Worklog $400 GBA Project

How did I do with my video


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The original GBA is one of my favorite consoles, and with all the pre made ips screens and pcb's kits on the market I wanted to see what all I could manage to cram in one shell.

Going to upload most the build on youtube, and any build logs on here.
I had posted this on ModRetro, but it look's like that site is not in use at the moment.

---The project parts list / Price at time of purchase----
$70 -GBA mobo AGB-CPU-10 (32 pin)
$70 -Boxy pixel - Aluminum shell
$18 -Boxy pixel - Aluminum buttons
$70 -IPS screen with AV out
$105 -Everdrive X5 mini
$25 -GBAccelerator variable overclock (.85x / 1x / 1.5x / 1.75x)
$10 -Helder - recap with Tantalum Capacitor's
$5 -Helder - power filter
$15 -Helder - audio amp
$15 -Boxy Pixel Type C rechargable battery kit.
--- other stuff ---
$150+ for various small part's, tax's, shipping fee's.
- New speaker's, rubber membranes, power switch, clicky shoulder switch's, ect..


--- Current Status ---
-mobo & screen tested, good.
-prepping mobo / removing 4 large capacitors, battery terminals, power switch, headphone jack, shoulder switches, speaker
, trimming excess pcb. trimming through hole component leg's.
-Mod the "Boxy pixel aluminum GBA shell" to accept the IPS screen controls, internally mounting the Everdrive X5 mini,
-Install the 3 Helder sound mods and speaker.
-Installing Glass, ips screen, touch control, Screen adaptor board.
-replace headphone jack with 4 pin (for AV out instead of using the link port)

-Hard wire the Everdrive to the GBA , (wating for parts)

---Update Videos / Pictures---
+silent hiccups

20210708_182317.jpg
20210708_182438.jpg

mr hookers gba boxypixle toutch pad ips shell mod .jpg
mr hookers gba boxypixle toutch pad ips shell mod 2 .jpg
mr hookers gba boxypixle toutch pad ips shell mod 3.jpg
20210627_134108.jpg
20210627_140401.jpg
 
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Sounds fantastic, are you using the Funnyplaying V2 or something else for your screen?
 
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are you using the Funnyplaying V2 or something else for your screen?
Retro game repair shop has it listed as "Gameboy advance IPS Backlight TV Version AV out mod" and you can find other reference to it as "One Chip TV Version".

It has only been on the market about a month, it uses the new LG ips screen that seems to be the current best on market.

It has composite video out, and touch pads for brightness and tent change, and comes with a proprietary AV out cable, that uses the GBA link port for the video out, but Im not going to use that cable or port for the video out, instead opting to go a bit more custom with my own idea, replacing the headphone jack, but ill have the details of all that posted soon.

You also have to do some minor modding to IPS ready shell's to fit the chip board.
 
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Instead of using the proprietary AV out cabel that came with the IPS composite out screen kit that connects to the link port, Im replacing the standard headphone jack on the GBA with a 8 pin replacement, and using the standard AV out cable that came with a lot of old digital camera's.

The headphone jack swap will fit in the original shell without moding, unknown on aftermarket plastic shell's, will need to slightly carve out some aluminum on the back shell half for the BoxyPixel shell, im using the smaller dremel tool sanding drum for mine.

NOTE 1: I would only do this method if you also do a sound amp mod that relocates the onboard speaker to different component. (Im using the Helder amp)
NOTE 2: I would only do this if keeping multiplayer support while connected to a TV is important to you.

Mr Hookers IPS video out mod.jpg
AV out mod Mr Hooker.jpg


heres the listing of the AV jack and cable
 
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I was thinking of necro posting this on the pcb scan page https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/gba-board-scans.807/ but ill leave that up to Noah or the forum staff.

What i found was on the pins 1-5 for the headphone jack.
1st, The common or ground on headphones do not connect to the ground on the GBA.
2nd, Only while the headphone jack is on the PCB and nothing is plugged in, Pin 4 and Pin 5 connect.
3rd, When you plug something into the headphone jack, it disconnects Pin 4 from Pin 5

Pin out
Pin 1, Headphone common, not GBA common.
Pin 2, Headphone Left stereo speaker, or White RCA out.
Pin 3, Headphone Right stereo speaker, or Red RCA out.
Pin 4, GBA Common/Ground, does not output through the headphone jack.
Pin 5,A, While nothing is plugged into the headphone jack is connected to Pin 4
B, Turns off the onboard speaker if something plugs into the headphone jack.
C, If you remove the headphone jack, the onboard speaker will not work without a jumper from Pin 4 to Pin 5


headphone jack pinout.jpg
 

Stitches

2 and a Half Dollarydoos
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I was thinking of necro posting this on the pcb scan page https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/gba-board-scans.807/ but ill leave that up to Noah or the forum staff.

What i found was on the pins 1-5 for the headphone jack.
1st, The common or ground on headphones do not connect to the ground on the GBA.
2nd, Only while the headphone jack is on the PCB and nothing is plugged in, Pin 4 and Pin 5 connect.
3rd, When you plug something into the headphone jack, it disconnects Pin 4 from Pin 5

Pin out
Pin 1, Headphone common, not GBA common.
Pin 2, Headphone Left stereo speaker, or White RCA out.
Pin 3, Headphone Right stereo speaker, or Red RCA out.
Pin 4, GBA Common/Ground, does not output through the headphone jack.
Pin 5,A, While nothing is plugged into the headphone jack is connected to Pin 4
B, Turns off the onboard speaker if something plugs into the headphone jack.
C, If you remove the headphone jack, the onboard speaker will not work without a jumper from Pin 4 to Pin 5


View attachment 17818
Seeing as this is a useful contribution of information, adding this to the scan thread is fine!
 
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Small update.
Finally figured out how I'm going to wire the everdrive.
Ordered some 4tdp ic switches, should be in by the end of the month.
Still waiting on a new sd card tray socket that should be here any day.
 
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Small update.
I had a few failed attempts to hardwire the everdrive that worked with all the cartridge games tested, and unable to find brakeout boards for the ic-switches I'm using, I'm going to order a custom made pcb to handle three of the ic-switches to cover more of the data lines from cartridge slot to everdrive. If this works I'll post a wiring diagram and the pcb spects.
 
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