Damaged Game Boy cart?

[Anakondarh]

Hi guys!

Been a lurker for a while, but finally decided to join so I could ask a question.

Am a Game Boy collector and modder. Recently bought a copy of Mole Mania that I found at a second hand store. Physically, the game is in top shape, and I got excited to find this game which I had read a lot of good things about.

However, I suspect the cart is damaged. I cannot get it to work consistently. When I put the cart in the GB, always get a good, solid Nintendo logo. So far so good. But after, one of a few things happens. Either a) the Nintendo logo just stays on screen (90% of the time) or b) the game starts but freezes after 5-60 seconds (5% of the time) or c) I get a blank screen, horizontal line, or other signs of non-functionality

At first, I suspected the usual - dirty connectors. So I opened it up, and cleaned the connectors well in the usual way. They now look very fine. But the game is still a no-go.

I have tested that all of the pins work well. did this by plugging the cart into an open GB, and tested for continuity between the points in the GB's connector and points in the cart. Everything is making good contact.

The board itself looks really good, no signs of damage of any sort or corrosion.

I also have a solid 5V on the game's board when the system is on, so V and GND seem to be working well. I reflowed the pins with a bit of solder anyways to make sure. All the ICs seem to be getting power as well.

I'm pretty much out of ideas... Wanted to throw this out there to see if anyone has had any similar experiences and has any ideas of what I could check for. I'm attaching a photo of the board so that people can know what type of board it is.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

Here's a hig res of the picture below: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2350934/20140428_172550.jpg

 

[theEVOL1]

I am going to assume two things. First, as a collector, you have an extra Gameboy to test the game in and all of your other carts work fine in the one you are using. B, you are able to solder at least functionally. I can't be held responsible for damage due to poor soldering skill! Lol

If you can solder and have ruled out the console, then this is what I would do.

Take some flux and apply generously to every leg of the two chips that are circled in red. Then you want to reflow the connection on each leg one by one. You don't want to desolder or lift the chip, you just want to clean the joint. You really don't need much solder, just enough to tin the tip. You don't want to glob it on and bridge the legs.

Once you reflow the legs, hopefully it will boot right up! Good luck!

 

[Anakondarh]

Thanks for the reply TheEVOL1! Yes, i do have more than one GB to test in. The game acts the same way on all of my GBs. Also, everything else works on them. so it's definitely something with this particular cart.

As for the soldering, no problem, I can hold my own (I even do some soldering at work). So I'll try your suggestion and see what happens.

A quick question. I know the bigger IC on the lower right is the ROM where the game is stored. But what is the smaller chip on the upper left?

Thanks again!

 

[theEVOL1]

I apologize, but that is not the chip I meant. That small one is a power switcher, an mm1134. The one that you should reflow is actually the bigger one below it. It is an MBC, or memory bank controller. It is used to expand the memory of a ROM beyond what it would normally be able to use.

You can still reflow that small one, but it won't have anything to do with your problem. Sorry about the incorrect info in my original post! I hope you have success!

 

[Anakondarh]

@theEVOL1

You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. Your fixed worked beautifully.

After reading your message, I tested to see if I could figure out which one was badly connected by turning on the GB while at the same time pressing with my finger on the chips. Sure enough, the ROM was the faulty one. So I reflowed all the connections and now it works like a champ. Man these things are sturdy...

Here's a picture of it running.

I will change the topic to SOLVED. thanks one more time!

 

[theEVOL1]

Awesome! I'm always so glad to see someone's stuff working again!! Enjoy your game, sir!