GBoy black screen upon boot

[BigBoss]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on my G-Boy and everything has been going pretty smoothly up until I hooked up the Wii. I went through all the steps: fans all good, usb works great, and power/charge is good to go. Upon hooking up my trimmed Wii, I was greeted by the backlight turning on and a black screen. I used the controller to change the source to make sure the display setting wasn’t the issue. I checked the resistance to the Wii and all were good. I used a U9 instead of a U10 since I broke the U10. I’m close to just tossing this one and buying another Wii, but I want to know if anyone has any other tips before I do.

 

[CrazyGadget]

Taking a look at the back of the board, that is a *massive* solder blob when you have your u10 wire, possibly a cold joint. Have you tried removing the wire, getting rid of the excess solder, and trying it again (using lots of flux and less solder to ensure a solid connection)? Nothing else is really jumping out, but that definitely looks not so good. After you do that, test your continuity, then *carefully* check the voltage on it when you turn the Wii on.

 

[Stitches]

I second clearing the blob, that's not good

 

[BigBoss]

Taking a look at the back of the board, that is a *massive* solder blob when you have your u10 wire, possibly a cold joint. Have you tried removing the wire, getting rid of the excess solder, and trying it again (using lots of flux and less solder to ensure a solid connection)? Nothing else is really jumping out, but that definitely looks not so good. After you do that, test your continuity, then *carefully* check the voltage on it when you turn the Wii on.

Thanks, I'll try that out today. Sorry, I'm still fairly new to this, but what areas would I need to place the multimeter to measure the voltage?

 

[CrazyGadget]

Before you power it on, just test continuity from the leg of the u10 to the via to ensure there's a connection, then power the wii on and test the voltage between the via and some ground to make sure the u10 is properly supplying 3v3 to that point.

 

[BigBoss]

Before you power it on, just test continuity from the leg of the u10 to the via to ensure there's a connection, then power the wii on and test the voltage between the via and some ground to make sure the u10 is properly supplying 3v3 to that point.

I redid the connections after getting an 0 for continuity from the leg to the via. I tested it again after a lot of fumbling and flux and got a .1 ohm. The voltage is from the via to the ground is .4mV

 

[CrazyGadget]

That should be 3v3; .4mV is practically nothing... Do you have any updated pics of the board after you redid the u10 via? Also, do you have any close ups of the u10? It's looking like either the u10 is either not getting good connections for 3v3 and gnd, or it could be fried. In any case, send some pics!

 

[BigBoss]

That should be 3v3; .4mV is practically nothing... Do you have any updated pics of the board after you redid the u10 via? Also, do you have any close ups of the u10? It's looking like either the u10 is either not getting good connections for 3v3 and gnd, or it could be fried. In any case, send some pics!

Holy crap, I got some helping hands in the mail today and attempted to reconnect the wires one more time. To my surprise, it worked! I think I was putting the wire to a different area or wasn’t connecting it well enough. It booted just a couple minutes ago!

Edit: The wire on the via popped off moments later and now I can't get a steady connection :/ It's back to the black screen. Any tips?

 

[CrazyGadget]

When soldering to the vias, your goal is to try to poke the wire into the via and have the solder surround the wire at every angle, rather than try to have some solder sticking out of the top of the via catch the wire horizontally. Like all other soldering, flux is your best friend, and you should make sure to use it for every joint. It burns off quickly tho, so don't be afraid to reapply if you deem it fit. As always, make sure to clean the flux with some IPA and either a toothbrush or q-tip.

As a side note: what is the white stuff all over the back of your board? It almost looks like corrosion, which could be really bad. Whatever the case is, definitely clean it off with some IPA and a toothbrush.