the polarized film/mirror foil.

nitro2k01
Offline
Sweeeeeeden

This happens when one of the display connectors, the flat "cables" soldered to the board, are broken or have come loose. It's embarrassing, but I can't make out in my head which connector is supposed to give those vertical lines. I suggest you do the following. I actually took these pictures just the other day for my latest blog post.


First look at the brown cable at the bottom of the LCD. Look for breaks in the plastic. That means you're basically screwed. Next step is to reflow the solder. You probably want to do this with a fine tip iron and a steady hand. Also, probably turn the power off while doing this in case you get an accidental shortcut. Now, go over the soldering points one by one and just touch each joint quickly. If everything looks ok, turn it on and see if the problem is gone.


If not, proceed to the green connector under the screen. (Actually, they're both, both brown and green on opposite sides.) That's in the lower right side of this image. This one is a little bit trickier since there's nothing to hold it in place. (The other connector is attached with a piece of metal and a screw near this piece of metal) Do something like hold down the connector to the board with your index finger, and hold the screen up with our middle finger and place the remaining finger on the other side of the screen. Be careful at all times. Now go through these solder joints as well. Actually, start with just the leftmost one, and try turning the 'boy on one time. Especially the leftmost one takes a lot of strain when lifting the display as you do in the backlighting procedure.

Good luck. You'll need it...

Also, as others have pointed out, it seems like you put the panel upside down, even though that has nothing to do with the other problem. It will just give you a darker screen filled with little dots. (Those are actually reflectors to distribute the light evenly across the panel.)

platforma
Offline
uk

Cheers for the answer nitro, I've got a better idea now. I'll try to go through the connectors and see if I can find a broken one, but I doubdt I'll be able to fix such a small thing. Anyway, I've got another working DMG that I can experiment on and I'll report upon success smile It was a bit of a waste of money, about £10, but it was the only UK retailer and I didn't want to pay for the postage from US (regret it now). I'll cosider ordering from your shop Apeshit if I won't get any result with my current backlight, thanks for the info.

Thanks for all your answers guys, much appreciated. I'll let you know how I get on smile

TraceKaiser
Offline
Whitley Bay, England

Last time I got a backlight from Kitsch I think it cost me £13 including postage.

Also, have you tried switching around the batteries? My friend had some reeaaaally bad batteries and they made his screen go like this when they were almost out of power.

platforma
Offline
uk
TraceKaiser wrote:

Also, have you tried switching around the batteries?

The other DMG, absolutely identical, work fine with the same batteries. I gues I'll just order another backlight kit smile Save myself trouble.

platforma
Offline
uk

I found out what the problem was - scratched green ribbon underneath the lcd. I probably scratched it when I was peeling the stock film. Ordered a triforce backlight from Apeshit and hoping that the second attempt will be more success smile

kineticturtle
Offline
Matthew Joseph Payne

You should be able to salvage the backlight itself for re-use in another gameboy with little trouble.