Print Page - The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game

General Discussion => Technology and Development => Other => Topic started by: SirCmpwn on August 07, 2011, 09:57:27 pm

Title: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: SirCmpwn on August 07, 2011, 09:57:27 pm

Hello,
So I recently picked up Pokemon Gold on eBay for super cheap because the saving feature was broken. For those of you who don't know, Pokemon Gold and games like it store their saved data in a special kind of RAM called SRAM. Since RAM requires a battery to keep the data intact, these cartridges have a small battery inside. Usually, when your game stops being able to save, it's because this battery died. Unfortunately, the kind of battery they use can be difficult to find. I decided to use an alternate battery in its place - a AA.
Obviously a AA battery can't fit inside of a GameBoy cartridge, so I had to do a lot of hacky stuff to make this work. The first thing I did was scrounge up some equipment. I don't have any solder, or a soldering iron, or even any proper wires. The materials for this build are as follows:
-Cheap plastic pen
-Lighter
-Old noise-cancelling headphones
-Speaker wires
-Tape
-Scissors
-AA Battery

These are all the materials I used for this. The first thing I did was get the cartridge open. I took the ink and metal tip out of my pen, and melted down the tip. While it was still hot, I pressed the tip of the pen onto the screw that held the casing on (it requires a special screwdriver that is difficult to find). After the melted plastic pen dried, I had a DIY GameBoy cartridge screwdriver. I removed the screw and opened up the case to reveal the game inside.
Attached to the game was a battery powering the SRAM. I pried it out of its casing, leaving the contacts in place. Then I looked for some wiring and found speaker wire. This I stripped. I wound some of it around each contact and left it aside. Then, using the lighter to soften the plastic, and scissors to manipulate it, I put some holes in the side of the casing so the wires could get out. I put the game back in the case and led the wires out.
I went to look for something to hold the battery with. After a lot of searching, I stumbled upon some old noise cancelling headphones that had a mount for a single AA battery. I abused the headphones until just the mount remained, and put a fresh battery inside. I trapped the leads coming out of the cartridge between the battery's contacts and the walls of the mount. I then stuck the cartridge back into my GameBoy Advance and turned it on.
I went through the prompts and chatted up Professor Oak a bit, then finally was dropped into the overworld and saved the game. I turned off the GameBoy, crossed my fingers, and started it up again. Hooray! The game offered me the option to continue, and I was able to save again.

Pics of the build below:

Spoiler For Spoiler:

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: annoyingcalc on August 07, 2011, 10:01:28 pm

:w00t: that is cool!

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: Darl181 on August 07, 2011, 10:03:30 pm

Hmm, I've been having problems with Silver...it "saves" but it's corrupted quite a bit. Won't load.
Looking at the instructable linked from IRC (http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-replace-the-battery-in-a-pokemon-goldsilve/), it should work with a watch battery ;D
(admittedly I have yet to see a CR2025, but it's lot like I've looked around either :P )

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: SirCmpwn on August 07, 2011, 10:04:21 pm

Yeah, but I didn't have a watch battery handy :)

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: jnesselr on August 07, 2011, 10:53:10 pm

I wonder if it'd be usable with the calculator's 5th battery?

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: Darl181 on August 07, 2011, 10:55:03 pm

Looks like it would be pretty hard...
(http://www.instructables.com/image/FW1J6CQF48NDIQE/Take-off-the-old-battery-and-put-the-new-one-on.jpg)
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-replace-the-battery-in-a-pokemon-goldsilve/step3/Take-off-the-old-battery-and-put-the-new-one-on/
Maybe if it were taped in or something?

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: ralphdspam on August 07, 2011, 10:58:42 pm

I wonder if you could desolder the SRAM and replace it with a Zero-Power SRAM.

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: fb39ca4 on August 07, 2011, 11:07:10 pm

Those ones also have a battery built in, so you would have to eventually replace that as well. If I had to do this, I would solder in a watch battery socket.

Quote from: Darl181 on August 07, 2011, 10:03:30 pm

Hmm, I've been having problems with Silver...it "saves" but it's corrupted quite a bit. Won't load.
Looking at the instructable linked from IRC (http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-replace-the-battery-in-a-pokemon-goldsilve/), it should work with a watch battery ;D
(admittedly I have yet to see a CR2025, but it's lot like I've looked around either :P )

I got a pack of two CR2025 batteries for $5 from Meijers. (Midwest big box store chain, for those who have never heard of it)

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: SirCmpwn on August 07, 2011, 11:10:33 pm

Please don't double post, but instead edit your previous post to contain the new information.

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: fb39ca4 on August 07, 2011, 11:11:26 pm

Quote from: SirCmpwn on August 07, 2011, 11:10:33 pm

Please don't double post, but instead edit your previous post to contain the new information.

Sorry, I realized that and immediately moved the contents into my previous post.

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: SirCmpwn on August 07, 2011, 11:12:13 pm

Thanks!

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: thepenguin77 on August 08, 2011, 12:00:47 am

Very hacky, I like it. Though, I feel like your priority for tools was based around the lighter ;D. You managed to use it in like 3 steps where it was probably only needed in 1.

And very clever idea with the makeshift screwdriver. When I took apart a SP, I filed a small screw driver into a V shape so that I could take the screws out, but I think it had much shallower screws.

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: SirCmpwn on August 08, 2011, 12:04:48 am

I could have used the lighter a lot less, but it made the plastic easier to work with. Especially the headphones, they were an inch thick. Without the lighter, it would have taken forever, but 10 seconds on the flame and scissors did the job.

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: Juju on August 08, 2011, 12:08:01 am

Nice hack :D

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on August 08, 2011, 12:08:31 am

Wow nice Sir, you should move this to general hardware/electronic discussion.

Congrats on fixing The Game.

I remember some SNES games where the batteries died and my Super Metroid/Ys III and Illusion of Gaia save data would be gone if I stopped playing for more than 24 hours or so.

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: TIfanx1999 on August 08, 2011, 09:29:31 am

Cool mod. The replacement batteries aren't hard to come by where I live though. I can find them at my Wal-Mart. :) A buddy of mine actually replaced his original once, so I already knew of this.

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: TravisE on August 08, 2011, 09:50:27 am

If they are CR2025s, they're also fairly common in my area. In fact, my Timex watches have used them (I recently had to replace one the other day with a spare I had lying around) as well as a couple of old organizer-type devices or calculators that I used to use.

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: Ashbad on August 08, 2011, 09:55:51 am

Didja know that if you save the game three times while the batter is pretty much out and you can't save like normal, it will still save? The first save does nothing, the second make a save file (corrupted), the third makes a complete save file. Weird. But true. Maybe I should make a video of it in action?

Though, most likely because my battery had some juice left.

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: SirCmpwn on August 08, 2011, 12:09:06 pm

I'd like to see this tried with the battery removed.

Title: Re: The Cheap Way To Fix a GameBoy Game
Post by: yunhua98 on August 08, 2011, 12:14:44 pm

Sweet. I have a Pokemon Blue that refuses to save, and an Emerald that loses the save data as soon as I take it out of the Gameboy. (Although the Emerald is a Chinese hacked version.)