My GBA cartridge
My gameboy cartridge broke. The gameboy itself fell to the floor, and I noticed a “rattling” sound coming from the card. I opened it up and found a really, really small…. thing. Now, not being Sean, I had no idea what the heck this thing was. But I was able to put those long nights Sean spent on his senior project to good use, thanks Sean. When I was bored from playing games or, god forbid, doing work, I would watch what Sean was doing, because it was interesting, at least to someone who didn’t have to do it. Now however, I have a broken game cartridge, and these two disparate worlds come crashing together.
So I come to the conclusion that a new one of these things will cost over $100, whereas a soldering iron and some solder will only cost about $10. What the heck, I will try it. I notice a little “c” next to the broken part of the circuit board, so I guess (again, thanks Sean) that it is a capacitor, considering all the little things that look sorta like the broken one have either a “c” or an “r” next to them. I picked up just enough to remember that capacitors have a + and a – side, so I try see what direction this thing should go, but I can’t tell, so again, I guess.
My first attempt at soldering this thing in there works great, but then putting the top of the case back on I notice that it won’t fit as well as before because of my not-so-neat job. The problem here is that I noticed because there was a lot of resistance to my pushing, and then I heard a “crunch.” That was the capacitor, breaking in half. “Whatever,” I say, “it probably wasn’t _really_ needed anyway.” So I just solder the two pieces as best I can (which isn’t all that “best”) and file down the edge of the case using all my previous “mad GBA modding skillz.” Next I slap it in the reader, and it works!
I was ecstatic. I actually fixed something… with solder. I have no idea how that capacitor works, but it just looks like a little piece of clay, so I guess the actually capacitor stuff is inside, or something. If anyone knows, speak up. Just thought you guys would like to hear this.
So I come to the conclusion that a new one of these things will cost over $100, whereas a soldering iron and some solder will only cost about $10. What the heck, I will try it. I notice a little “c” next to the broken part of the circuit board, so I guess (again, thanks Sean) that it is a capacitor, considering all the little things that look sorta like the broken one have either a “c” or an “r” next to them. I picked up just enough to remember that capacitors have a + and a – side, so I try see what direction this thing should go, but I can’t tell, so again, I guess.
My first attempt at soldering this thing in there works great, but then putting the top of the case back on I notice that it won’t fit as well as before because of my not-so-neat job. The problem here is that I noticed because there was a lot of resistance to my pushing, and then I heard a “crunch.” That was the capacitor, breaking in half. “Whatever,” I say, “it probably wasn’t _really_ needed anyway.” So I just solder the two pieces as best I can (which isn’t all that “best”) and file down the edge of the case using all my previous “mad GBA modding skillz.” Next I slap it in the reader, and it works!
I was ecstatic. I actually fixed something… with solder. I have no idea how that capacitor works, but it just looks like a little piece of clay, so I guess the actually capacitor stuff is inside, or something. If anyone knows, speak up. Just thought you guys would like to hear this.
Posted by chris on 2/7/04 at 7:21PM
