Restoring a not working Xploder Advance

[DaRk_ViVi]

A friend of mine had an issue with his Xploder Advance, which got stuck while saving a new code and now, while booting up, just stays on the "Working" screen forever.
While trying different approches, like the "secret" menu (Clone?) that opens if you power on the GBA with the A+B+Start+Select+L+R combination pressed, but there was nothing able to fix it.

The contacts works as, if you keep the Xploded button on OFF, the inserted game boots up fine.

Can someone help him? Any tips?

Here are some screens from the secret menu (CRC and stuff):

 

[SylverReZ]

A friend of mine had an issue with his Xploder Advance, which got stuck while saving a new code and now, while booting up, just stays on the "Working" screen forever.
While trying different approches, like the "secret" menu (Clone?) that opens if you power on the GBA with the A+B+Start+Select+L+R combination pressed, but there was nothing able to fix it.

The contacts works as, if you keep the Xploded button on OFF, the inserted game boots up fine.

Can someone help him? Any tips?

Here are some screens from the secret menu (CRC and stuff):

View attachment 335665

You tried cleaning the cartridge contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

 

[DaRk_ViVi]

You tried cleaning the cartridge contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

They should be working properly as the game inserted can be booted by skipping the Xploder and bypassing the adapter.
However it was cleaned.

 

[Jayro]

I would open the Xploder cart and check the internals. And if there's any chips, I'd reflow the legs, replace any possibly leaky caps, etc. Just look for anything that might be sus.

 

[SylverReZ]

They should be working properly as the game inserted can be booted by skipping the Xploder and bypassing the adapter.

What do you mean by this?

Post automatically merged: Nov 14, 2022

Just look for anything that might be sus.

There maybe something broken among us.

 

[DaRk_ViVi]

What do you mean by this?

Post automatically merged: Nov 14, 2022

There maybe something broken among us.

The xploder has a slot to insert the game card, and you can switch the Xploder off to bypass it and launch the inserted game. It works so probably the contacts are fine, as the Xploder card "in the middle" is bypassed properly.