Game boy Ballers post here

[GohanX]

You might PM Danthor about that, he did that exact swap. However, I think he swapped the actual gameboy PCB out as well. I do know from doing my frontlight experiments that the frontlight and backlights do not use the same voltage, nor are the ribbon cables 100% compatible with each other.

If I were to take a wild guess I'd say you swapped the screen but not the PCB, and they aren't 100% compatible.

Also, I'm pretty sure the backlight actually uses less power than the frontlight. My backlit GBA is getting killer battery life out of two cheap double A's, it's awesome. However, if your SP is on the original battery, or has a cheap chinese replacement, that could be it. I wouldn't expect any original SP battery to still be much good. I think you can still buy replacements from Nintendo.

 

[neo_mao]

Oy thanks bud.

I was afraid it might not be as simple as the battery...

If that is the case, I guess I need to decide if I am ok with the crappy battery life. 3 hours ain't so bad, more than sufficient for my daily commute...but it kinda sucks...

Sad moe.

 

[GohanX]

If you need a PCB from a backlit SP let me know. I've got one in the trash can. I don't think I emptied it yet...

 

[neo_mao]

That would be awesome, thanks again GohanX. But if I do need to swap the PCB I am going to need you to hold my hand every step of the way and slap me when I get hysterically panicked. How are your slapping skills?

 

[prof]

I'll just post this here. I've been experimenting with various models of Gameboys and doing different kind of screen mods. So far this is my favorite, just finished it.

I just saw this, and that looks amazing. Beautiful mod work. I currently have a Micro and an SP, but that was the model that I had back in college, and I loved it. It definitely worked best outdoors on sunny days though, due to the lack of back lighting. Now that I've seen your beautiful mod, I'm tempted to pick one up again and attempting the screen mod. Seriously, great job.

 

[neo_mao]

You might PM Danthor about that, he did that exact swap. However, I think he swapped the actual gameboy PCB out as well. I do know from doing my frontlight experiments that the frontlight and backlights do not use the same voltage, nor are the ribbon cables 100% compatible with each other.

If I were to take a wild guess I'd say you swapped the screen but not the PCB, and they aren't 100% compatible.

Also, I'm pretty sure the backlight actually uses less power than the frontlight. My backlit GBA is getting killer battery life out of two cheap double A's, it's awesome. However, if your SP is on the original battery, or has a cheap chinese replacement, that could be it. I wouldn't expect any original SP battery to still be much good. I think you can still buy replacements from Nintendo.

Actually - are the PCBs between the 2 iterations the same size?

The reason I ask is because there is a slight weird bump in the center of my system…between the control pad and buttons. Very minor, but I am wondering if maybe that is caused by a different PCB already in there? Hmm….

 

[Danthor]

Actually - are the PCBs between the 2 iterations the same size?

The reason I ask is because there is a slight weird bump in the center of my system?etween the control pad and buttons. Very minor, but I am wondering if maybe that is caused by a different PCB already in there? Hmm?

When I did the swap, I swapped the PCB as well. They're indeed the same size, my SP has no such bump, even after the new PCB. This said, though, the 101 I bought to take the parts from -did- have a bump exactly where you're describing. Almost looks like the speaker wants to swell. No idea why.

 

[neo_mao]

When I did the swap, I swapped the PCB as well. They're indeed the same size, my SP has no such bump, even after the new PCB. This said, though, the 101 I bought to take the parts from -did- have a bump exactly where you're describing. Almost looks like the speaker wants to swell. No idea why.

haha, interesting. Also, thanks for the PM man. After chatting w/ Danthor I think I am going to start simple and try a new battery. Hopefully that will do they trick, but if not, i'll go from there. I want to make this thing work…many of the Classic NES SPs are kinda beat-up with cosmetic issues…but this one is really nice (the bump is super small and doesn't bug me at all). So ideally I'd like this work out. If I need to swap out a PCB, then so be it - then it will be a labor of love, and love is good.

 

[GohanX]

I dug out the pcbs and will hold them a wild in case the battery doesn't do the trick. One is for a backlit and one is for a frontlit... No idea which is which lol

 

[greedostick]

I'll just post this here. I've been experimenting with various models of Gameboys and doing different kind of screen mods. So far this is my favorite, just finished it.

Man I want one of those. I hate my SP, it's so small. Have you ever considered doing custom orders? I would be willing to sac my 101 to get one of those, unless there is another alternative to finding a broken one with good light.

 

[neo_mao]

I dug out the pcbs and will hold them a wild in case the battery doesn't do the trick. One is for a backlit and one is for a frontlit... No idea which is which lol

Thanks bro, much appreciated! I'll keep you guys posted.

Man I want one of those. I hate my SP, it's so small. Have you ever considered doing custom orders? I would be willing to sac my 101 to get one of those, unless there is another alternative to finding a broken one with good light.

I second that. If GohanX or any of you guys decide to make some original GBAs w/ a 101 screen I''d definitely be interested! Or if not, this might be a good offering for the new Windy as well!

 

[Yodd]

Totally baller. This def needs to be a project I should work on.

 

[opt2not]

The Everdrive doesn't work on a backlit Pocket unless the batteries are totally full. Stupid AAA's.

Oh shit for real? That suuuuucks. I'm about to backlight a couple Pockets too...

How long does it last before it goes out?

 

[ChopstickSamurai]

Man I want one of those. I hate my SP, it's so small. Have you ever considered doing custom orders? I would be willing to sac my 101 to get one of those, unless there is another alternative to finding a broken one with good light.

I'd be totally interested in this as well. I have a pretty trashed 101 that I'd sacrifice for the cause.

 

[fluxcore]

I couldn't even get my backlight to function at all with GBP w/AAA nimhs. I shoved a LI ion pack in there instead with a USB charging board.

 

[GohanX]

Oh shit for real? That suuuuucks. I'm about to backlight a couple Pockets too...

How long does it last before it goes out?

I don't know exactly, but the same pocket with half full batteries worked with regular games for a good two or three hours afterwards. The situation may improve with better batteries, I'm using cheap Rayovacs I bought at walmart.

 

[Genki]

THe issues with GBP and Everdrive is the power consumption. Some model of GBP that has power indicator LED seems to have a little bit of low power issue when running with power guzzling EDGB.

I have GBA SP and it doesn't last long with EDGB either, about 1 hour at full charge but I still get around 5 or 6 hours with regular GBA and 3-4 with CGB games.

Krikzz have just about finished up the new Everdrive Advance for GBA line and is expecting to start selling them in the next month or 2. The power draw is extremely low, better than some of the existing flash carts. Presently it wont do GB and GBC games because of the way the GBA detects which cart is inserted and set either GBA or classic GBC mode (the tiny switch and the grooves on GBA carts) It may be possible to hack older GB and GBC roms to make it work in GBA mode.

 

[opt2not]

Backlight & bivert modded a Gameboy Pocket recently, turned out pretty good:

Though I'm having an issue where the display gets squiggly lines after 5mins of play on a real cart, then it stays like that till I change the batteries with fresh ones.

I'm thinking the caps might need to be changed, and I've been talking with the vendor I bought it from about a couple things I can try. So we'll see.

Btw, the everdriveGB immediately makes it start it squiggles right from power-up.

 

[FilthyRear]

Backlight & bivert modded a Gameboy Pocket recently, turned out pretty good:

Though I'm having an issue where the display gets squiggly lines after 5mins of play on a real cart, then it stays like that till I change the batteries with fresh ones.

I'm thinking the caps might need to be changed, and I've been talking with the vendor I bought it from about a couple things I can try. So we'll see.

Btw, the everdriveGB immediately makes it start it squiggles right from power-up.

I need to get good with my hands - seeing all these light modded GB's make me so jelly.

 

[opt2not]

Modded my second one yesterday.

This one isn't giving me problems like the first one, so I'll have to figure out what I did differently between the two. I'm thinking the black GBP doesn't have good power, or perhaps something to do with the fact it's the older GBP version, the ones without the power LED.

Shout-out to lions3 and dubdubdub for hooking me up with the donors!

 

[lions3]

Modded my second one yesterday.

This one isn't giving me problems like the first one, so I'll have to figure out what I did differently between the two. I'm thinking the black GBP doesn't have good power, or perhaps something to do with the fact it's the older GBP version, the ones without the power LED.



Shout-out to lions3 and dubdubdub for hooking me up with the donors!

Haha. Happy to help. Where did you get the light kit? I thought about doing it myself last year but the guy who normally sells them didn't seem to have anymore stock.

 

[opt2not]

Haha. Happy to help. Where did you get the light kit? I thought about doing it myself last year but the guy who normally sells them didn't seem to have anymore stock.

Cheers bro. I got it from handheldlegend.com along with the bivert module and replacement screen covers. HHL is working on custom DMG buttons right now, and I hope eventually some Pocket buttons in different colours, for the ultimate Pimp-my-Pocket edition.

 

[GohanX]

+1 for the hhl kits, they're awesome. I need to get another pocket, I've got a kit sitting here needing a system to be installed in.

 

[ggallegos1]

+1 for the hhl kits, they're awesome. I need to get another pocket, I've got a kit sitting here needing a system to be installed in.

I can hook a brother up. Shoot me a pm.

 

[EVLNEOGEO]

Does anyone do a service with pre modded gameboys? I would be all over that.