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Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP Buttons Replacement

Device	Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP
Difficulty	Moderate
Time	10 minutes
Steps	5

This guide is by abeleko 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 >>

This guide will show how to effectively disassemble the Game boy advance SP and gain access to the logic board, all the buttons (trigger buttons a common problem), the battery, and the speaker.

Tools: Metal Spudger; Phillips #000 Screwdriver; Phillips #1 Screwdriver; Tri-point Y1 Screwdriver

Step 1

• Game Boy Advance SP (Nintendo 2002)

Step 2

• Using a Phillips 000 driver, loosen the screw securing the battery compartment.
• Using a metal spudger, gently lift the battery compartment by placing the edge just under the screw. The screw will come off with the cover as it has a washer holding it in place.
• Remove battery using a plastic spudger or fingernail.

Step 3

• Back cover contains 4 Gold Tri-Wing #0 screws (Red circle), and 2 Silver Tri-Wing #0 Screws (Yellow circle).
• Remove screws and lift back cover off giving access to motherboard.
• Motherboard is secured by 3 Phillips #0 screws.
• Triggers L&R (Orange box), and Power Switch Piece (Yellow box) are found affixed to the rear cover.

Step 4

• CAUTION: Flip the motherboard over very carefully as not to damage the display ribbon.
• You now have access to the device speaker and buttons.

Step 5

• CAUTION: Carefully using fingers, detatch display ribbon from its socket. This ribbon is especially hard to remove due to the angle in which you'll need to remove it.
• You can now access the motherboard and the input buttons freely.

Conclusion

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

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