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Game Boy Cartridge Battery Replacement

Device	Game Boy Cartridge
Difficulty	Moderate
Time	5 - 30 minutes
Steps	6

This guide is by Zane Hogue on iFixit and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0. ByteRot mirrors it for non-commercial preservation: formatting changed and photos resized for old browsers; full-size photos and the text are on the FTP in /DOCS/REPAIR. Original guide >>

I will show you how to properly replace a battery in a gameboy cartridge game using a soldering iron

Tools: Soldering Iron

Parts: CR2025 Game Console Cartridge Battery

Step 1 :: Identification

• The first step is to locate the problem. The Game Boy will give you a message such as this.
• The battery you will need for this cartridge (an original game Boy game) is a CR2025 3V battery.

Step 2

• Get your soldering iron heated, gather your tools, tweezers (https://www.ifixit.com/en-ca/products/tweezers), and a Steel 3.8mm Screwdriver Security Bit

Step 3

• On the back side of the cartridge is a proprietary security bit and you will have to remove it.

Step 4

• Next you will need to slide the front face of the cartridge down to expose the motherboard
• Remove the board from the plastic housing and clamp it in a vice with alligator clips for stability

Step 5

• Use the soldering iron (https://www.ifixit.com/en-ca/products/fixhub-power-series-smart-soldering-iron) to gently heat the top tab while at the same time using the tweezers to pull the top tab away from the board
• Then do the same to the bottom tab until the battery is free, be sure no to heat the board too much and only where it is soldered
• Install the new battery in reverse order heating the solder first then setting the tabs on the hot solder, a little more solder may be needed to hold it in place, once it is cool check that the battery is secure

Step 6

• The final step is to set the board back into the plastic housing slide the cover shut and tighten the screw

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

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