Things you tried to fix but couldn't.

[JuanMena]

Kind of the inverse of this thread, the purpose is self explanatory, I think we all could learn a thing or two from our attempts/failures and I hope some of you admits that sometimes things just can't be saved/fixed despite all efforts.

I'll start with this failed attempt: Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.

I've been trying to get rid of my consoles because I believe physical media is dying slowly and is not future proof, so I'm testing my things to check what I can keep and what not. So I inserted this Super Mario Bros. Deluxe cartridge to my GBC and it didn't boot.
Couple years ago, I fixed ("fixed" ) this exact same cartridge after I found a cold solder point in the SRAM chip, so naturally that was my suspicion this time again. I reflowed every pin of every integrated and the cartridge not only did not boot but actually turned off my GBC as soon as I turned it on. The cartridge was working fine and left it working since that last time I reflowed the chips, but that was 2 years ago I think.

I then checked continuity between the pins on the edge and their respective points on every integrated, and there was no continuity issues, ie, no broken traces.
Then, I assumed solder bridges, so I used my phone camera in Macro Mode and checked each pin, there were no bridges at all.
With no bridges and no broken traces I began to think about voltage issues.
I measured VCC against Ground and got a solid Ohm resistance, no drops and no shorts, so the possibilities of a faulty board was minimal, close to non existent.
Then, I checked resistance on each integrated (VCC against integrated's ground pin) and still no issues there, all the integrated chips measured a steady .550 Ohms.

Lastly, I removed the battery (which measured 0.400v) and reflowed the MBC-5 chip again, and only then the cartridge stopped turning off my Gameboys, but it delivered a garbled Nintendo logo, meaning not even getting a clean boot sequence.
This probably means that the ROM got somehow corrupted overtime preventing it from booting altogether since it can't reach the boot sequence in the first place, maybe humidity, maybe broken traces inside the chip, who knows?

There's no amount of reflowing or measuring that can fix a broken ROM chip, sadly, there's no way to overwrite the ROM with another one...

Rest in peace Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.
I actually never played it, it was stored in a box for god knows how long, probably since 2016 when I found it on the flea market.

 

[SylverReZ]

It's obvious why you cannot flash a ROM chip that comes on the cart, it's called "read only memory" for a reason. What you can do, is buy one of JRodrigo's flash ROM TSOP adapters to turn it into a re-writable cart, and then program the SMB Deluxe game onto it.

https://github.com/JRodrigoTech/FLASH-ROM-Adapter-for-GameBoy

 

[SonyUSA]

Kind of the inverse of this thread, the purpose is self explanatory, I think we all could learn a thing or two from our attempts/failures and I hope some of you admits that sometimes things just can't be saved/fixed despite all efforts.

I'll start with this failed attempt: Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.

View attachment 516758


I've been trying to get rid of my consoles because I believe physical media is dying slowly and is not future proof, so I'm testing my things to check what I can keep and what not. So I inserted this Super Mario Bros. Deluxe cartridge to my GBC and it didn't boot.
Couple years ago, I fixed ("fixed" ) this exact same cartridge after I found a cold solder point in the SRAM chip, so naturally that was my suspicion this time again. I reflowed every pin of every integrated and the cartridge not only did not boot but actually turned off my GBC as soon as I turned it on. The cartridge was working fine and left it working since that last time I reflowed the chips, but that was 2 years ago I think.

I then checked continuity between the pins on the edge and their respective points on every integrated, and there was no continuity issues, ie, no broken traces.
Then, I assumed solder bridges, so I used my phone camera in Macro Mode and checked each pin, there were no bridges at all.
With no bridges and no broken traces I began to think about voltage issues.
I measured VCC against Ground and got a solid Ohm resistance, no drops and no shorts, so the possibilities of a faulty board was minimal, close to non existent.
Then, I checked resistance on each integrated (VCC against integrated's ground pin) and still no issues there, all the integrated chips measured a steady .550 Ohms.

View attachment 516759

Lastly, I removed the battery (which measured 0.400v) and reflowed the MBC-5 chip again, and only then the cartridge stopped turning off my Gameboys, but it delivered a garbled Nintendo logo, meaning not even getting a clean boot sequence.
This probably means that the ROM got somehow corrupted overtime preventing it from booting altogether since it can't reach the boot sequence in the first place, maybe humidity, maybe broken traces inside the chip, who knows?

There's no amount of reflowing or measuring that can fix a broken ROM chip, sadly, there's no way to overwrite the ROM with another one...

Rest in peace Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.
I actually never played it, it was stored in a box for god knows how long, probably since 2016 when I found it on the flea market.

Nah, these ROM chips will outlive all of us, it's probably something else corrupting the data line.

You need to use a tool to press against the legs of the chips because they do come off over time, even though they look soldered and may give continuity. Pressing against them will show if they are actually soldered properly or not.

 

[hippy dave]

It's obvious why you cannot flash a ROM chip that comes on the cart, it's called "read only memory" for a reason. What you can do, is buy one of JRodrigo's flash ROM TSOP adapters to turn it into a re-writable cart, and then program the SMB Deluxe game onto it.

https://github.com/JRodrigoTech/FLASH-ROM-Adapter-for-GameBoy

LMK if you see anything like this for GBA carts, I had an unfulfilled plan to replace the ROM on a Japanese WarioWare Twisted cart with a chip flashed with the English language version

 

[Taleweaver]

Meh...
About a year ago, I found out my wiiu wouldn't boot anymore. It very likely is one with a died hard drive (it was a launch model). There was a sort of hack to set up iirc uneek so it would dump and load everything from the sd card. However, it had a very specific boot sequence that I just could never do. Perhaps if I forked out about ten bucks for a raspberry that I could then transform in a method of loading i would've gotten a second chance, but as it was I fumbled in the dark (well... A stuck wiiu loading screen).
In the end, I just found a cheap replacement console(without screen or anything) for about sixty euro. That's my wiiu now.

Another lost cause was a pc i was ironically planning for retirement. Cleaned the hd (including mint backups), put through some updates and... I can't recall what quite caused it, but couldn't boot anymore. For Linux mint this is rare, and thus far the only case that took me over a couple tries. But after a few hours I was like 'why bother?'. The pc was around 15 years at that time. Sentimental value was high but actual value? It was a huge desktop worth worse specs than my steam deck.

 

[BigOnYa]

A past marriage, I tried and tried to fix but I think the data on her was corrupted. Oh well, I give up and got rid of her, then upgraded to a better model.

 

[a_username_that_is_cool]

the broken fusee in my signature was broken by me trying to fix the sd card slot. there was a broken pin and now there is a stripped screw.

 

[CMDreamer]

... My life...

 

[Exnor]

Kind of the inverse of this thread, the purpose is self explanatory, I think we all could learn a thing or two from our attempts/failures and I hope some of you admits that sometimes things just can't be saved/fixed despite all efforts.

I'll start with this failed attempt: Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.

View attachment 516758


I've been trying to get rid of my consoles because I believe physical media is dying slowly and is not future proof, so I'm testing my things to check what I can keep and what not. So I inserted this Super Mario Bros. Deluxe cartridge to my GBC and it didn't boot.
Couple years ago, I fixed ("fixed" ) this exact same cartridge after I found a cold solder point in the SRAM chip, so naturally that was my suspicion this time again. I reflowed every pin of every integrated and the cartridge not only did not boot but actually turned off my GBC as soon as I turned it on. The cartridge was working fine and left it working since that last time I reflowed the chips, but that was 2 years ago I think.

I then checked continuity between the pins on the edge and their respective points on every integrated, and there was no continuity issues, ie, no broken traces.
Then, I assumed solder bridges, so I used my phone camera in Macro Mode and checked each pin, there were no bridges at all.
With no bridges and no broken traces I began to think about voltage issues.
I measured VCC against Ground and got a solid Ohm resistance, no drops and no shorts, so the possibilities of a faulty board was minimal, close to non existent.
Then, I checked resistance on each integrated (VCC against integrated's ground pin) and still no issues there, all the integrated chips measured a steady .550 Ohms.

View attachment 516759

Lastly, I removed the battery (which measured 0.400v) and reflowed the MBC-5 chip again, and only then the cartridge stopped turning off my Gameboys, but it delivered a garbled Nintendo logo, meaning not even getting a clean boot sequence.
This probably means that the ROM got somehow corrupted overtime preventing it from booting altogether since it can't reach the boot sequence in the first place, maybe humidity, maybe broken traces inside the chip, who knows?

There's no amount of reflowing or measuring that can fix a broken ROM chip, sadly, there's no way to overwrite the ROM with another one...

Rest in peace Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.
I actually never played it, it was stored in a box for god knows how long, probably since 2016 when I found it on the flea market.

Like other already pointed out, ROM chips, usually have a huge lifespan, so you might have a bad solder point on those SMD or even some faulty logic inside of the other chips (maybe the Mapper chip? E also see a battery there so i assume there's a SRAM chip somewhere, did you tried to force a reset on it?).

Since you look to have the skills, why don't you try to read the contents of the ROM chip and compare it to those already dumped online ?

 

[UsernamesAreWeird]

A 3DS XL and a regular 3DS

 

[Taleweaver]

I woke up with the idea of a broken girlfriend, but @BigOnYa beat me to it.

Still... I once had a pregnant girlfriend who broke up with me. Tried my best, but couldn't fix it. I'd rather not go into detail on that one.

I also once got in a polyamory situation. Though it was a good time, I can't deny that it was unsustainable. Having two girlfriends sounds a whole lot better on paper than in reality: it more than doubles the need to give emotional support, and I ended up giving more than I received. Broke up with both in the end.

 

[k66]

Obsessive-compulsive disorder must be very uncomfortable to read this post, it is all unsolved.

 

[Finray]

For me, it was the cd spindle hub on the Neo Geo CDZ. The plastic tabs on the pop eject wore out and its impossible to find a replacement. I did however replace it with a PS1 spindle hub and does work mostly. But it still bothers the hell out of me considering how rare CDZ's are.

 

[Jayro]

I tried to desolder the "pirate cartridge" PCB from my GB Boy Colour, and lifted a trace off the board. But it shouldn't have affected anything but the piracy cart. But whetever happened, it stopped the entire system from booting all cartridges, so that sucked.

R.I.P. KONGFENG GB BOY COLOUR.

I did however salvage the piracy multiboot cartridge and used a PCB extender to get it working in a normal cartridge shell, so at least it wasn't a total loss. Hand-soldered every 28 AWG wire to each pad.

 

[yankii]

Inb4 "my life"

 

[chrisrlink]

i killed my rgh2 360 first tried to flash the XL usb patches got an E72(?) then i really fucked up cause i don't leave shit well enough alone black screen red dot of death.....it's dead jim

 

[Greninji88]

A had a dirty Gameboy game, and used my mums nail polish remover to take off the stains.....


Now look...

Also couldn't fix a couple DS Lites, and a Sony cassette walkman

 

[Silterpy]

A couple of years ago, I was ordering GBCs from J4U to fix up for myself and to sell for some extra money. I usually ordered Game Boys that wouldn't turn on because most of the time it was just a dirty switch or contacts. One of the GBCs came so corroded that it went straight to the trash, and I mean 95% of all the traces were destroyed; even the legs on the chips were barely there. I'm guessing it fell in the sea at some point in its life and was just left to rot. All in all, that Game Boy Color cost about $80 when you add in the price of the Game Boy ($40, IIRC), importation taxes, and shipping. I have ordered about 20 total Game Boys of different models, and that was definitely the worst one I've ever seen, and the weird part was that in the listing it looked in better condition, the shell was a bit dirty and covered in stickers but from what I could see the insides and contacts were OK.

Stopped buy them to fix up cause they were getting to expensive now. I guess with how easy it is to add a ips screen now, it drove up the prices.

 

[Falconcrest64]

Alot of things,LOL
Iphone 6+,Nintendo switch,Gba console,Sony Psone,the list goes on

 

[LoggerMan]

My life.