Gameboy Pocket Not Turning On

[DumbYetEarnest]

Greetings.

So, a good long while ago, my friend lended me his Gameboy Pocket. I used it for Poke-purposes, and then had it in a drawer for months. When I wanted to return it to him, I found that it no longer turns on.

There's no power, the LED doesn't come on, and the screen doesn't come on. However, a faint hiss can be heard if I put my ear up to the speaker. It's like if you turned on a stereo and didn't turn on any music. Just an idle speaker sound, y'know. Does that make sense? Furthermore, I noticed (after taking it apart) that after I turn it on, the chip in the lower left hand corner gets really hot after <30 seconds of being on. Of course, I don't know if that's weird, because I didn't bother to open up the GBP until something went wrong.

Anyway. I was thinking maybe a fuse blew. Next to the Chip That Gets Hot, as it shall henceforth be known, is a component labeled "F1" on the circuit board. I reasoned that must be the fuse, but I have a problem. It looks like a PICO fuse, but it's only got 3 bands on it: gold, black, and brown. I have no idea what the amperage is, and all the guides I've looked at are for 4-band PICO fuses.

Here are my questions: Is this likely a fuse problem at all? If so, is the F1 component actually the fuse I'm looking for? If so, what's the amperage? If it's not a fuse problem, what is the issue?

I can post pictures as needed.

[Flojomojo]

You didn't mention it, but it's safe to assume you've inserted fresh batteries, right?

[DumbYetEarnest]

Haha, yes, of course.

[DumbYetEarnest]

bumpity

[Niku-Sama]

if it were a fuse it wouldn't get hot I wouldn't think, if it weren't working it wouldn't for sure because it wouldn't be completing the circuit.

I've noticed that the power switch on the Gameboys is a single pull multiple throw or you move it one direction and it connects several circuits, it sounds like there might be a bad joint on the switch like in this video:

https://youtu.be/NsJDiuVLMlA

[DumbYetEarnest]

@Niku-sama

That just might be it. I moved the switch around... "creatively," and got a millisecond of LED and the screen came on, albeit to full black. I forgot to put a game in. BUT ANYWAYYYY

I'll resolder the points tonight and post whether or not it worked. You're my savior, stranger.

[DumbYetEarnest]

Oh, and according to that video, The Chip That Gets Hot is actually a daughter board. That's a word that's already in my vocabulary. I feel ashamed.

[DumbYetEarnest]

Alright, full disclosure: I'm not very good at soldering.

On the bright side, I've managed to consistently get the screen to display a dozen or so vertical lines of color. The LED doesn't come on, and the screen stays frozen on those lines until I switch it off. The exact number and thickness of the lines varies a bit from cartridge to cartridge, by the way.

So, I reckon this could be three things: 1) I just soldered the power switch badly, and need to redo it. 2) There's another problem elsewhere causing power failure. 3) There's a problem with the cartridge reader.

The easiest thing may seem to be redoing the soldering on power switch, but I'd like to not screw with it unless it's suspect number 1.

Any ideas?

[Niku-Sama]

I'd say it's suspect 1 after the changes you got after messing with it