Just wanted to let you know, its 9/27/2019.. a full 5 years, 5 months and 19 days after you posted this... and you just helped me fix a DMG-01 from junk to perfectly working.
Took my gameboy to a local retro shop and they told me this wasn't fixable and I should just buy a new one from them, I'm so glad I looked into it myself and found your video, thanks to you I was able to fix it myself
I have an original brick game boy too, and I fixed it myself about a year and a half back using this video as reference. Just takes a bit of courage. Doesn't help I'm not afraid to open up electronics, being a laptop repair tech working in a service department (and I even replaced the screen on my old HTC One M8 smartphone). I don't generally do soldering or the like, but I suppose old tech like this is exponentially easier to not mess up because of how simple it is. You don't really need much finesse or accuracy. Off topic, I was impressed that the save batteries in my black backwards-compatible GBC cartridges were still working, including Link's Awakening DX. The grey GB carts (e.g. Mario Land 2) are all dead batteries though.
Thanks for the great tutorial. At first I thought my display was beyond repair like you described at the end of your video. The lines were not responding to pressure or heat. But then I was like "damn I'm not giving up on you!!!" After about 20mins of careful heating the lines were finally moving around and after another 10mins everything was fine.
I'm guessing it can also be the connection that the ribbon attached to. Cold solder crack on that means you're not getting any voltage to the ribbon, so no amount of pressure or heat will change it.
I picked up a cheap Gamboy recently on Ebay with the vertical line issue. And after a lot of time and patience. Roughly an hour or so, my Gameboy is as good as new. Thank you!
Thanks for your help! I was able to fix most of the lines on my screen, but unfortunately had one of those really big ones that wouldn't go away no matter what. Much appreciated!
Had a similar problem like you described at the end of the video where the lines didn't want to reappear, ended up fixing it by heating up the ribbon between the screen and where the ribbon goes over the plastic piece as well as dragging from a good area in the middle out to where the missing lines were. Thinking that some of the wires may get crimped where they go over the plastic edge and heating up there reflows the wires and gets them to connect again, and not every wire is for the line directly above it since the ribbon is actually narrower than where the screen lines are where it connects to the screen
I fixed all the 7 faulty column, just a hour ago. My experience is 380 °C is a bit too hot, 280 °C was better. It's not like soldering, you only have to make (fast) short strokes for having the effect. For me, switching off then on the gameboy again, somehow fixed a few lines which i have previously heated.
Just an update, done this repair and it’s now perfect. Thanks very much! I had some glue residue from the rubber strip which in hindsight I should have removed. But hey ho
Dude don't worry I had the same issue, luckily having a thin layer of glue doesn't hinder it much at all I wanted to backlight my GB but I think it's more important to preserve the hardware, so this is great
I just fixed mine thanks to you!! My GB was much worse than yours....and im not as skilled as you either. Everybody, dont be afraid and give it a go. Just lay the soldering iron for some seconds over the flexprints if lines dont go away at a first pass.
Awesome! thanks for the video. also thank you for not becoming evidently insane halfway through the video and suggesting something ludicrous (which is more a comment on RUclips repair videos and not you directly).
What was the temp to your soldering iron if you don’t mind me asking? I’m trying to refurb my friends old dmg and I don’t wanna screw it up by damaging the cable sense it’s pretty hard to find a replacement
Tried it and it worked - once I actually turned on the soldering iron. FYI I used a regular double sided adhesive tape to put the black rubber space back in place, which is stronger than the original so be careful if you have to redo the whole ordeal.
I did the same thing but used the hot air attachment on my soldering station. It worked almost immediately using the hot air set at 450 F. The iron was taking all day and the lines would go away and come back. At one point with the air I thought I had heated too close and burnt the screen. It left a dark spot on the screen but that went away after it cooled a bit.
I have solder irons with both a flat tip and a pointy one like you're using. I assume the flat one will work better because you seen using the pointed one on it's side. Is flat correct?
I just wanted to know did you use a temperature controlled soldering iron? Because I don't have one and I've seen other videos saying I need to set it to 450° F and I'm a bit scared to try it with my soldering iron cause I can't control the temperature.
I have done this well on certain gameboys, but sometimes it takes hours and certain lines will never show up even going over every spot of the cable slowly
Nevermind, earlier I said I couldn't get this to work. Well, I did. Had the iron too low and was using a solder tip that wasn't making enough contact. Not only did I get rid of the vertical lines, but I also reduced the horizontal lines by at least 80%! Wicked! thanks
It's so annoying... I have like 3 Lines straight in the middle which just wont get fixed, they reappear after some seconds and only stay away if I put pressure on that square thing under the Screen but then Lines appear on the left side of the screen and it just wont get away no matter how much I try :/
This is AMAZING and thank you for sharing. I have one question though. I have a somewhat different problem with the screen on mine. It can turn on and I can hear sounds from the game. I just can’t see anything on the screen. It is just a dark black square that shows up. Is the screen broke some kind of way? Will this method you show be able to fix my problem? If not and the screen is crap, is there anybody you know that makes aftermarket replacement screens for original Game Boys? I would really appreciate your help and feedback.
Maybe I'm just being impatient, but I am struggling to get all of the lines out. I gave it about a half hour and I'll give it a go again later. Has anyone tried applying any flux or deviating from this procedure at all?
I found the trick is, to put the soldering iron on for a few second or so. Then pull the iron away and watch the changes. Just keep doing it, by focusing on one side at a time. And you should be successful. (took me about an hour or so with patience) I just did it recently with a cheap Gameboy I picked up with the vertical lines on the screen issue. Now I have a great working Gameboy and a blast from the past. Good luck.
Unless you're comfortable with soldering, a replacement screen is a bit more tedious, but if it's cost effective for you... Yea, anyway. I guess this is for those guys who'd rather not remove the screen.
I fixed the horizontal lines by using this same method on the ribbon cable behind the lcd screen. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WHERE THE CABLE ATTACHES TO THE SCREEN. There is a ribbon cable attached to another ribbon cable behind the lcd screen, where they meet is where you apply the above method.
I got another game boy that needs doing so will do a new vid. The person in the vid is my bro and he is abroad for the next year. I just did the filming. So there will be a different voice and style.
what about horizontal lines ? got my old gameboy showing them but there not dead the contrast just sticks on full when its on for them but goes off when its turned off
What if you don't have a sodering iron...Umm the black ribbion on mine hase a tear is that bad nvm wow it was just the intrecet desighn of the ribon cable
Авто/Мото
Just wanted to let you know, its 9/27/2019.. a full 5 years, 5 months and 19 days after you posted this... and you just helped me fix a DMG-01 from junk to perfectly working.
Took my gameboy to a local retro shop and they told me this wasn't fixable and I should just buy a new one from them, I'm so glad I looked into it myself and found your video, thanks to you I was able to fix it myself
Worked like a charm. 20 years of vertical lines fixed in 2 minutes
JCreazy - Happy to help
How the cardboard trick made it worse
"This can take quite some time"
*does it flawlessly in 5 minutes*
6 years later and your still helping people out thanks was looking at a new screen but this is why easer and cheaper thank you
I have an original brick game boy too, and I fixed it myself about a year and a half back using this video as reference. Just takes a bit of courage. Doesn't help I'm not afraid to open up electronics, being a laptop repair tech working in a service department (and I even replaced the screen on my old HTC One M8 smartphone). I don't generally do soldering or the like, but I suppose old tech like this is exponentially easier to not mess up because of how simple it is. You don't really need much finesse or accuracy.
Off topic, I was impressed that the save batteries in my black backwards-compatible GBC cartridges were still working, including Link's Awakening DX. The grey GB carts (e.g. Mario Land 2) are all dead batteries though.
Wow it worked, thanks, guy from 2014
Thanks for the great tutorial. At first I thought my display was beyond repair like you described at the end of your video. The lines were not responding to pressure or heat. But then I was like "damn I'm not giving up on you!!!" After about 20mins of careful heating the lines were finally moving around and after another 10mins everything was fine.
I'm guessing it can also be the connection that the ribbon attached to. Cold solder crack on that means you're not getting any voltage to the ribbon, so no amount of pressure or heat will change it.
I picked up a cheap Gamboy recently on Ebay with the vertical line issue. And after a lot of time and patience. Roughly an hour or so, my Gameboy is as good as new. Thank you!
Just picked up a used gameboy with lines. This did the trick. Thanks for the walkthrough!
Thanks for your help! I was able to fix most of the lines on my screen, but unfortunately had one of those really big ones that wouldn't go away no matter what. Much appreciated!
Excellent to the point video. I'm working on an old junk GB, and just got the screen back to 100% in no time. Thank you for uploading!
Just fixed mine, 2019-10-07. Thanks from a guy who go his for a Christmas present in Ireland. Hope to pass this on one day.
Had a similar problem like you described at the end of the video where the lines didn't want to reappear, ended up fixing it by heating up the ribbon between the screen and where the ribbon goes over the plastic piece as well as dragging from a good area in the middle out to where the missing lines were. Thinking that some of the wires may get crimped where they go over the plastic edge and heating up there reflows the wires and gets them to connect again, and not every wire is for the line directly above it since the ribbon is actually narrower than where the screen lines are where it connects to the screen
Thank you so much! Also I found that using a chisel tip on my soldering iron made it much quicker.
lol....you think this one's bad, Mine had almost no lines. I've been working in this for an hour and I'm at about 75%
it is Nov 19th, 2020 and your video helped me!!!! Thank you very much
I fixed all the 7 faulty column, just a hour ago. My experience is 380 °C is a bit too hot, 280 °C was better. It's not like soldering, you only have to make (fast) short strokes for having the effect. For me, switching off then on the gameboy again, somehow fixed a few lines which i have previously heated.
Thanks for the temperature reference, was looking to see if anyone had said what the best temperature was, thanks
8 years later. Worked like a charm
Just an update, done this repair and it’s now perfect. Thanks very much! I had some glue residue from the rubber strip which in hindsight I should have removed. But hey ho
The Creepiest Of Pasta you get fucking 5 mil on one of your fucking video its absolutly amazing boi
Ivan well thanks
Dude don't worry I had the same issue, luckily having a thin layer of glue doesn't hinder it much at all
I wanted to backlight my GB but I think it's more important to preserve the hardware, so this is great
I just fixed mine thanks to you!!
My GB was much worse than yours....and im not as skilled as you either.
Everybody, dont be afraid and give it a go. Just lay the soldering iron for some seconds over the flexprints if lines dont go away at a first pass.
Awesome! thanks for the video. also thank you for not becoming evidently insane halfway through the video and suggesting something ludicrous (which is more a comment on RUclips repair videos and not you directly).
Genius, man. This worked great! Thank you!🙌
May of 2020, fixed it just a few minutes and playing Link's Awakening during COVID quarantine. Many thanks!
What was the temp to your soldering iron if you don’t mind me asking? I’m trying to refurb my friends old dmg and I don’t wanna screw it up by damaging the cable sense it’s pretty hard to find a replacement
@@brookelogan1161 i'm actually not sure - i don't think i adjusted it much from my normal soldering temp of ~650-700F
Tried it and it worked - once I actually turned on the soldering iron. FYI I used a regular double sided adhesive tape to put the black rubber space back in place, which is stronger than the original so be careful if you have to redo the whole ordeal.
Good video I just fixed and cleaned up a few of mine, and am going to have to do this to one of mine.
Super fucking scary fix.
I did the same thing but used the hot air attachment on my soldering station. It worked almost immediately using the hot air set at 450 F. The iron was taking all day and the lines would go away and come back. At one point with the air I thought I had heated too close and burnt the screen. It left a dark spot on the screen but that went away after it cooled a bit.
Thanks for this! Just fixed me original gameboy using this guide :)
Hey Buddy, thank you very much for this Video! Awesome!!!! I fixed approx 30 lines :) Cheers
Really helped me, I thought was gonna have to buy a whole new screen
This works ! Thank you so much wish I could post pics before and after
Thanks for the guide, fixed a Gameboy I bought at a thrift shop for $40
@Chiron Keller It came with a case, a few games, and some add ins! I sold it for $100 after I fixed!
@@PrimeSway So you made your money back by a lot!!! Great find!
I have solder irons with both a flat tip and a pointy one like you're using. I assume the flat one will work better because you seen using the pointed one on it's side. Is flat correct?
awesome, worked perfectly for me. thanks so much!
would a hot air SMD rework station work for fixing the lines?
I don't have this electric heating thingie I tried to heat a screwdriver over my oven flames but I guess it's not hot enough ?
I would love to fix mine, but I dont have a soldering Iron, could i just heat up a little screwdriver and try that?
Awesome. Worked well. Thanks for the video!
I have a soldering iron that can change wattage. How many watts should I have the iron on to do this? 30 watts?
I just wanted to know did you use a temperature controlled soldering iron? Because I don't have one and I've seen other videos saying I need to set it to 450° F and I'm a bit scared to try it with my soldering iron cause I can't control the temperature.
I have done this well on certain gameboys, but sometimes it takes hours and certain lines will never show up even going over every spot of the cable slowly
hey mate, do you have any idea why the lines cant be fixed at the end of the video? is there a fix somewhere?
Nevermind, earlier I said I couldn't get this to work. Well, I did. Had the iron too low and was using a solder tip that wasn't making enough contact. Not only did I get rid of the vertical lines, but I also reduced the horizontal lines by at least 80%! Wicked! thanks
what temp am i setting the iron to?
Thank you so much, worked perfectly :)
Wow! Thanks. Gonna try this tomorrow
Is this working even With lines missing in center of screen? I have lot of lines in various point of screen not only near Borders...
Only with the solder? No estaño?
How do you fix horrizontal lines though
So... What do I do if the system turns on, but there's no lines what so ever. As in the screen does nothing.
Worked, thank you!
would this work on a Gameboy pocket?
what do i do about horizontal lines?
Hey, do you offer to fix others Game Boys? I finally got it to turn on but I don’t have the heating device to fix the screen. HELP! Are you US based?
Thank you, going to do this today :)
Didn’t have access to a soldering iron, but managed to fix mine with a small blow heater and a ds stylus
putting the ''ghetto'' in ''ghetto rig''
It's so annoying... I have like 3 Lines straight in the middle which just wont get fixed, they reappear after some seconds and only stay away if I put pressure on that square thing under the Screen but then Lines appear on the left side of the screen and it just wont get away no matter how much I try :/
Can someone recommend a good cheap soldering iron?
This is AMAZING and thank you for sharing. I have one question though. I have a somewhat different problem with the screen on mine. It can turn on and I can hear sounds from the game. I just can’t see anything on the screen. It is just a dark black square that shows up. Is the screen broke some kind of way? Will this method you show be able to fix my problem? If not and the screen is crap, is there anybody you know that makes aftermarket replacement screens for original Game Boys? I would really appreciate your help and feedback.
Do you have the contrast dialed up? Mess with the contrast dial on the left of the gameboy and see if that helps
Ah damn, I guess mine is one of the "can't be repaired" ones. :(
Thanks for the tip, tho!
Any way to fix horizontal lines?
Thank you so mucn
how to fix horizontal line?
Don’t have a soldering iron sadly ; - ;
Maybe I'm just being impatient, but I am struggling to get all of the lines out. I gave it about a half hour and I'll give it a go again later. Has anyone tried applying any flux or deviating from this procedure at all?
I found the trick is, to put the soldering iron on for a few second or so. Then pull the iron away and watch the changes. Just keep doing it, by focusing on one side at a time. And you should be successful. (took me about an hour or so with patience) I just did it recently with a cheap Gameboy I picked up with the vertical lines on the screen issue. Now I have a great working Gameboy and a blast from the past. Good luck.
Gonna try this :)
Is the same method used for horizontal lines? I have footage of it on my channel
Unfortunately, no. From what I know, horizontal lines can't be fixed and mean the screen is dead.
I would like to personally thank you for saving me 55 dollars
Hearing trash for that old Gameboy broke my heart. It would've been good for parts and repairing other units i think
what is the iron's temperature？
Sean zhang: it was a basic soldering iron and had no settings. Just plug it in and heats up.
how many watts then ? Thumbs up for the video !
190 degrees, 200+ and strip will melt down
Really how much is a new screen,you never spoke about wattage for the solder iron 20w or 40w
Unless you're comfortable with soldering, a replacement screen is a bit more tedious, but if it's cost effective for you...
Yea, anyway. I guess this is for those guys who'd rather not remove the screen.
And in another comment he said the iron was 30W
I fixed the horizontal lines by using this same method on the ribbon cable behind the lcd screen. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WHERE THE CABLE ATTACHES TO THE SCREEN. There is a ribbon cable attached to another ribbon cable behind the lcd screen, where they meet is where you apply the above method.
Are you talking about the ribbon cable that attaches the front and back of the Gameboy?
Sorry I dont have any Original Gameboys to do a vid. Next time I come across one I will post a vid up.
similar process to the front, but you must use very low temp soldering iron.
I got another game boy that needs doing so will do a new vid. The person in the vid is my bro and he is abroad for the next year. I just did the filming. So there will be a different voice and style.
Everywhere else I look, I'm told that it is impossible to fix. Thank you for sharing!
Nice 👌
what about horizontal lines ?
got my old gameboy showing them but there not dead the contrast just sticks on full when its on for them but goes off when its turned off
Unfortunately, no. From what I know, horizontal lines can't be fixed and mean the screen is dead.
What if you don't have a sodering iron...Umm the black ribbion on mine hase a tear is that bad nvm wow it was just the intrecet desighn of the ribon cable
Veiðimaður sedols you can tape down cardboard so it puts pressure on the strip when you close the case
3:10s in the vid
It didnt help D,:
What is this witchcraft
fix horizontal plis bro
ikr
looks frustrating as hell to do lol
U all must be drunk. None of this works. I have worked on it for 5 hours.
Thanks, worked like a charm! :)