Things I Fixed 🔨
Since I've started enjoying refurbishing and fixing things, I thought I'd start taking a record of Things I Fixed.
-
Two joycons for the Switch and though the thumbstick worked fine, none of the buttons worked.
I had assumed it was a loose connection, but it turns out that the shoulder buttons - L and R - had been crushed (from heavy usage), which looked to have caused a short which knocked out all the buttons.
It was simple to test by removing the crushed buttons from the PCB and the rest of the buttons came back to life (during the test).
The right joycon is trickier because the shoulder button is directly soldered to the PCB and it being crushed meant that the pads had all been ripped, but I managed to expose the super tiny traces and solder to those. But in future, there's easier contact points to jump to.
Otherwise, now all the buttons work, and TIL: mash the shoulder buttons can equate to a totalled joycon!
-
I have a little Etsy store for gameboy repair (though it's currently just carts at the moment), and I had a Pokémon Crystal come in. It didn't load at all and I found corrosion around the cart pins.
Carefully scratching away the solder had it loading up again, but the far right contact (the ground) had solder under the gold finger and I was worried it'll eventually fall away. Originally I wanted to swap all the parts to a new PCB, but that requires actually purchasing another Pokémon Crystal (which sell for around £20-30) - which didn't make sense.
Ultimately I cleaned as much as I could under the pad and then used solder mask to secure the gold finger down and now it's secure and safe for a good many years of usage. Returned to a very happy customer :)
-
I had an old and very, very corroded copy of Super Mario 2: The Golden Rings for the Game Boy. I'd previously restored it but as one commenter suggested, the corrosion will continue to eat away. So the other night, using hot air and a lot of flux, I transferred all the parts to a new PCB and Mario is right as rain again.
-
As part of a joblot, and because I wanted to play Metroid: Return of Samus, I got hold of this 3DS with multiple faults.
Firstly, it wouldn't always power up (it would flick on power then go off), and when it did the bottom screen was severely corrupted.
The bottom screen required a new display, and the power not working is a common problem with the Nintendo DS range. Specifically if the top display isn't connected properly - or if the ribbon cable is pinched from the hinge (a common fault), then during boot up tests the device will power down.
Luckily for me, I was simply able to reseat the ribbon connector and then swap out the bottom display and it was right as rain in 30 minutes flat!
-
Bought faulty - only the thumb sticks and start/select worked. I figured there was a broken trace in there somewhere and something that would be simple to fix.
Or perhaps a build up of carbon on the silicon pads that "just" needed cleaning.
It turns out that these controllers, instead of bridging the pad when the buttons are pressed, use a resistor (the dark rectangles) that when pressed, the resistance increases (or decreases…though I'm fairly sure increases) and that is measured.
The problem is that over time, as they're pressed more and more, the resistance naturally builds up as the resistor fails under the physical pressure and eventually it can't tell when the button is depressed.
The only solution is to buy an entirely new membrane (seen in the photo). But now it works!
-
I was kindly sent a Pebble Time Steel as a possible replacement for my own Pebble Time watch - and though it was in great condition and it powered on when charging, as soon as the power was disconnected, the watch powered off.
I hunted down the right replacement lipo battery, the SP551923AE thankfully available on AliExpress. Heated the watch to melt the glue, opened and careful soldered the replacement battery onto the Pebble PCB (because I didn't want to remove the original battery connector and add it the new lipo battery - it seemed like a risky job).
A tiny job, but a very nice result.
-
My son has been telling his friends that I can fix things, so I'm starting to see more gaming bits arrive via them! This joypad wasn't registering movement properly in both thumbsticks.
I thought it might need replacement thumbsticks (actually bought some but they didn't fit) but it was actually a damn good cleaning with IPA that it needed.
IPA FTW.
-
Game Boy Advanced wouldn't turn on
The usual story, it wouldn't turn on. The first place I start with GBAs, in particular, is the power switch. If it's dirty it can prevent the device from starting or it can affect the "quality" of power, i.e. the power LED flashes from green to red.
Although the board itself looked in good condition, once I lifted the whole thing out, it turned out a transformer (better known as T1) had cracked open and the coil of wires were all over the place. I replaced that and power returned.
The original GBA had a funny story attached, it was in an original pink shell and the (I assume) kid that owned it wanted something "cooler" (again, assume, but indulge me), so they used a black marker pen all over it.
However, this board was destined for the teal(ish) shell and available to buy.
-
Nintendo Switch - won't turn on
Upon testing this, indeed it didn't turn on. I was ready to pull it apart and start probing the circuit, when my son started "playing" with it, and somehow it came on. Turned out it was just the power button that was faulty.
On further testing though, there were more faults due to corrosion (which had also eaten the power ribbon cable): the digitiser (the touch screen) was missing a column of input (where there was a big dent in the display) and the USB-C port had corrosion but also broken pins inside.
I replaced the digitiser, the power ribbon cable and (after many hours struggling with solder in tiny holes) replaced the USB-C port. All good again.
-
Random eBay purchase: wouldn't turn on and the power adapter wasn't included. It's old enough that the power supply was a barrel jack with negative centre (these days it's positive centre).
Once I opened it, inside was questionable quality soldering and actual hot glue hold it together. Quickly tracing the power supply led me to the MOSFET looking thing - actually the voltage regulator 7805.
Replaced the voltage regulator and we're all good again. Yay.
-
Shoulder button on joycon not working
I thought this might be dirt, but once I took the joycon apart and lifted out the ribbon cable for the shoulder button and then desoldered the push button, I could see the pads had lifted (and vanished).
Then the ribbon just split entirely (with no pressure). I think perhaps it was damaged when it was closed up at the factory and just waiting to completely fail.
I did try to expose the trace on the flex PCB but it was so fragile that the trace itself quickly vanished. So I ordered a replacement (£3.50, I think I overpaid) and installed during lunch.
-
I'd originally sold this on eBay but after some exchanges with the buyer, it was returned.
Seeing it first hand, with the new IPS display and flashy images, the power LED would start to flash between red and green even with fresh batteries. This is a sign that the power supply is "dirty". Literally. So I removed the switch, completely opened it, cleaned with IPA and it's working again.
-
Super Mario Land 2 for Cole, didn't load. Corrosion on the contacts of the cart pins. I carefully scratched it off, cleaned and then replaced the battery (after the first one exploded on me). All better.
-
Didn't turn on. Corrosion on the battery terminals and the internal wires had broken away from the board. Warm white vinegar cleaned the corrosion off the terminals and some fresh solder for the wires and it works again!
