Gameboy Advance Refresh

[rubber_jonnie]

Not long ago I did a battery terminal replacement on my Gameboy Advance, but it's always remained rather scruffy and unhappy looking, not to mention it's one of those machines from an era where backlighting wasn't a thing, and finding a decent light level to use it is tricky.

So I ordered some parts to give it a nice refresh and this kit arrived today:

IMG_20240603_110701.jpg

It contains an IPS replacement screen and a complete shell replacement kit. Hopefully I can get on this and do the upgrade this evening :)

[smoore100]

I actually found an advance in a box yesterday so will be interested to see how this goes!

Was the kit expensive?

Cheers,

Simon

[rubber_jonnie]

I actually found an advance in a box yesterday so will be interested to see how this goes!

Was the kit expensive?

Cheers,

Simon

This is the one I bought: GB Advance case and screen kit and it came out around £50 shipped.

[alexh]

Mine has an Afterburner kit fitted which is one of the earliest back-light modifications but I have always wanted to fit a Gameboy Advance SP (AGS-101) screen as well but not got around to it. I wonder if this is much better?

I read that you definitely should consider replacing the backlight bleed protector depending on which screen you fit.

[rubber_jonnie]

So first things first, I had to disassemble the original GBA. It's just 6 tri-wing screws and one Phillips screw to open the case, and a further 3 Phillips screws to remove the mainboard.

Since the new case contains a full set of new screws and all the case parts, I've set the old ones aside as spares, and since the old screen works, it'll be a useful part to keep, as will all the buttons etc.

First thing I did was fit the screen. This is the easiest part, since it will only fit one way, and comes pre-installed with adhesive. I did a trial fit first as the display has some electronics on the left of the screen that have to slip under the edge, but once figured out, it was simply a matter of peeling the adhesive and dropping it into place.

Once in place there were two copper pads like the one shown here:

IMG20240603142021.jpg

And you can see in the following images that these are stuck to the front of the case, top and bottom, and allow for touch brightness control as they are capacitance sensing pads.

The display also has 3 optional wires that can be connected to allow the use of an on screen menu display to allow other settings to be changed, accessed by holding down R+L+Select. You can see them here:

IMG20240603153718.jpg

I've opted to install these wires and they connect as follows.

The select button connects to TP2 on the front of the PCB here just above the start and select buttons:

IMG20240603153736.jpg

Apologies for the splat of solder mask/conformal coating, but this was necessary due to battery corrosion on the board, and where a lot of the original coating had just fallen off.

The other 2 wires go to the R&L buttons respectively. I wrote R&L on the back of the display to make sure I understood the orientation with the GBA flipped on it's front.

IMG20240603154140.jpg

The 2 wires go to the terminals I've marked in blue on the switches. It should be noted that it is the left terminal of each switch. This is my next job and I'll update when it's done, as I'll be ready to test the display and the functions.

It should be noted that this kit contains a ribbon cable for both 32 pin & 40 pin GBA screens so it is a good option if you can't identify which yours has.

[rubber_jonnie]

Well, happily the refresh is complete :)

Here we are with the PCB and most parts installed:

IMG20240603171847.jpg

And first test, powered off the bench PSU:

IMG20240603171745.jpg

And you can clearly see I can access the OSD for changing parameters :)

Here's the front:

IMG20240603173405.jpg

And the back:

IMG20240603173414.jpg

And I have to say it's a very nice display:

IMG20240603173728.jpg

Overall I'm impressed with this display/case kit. It's all very well made and in the flesh the GBA looks great and the screen is nice and bright, I'd certainly recommend this kit if you want to do a refresh on your own GBA, as there are a lot of case options to choose from.

The only real gotcha is that although there are tools included, they aren't really good enough to screw the new screws into the new plastic case, so I'd suggest you either need a decent screwdriver/tri-wing driver, or you go around the screw holes before assembling anything and screw in a normal philips screw from the kit to cut a thread prior to doing anything else.

Other than that, it's a great kit, with a great display and I have to say that the whole thing looks like a brand new GBA :)

[stephen_usher]

Looks very good.

[rubber_jonnie]

Looks very good.

I'm really very pleased with it. Both the screen and case are great quality and good value for money in my opinion. Sometimes Ali Express has just what you need :)

[alexh]

Nice. Might be worth getting a LiOn rechargable battery if you were going to play it seriously. They make ones that fit directly into the AA slots with a USB C connector. But if you're going to just put it on display the AAs I am sure will be good enough.

[rubber_jonnie]

Nice. Might be worth getting a LiOn rechargable battery if you were going to play it seriously. They make ones that fit directly into the AA slots with a USB C connector. But if you're going to just put it on display the AAs I am sure will be good enough.

I am considering a LiOn pack, but may get one for the Wonderswan Colour first 😁