iFixit - Answers With Device "Game Boy"

Game Boy: Blank Screen when turned on

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 20:58:21 -0700

I have an original game boy that when turned on, the LED is red and you can hear whatever game is inserted, but no visual on the lcd screen. The contrast switch has no effect.

⟐ Commented 8月 04, 2023 at 20:58 GMT-7

Game Boy: Original Gameboy will not turn on.

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 14:28:40 -0700

I found an original Game Boy that i haven't play in a long time. I have added new batteries and turned it on but nothing, not even the red light will turn on. I haven't opened the console yet to check what may be wrong. I do not want this console to go to waste. What should I do?

⟐ Answer edited 12月 16, 2024 at 14:28 GMT-7

Game Boy: How do I get battery acid corrosion of the board?

Thu, 06 May 2021 09:08:04 -0700

My dads old original nintendo gameboy was in storage for 15+ years with batteries in it and the batteries leaked into the main board and hardened over that time period. I was wondering if there was any chance of saving it and how to get it off. As a side note the corrosion has eaten away the battery terminals and i was wondering if it will just run on the power adapter.

⟐ Answered 5月 06, 2021 at 9:08 GMT-7

Game Boy: My start button or a button wont work

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 00:07:13 -0700

When i loaded tetris i got the nintendo ding and it started but when i tryed to start the game it wouldn't i don't know if my game is broken or my gameboy.

⟐ Answered 3月 03, 2022 at 0:07 GMT-7

Game Boy: When I turn it on, the Nintendo logo is a black bar, can this be fixed

Sat, 29 Nov 2025 19:50:06 -0700

So I don't have any games for it, but I've been wanting to sell this game boy and I was wondering if there were a way to fix it. When I put batteries in it, and turn it on a black bar falls from the top of the screen (I'm assuming it says gameboy, or Nintendo.) Also the battery light is red. I'm not sure if that's good or not, but I'm just wondering if you could help me. Thank you for your time!!

⟐ Answered 11月 29, 2025 at 19:50 GMT-7

Game Boy: Screen burn and not turning on, is it fixable?

Sun, 02 Jun 2024 00:39:55 -0700

I'm trying to fix this Gameboy and wondered if this screen is fixable?

The Gameboy turns on and has sound, but the screen doesn't do anything and I'm not sure if screen burn can cause a screen to not show anything, or if something else is causing this.

There's were a lot of screws that were black and rotting and there is also one that I'm gonna struggle to remove under the screen also (see picture), but not sure if this would stop the screen working.

Any help would be appreciated

⟐ Answer accepted 6月 02, 2024 at 0:39 GMT-7

Game Boy: Buzzing noise out of the speaker

Tue, 23 Feb 2016 10:24:05 -0700

Hi there,

I recently bought a Classic Gameboy from a "flea-market" and I cleaned it and put new batteries in and it works fine so far. There is only one drawback - there is a really annoying buzzing noise coming out of the speaker. This is not changed by the volume regulation and when you put in earphones the buzzing noise is coming over them as well and as loud as out of the speaker before. Any ideas how to fix it?

⟐ Commented 2月 23, 2016 at 10:24 GMT-7

Game Boy: Powering on (red led) but absolutely nothing.

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:01:37 -0700

Dmg powers up but no activity on the screen and a low white noise, with or without a cartridge. I’ve seen many repair tips regarding a powering up but something visually. Any thought? What can be ruled out and where to begin? Thanks community.

⟐ Commented 6月 25, 2023 at 12:01 GMT-7

Game Boy: Cleaned battery corrosion, but A and B buttons don't work

Sat, 24 Feb 2018 16:54:42 -0700

Hi! I came upon my brother's old original Gameboy yesterday. It had battery corrosion from years ago; I don't know much at all about electronics but have fixed a few toys with battery corrosion before. Gameboy wouldn't turn on; I took it apart and cleaned all the corrosion I could, first a little with baking soda/water and then with vinegar....Turns on now and everything works, EXCEPT for the A and B buttons, obviously making gameplay impossible...Links to pics below: is there anything I can do to get it working/what part is keeping it from working? I realize it's not completely clean but don't want to spend more time on if I've broken something beyond repair (some of the green...plastic? started "melting" off on the back side....was vinegar not supposed to touch that....?) If it can't be fixed, I guess we'll at least have a very cool Super Mario World 1-1 music player, haha. Thanks!

[IMG]http://i67.tinypic.com/35mozmg.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i67.tinypic.com/1054jsw.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/2ldj1w2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i66.tinypic.com/ay0npe.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i68.tinypic.com/kcxcah.jpg[/IMG]

⟐ Edited 2月 24, 2018 at 16:54 GMT-7

Game Boy: How do I fix horizontal screen lines?

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 06:13:54 -0700

When I turn on my Original Gameboy, it has horizontal lines running from each side of the screen . They are not running up and down like vertical lines. Can’t find anything on the internet that can help.

⟐ Answered 8月 15, 2025 at 6:13 GMT-7

Game Boy: DMG-01 works only when motherboard is hot

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 14:34:30 -0700

I have a strange issue with my Gameboy Classic (DMG-01) that I am trying to fix. Bootup sequence is good, with logo and sound but everyting dissapear after a second and no game is loaded.

I cleaned everything, replaced cartridge socket, resoldered CPU and memory but no luck so far. What is interesting that everything works perfectly IF motherboard is heated with a hotair.

Also what is worth to mention Tetris works fine regardless temperature but no luck with Super Mario Land 1 and 2 at 'normal' working temps.

Could you please advise or tell me what else to check? Thanks a lot!

⟐ Answer accepted 8月 03, 2025 at 14:34 GMT-7

Game Boy: The Direction Pad is down

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 23:30:20 -0700

Hello

A friend gave me a GB classic in a very good condition. At least from an oustide point of view: not yellowed, no scratch on the screen, etc..

The only problem is that the direction is down so I decided to fix it and opened the GB by thinking that it was only a contact issue

But no.. I noticed that the logic board was a little "broken and splitted" in the area of the direction pad circuit. See picture below

Do you think that there's a way to repair it?

View from back

http://postimg.org/image/ir7bxtnt9/

View from front

http://postimg.org/image/bkxfmkon3/

Thank you in advance for your help

Regards

⟐ Answered 3月 16, 2021 at 23:30 GMT-7

Game Boy: Screen not displaying correctly

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 18:33:07 -0700

When I turn my gameboy on the screen has a big black box on it. If I put a game in it makes the Nintendo ding but nothing happens. I’ve attached pictures of the screen. I’m assuming it’s a gameboy issue and not a game issue or is it a both issue? Is it fixable !?

⟐ Commented 11月 08, 2025 at 18:33 GMT-7

Game Boy: Damaged Screen pins on Gameboy dmg-01

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 08:40:04 -0700

so I found my dads old game boy dmg-01 and the screen wasn’t working, so took the system apart and saw this, is there any way I can fix it or do I need to buy a new screen. I have very little soldering skills and experience.

⟐ Answer accepted 7月 22, 2024 at 8:40 GMT-7

Game Boy: Red light, no picture or sound

Sun, 07 Jul 2024 08:52:51 -0700

Hi,

Iv purchaced a gameboy that has power to the led but no picture or sound.

Iv tested the output from the battery and its outputting 6.4v.

Psu points are

Vcc 6.26v

Gnd 0

Minus -276mv

Plus -151mv

Now i no these outputs are wrong but im getting 6.24v on the board up by the switch when its turned on.

Strangly when i was checking the voltages i shorted the Vcc & ground together and the device started up, screen & volume was working and i was able to use the device, but when i turn it off it wont turn back on, would this suggest a short on the psu or on the board?

Any advice appreciated

https://ibb.co/4KH2N7k

https://ibb.co/VT6X6dQ

⟐ Edited by author 7月 07, 2024 at 8:52 GMT-7

Game Boy: Gameboy DMG no sound, logo stuck, failed booting

Wed, 29 May 2024 05:18:14 -0700

I have a gameboy dmg 01

The red LED can turn on, but there is no sound and the black stripe logo appears, not the Nintendo writing/logo, and when the game cart is installed it doesn't work.

how to fix it?

⟐ Commented 5月 29, 2024 at 5:18 GMT-7

Game Boy: Is there anyway to reapair this gameboy?

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 21:47:27 -0700

I found my dad’s old Gameboy.

He told me that he left it with a cartridge and batteries, around 20 years ago. I decided to check if it would work, but I saw the corrosion and decided to check inside. Well it looks like this

Didn´t look good. But then I saw the other side.

I’m pretty much sure that this thing is cooked, and the only way to work is to get a new motherboard. But I still wanted to get a second opinion. Is there any way to fix this?

⟐ Answer accepted 6月 29, 2023 at 21:47 GMT-7

Game Boy: This power reg is no good?

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 15:39:57 -0700

To a trained eye, does it look like something blew?

⟐ Commented 2月 03, 2023 at 15:39 GMT-7

Game Boy: I'm having issues with the unit reading games. (Details inside)

Thu, 30 May 2019 09:05:42 -0700

I recently bought a non-working unit from ebay for cheap. I saw that the battery terminals were corroded and that they were in desperate need of a cleaning. I also noted that there was a small, albeit significant, amount of corrosion on the board. Foolishly, I chose to disregard it, as the issue with the terminals was solved and the unit was able to power on and display the startup logo. It seemed like it was in 'working condition' at that point, but it refused to register/ play games when I tested it later. The furthest I got was the Nintendo logo with Tetris, and when I tested Pokemon Blue, the unit went berserk! There were wavy lines all over the screen! The unit also made a buzzing sound, which totally freaked me out. Whether or not the non-working speakers emitted it I am not certain, but it was enough to completely scare me away from ever giving power to the board again. Cleaning the cartridge didn't yield any results, so I investigated further. I disassembled the unit once more and found that the corrosion had traveled inside of the game port. Crap! So much for my cheap project! Does anyone have any advice on how to fix this? I'd also appreciate if anyone could provide an explanation on the mysterious lines and buzzing noise, as they were very unnerving. I'll provide pictures if need be.

⟐ Answer accepted 5月 30, 2019 at 9:05 GMT-7

Game Boy: Turns on but then nothing

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 05:06:59 -0700

Hi, I have just bought a 1989 Gameboy DMG-01 in Hong Kong for dirt cheap. When i put batteries inside, there is one sound, red battery light is on and there is something on the screen. It looks like some black stripe going down on the screen I guess it's a logo. Then it shows something looking like chinese characters. The game I got is super 28 in 1. And than it stays like that, no sound, no reaction to pressing buttons, nothing. I would be really happy if I could fix it, looking forward to your tips, thank you.

⟐ Answer accepted 12月 09, 2016 at 5:06 GMT-7