The board is clean along with the rubber gasket. I don't see much room for error here. Its only the left all other directions work fine.
Nothing is seeming to go my way right now with in the gameboy hardware department.
Any ideas?
Offline
Chicago
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Sweeeeeeden
You've probably accidentally destroyed one of the button inputs. This may happen when inserting or removing the LCD board ribbon cable while the main power is on. Has the B button also stopped working?
Offline
Chicago
FUCK ME!!!
As a matter of fact the B button also stopped working 
Third broken Gameboy in the past 3 days.
Anyone have any clue as to a fix for this?
Last edited by GoingHam (Mar 28, 2012 10:56 pm)
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Sweeeeeeden
May I run a test on that Gameboy? I'll give you a ROM in a minute...
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Sweeeeeeden
Copy this to a flash cartridge, run it and hold/mash/whatever B and/or left. Normally, the screen should turn dark immediately when you press left or B. If you can get it to make the screen dark with this Gameboy, the input is still working to some capacity, and I would like to do further testing.
http://www.gg8.se/temp/left-test.zip
The image of the inside doesn't help me much, btw. The damage is inside the CPU chip.
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Sweeeeeeden
Oh and btw, could you please check the motherboard revision? Look through the hole where the battery cover latch goes in and tell me what's written there.
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Chicago
I will test the rom in about an hour, at the moment 2 of my DMG's are getting paint jobs and its still wet.
The mother board revision is DMG CPU 08
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Chicago
Tested the rom. It is suppose to just chill at the boot logo correct?
Neither hitting B or Left would give me a darker screen.
Heres a CPU chip if it helps...
Does anyone know if it is realistically possible to transplant a ribbon cable that connects the two PCB's together?
There is two huge ass globs of solder on the sides securely attaching it to the top board which makes me think that the pins would come off in a somewhat clean manner.
Last edited by GoingHam (Mar 29, 2012 3:13 am)
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Sweeeeeeden
Try it in a working Gameboy (or decent emulator like BGB) and press left or B, if you want to know what it should look like. When you press B or left it makes the screen dark, and that's absolutely everything it does. Of course it wouldn't work if the B and left inputs are broken. The point of the test is to read the buttons in a way that gives the button more time to settle in case maybe, maybe that would help. And not surprisingly, it didn't. But it had to be tried, right?
The damage that I think you've gotten, from your description, comes from you inserting or removing the ribbon cable. This shorts two of the pins, where one is the LCD supply voltage and the other is the combined B and left input. (Yes, that's how it works.) This fries this input INSIDE THE CPU. Replacing the connector won't do any difference. Get used to it and see this as an opportunity to explore mGB or whatever else doesn't require B and left. Or alternatively, piece this display board together with a fully working CPU board. (And make sure the power is off this time.)
This MAY still actually be physical damage, but then you should likely be able see the damage. Example:
http://chipmusic.org/forums/post/96847/#p96847
You should see damage on the 4th connection from the left. However, again, I don't think this is your problem based on your description.
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Chicago
Its funny you mention that, a few hours ago I had already begun the process of interchanging the bottom board hopefully to find a fully functional CPU.
I then put in the flashed cart as you mentioned and to my surprise you were absolutely correct! The problem lied in the bottom PCB CPU unit, not the top PCB ribbon cable which I had presumed.
The 'Left-test.gb' ROM works beautifully for LEFT & B button diagnostic purposes.
nitro2k01 you might want to inform future testers that it is intended for screen to freeze at the 'NINTENDOr' logo after the ping, until either LEFT or B button is somewhat function and activated. I didn't quite know really what to expect and was considering that I may have done a bad flash or it was a cart related problem.
Although my inverted polarization screen actually turned white, which kinda threw me off for a few minutes.
FUNCTIONALITY!
1 Gameboy down, 2 more to go wish me luck!
-------------------------------------------------------------
On a side note:
Does anyone know where I could locate a tutorial / inform myself on how I "should" go about painting a DMG01?
What type of paints works best for a matte finish, while still withstanding minor scratches and such or how to add a protective sealant layer.
Spray paint, acrylic paint, paint markers???
Last edited by GoingHam (Mar 29, 2012 1:59 pm)
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Chicago
I just received my order of two Prebacklit DMG 01 Top PCBs.
As figured the problem lies in the CPU as nitro2k01 had suspected.
Although, quite interestingly I've had a very similar problem with my second 'broken' bottom PCB. It wasn't up until last night that I got all the units assembled and did a diagnostic test on the second board in question.
Now this board use to not display anything or activate backlight or even play music from the speaker, but I knew it was still somewhat running because there still seemed to be gameplay sound coming the standard headphone jack only. Yesterday I had powered the second unit off of an outlet connection, still nothing much to show. That is, until I connected the headphones this time around though and from now on it actually made it all functional again (Except those DAMN left and B buttons) but only when the headphones were present.
Long story short, I fixed it myself, it was a power converter wiring issue.
I believe this is where nitro2k01 maybe of some great assistance. I had loaded the left-test.gb rom that you had uploaded, the Nintendor swoops down as normal. After 1 or 2 second though the screen turns dark without any pressing of buttons. I loaded Pokemon red and I saw the system is constantly sending the left command. I don't have any real way to test the B button.
Would the problem still pertain to the CPU or could there be fault somewhere else?