Average Dave

How To Repair a Gameboy Screen

*Do this repair at your own risk, I am not responsible if you mess it up*

First off, I got my hands on this old "non-functioning" original grey fat Gameboy (DMG-01). When I powered it on I could see the screen was largely blank and areas with a picture had lines all through it. Thankfully repairing it is easy enough assuming you can get your hands on the right tools.

Feel free to watch the video first or while you're doing this:

Tools:

Tri-wing screwdriver
Philips screwdriver
*Sorry I don't know the official size, but usually sites that sell them specify whether it works on a Gameboy
Soldering iron
4x AA Batteries 
Static bracelet (not required, but be careful not to shock the internals)

1. Remove the battery cover and batteries from the unit. There are two tri-wing screws in the battery compartment. There are another four on the rear outside of the unit as well.

2. Once removed the two halves will separate. Inside there is a ribbon cable that connects the LCD circuit board to the rear half of the Gameboy's other circuit board. If you seperate the two halves just enough to get your hand in there it's easy to remove. The ribbon cable is not secured in any way. If you're facing the front of the Gameboy, you're pull the cable straight down towards the bottom of the Gameboy, opposite where the cartridge is inserted. It fits snugly, so try and pull evenly across the cable.

3. On the LCD circuit board, you want to remove the 8 or so Philips screws holding it in place. Once removed the circuit board should pop out with minimal effort. If not, double or triple check you removed every screw.

4. Once the LCD circuit board is loose, separate it from the plastic front. Don't be surprised if the buttons and/or the silicon behind them falls out, don't worry, they're easy to put back in.

Both halves of the Gameboy, the front (left) without the cover

Both halves of the Gameboy, the front (left) without the cover

5. Looking at the screen you'll see a brown plastic ribbon cable from the board to the screen. Behind it are the tiny wires you need to heat to fix the connection. First though, you need to remove the black rubber strip that sits on top of it. A knife or flat-head screwdriver should work fine to pull it off. On my unit a strip of glue underneath it stay on the board. Again, I just used a flat-head and it pulled right off. Once you have it all clean it's time to heat up your soldering iron.

6. While you're waiting for your soldering iron to heat, reinstall the batteries and reattach the ribbon cable from the front circuit board to the back resting the unit on a flat surface. Turn the Gameboy on without a cartridge in it and turn the contrast to its darkest point. This makes it easy to see the defective areas and notice when they're fixed.

See the traces below the shielding and where they meet the LCD

See the traces below the shielding and where they meet the LCD

7. You want to heat just below the lower side of the front of the screen where the contacts and brown plastic meet. This fairly heat-resistant material, that said, try not to stay in one place longer that 3 or 4 seconds, come back to an area later if needed. Run the tip of the soldering iron back and forth and you'll notice the lines on the screen come and go. Don't worry too much about new lines appearing as that's likely to happen. Just keep going back and forth until they're all gone.

Note the area highlighted

8. All going well that should be it, reassemble in reverse. Game on!

All repaired!

Coming soon.. modding the Gameboy!