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Thread: So I have a working GBA and a broken SP....

  1. #1
    ServBot (Level 11) Edmond Dantes's Avatar
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    Default So I have a working GBA and a broken SP....

    The SP just fell apart, I dunno why, but I assume the screen still works.

    Anyway, I was wondering if there was someone here I could send both systems to and they would put the SP's screen in the GBA? The SP is one of those that has the brightness button on it so you would need to make a place for it on the original GBA's shell (the original frontglass needs replacing anyway as it has this very visible and annoying scuff I just can't get off).

    I thought of just buying a pre-modded system but the prices ebay wants for them are insane. I'd also rather do something with the material I already have.

    So, who here does work like this?

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    Kirby (Level 13) Tanooki's Avatar
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    Brightness button I've never seen carried over, even the one I did a year ago I didn't. YOu can get an optional part online to add a brightness gauge but it's optional. You do need to realize though that there are a 32 and a 40pin connector inside the old GBA, and you can't just stuff a brighter SP screen in there. You need to get a ribbon cable to fit it right that'll cost like $10 shipped or so maybe, and then you'll need a wire off that which gets soldered to the GBA board so it doesn't get fried. Also there's the work involved in filing, melting, dremeling, or whatever out the inside of the old GBA front to fit the new screen too. That's why they cost usually $100 from private people selling them, or you get fucked by jerks who want like $150+ for them on ebay because they mass produce them and like to scam chumps and impatient people.

    I'm in the same boat, I didn't have the right tools for the plastic shaving and ended up pressure cracking my 101 screen when it got dropped, 3ft, onto carpet of all things. When it was working it was a thing of beauty and comfortable to use as it fits the hands like a SNES controller.

    Honestly I'd look online, you can look through where the snap part on the battery cover goes (as you can see down to the board) and visualize a number down there, it will tell you the ribbon you need. If I could do it you can. Just file away the shell better than I did. Pull the layers off the 101 screen down to the metal on the back, remove the black raised border in the old GBA lens (inside sits on the plastic so you can't see it), file the frame, slot the ribbon cable in both spots, solder one dot of it into one place on the board, close it up and you're done. Depending on your tools a 30min-1hr job...mine was 1hr+ since I had no tools to do the plastic and had to melt and wick it away.

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    Ghostbuster
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    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-Gam...3D191532714094

    Check that link out. Will probably require a little soldering.

    I'm horrible at soldering, so I'm probably going to get the kit that includes the new old stock screen, and can connect to a 40 pin original GBA, no soldering required.
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    Kirby (Level 13) Tanooki's Avatar
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    Just an FYI while that cable is right, do NOT trust that guy to get a pre-made system from that account. I tried to get a GBC from the dude and I got plenty of deflection and excuses why not just the first but the second pre-modded GBC I ordered had a jacked up screen, and the first the start/select buttons got stuck. I knew damn well reading into it he isn't curing the lOCA right or long enough. Instead it was my fault or the USPS that it was out the heat too long, that a little bit of haze or dust is ok, that a little spiderweb cracking on the edges can happen, etc. All crap on that. I gave up and ordered a Worm light for $10 shipped. Rather have stock and a crutch than a halfassed up job.

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    Great Puma (Level 12) Niku-Sama's Avatar
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    i'm gonna come right out and say that I could probably do it but at the same time I don't do things like this for other peeps, even if I know them personally or not.

    but i'm gonna follow that up with, if I can do it, any one can do it. why not give it a whack your self?
    it's best to learn to fix, or in this case modify, this sort of thing your self since they are only getting older.

    maybe shoot wiggy a e-mail since some one pissed him off and he wont come back.

    I miss wiggy...

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    ServBot (Level 11) Edmond Dantes's Avatar
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    Who is Wiggy?

    I guess I'll try to do it myself. My only issue is I don't really have a working space, and I'm kinda afraid it might get static damage. But I modded an arcade stick once, so I should be able to do a GBA.

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    Ghostbuster
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    Wiggy is the founder of Rose Colored Gaming, and he's pretty much full retail now, doesn't do personal stuff. He stopped offering backlit GBA's awhile back after the overseas LCD supply dried up. This ebay seller has a 99.7% positive feedback over 13,400 transactions, so I think he's on the level. I am doing the install myself, which is why I need a 40-pin system to avoid soldering.
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    ServBot (Level 11) Edmond Dantes's Avatar
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    Okay, well I ordered the parts I need online. One is from China so I'll probably be getting to it around the end of the month.

    By the way Tanooki, it apparently IS possible to keep the brightness adjust function.... I've seen chinese sellers that sell cables with the buttons, some in 2-step brightness and some in 5-step. I got the 2 step since that's what the GBA SP was like anyway. I swear I heard of someone doing it without a special cable.

    Only deal is you have to drill in a spot for the button. Oh well.

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    Kirby (Level 13) Tanooki's Avatar
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    Re=read my first few lines. I said the button itself, but I said there was an optional switch you can get (but I didn't.) The drilling which I don't have a tool (dremel) to do right without looking like complete inarticulate crap, is a big reason I didn't bother other than I never bothered to push it in a real SP too.

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    ServBot (Level 11) Edmond Dantes's Avatar
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    EDIT: Okay, so after the vent-post I originally typed here, I figured out what my problem was.

    Of course, it was something none of the guides mentioned.

    So when you take the SP screen out, it has a frontglass (the part that has "Gameboy Advance SP" at the bottom). I didn't know this was removable and thought it was a core part of the screen, so I hadn't removed it. Turns out you're supposed to. God forbid a guy who doesn't normally mod consoles, doesn't exactly know much about electronics, and is not a Nintendo Enthusiast wouldn't be able to figure this out on his own. This is really something guides SHOULD mention (I found out only by comparing the screens shown in most guides to mine. Tho the one Imgur album I did the most reference work with NEVER showed his SP screen missing this frontglass, which is a huge part of why I never removed mine until now).

    Sigh....

    Also I fixed the colors by adjusting the pentiometer, which thankfully IS something most guides mention.

    God damn, this was like playing Myst, except with the knowledge that I only get one shot at it.

    Original unedited post below

    So, I tried to do it myself. I bought all the parts, downloaded like a thousand guides (all with pictures, some were even youtube videos) and got at it.

    Every fucking step of the fucking way, I found there were things the guides didn't say or forgot to mention. I got one that had a brightness switch, but absolutely nobody had explained that it was a slider switch that sticks out through a nook in the battery compartment (So its not just "you press a button" like on an actual SP)--I had to figure that last part out for myself. I also had to figure out for myself that you need to remove the black padding stuff from the back of the SP's screen (none of the guides actually say to do that) or various places where I had to trim plastic (they only mention the screen area) or how annoying that one fucking speaker is...

    But the biggest headache I'm having right now is just... for some reason, the GBA will not. fit. back. together. And I shaved away excess plastic and stuff, but for some reason, it won't all fit just flush.

    Just now I tried to just force it all together, and I at least confirmed that the thing functions, but the colors are all weird and for some reason when I have the screws in I can't press the L button, which is kinda sorta something you need to do.

    And weirdly, I seem to be the only person who has ever had this problem because there are absolutely NO guides that mention "what to do if it doesn't fit exactly flush just like it did originally!"

    At this point... fuck it. I'd rather just have another SP, or buy a pre-modded GBA off ebay. This is NOT an easy do-it-yourself mod, unless maybe I just magically got the one GBA that happens to be warped somehow--not that I've ever seen any distortions--to prevent its own fucking shell from fitting. I almost wish I hadn't bothered.
    Last edited by Edmond Dantes; 08-11-2016 at 06:36 AM.

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    Kirby (Level 13) Tanooki's Avatar
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    Hey if it works it works, make your own guide for non-experts, could be useful.

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