Repairing a No Power GBA (Part 1)
Channel: makho
Date: 20/07/2019

I finally got one of my most desired consoles but it did come with some issues. I've been on the lookout for one of these for a few years now but until I found this one (and the other one that popped up one day prior), I haven't found any in decent condition for a reasonable amount of money. To be honest, I don't even recall if the listing mentioned that the console did not boot. It certainly didn't mention the corrosion in the battery compartment or the broken battery contacts (and with the low quality pictures, I couldn't even tell in the first place). Nonetheless, for the price and the overall condition, it would not have been a deal-breaker anyway. 

The easiest solution would be to just pop in a perfectly working motherboard, and, ultimately, that's exactly what I did. I do have plans on actually refurbishing the original motherboard and swapping it back in (Part 2 -- parts have been ordered but I'm waiting on shipping before I can start work on that). 

I really do want to backlight this console though. Since I picked up two units, I might actually end up backlighting the other one if BennVenn's NDSL kit is as "drop in" as Freckleshack was supposed to be. We'll see. Perhaps I'll settle for just making a better reproduction now that I have a much better color reference. In the mean time, I'm just happy I got this console and it works now. 

The actual, primary issue with this console was battery corrosion. The corrosion damaged one of the battery contacts beyond repair (the other "three" just needed some quick cleaning) and appears to have damaged the power switch. I did try cleaning the switch but not only is there some visible damage to the contacts, but the switch itself kept giving me trouble when trying to test it.

Part 2 here: https://youtu.be/sifcYz0Ma3c