ByteRot :: Game Boy Display Lines/Bars

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Game Boy Display Lines/Bars

Device	Game Boy
Difficulty	Moderate
Time	30 seconds - 1 hour
Steps	5

This guide is by Mitchell 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 >>

Fixing the common problem of lines/bars on the original Nintendo Gameboy.

Tools: Soldering Iron; Phillips #0 Screwdriver; Tri-point Y0 Screwdriver

Step 1

• Remove the back housing by removing the 6 Tri-Point or Philip screws.
• NOTE: Note: The last 2 screws are in the battery compartment.

Step 2

• Carefully lift up the top half of the system. Be careful, there's a ribbon cable that connects the top and bottom half of the system.
• Remove the ribbon cable for the next step.

Step 3

• Now there will be screws that mount the board to the front, carefully unscrew these.
• Now remove the board from the housing.
• Now put the batteries back into the compartment, so you can test the screen while you fix it.
• Reconnect the the board to back housing with the ribbon cable.

Step 4

• You're now going to turn the contrast ( the slider on the left) all the way up, and take your soldering iron and gently move it back and forth on the ribbon cable below the screen.
• CAUTION: Make sure not to touch the screen itself.
• NOTE: Note: There may be a rubber strip covering the ribbon.

Step 5

• You will start to see the lines of pixels fade in and out, keep moving your iron back and forth until screen is completely black.

Conclusion

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

Credit