mysterystain
Offline
Melbourne, AU

Ok, so a few months ago, I bought a clear, modded DMG off a guy off ebay. It included a prosound, RCA jacks and a backlight. The one thing I didn't like about it, however, was the fact that the prosound was actually a 1/4" jack external to the Game Boy, like this:

So I decided to buy a standard prosound from nonfinite electronics and install that. Installation was easy enough. Just switch the wires from the original prosound mod, right? Well I did that, and when I turned my machine back on...

nothing.

Basically the screen won't come on any more. The battery light comes on so it's powering up alright, but everything else is just nonfunctioning. Not even the startup sound plays.

So my question is: is my gameboy fucked?

Downstate
Offline
shanghai

check you didnt damage the ribbon cable bit, you know where it plugs in. Ive torn that flimsy bit underneath the screen before and thats a good way to fuck a gameboy up the arse and stiop it working............

Wilba
Offline
Melbourne, AU

Maybe it's just the ribbon cable contacts, where it goes in the socket. Try reinserting it.
Also try turning it on while it is disassembled but with ribbon cable connected... use a piece of paper in between to prevent shorts. Just guessing it might be something to do with the mods, internal wires flexing the boards too much when all closed up.

If all else fails, let me have a look at it before chucking it in the bin wink

kitsch
Offline
matt's mind

also, make sure the polarization film from the backlight mod didn't fall/slide out.  if this happened, you won't see anything on the screen at all, just blank.

adjust the contrast dial as well (very very common mistake).  the more common is to forgot to plug the ribbon cable back in, but if the power light is on you've done this already...

check the ribbon cable for tears too, not just the contact points.  this can bend and break.

QueenOfTulips
Offline
Toronto
kitsch wrote:

also, make sure the polarization film from the backlight mod didn't fall/slide out.  if this happened, you won't see anything on the screen at all, just blank.

omg. back before i was well-acquainted with things, this happened to me with a DMG i bought, but only half-way. i freaked out, because i didn't know what i'd done.

fortunately, my ever-savvy father took a look at it when i showed him, and since he's well-versed in troubleshooting electronics, he had it fixed within 5 minutes.

but everything everyone else says sounds right. if nothing's showing up on the screen, check the ribbon cable. i hope your game boy turns out okay!

Apeshit
Offline
mysterystain wrote:

The battery light comes on so it's powering up alright, but everything else is just nonfunctioning. Not even the startup sound plays.

This seems to be a common misconception. This just means the LED is getting power. It's separate from everything else. If the backlight turns on however, that means it's getting power.

It seems like it could be that your ribbon cable isn't inserted properly, but is more likely that there is a bad connection in the cable.

I would guess that the polarized film came loose, but that's probably not the case because the sound isn't working either, and because I can see it's a VB kit.

TRASH PLASTIC
Offline

p

Last edited by TRASH PLASTIC (Mar 19, 2012 2:48 am)

mysterystain
Offline
Melbourne, AU

Thanks so much for all the replies, guys.

I've tried reinserting the ribbon cable back in, and there doesn't seem to be any physical tears in it. I would check to see if the polarised film is loose, but since I know next to nothing about modding and am slightly afraid to screw around with this thing any longer,

Wilba wrote:

If all else fails, let me have a look at it before chucking it in the bin wink

this seems like the best option.

thursdaycustoms
Offline
Cleveland, OH

Definitely get someone to look at if you don't feel confident. The ribbon cable does not usually tear. What happens is when it is folded too much it gets creased and then the metal traces in the ribbon cable actually break under the insulation which can be hard to see a lot of the time.

A good way to test this is to actually just open it up. Don't remove any boards. Power it up and fold the ribbon cable back and forth. You may see the screen flicker on and off. You will know immediately if it does or not. Power it off and then get back to me.

Last edited by thursdaycustoms (Mar 19, 2012 1:10 pm)

kineticturtle
Offline
Matthew Joseph Payne

and fyi, don't fret too much. These things are super hard to break. When I first started modding them, I was certain I'd broken a ribbon cable in the first one I opened. I pulled it back out of the junk pile a year later and it was fine.

Wilba
Offline
Melbourne, AU

Another theory: in replacing the audio socket, you did something to that little PCB on the left side... which is (I think) the DC converter board. Which might explain why you're getting the battery LED (it's powered directly by input power, 6V from batteries or AC adapter) but not the backlight (which is powered from 5V on the LCD board - I can even see the wires).

It should be reasonably easy to test if you're getting 5V supply to the CPU board and to the LCD board.

Perhaps try plugging in bud headphones to the socket (volume at max!) and listen for a click/hiss when you power on. If you hear nothing, then there's probably not even 5V being supplied to the CPU board at all, and the problem has nothing to do with the ribbon cable.

Last edited by Wilba (Mar 20, 2012 12:51 am)

mysterystain
Offline
Melbourne, AU
justinthursday wrote:

A good way to test this is to actually just open it up. Don't remove any boards. Power it up and fold the ribbon cable back and forth. You may see the screen flicker on and off. You will know immediately if it does or not. Power it off and then get back to me.

This didn't work. Although there DOES seem to be quite a bit of a fold in the cable. Didn't notice that before. I think you've found the problem.

Wilba wrote:

Perhaps try plugging in bud headphones to the socket (volume at max!) and listen for a click/hiss when you power on. If you hear nothing, then there's probably not even 5V being supplied to the CPU board at all, and the problem has nothing to do with the ribbon cable.

I'm definitely getting some hiss when I insert headphones, so the problem must lie in the ribbon cable.

Is there anyone in melbourne who wants to take a look at it?

mysterystain
Offline
Melbourne, AU

On the plus side however, I managed to improvise and prosound a Game Boy Color I had lying around without breaking it, so I'm not completely useless.

Wilba
Offline
Melbourne, AU
mysterystain wrote:

Is there anyone in melbourne who wants to take a look at it?

Yeah I can take a look at it... I also have an LCD board with broken LCD, but the ribbon cable is good, so I might be able to replace it. Send me a PM.