I'm glad seeing it fixed. Those stickers make me feel like it was well loved by whoever had it before. Even though you removed them, that's just to help you enjoy it for many years to come!
Thanks. Yeah other than the screen damage, the console was kept in very good condition, barely a scratch on her. This dmg pocket and my extreme green are by far my favorite portable consoles.
I own two of these units, but never realized there was one with a power led indicator. Now time to track one down. Another tip, I use a MARS white eraser pen used for drafting to clean the contacts and pads..brings the buttons back to life without the need to for ISO.
You don't need to misshandle it at all to happen this, just play a lot on sunlight. And, well, it does happen on childhood (if you were the type that plays outside). Happened to mine and I never left it on the sun. Sunlight/UV levels are so high here that once I was playing on my Game Boy Color on the sun for a while, the screen just started to fade off, when I saw it I realized it was actually very hot, and then LCDs start to go mad. This heat thing on LCDs make me wonder what kind of epic LCDs do they use on car dash board systems
3M has a great "Adhesive Cleaner" (08984) in their portfolio. Just put it on the surface and leave it there for a minute. You'll see the adhesive puff up a bit and it's then really easy just to wipe off the surface with practically no residue (if you waited long enough). Oh, and heating the entire display up from the top with a hair dryer or something will also help a great deal softening up that adhesive so you'll get the sheet off the glass more easily and with less risk of cracking it.
This happens A LOT on Brazil (tho not necessarily black like that), I'm guessing it's got to do a lot with the UV exposure from sun (as, you'll be playing those on sunlight). The Color and Advance ones are commonly seen with terrible polarizers like those for cheap, the fix is annoying to do (as shown) but cheap. You may end up doing it for free if only the glue layer is damaged, or if you have another filter to replace (say a dead laptop's screen). Care must be taken on the Color and Advance (also Advance SP AGS 001) that the polarizer is different: it uses a circular polarizer, and this takes 2 layers on the front before the glass (not counting glue layers). The top layer is a linear polarizer, and the bottom one (bottom ON FRONT) is a quarter wave plate/retarder. This is extremely important if you wanna just salvage a polarizer from another LCD, say an old/broken laptop's LCD. Those being linear, you'll need the bottom quarter wave plate intact.
Kelvin Technically since it also has polarizing filters but the clamshell design protects the lcd when closed so I have never seen a single sp with this lcd burn problem in my life.
Kelvin could be, but I haven't seen it the same way, since this model's direct sunlight visibility isn't the focus, you'll end up playing on the shade, without direct UV exposure. I have seen tho that the edges of some AGS 101 screens fade to white, growing towards the center with time. Whoever I cannot say if this is an issue with the polarizer or the panel. I would suspect polarizer, tho now there's the back and front one to try.
Hey, I know this was more than a year already, but I happen to have an AGS 101 screen with a very similar issue. So, I could just take the filter layer and replace it with a cellphone replacement? or would that make it too dark?
I have a massive hard-on for J4U too! I order a few packages from them every week without fail, Glad I didn't throw away all those LCDs, I didn't know you could remove the front polarizer.
Definitely bought a new screen for it. That other screen was junk. No way it could have been cleaned up and looked that perfect. It was a good decision to replace it man.
I definitely replaced the polarizing filter of the original screen. There are a number of other youtubers who have done the same repair and can confirm that it is possible to fix screens with this type of damage. As the damage is to the plastic based polarizing filter on top and not the glass itself it is nothing that's permanent and can't be replaced.
Thanks for the tip. I semi-recently found some goo gone at the dollar store that smells strongly of orange that is a godsend for removing adhesives. Definitely beats isopropyl alcohol hands down.
Awesome video! I work in the LCD industry and I used to work in a factory polarizing displays. The best thing to remove the adhesive from the polarizer is Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK), it’ll get anything and everything off of that glass with no effort. Alcohol doesn’t work nearly as well as you would expect it to. I do have to say, you did a damn fine job re-polarizing that display. It’s tricky to get it done without any dust particles or anything getting in between the glass and the new polarizer. Hopefully you also got the front release sheet off of the polarizer too (it looks like you did). There’s a thin sheet of plastic on the front of the polarizer like the one covering the adhesive. Once you remove that, it’ll look even better and be easier to clean.
sjm4306 I also totally forgot to mention something kind of important. If you do get some MEK for cleaning purposes, you’ll need to know that that stuff can really eat its way through some types of plastic. Hopefully you get this before you pick up some MEK and accidentally destroy something.
My Gameboy Pocket that I've had for about 20 years or so still works well considering that it was my first personally owned console. Mine was the standard silver one. It has some of the standard wear n' tear around the corners of paint/color removal. Plus it also has some small permanent pixel damage along the bottom and left of the screen that can be seen when it's off and on. Plus mine is the later model with the power LED. but the screen damage is nothing to me cause it's not to bad that renders playing a game unplayable.
I know this video is a little old, but I use Goo Gone prep gel spray to remove adhesive. Soak a paper towel pretty well and coat the surface and make sure to let it sit for 5 - 10 minutes and it is better than anything I've ever used before it.
That's great haha, I've found that specifically the gel spray works better than any other goo gone material so if you haven't tried that one out it might work even better.
At work we have tissues used for cleaning glass optical lenses that work great for this sort of thing as they leave no fibers behind and are designed not to scratch delicate surfaces.
This is my first video of yours, I got to admit - I really enjoyed it I gotta say, this video seems like a combination of Druaga1 and the 8-bit guy's videos Keep up the good work!
I don't see why this fix wouldn't work so long as you are careful not to damage the lcd glass. Last I checked you can buy larger sheets of linear polarizing filters from sites like Aliexpress direct from the companies that make them.
We use a bigger version of that sonic to get bone and tissue out of surgical instruments, never even thought of a smaller version to clean things like buttons and parts, great stuff
Nice restoration :) For removing the adhesive backing, a water displacer (WD-40) is the best bet, it will wipe right off. Iso can be a bit harsh and reacts with some plastics. Most of the time it's fine, until that one that comes along and your black plastic starts turning white :O I didn't even know that edition of the pocket existed :D
My GBC & GBA have burnt screen when I put it in the box for long time , it just happen and never exposed outdoor. So darkness & humidity could do the same as sun light
Thanks! Fair enough but I can imagine niche cases for rare consoles where finding a replacement is not an option (either due to rarity or cost) where this method can be the difference between having a working unit or display piece only. Plus I had fun experimenting in something I hadn't seen done before.
Good work as always! I'm glad you talked about the differences in polarizing films. Have you ever come across a polarazier where you had to turn it diagonally? I just did this fix to one of my Gameboy Colors and it wouldn't show up correctly until I turned it on a diagonal. Have you ever come across this before?
@@sjm4306 Thanks for getting back to me. Another thing I realized was when putting the polorizing film directly on the screen the image was reversed but when i put the GB color front cover on and placed the same polorizing film over the outside screen it looked normal. WTF. Guessing there is a polarizing film on the out side screen too.
Good job, would love one in that color myself! I suspect that the original front polarizer is fused to a color conversion filter, that would explain the green color
8:30 Hi, I have a similar problem to yours. My gameboy screen just got damaged (it seems it got burnt by the batteries acid). I tried to make something similar you make here so I tried to peel it. There were two layers, the first was very flexible, the second and a little bit deeper was a little less flexible and seem to start breaking like those mobile phone protectors when I tried to remove these two. What should I make?
I ordered a replacement shell for my 101 SP, I live in the country. I really hope i dont need to drive a half an hour out of my way to pick up a parcel. 😅
next time I see damaged or broken game boys I'm going to try to fix them. thank you and I have two of those keyboards but the lights are green first time I seen one with the lights being red
GROUP GALAXY video gaming The lights were green on my keyboard as well, I just got bored of them so I changed the leds for red ones to jazz it up a bit.
Nice! I was iffy on watching this for a while, but this could save me loads! (maybe $10-$25). Also, fitting to have the screen green on a DMG styled pocket
Hi @sjm4306 , did you use this filter? www.deadpanrobot.co.uk/adhesive-front-polarising-film-replacement-for-nintendo-game-boy-polr-adh?search=polar . I have a green pocket waiting for months to change the front polarizer but I'm not sure wich ones work in a pocket. The one from deadpanrobot says that if you are not doing a backlight or bivert it will be an inverted image, so wont it work in a normal pocket? Some say that the polarizing filter for the pocket is circular and if you use a linear one the screen will be greenish like a DMG, is it true? I need it so badly but I'm not sure what to get. Awesome video as always, thanks for these helpful guides!
Yep, that's the one. The pocket uses a linear filter and if the image is inverted all you need to do is rotate the fliter sideways or flip it over until it looks right.
Mine is not that bad, but not much better. But get this: last year, I pulled it out of the original box and it looked and worked fine. I put it back in the original box and left it stored in a closet. Now it looks like that. It was not exposed to any heat, though it did get pretty cold at times.
It could be temperature fluctuations or a latent chemical reaction due to a bad formulation of adhesive/polarizer. Not really sure and you aren't the first who has had this mysteriously happen that kept their gameboy in a safe, dark, dry area.
You can use expired credit card and a piece of fine grit sandpaper to make a dull plastic blade which hopefully will make the removal process a breeze. Using alcohol or a tiny bit of WD-40 helps but be careful if you use WD-40 as it won't evaporate easily and leave a wet spots behind if you're not careful and it gets behind the screen.
Thanks. I've personally never had this issue as I dont leave my consoles exposed to the sun for extended periods of time so I couldnt really tell you exactly how or why this burn damage happens.
You need a linear polarizer, they are commonly and cheaply available for fixing dmg gameboys (ebay/handheld legend/deadpan robot/kitsch bent/etc all have them).
You can get the sticky ones, but I prefer the ones that just go on top of the screen and when you screw the gb together it gets squeezed between the front lens and lcd glass. No air bubbles and easy to remove and replace.
So I'm commenting on an old video here but I hope you can help. My back and front polarizer film and the back reflector are all burned. The polarizers aren't difficult to replace, but how about the reflector? TIA
I haven't found a replacement reflector myself, though I've done experimentation with various metal foils which work but don't end up looking as good as the original. Your best bet would probably to contact an lcd manufacturer directly and ask nicely if they would sell you a swatch of the reflector material but no guarantees.
I'm replacing the polarizer of My gba, i want to use recycle the polarizer from an old monitor but it doesn't have any glue, should i put loka uv glue between the screen and the polarizer or just glue the boxers of the polarizer on the screen or case? Thank You for this video btw
If you are worried about dropping the gameboy or something then loca should work fine, but I've found just the pressure between the lcd and the front case is enough to keep it in place so long as you cut it to the right size.
I am going to repair my old GBP from childhood that my mother brought to me this last visit. Do you do any gluing with the new filter, or just lie it down on the glass then lie the LCD on top?
Just rotate/flip it until it looks right. If you get it the wrong way around the image will be inverted but can easily be fixed by changing the orientation.
6 лет назад
I just bought a deadpan robot adhesive polarized film cause found some scratch on the lcd and had to remove that layer, saw the video and couldn't see was adhesive, just put between the screen and the lcd??
The filters I used didnt have adhesive, but for ones that do you would remove the old scratched one, peel the protective plastic off the new filter to expose the sticky adhesice, and stick it to the lcd glass in the same orientation as the old filter was (so the image isnt inverted).
Unfortunately I don't have a source for the reflective layer. I've experimented with metal foils, mirror films and white plastics to act as the reflector but it's just not the same as the original. I suppose you could try asking a monochrome lcd manufacturer if they would sell you some but unless you order quite a bit of it I doubt they would.
Wow, that's fantastic to see. I had no idea that the burn could be fixed. That's great to learn. Now I won't bother avoiding those GBPs when buying to repair, mod, and sell.
I could see your point but it's true, share the knowledge and let us all grow from it. I actively share all my knowledge of fixes and repairs as well on my website, ifixit.com and other places where I can. Keep up the stellar work!
José Ramón Bellido There are filters that come with adhesive, but I've found that the pressure of the lcd against of the front plastic is enough to keep the filter in place.
Hi, is there a way to replace the back polarizer? I've already removed the front one but the burn's still there. If yes do you have a link to a video or article God bless.
I usually remove the adhesive layer with acetone, it's stronger than the isopropyl alcohol and makes the process much easier. And using a polarizer from a DMG doesn't change the color, I've have the same issue with phone polarizer. I think the front polarizer might be a circular one instead of a linear one. Maybe that would explain the change in color
I've also noticed that even for a linear polarizer filter that rotating by a few degrees considerably changes the shade of colors as well as contrast. I've had good results getting crisp blacks instead of the normal purple hue seen in bivert mods simply by cutting my own filters at a desired angle from sheets pulled from larger lcds.
I replaced the front polarizer of a gameboy pocket with a iphone 6 polarizer and just like you it gives a green tint to the screen. When I analyzed the removed polarizer, I noticed there was another film under it and it seems to be some kind of color filter and I don't know its called. The filter I'm talking about, seems to be the reason the screen has more of a black/white look compared to the dmg. Any informations would be appreciated.
sjm4306 that was the conclusion I just figured out. I’m not sure why notifications aren’t popping up for me, but yeah, the next few screens I pulled the top filter off if I didn’t touch the flex cable and everything came out pretty good, I’m not sure if I will say the same when I get the backlights in, but hopefully all will go well
If you get a bigger polarizing filter sheet and rotate it the shade of colors will change from bluish-purple, to black-white to greenish. Just mark which angle gives the desired colors for the on and off pixels and cut to size. I did this for my clear pocket I backlit so the on pixels are pitch black and the off pixels are white. Looks absolutely great.
Hello! I've got a Yamaha EL-70 organ which has an LCD screen and it is burnt. What if i don't have a polarizing film, can I just remove the burnt polarizing film and put the LCD back and still work?
OMM ZERO It is most likely the backlight diffusive layers that were damaged. I would start off carefully taking the LCD apart, separating the layers and cleaning everything.
My favorite quick fixes are corroded battery contacts. Usually a dip in vinegar and rinse in isopropyl alcohol is enough to at least get it working. Another good one is crusty power switch or contrast wheel that can also be fixed with some IPA.
@@sjm4306 hey, I had one that I wasn't able to fix. It was a GBA sp the power switch wouldn't stay on. I refreshed the solder on the points but still wouldn't work. I had to jump the connection with a wire for it to turn on. What would I do if I come across another one like that? Is there a replacement switch? Because it uses a pot not a switch.
I dont think there are any easily available new old stock replacement switches (I could be wrong about that though). The easiest way is to find a badly broken sp and harvest the switch from it. I keep (beyond economic repair) broken consoles just to scrap parts from them.
Well turns out I was wrong! Glad to be wrong as well because that means your unfixable sp can be fixed for ~$7 rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F372315179739
My gba sp ags 001 appears to have a slight burn on the screen. I'm not 100% sure if that's the case since I haven't opened it up yet. Is the process for replacing the filter the same or similar to the video? I can't find much info on replacing the filter for an sp and I don't want to buy a new screen.
It would likely be the same process, but since it is frontlit I'd be worried that replacing the filter would never look quite the same as the original (you'd likely introduce imperfections/air bubbles/etc). Replacement 001 screens are only ~$30 so the choice is up to you which route you prefer.
Someone recently gifted several GBCs to me with this exact damage. Looked like someone held the screen over a lighter! Anyway, are those replacement polarizing filters also available for GBC?
Emmett Turner You will have to search for circular polarizers which unfortunately I don't have a source for. A physics scientific/experiment component supplier would be a good place to start looking.
sjm4306 Thanks. I was planning to place another order from Kitsch-Bent soon and I see that they have a GBC backlighting kit with polarizers for $1. It's intended to go on the back side but they stress that it's not the same as the DMG polarizer... so perhaps it's the right kind for the front as well? Never heard of a "circular" polarizer and they don't call it that so hopefully the rear polarizer is the same kind as the front. :)
Emmett Turner That sounds about right. Good to know Kitsch Bent has them in case I need a source. The dmg and pocket use linear filters while the gbc and gba use circular ones inherent in how the lcd technologies work differently.
When I do repairs off camera I usually use a magnetic metal dish I got from an auto repair shop which holds small screws great and allows you to stick them in order as well.
Did this but still got a little part in the middle than isn't clear. I thought that i had some adhesive left but now i'm starting to think it might be the back polarizer. But my front was way less damaged than this. So what do you reckon ? Is it possible that it is indeed the back filter ?
If you look at the top of the lcd at an angle do you see the opaque spot on the surface or is it below the glass? From a comment someone posted there is additionally a layer bonded between the glass and the polarizer that you might have missed a part of. Or it could indeed be the rear filter has also sustained some damage.
Ebay is fairly cheap and safe, Chinese direct sell sites like taobao, aliexpress, etc are a little cheaper but usually are more restrictive in how they accept payments, min order quantities, and are less protective of customers getting ripped off.
You'll have to backlight the lcd (basically remove the rear reflective and polarizer layers and replace the polarizer). If you can finda suitable reflector you can get away with not backlighting it but it'll probably never look 100% like it did before.
Any advice for removing the rear polarizer and reflector? I tried backlighting mine and completely destroyed the ribbon cable and I don’t want to break anothet
The safest way is to very carefully desolder the few solder points at the bottom ribbon so you can swing the entire ribbon off to the side. Once you are done then you just resolder the connections and you are set.
sjm4306 thanks! I tried doing that after I broke it (but I broke the orange ribbon cable completely off both connections) so it was beyond repair. I will definitely try that when the new one comes in the mail
It must've had an exceptionally rough time in the sun. I've repaired a few with this issue and haven't yet come across one with rear filter damage in addition to the front.
No I got it from Japan 4 you j4u and they don’t know about that film it’s not made for the sun without there sunscreen can the back of the screen get the silver thing or do I have to make it backlight
Yeah I found a way to get the adhesive glue off the screen from the old film put or spray rubbing alcohol on the screen and get a new box cutter blade and put the edge on the glass and then scrape the glue off just don’t hit any ribbon cables
Quality video man! Production value through the roof!!
The Retro Future Hi!!
Yea, love that you help out other gameboy mechanics!
I like it with the DMG polarizer. It makes it look like an original DMG but a bit smaller.
I'm glad seeing it fixed. Those stickers make me feel like it was well loved by whoever had it before. Even though you removed them, that's just to help you enjoy it for many years to come!
Thanks. Yeah other than the screen damage, the console was kept in very good condition, barely a scratch on her. This dmg pocket and my extreme green are by far my favorite portable consoles.
If that happened to my 3ds I would cry.
You’re a hero for healing this GameBoy.
I am a gameboy whisperer ... they whisper the secrets of what ails them to me ...
sjm4306 lol
I own two of these units, but never realized there was one with a power led indicator. Now time to track one down. Another tip, I use a MARS white eraser pen used for drafting to clean the contacts and pads..brings the buttons back to life without the need to for ISO.
The new polarized filter actually looks great with that color scheme imo. Great work, I had no idea this was possible.
I know this is an old video but you help fix stuff at work and I appreciate you and your videos. Thanks for sharing the knowledge bro. :D
Thanks bro, means a lot hearing from a fan!
How could someone do that much damage to a Gameboy Screen?
My guess is it was left in the sun and the uv damaged the filters/adhesive.
sjm4306 maybe had one of those magnifying glasses on?
I could see leaving the lens on and on a sunny windowsill could do some permanent damage.
You don't need to misshandle it at all to happen this, just play a lot on sunlight. And, well, it does happen on childhood (if you were the type that plays outside). Happened to mine and I never left it on the sun.
Sunlight/UV levels are so high here that once I was playing on my Game Boy Color on the sun for a while, the screen just started to fade off, when I saw it I realized it was actually very hot, and then LCDs start to go mad.
This heat thing on LCDs make me wonder what kind of epic LCDs do they use on car dash board systems
Kalvinjj how does one play on the sun? Gotta be hot up there.
3M has a great "Adhesive Cleaner" (08984) in their portfolio. Just put it on the surface and leave it there for a minute. You'll see the adhesive puff up a bit and it's then really easy just to wipe off the surface with practically no residue (if you waited long enough). Oh, and heating the entire display up from the top with a hair dryer or something will also help a great deal softening up that adhesive so you'll get the sheet off the glass more easily and with less risk of cracking it.
This happens A LOT on Brazil (tho not necessarily black like that), I'm guessing it's got to do a lot with the UV exposure from sun (as, you'll be playing those on sunlight). The Color and Advance ones are commonly seen with terrible polarizers like those for cheap, the fix is annoying to do (as shown) but cheap. You may end up doing it for free if only the glue layer is damaged, or if you have another filter to replace (say a dead laptop's screen).
Care must be taken on the Color and Advance (also Advance SP AGS 001) that the polarizer is different: it uses a circular polarizer, and this takes 2 layers on the front before the glass (not counting glue layers). The top layer is a linear polarizer, and the bottom one (bottom ON FRONT) is a quarter wave plate/retarder. This is extremely important if you wanna just salvage a polarizer from another LCD, say an old/broken laptop's LCD. Those being linear, you'll need the bottom quarter wave plate intact.
Kalvinjj Thanks for the detailed info, I had a sneaking suspicion that the color and advance filters were circular.
What about for the advance sp ags 101 (backlit)? Would it still suffer from the same problems?
Kelvin Technically since it also has polarizing filters but the clamshell design protects the lcd when closed so I have never seen a single sp with this lcd burn problem in my life.
Kelvin could be, but I haven't seen it the same way, since this model's direct sunlight visibility isn't the focus, you'll end up playing on the shade, without direct UV exposure.
I have seen tho that the edges of some AGS 101 screens fade to white, growing towards the center with time. Whoever I cannot say if this is an issue with the polarizer or the panel. I would suspect polarizer, tho now there's the back and front one to try.
Hey, I know this was more than a year already, but I happen to have an AGS 101 screen with a very similar issue. So, I could just take the filter layer and replace it with a cellphone replacement? or would that make it too dark?
Wow now looking back at all the vids I’ve watched of u and Retro future
I’m such a ducking nerd
I have a massive hard-on for J4U too! I order a few packages from them every week without fail, Glad I didn't throw away all those LCDs, I didn't know you could remove the front polarizer.
I like the Gameboy pocket screen, but the polarizer is always terrible on those gameboy pockets
Nice video, got to love the intro 🤣😂 AND you got eliot to help you? LUCKY! You certainly got a new subscriber!
Definitely bought a new screen for it. That other screen was junk. No way it could have been cleaned up and looked that perfect. It was a good decision to replace it man.
I definitely replaced the polarizing filter of the original screen. There are a number of other youtubers who have done the same repair and can confirm that it is possible to fix screens with this type of damage. As the damage is to the plastic based polarizing filter on top and not the glass itself it is nothing that's permanent and can't be replaced.
Now I know why I see so many Gameboys for sale in Japan that are listed under junk that look like this. Thanks!
Even the prices on those are now rising now that it's publicly known that they are reasonably easy to fix.
Wow I can't believe that the only damaged part was the front polarizing filter. Excellent work!
I was amazed that the repair was as straightforward as it was.
For taking adhesives off try using orange oil. We use it at work to take the adhesive off heavy duty stickers and it works wonders.
Thanks for the tip. I semi-recently found some goo gone at the dollar store that smells strongly of orange that is a godsend for removing adhesives. Definitely beats isopropyl alcohol hands down.
Awesome video! I work in the LCD industry and I used to work in a factory polarizing displays. The best thing to remove the adhesive from the polarizer is Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK), it’ll get anything and everything off of that glass with no effort. Alcohol doesn’t work nearly as well as you would expect it to. I do have to say, you did a damn fine job re-polarizing that display. It’s tricky to get it done without any dust particles or anything getting in between the glass and the new polarizer. Hopefully you also got the front release sheet off of the polarizer too (it looks like you did). There’s a thin sheet of plastic on the front of the polarizer like the one covering the adhesive. Once you remove that, it’ll look even better and be easier to clean.
Thanks for the suggestions and info. I often have to deal with removing adhesives and such so I'm sure it'll come in handy.
sjm4306 I also totally forgot to mention something kind of important. If you do get some MEK for cleaning purposes, you’ll need to know that that stuff can really eat its way through some types of plastic. Hopefully you get this before you pick up some MEK and accidentally destroy something.
What is the name of that polarized film?
Linear polarizer
My Gameboy Pocket that I've had for about 20 years or so still works well considering that it was my first personally owned console. Mine was the standard silver one. It has some of the standard wear n' tear around the corners of paint/color removal. Plus it also has some small permanent pixel damage along the bottom and left of the screen that can be seen when it's off and on. Plus mine is the later model with the power LED. but the screen damage is nothing to me cause it's not to bad that renders playing a game unplayable.
A few of my pockets have similar liquid crystal leak damage around the edges of the lcd but it is really only a bother if you are looking for it.
Best graphics ive ever seen on a gameboy tbh
It looks so real ... like the screen is really burnt!
I know this video is a little old, but I use Goo Gone prep gel spray to remove adhesive. Soak a paper towel pretty well and coat the surface and make sure to let it sit for 5 - 10 minutes and it is better than anything I've ever used before it.
Yeah I just got some goo gone recently as my dollar store store randomly started carrying small bottles of it. Decided to give it a try and its great!
That's great haha, I've found that specifically the gel spray works better than any other goo gone material so if you haven't tried that one out it might work even better.
Don't use paper towel...some brands are too fibrous and can scratch delicate surfaces like screen glass. Paper towels are a big no no with screens....
At work we have tissues used for cleaning glass optical lenses that work great for this sort of thing as they leave no fibers behind and are designed not to scratch delicate surfaces.
Great! I did it as you show, exellent results! Thank you!
Awesome word bud. Impressive and patient.
I just um played it next to the lit candle. You know I could not play because it has no light right?
YumCherryPies - Roblox,Nintendo I can just imagine a light attachment that holds a candle just above the screen dripping wax on it.
sjm4306 haha, that needs to happen.
I've yet to try this but I will deff do this in the future, when I get a broken gameboy pocket! Very educational bro
Retro Partout Yeah there are tons of pockets that suffer this fate so it's great they can be resurrected.
This is my first video of yours, I got to admit - I really enjoyed it
I gotta say, this video seems like a combination of Druaga1 and the 8-bit guy's videos
Keep up the good work!
Thanks that means a lot to me. I'm subbed to 8-bit guy so that's makes sense, haven't seen Druaga1 so I need to check his channel out.
Use a sewing thread to separate the plastic from the glassnto avoid putting too much pressure on the LCD glass
Good tip, I'll have to give it a try! Thanks
I was watching this, then realized we have the same keyboard. I thought mine was just a random dell keyboard.
Beautiful repair man
Your amazing guy im wondering if i can buy big screen filter for my jetski cluster that look burnt any advice where to buy film thank you
I don't see why this fix wouldn't work so long as you are careful not to damage the lcd glass. Last I checked you can buy larger sheets of linear polarizing filters from sites like Aliexpress direct from the companies that make them.
We use a bigger version of that sonic to get bone and tissue out of surgical instruments, never even thought of a smaller version to clean things like buttons and parts, great stuff
Ironically enough I now work as an engineer for a company which designs and produces such cleaning equipment.
sjm4306 ha! That’s awesome! 👍
Nice restoration :) For removing the adhesive backing, a water displacer (WD-40) is the best bet, it will wipe right off. Iso can be a bit harsh and reacts with some plastics. Most of the time it's fine, until that one that comes along and your black plastic starts turning white :O
I didn't even know that edition of the pocket existed :D
Thanks for the tip! Not sure if the dmg pocket was released outside of japan which might explain why many havent heard of it.
My GBC & GBA have burnt screen when I put it in the box for long time , it just happen and never exposed outdoor. So darkness & humidity could do the same as sun light
It's probably some latent chemical reaction of the polarizer/adhesive breaking down with age.
Didn't know you can fix this problem,brought back to life :-)
Now hopefully all those gameboys that are dirt cheap and wrecked because of screen burn can be fixed up and given new homes.
That's cool I didn't know you could remove the front to polarizing Filter
at this point id completely replace the entire screen. A few dollars saved is not worth this much effort but freaking cool vid anyway dude. Subbed
Thanks! Fair enough but I can imagine niche cases for rare consoles where finding a replacement is not an option (either due to rarity or cost) where this method can be the difference between having a working unit or display piece only. Plus I had fun experimenting in something I hadn't seen done before.
Good work as always! I'm glad you talked about the differences in polarizing films. Have you ever come across a polarazier where you had to turn it diagonally? I just did this fix to one of my Gameboy Colors and it wouldn't show up correctly until I turned it on a diagonal. Have you ever come across this before?
I've had to do that for polarizing sheets I've salvaged from lcd monitors/tvs but not for commercial ones I've purchased.
@@sjm4306 Thanks for getting back to me. Another thing I realized was when putting the polorizing film directly on the screen the image was reversed but when i put the GB color front cover on and placed the same polorizing film over the outside screen it looked normal. WTF. Guessing there is a polarizing film on the out side screen too.
Yep, all lcds have two polarizers (one on top and one on the bottom)
Good job, would love one in that color myself!
I suspect that the original front polarizer is fused to a color conversion filter, that would explain the green color
8:30 Hi, I have a similar problem to yours. My gameboy screen just got damaged (it seems it got burnt by the batteries acid). I tried to make something similar you make here so I tried to peel it. There were two layers, the first was very flexible, the second and a little bit deeper was a little less flexible and seem to start breaking like those mobile phone protectors when I tried to remove these two. What should I make?
I would keep the stickers. I feel that they kind of tell a story about the previous owner, which is kind of neat.
I can respect that but since I have no personal sentiment attached to them they are just stickers to me.
(30 seconds into the video)
my guy you deserve my subscribe
Came here from the retro future channel 👍 👍 cool vid!
Thanks and welcome
I ordered a replacement shell for my 101 SP, I live in the country. I really hope i dont need to drive a half an hour out of my way to pick up a parcel. 😅
Great repair but might want to use alchol swabs instead
next time I see damaged or broken game boys I'm going to try to fix them. thank you and I have two of those keyboards but the lights are green first time I seen one with the lights being red
GROUP GALAXY video gaming The lights were green on my keyboard as well, I just got bored of them so I changed the leds for red ones to jazz it up a bit.
Nice! I was iffy on watching this for a while, but this could save me loads! (maybe $10-$25).
Also, fitting to have the screen green on a DMG styled pocket
NetNerdy Thanks man! Gotta get all those screen damaged pockets good as new and into the hands of gamers again.
Very cool video. Where did you get the replacement for the polarizing filter?
Deadpan Robot, an online uk retro modding store
Hi @sjm4306 , did you use this filter? www.deadpanrobot.co.uk/adhesive-front-polarising-film-replacement-for-nintendo-game-boy-polr-adh?search=polar . I have a green pocket waiting for months to change the front polarizer but I'm not sure wich ones work in a pocket. The one from deadpanrobot says that if you are not doing a backlight or bivert it will be an inverted image, so wont it work in a normal pocket? Some say that the polarizing filter for the pocket is circular and if you use a linear one the screen will be greenish like a DMG, is it true? I need it so badly but I'm not sure what to get.
Awesome video as always, thanks for these helpful guides!
Yep, that's the one. The pocket uses a linear filter and if the image is inverted all you need to do is rotate the fliter sideways or flip it over until it looks right.
sweet video, dropped you a sub. love these repair videos!
Thanks!
Mine is not that bad, but not much better. But get this: last year, I pulled it out of the original box and it looked and worked fine. I put it back in the original box and left it stored in a closet. Now it looks like that. It was not exposed to any heat, though it did get pretty cold at times.
It could be temperature fluctuations or a latent chemical reaction due to a bad formulation of adhesive/polarizer. Not really sure and you aren't the first who has had this mysteriously happen that kept their gameboy in a safe, dark, dry area.
Great video! Where can I buy the polarizing film? I hace two GBP that need this screen fix. Thanks!
Deadpan Robot, Handheld Legend or Kitsch Bent carry them depending on where in the world you are
You can use expired credit card and a piece of fine grit sandpaper to make a dull plastic blade which hopefully will make the removal process a breeze.
Using alcohol or a tiny bit of WD-40 helps but be careful if you use WD-40 as it won't evaporate easily and leave a wet spots behind if you're not careful and it gets behind the screen.
this guy is a hero, and how often can you burn your screen?
Thanks. I've personally never had this issue as I dont leave my consoles exposed to the sun for extended periods of time so I couldnt really tell you exactly how or why this burn damage happens.
I found one of these in the trash. BURNED BAD but works. So what what.. There are two different polarize films? Which one to get? Where?
You need a linear polarizer, they are commonly and cheaply available for fixing dmg gameboys (ebay/handheld legend/deadpan robot/kitsch bent/etc all have them).
@@sjm4306 The new one just sticks on right? What do ya do if you have bubbles hah!
You can get the sticky ones, but I prefer the ones that just go on top of the screen and when you screw the gb together it gets squeezed between the front lens and lcd glass. No air bubbles and easy to remove and replace.
Would a Light Boy be fixed the same way? Picked one up and the front screen is a bit wavy. But without the decolouration.
Yes, in fact this is how I got mine for cheap. It had the same problem.
sjm4306 thank you!
That same thing happened to two of my gameboy pockets. No sunlight at all under a 72° temperature room lol
It could be something chemical in the batch of adhesive they used that reacts with the polarizer over time.
@@sjm4306 does the polarize thingy serves some purpose to the lcd screen or is it just for contrast?
It makes the lcd work. If you remove either the top and/or bottom one the screen will look blank even if it's on.
So I'm commenting on an old video here but I hope you can help. My back and front polarizer film and the back reflector are all burned. The polarizers aren't difficult to replace, but how about the reflector? TIA
I haven't found a replacement reflector myself, though I've done experimentation with various metal foils which work but don't end up looking as good as the original. Your best bet would probably to contact an lcd manufacturer directly and ask nicely if they would sell you a swatch of the reflector material but no guarantees.
So satisfying to watch ....
I'm replacing the polarizer of My gba, i want to use recycle the polarizer from an old monitor but it doesn't have any glue, should i put loka uv glue between the screen and the polarizer or just glue the boxers of the polarizer on the screen or case? Thank You for this video btw
If you are worried about dropping the gameboy or something then loca should work fine, but I've found just the pressure between the lcd and the front case is enough to keep it in place so long as you cut it to the right size.
I am going to repair my old GBP from childhood that my mother brought to me this last visit. Do you do any gluing with the new filter, or just lie it down on the glass then lie the LCD on top?
I just place it between the lcd and front lens and when you screw the gameboy together the pressure will hold it in place
Fantastic and does the filter have to be on in any particular direction? It seemed to change the look when you rotated it.
Just rotate/flip it until it looks right. If you get it the wrong way around the image will be inverted but can easily be fixed by changing the orientation.
I just bought a deadpan robot adhesive polarized film cause found some scratch on the lcd and had to remove that layer, saw the video and couldn't see was adhesive, just put between the screen and the lcd??
The filters I used didnt have adhesive, but for ones that do you would remove the old scratched one, peel the protective plastic off the new filter to expose the sticky adhesice, and stick it to the lcd glass in the same orientation as the old filter was (so the image isnt inverted).
Use WD40 to clean the gunk... it is the best
I've used wd-40 in the past and recently got some goo gone. I might have to do a comparison video removing adhesives along with other common solvents.
sjm4306 good to know :-) you just got a new subscriber :-P cheers
Isopropyl alcohol 99% ftw
finally! iv been looking for a tutorial on this
my GB Color suffered the same damage. Just left it in a drawer for a couple of years and it never saw daylight since today.
I wonder if there is something in the adhesive then that reacts with the polarizing filter?
@@sjm4306 could be. tho i dont know how to fix this or even find someone in my area who could. lol. but great video btw!
Excellent! I'm going to give this a go!
I have one that is damaged on the back polarizing film. Where can I purchase the reflective backing material that goes over the rear polarizing film?
Unfortunately I don't have a source for the reflective layer. I've experimented with metal foils, mirror films and white plastics to act as the reflector but it's just not the same as the original. I suppose you could try asking a monochrome lcd manufacturer if they would sell you some but unless you order quite a bit of it I doubt they would.
1:10 "beautiful, shiny, beautiful" lol Subbed just for that...
Wow, that's fantastic to see. I had no idea that the burn could be fixed. That's great to learn. Now I won't bother avoiding those GBPs when buying to repair, mod, and sell.
Andrew Fillhart I've probably shot myself in the foot now that everyone will go out and buy all the burnt gbp's but knowledge must be shared!
I could see your point but it's true, share the knowledge and let us all grow from it. I actively share all my knowledge of fixes and repairs as well on my website, ifixit.com and other places where I can. Keep up the stellar work!
Andrew Fillhart I love ifixit, it's my go to place when I need to know how to open something without demolishing it!
It is necessary a LOCA type adhesive in order to set the filter over the LCD?? Maybe comes it with an adhesive side?
José Ramón Bellido There are filters that come with adhesive, but I've found that the pressure of the lcd against of the front plastic is enough to keep the filter in place.
Shaun you're a genius man. Love the videos keep it up
Can I use polarizing film from Android phone ? Dark one ?
I've never tried it myself but I believe I've heard that they will work.
@@sjm4306 thanks for the reply, ordered 10 pcs in china
Hi, is there a way to replace the back polarizer? I've already removed the front one but the burn's still there. If yes do you have a link to a video or article
God bless.
It's very difficult but possible. I'm pretty sure I show the process in one of my gameboy pocket backlight/lcd repair videos.
I usually remove the adhesive layer with acetone, it's stronger than the isopropyl alcohol and makes the process much easier.
And using a polarizer from a DMG doesn't change the color, I've have the same issue with phone polarizer. I think the front polarizer might be a circular one instead of a linear one. Maybe that would explain the change in color
I've also noticed that even for a linear polarizer filter that rotating by a few degrees considerably changes the shade of colors as well as contrast. I've had good results getting crisp blacks instead of the normal purple hue seen in bivert mods simply by cutting my own filters at a desired angle from sheets pulled from larger lcds.
I replaced the front polarizer of a gameboy pocket with a iphone 6 polarizer and just like you it gives a green tint to the screen. When I analyzed the removed polarizer, I noticed there was another film under it and it seems to be some kind of color filter and I don't know its called. The filter I'm talking about, seems to be the reason the screen has more of a black/white look compared to the dmg. Any informations would be appreciated.
holy fucking shitnit looks like someone just put on a lighter and farted in it with the gameboy behind
daim ProPlayer Flameboy?!?!
Flatulence boy
LOL I know right
Excellent video, thanks for your help!
@ 3.43 yeah, the button contacts are clean....
until you put finger grease on
Oh cmon, like a micrometer of skin oils will destroy gold immersion plating or prevent functionality
Any tips on how to remove the filters and not mess up the cables to cause vertical lines?
simyo3in1 Only touch the glass and don't apply too much pressure to any one part.
sjm4306 that was the conclusion I just figured out. I’m not sure why notifications aren’t popping up for me, but yeah, the next few screens I pulled the top filter off if I didn’t touch the flex cable and everything came out pretty good, I’m not sure if I will say the same when I get the backlights in, but hopefully all will go well
nice video where can i buy that polarized film? to repair my GB i have a GB just like that one the screen is all burned up
Jason Santiago Deadpan Robot, Kitsch Bent, and Handheld Legend all sell replacement polarizers.
Yikes. I used to use my original game boy in the sun during school breaks. Good to see what could happen if your not careful
Probably fine so long as you dont leave it out in the sun for hours. This one almost looks like someone left it on a window sill for days.
@@sjm4306 I've seen bad results from car dashboards too. The sun is nuts
Yep, your car is like an oven when it's sunny out.
@@sjm4306 in 8:06
That you use to clean that button
What is that
It is an ultrasonic jewelery cleaner
Great video! I have a DMG with the same issue. Do you think this can be done with a DMG screen?
It absolutely can
This is great I did it many times but is there a way to get the screen to be black & white like new instead of green like the original DMG ?
If you get a bigger polarizing filter sheet and rotate it the shade of colors will change from bluish-purple, to black-white to greenish. Just mark which angle gives the desired colors for the on and off pixels and cut to size. I did this for my clear pocket I backlit so the on pixels are pitch black and the off pixels are white. Looks absolutely great.
I have the same problem and can't find a new film in internet. Could you tell where you bought yours? Thanks!
Sergey Maslatsov They sell them online at Deadpan Robot, Handheld Legend or Kitsch Bent.
Why dose the thing you used to clean the buttons remind me of a deep fryer
Lol it does kinda look like some kind of fryer
Hello! I've got a Yamaha EL-70 organ which has an LCD screen and it is burnt. What if i don't have a polarizing film, can I just remove the burnt polarizing film and put the LCD back and still work?
The polarizer is what makes the lcd image visible, if you remove and dont replace it the screen will always look blank.
sjm4306 Thank you for the info! ☺️
good job, how can I repair a gba ags 101 screen stained by moisture?
OMM ZERO It is most likely the backlight diffusive layers that were damaged. I would start off carefully taking the LCD apart, separating the layers and cleaning everything.
Amazing stuff, just the thing I've been looking for .... But where to get the cheapest polarising film
eBay, Amazon, Deadpan Robot, Handheld Legend, Kitsch Bent ... pick your poison!
I used to buy those gameboys from j4you fixed tons with silly issues like broken speaker or sticky buttons
My favorite quick fixes are corroded battery contacts. Usually a dip in vinegar and rinse in isopropyl alcohol is enough to at least get it working. Another good one is crusty power switch or contrast wheel that can also be fixed with some IPA.
@@sjm4306 hey, I had one that I wasn't able to fix. It was a GBA sp the power switch wouldn't stay on.
I refreshed the solder on the points but still wouldn't work. I had to jump the connection with a wire for it to turn on.
What would I do if I come across another one like that? Is there a replacement switch? Because it uses a pot not a switch.
Anyway great video man! Just subscribed :D
I dont think there are any easily available new old stock replacement switches (I could be wrong about that though). The easiest way is to find a badly broken sp and harvest the switch from it. I keep (beyond economic repair) broken consoles just to scrap parts from them.
Well turns out I was wrong! Glad to be wrong as well because that means your unfixable sp can be fixed for ~$7 rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F372315179739
My gba sp ags 001 appears to have a slight burn on the screen. I'm not 100% sure if that's the case since I haven't opened it up yet. Is the process for replacing the filter the same or similar to the video? I can't find much info on replacing the filter for an sp and I don't want to buy a new screen.
It would likely be the same process, but since it is frontlit I'd be worried that replacing the filter would never look quite the same as the original (you'd likely introduce imperfections/air bubbles/etc). Replacement 001 screens are only ~$30 so the choice is up to you which route you prefer.
@@sjm4306 thanks, That helped a lot!
Someone recently gifted several GBCs to me with this exact damage. Looked like someone held the screen over a lighter! Anyway, are those replacement polarizing filters also available for GBC?
Emmett Turner You will have to search for circular polarizers which unfortunately I don't have a source for. A physics scientific/experiment component supplier would be a good place to start looking.
sjm4306 Thanks. I was planning to place another order from Kitsch-Bent soon and I see that they have a GBC backlighting kit with polarizers for $1. It's intended to go on the back side but they stress that it's not the same as the DMG polarizer... so perhaps it's the right kind for the front as well? Never heard of a "circular" polarizer and they don't call it that so hopefully the rear polarizer is the same kind as the front. :)
Emmett Turner That sounds about right. Good to know Kitsch Bent has them in case I need a source. The dmg and pocket use linear filters while the gbc and gba use circular ones inherent in how the lcd technologies work differently.
sjm4306 Thanks again! Hopefully I'll remember to report back. :)
4:45 i think it was left in the sun with one of those magnifiers on it
i.imgur.com/uxoMl0t.jpg
Very likely. Sad way to go ... smouldering in the sunlight ...
What in the?... Did someone take a blowtorch to it? In any case, awesome repair!
You should use something for screw management. They are small screws and if you accidently dropped one it would be a pain to find them.
When I do repairs off camera I usually use a magnetic metal dish I got from an auto repair shop which holds small screws great and allows you to stick them in order as well.
Did this but still got a little part in the middle than isn't clear. I thought that i had some adhesive left but now i'm starting to think it might be the back polarizer.
But my front was way less damaged than this.
So what do you reckon ? Is it possible that it is indeed the back filter ?
If you look at the top of the lcd at an angle do you see the opaque spot on the surface or is it below the glass? From a comment someone posted there is additionally a layer bonded between the glass and the polarizer that you might have missed a part of. Or it could indeed be the rear filter has also sustained some damage.
Yes I can still see something indeed, thought I got it all of because I couldn't see anything earlier. I'll try to get rid of it then. Thanks !
hi, do you know where to get good and inexpensive upper LCD screens for a DS Lite?
Ebay is fairly cheap and safe, Chinese direct sell sites like taobao, aliexpress, etc are a little cheaper but usually are more restrictive in how they accept payments, min order quantities, and are less protective of customers getting ripped off.
Hey, do you know where to salvage good source of polarizing film?
Lcd monitors if you want to recycle (with a lot of effort) or you can buy replacement filters for phones and cut them to size.
I have one that the black part is the silver back behind the screen with the white side. Don't know what to do now.
You'll have to backlight the lcd (basically remove the rear reflective and polarizer layers and replace the polarizer). If you can finda suitable reflector you can get away with not backlighting it but it'll probably never look 100% like it did before.
Just subbed, ur channel looks pretty cool
Any advice for removing the rear polarizer and reflector? I tried backlighting mine and completely destroyed the ribbon cable and I don’t want to break anothet
The safest way is to very carefully desolder the few solder points at the bottom ribbon so you can swing the entire ribbon off to the side. Once you are done then you just resolder the connections and you are set.
sjm4306 thanks! I tried doing that after I broke it (but I broke the orange ribbon cable completely off both connections) so it was beyond repair. I will definitely try that when the new one comes in the mail
I have a question. Where do you get your polarizer film?
I got my polarizer from deadpan robot
Thank you!!
Yeah I just got another one that was burned to but it has got through it and burned the back film too
It must've had an exceptionally rough time in the sun. I've repaired a few with this issue and haven't yet come across one with rear filter damage in addition to the front.
No I got it from Japan 4 you j4u and they don’t know about that film it’s not made for the sun without there sunscreen can the back of the screen get the silver thing or do I have to make it backlight
Yeah I found a way to get the adhesive glue off the screen from the old film put or spray rubbing alcohol on the screen and get a new box cutter blade and put the edge on the glass and then scrape the glue off just don’t hit any ribbon cables
It is technically possible to replace the silver reflective layer, although I've never found a material that looks as good as the original.
Conductor pad is the rubber pad