Hardware GBA Backlight! (AGB-001)

[Chrushev]

Just did this mod and I don't know if other people ran into this issue, but when i first ran through this i attached the ribbon cable and soldered the power per most videos i saw. I ran into an issue of an overly bright image. I did the rec to ground mentioned in this post with no success. Unknowingly to me some of these ribbon cables come with power already attached (within the ribbon, not on the solder pads) and if you double up with an additional power line you will get this overly bright image (fairly obvious once you know why, I know). So obviously my fix was removing the added power line I had placed in...

Can you give link or picture of the ribbon you bought?

 

[slaphappygamer]

and the best place to get the lcd screens ?

I got mine from gamers zone on aliexpress. Ive done 2 of these mods, both 40 pin and 32 pin. These screens both look great.

 

[gba1230]

Can you give link or picture of the ribbon you bought?

http://www.bonanza.com/listings/For...-AGS-101-Backlit-Adapter-Screen-Mod/421450130

40 Pin.

 

[Chrushev]

I got mine from gamers zone on aliexpress. Ive done 2 of these mods, both 40 pin and 32 pin. These screens both look great.

That link doesnt work, can you try again? or post screenshot or something? Also, did you have to solder power for that one? I ordered one from Gamers Zone, havent gotten it yet.

 

[slaphappygamer]

This is the one

 

[lifeofryan]

Hello all! Brand new to the site. I'm about to do this mod as well. I'm using a 40-pin GBA and I just ordered this ribbon adapter: http://www.ebay.com/itm/172244825984?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT It looks to be the same as the one linked above on bonanza. I also ordered this screen: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291990034070?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Based on what I'm seeing above, this combination should work okay although I've seen posts stating that the white tabbed screen paired with the 40-pin GBA yields poor results. Can anyone confirm one way or the other?

I also have 2 AGS-101 GBA SP's (light blue and gray models) so if all else fails, I suppose can check to see if a black/brown tabbed screen lives in one of those.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Chrushev]

Hello all! Brand new to the site. I'm about to do this mod as well. I'm using a 40-pin GBA and I just ordered this ribbon adapter: http://www.ebay.com/itm/172244825984?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT It looks to be the same as the one linked above on bonanza. I also ordered this screen: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291990034070?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Based on what I'm seeing above, this combination should work okay although I've seen posts stating that the white tabbed screen paired with the 40-pin GBA yields poor results. Can anyone confirm one way or the other?

I also have 2 AGS-101 GBA SP's (light blue and gray models) so if all else fails, I suppose can check to see if a black/brown tabbed screen lives in one of those.

Thanks in advance!

I used white tabbed 3rd party screen from china a few weeks ago to do my mod with a 40 pin B variant cable and results are perfect, didnt have to adjust anything, didnt even really need to solder the power cable, but I did anyways since that added a brighter screen setting (so there are 2 settings, normal and bright).

I used 40 pin B variant of this cable: http://imgur.com/a/zlI4h

Was $15 for the cable, and the GBA I have is the original USA version (glacier color) that I bought when Pokemon Crystal came out in 2001.

 

[zigaboo]

From a real AGS-101

I just wanna say...

the screens sold from chinese sellers are fine. Please don't gut healthy AGS101 consoles.
If you have a broken one, all good.

 

[lifeofryan]

I just wanna say...

the screens sold from chinese sellers are fine. Please don't gut healthy AGS101 consoles.
If you have a broken one, all good.

I definitely want to avoid gutting any AGS-101s especially with this mod gaining popularity more and more. Although it will be difficult to remain patient waiting for my screen to arrive from Malaysia with the rest of the parts arriving over the next week lol.

Out of curiosity, do you know if the 3rd party backlit screens will work in a 101? Also, if the 101 has a black tabbed screen would the white 3rd party still work in it?

And the ribbon adapter I ordered does not have the brightness switch but otherwise looks similar and has the wire pre-soldered.

Got my rotary tool today so I'm starting on the shell modding while I wait for the rest...

 

[zigaboo]

I definitely want to avoid gutting any AGS-101s especially with this mod gaining popularity more and more. Although it will be difficult to remain patient waiting for my screen to arrive from Malaysia with the rest of the parts arriving over the next week lol.

Out of curiosity, do you know if the 3rd party backlit screens will work in a 101? Also, if the 101 has a black tabbed screen would the white 3rd party still work in it?

And the ribbon adapter I ordered does not have the brightness switch but otherwise looks similar and has the wire pre-soldered.

Got my rotary tool today so I'm starting on the shell modding while I wait for the rest...

we'll start sounding like a broken record here, but "they're not 3rd party", apparently. They are all genuine, new old stock.

so yeah, they will work on a 101, in fact that is their primary function

I'll let someone else answer on the brown/white ags101 compatibility, I have no idea.

have fun with your rotary, once I got my Dremel the fun was doubled!

 

[lifeofryan]

we'll start sounding like a broken record here, but "they're not 3rd party", apparently. They are all genuine, new old stock.

so yeah, they will work on a 101, in fact that is their primary function

I'll let someone else answer on the brown/white ags101 compatibility, I have no idea.

have fun with your rotary, once I got my Dremel the fun was doubled!

So I got a bit anxious when my ribbon adapter came and grabbed a screen from my more beat up AGS-101. Once the new screen I ordered arrives I'll try and put that into the AGS-101 or just swap screens in the AGS-001.

It all went pretty smooth. I got hung up on the soldering for a while since I've only ever soldered once before but I finally got the wire attached.

Another thing I had an issue with was the shoulder buttons from the replacement shell. They seemed to get jammed and were stuck down once everything was assembled. I was thinking it was just really snug due to the backlit screen but once I swapped in the original shoulder buttons I had no issue. I might've just been tired, I dunno lol.

Also, can the black adhesive padding on the back of the AGS-101 screen be removed? That would reduce the tightness a bit. Otherwise everything is working as it should. I tweaked the potentiometer some. It basically would go from faded/washed out to more contrast but it didn't seem to improve much beyond the original setting. The brightness seems close to the lower brightness setting on the AGS-101 but I haven't done a side by side comparison yet.

NOTE: Second pic was just me testing the screen/ribbon adapter. No soldering or even grinding down of the shell was done yet.

 

[TechieAndroid]

I'm currently working on my GBA, it's a AGB 001. I can't afford to buy a AGS 101 screen for it so I'm going to be installing a backlight myself into the original screen. Any tips would be great. I have modded a AGS 101 screen in before, it was for a friend of mine. I did all the soldering, he found the screen and got it almost free and got the ribbon cable.

 

[Solo761]

I'm not sure you can do it by modding original screen. Backlight mods are possible on original and pocket gameboys with BW screens, not color ones. Same issues as with Gameboy Color, only frontlight mods are possible with these screens.

 

[BobWoggle]

The reason, as detailed in an excellent video by This Does Not Compute, is that on the original DMG and pocket, the polarizer and reflective film were on the back of the screen, and could be peeled off and replaced, whereas on the color and advance the polarizer and reflective layer is sandwiched between layers of glass and cannot be removed without destroying the lcd.
If you can't afford a replacement 101 screen, your only option is frontlighting.

 

[Le_Gogh]

Just wanted to chime in that I've now completed another one of these mods, this time on a 40 pin gba, and I used a 40 pin B adapter. This resulted in no ghosting whatsoever.

Therefore, if you only have access to a 40 pin just ensure you get the correct adapter and this should hopefully avoid any ghosting issues with a white tabbed screen.

 

[Ojet]

I've done a AGS101 mod in the past perfectly. But now I'm having trouble with an AGS001 mod. The screen keeps turning off whenever I connect the solder point from P1 to DA-2. Anyone know what the issue with this is? There aren't any bridges or anything.

 

[davidmorom]

Hi everyone. In first place I want to thank everyone who discovered the method for modding the AGB-001 screen, and the people who posted their results so other people can learn about their mistakes and their success.

I also want to share my experience with these mods, in case anyone is interested, or maybe it is helpfull for someone.

The first time I tried to do this mod, I had a 40 pin board. I ordered the screen and the adapter on Aliexpress. It was a white tabbed one. The result as everyone knows now, was washed out colors. I tried shorting every combination of signals I read on this thread (RECV, GND, COM, P2-VEE...), but the best thing I get was right colors but TERRIBLE ghosting (the image was retained for even minutes). After a lot of tries, trying to fix it, connecting and desconnecting the screen, soldering points, etc. I ended up breaking the ribbon cable of the screen .

Reading that people had significantly more success with 32 pin motherboards, I found one on a local pawn shop. I ordered a second screen (white tabbed again), a 32 pin adapter, connected everything, tunned the potentiometer a bit, and voila, crystal clear image quality.

A few weeks ago I saw this post https://gbatemp.net/threads/40-pin-gba-with-white-tab-lcd-perfect-solution.448597/ so I decided to order a third screen, and try again the 40 pin motherboard. I just have to say, to anyone having trouble with a 40 pin motherboard, that this method absolutely fixes all the problems (washed colors, ghosting...). The result is as good as the 32 pin motherboard. Just remove R16, R17 and C33 for isolating P2-VEE on the board, short REVC to P2-VEE to take the unmodified RECV signal to the LCD, and remove C54 and Q3 to take the potentiometer directly to the LCD. A bit of tunning on the pot, and the result is PERFECT.

A lot of thanks to malheur and gaggi for sharing their discoverings.

But I didn't stop there. The 32 pin adapter I bought directly powers the lcd backlight trough the 5V rail. This gives too little brightness, so I tried soldering to the alternate points for increased brightness. But before doing that, I had to cut on the adapter the trace that goes from P1, to 5V, to prevent shorting the 5V rail to anywhere else. I read people saying that after soldering P1 to D1A, the console turns off. This is because the P1 on the ribbon adapter needs to be isolated from 5V rail first.

Soldering the cable, increased the brightness a little, but it was still too far from what the screen can do. So I connected the backlight to an external power supply, and increased the voltage very slowly. I saw that on 12V, the current was not too high (25mA), and the brightness was even a little higher than the AGS-101 on its highest setting.

The problem is the following: the AGB-001 doesn't have any 12V rail capable of supplying 25mA.

So I decided to use a DC/DC step up converter to elevate the 3.3V rail to 12V. I also implemented brightness level control trough the built-in GBA buttons. I made the following PCB:

It uses a LMR64010 from Texas Instruments for elevating the voltage from 3.3V to 12V. This 12V can be directly taken to the LCD for the maximum brightness. In the other side of the PCB there is a a N-MOS transistor, for chopping the 12V rail, so the brightness is controlled trough PWM. The gate of the transistor is controlled by a Microchip PIC10LF322 microcontroller, which is connected to the SELECT, L and R buttons. This is the final assembly:

There are 6 brightness levels. The highest is a bit higher than AGS-101 on its high level. The lowest is far lower than AGS-101 on its low level. The other levels are intermediate.

By pressing SELECT + L the brightness is decreased and by pressing SELECT + R the brightness is increased. The microcontroller stores the setting on its memory, so everytime the console is powered up the brightness level is recalled. In the unlikely case a game uses the SELECT + L or SELECT + R combination, I implemented a lock function. By pressing the select button 3 seconds, the screen does a double blink, indicating that the brightness control has been locked. Pressing SELECT for 3 seconds again, unlocks the brightness control.

The following video shows how it works. The image quality and brightness control are far far away better on real life than on the video. This is the 40 pin one:



Sorry for my english, I am not a native english speaker.

Thanks for reading my post, and good luck to everyone modding their GBA. If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask.

 

[Seroczynski]

That is fucking amazing. Nice work there!

 

[ServenIkhana]

Hi everyone. In first place I want to thank everyone who discovered the method for modding the AGB-001 screen, and the people who posted their results so other people can learn about their mistakes and their success.

I also want to share my experience with these mods, in case anyone is interested, or maybe it is helpfull for someone.

The first time I tried to do this mod, I had a 40 pin board. I ordered the screen and the adapter on Aliexpress. It was a white tabbed one. The result as everyone knows now, was washed out colors. I tried shorting every combination of signals I read on this thread (RECV, GND, COM, P2-VEE...), but the best thing I get was right colors but TERRIBLE ghosting (the image was retained for even minutes). After a lot of tries, trying to fix it, connecting and desconnecting the screen, soldering points, etc. I ended up breaking the ribbon cable of the screen .

Reading that people had significantly more success with 32 pin motherboards, I found one on a local pawn shop. I ordered a second screen (white tabbed again), a 32 pin adapter, connected everything, tunned the potentiometer a bit, and voila, crystal clear image quality.

A few weeks ago I saw this post https://gbatemp.net/threads/40-pin-gba-with-white-tab-lcd-perfect-solution.448597/ so I decided to order a third screen, and try again the 40 pin motherboard. I just have to say, to anyone having trouble with a 40 pin motherboard, that this method absolutely fixes all the problems (washed colors, ghosting...). The result is as good as the 32 pin motherboard. Just remove R16, R17 and C33 for isolating P2-VEE on the board, short REVC to P2-VEE to take the unmodified RECV signal to the LCD, and remove C54 and Q3 to take the potentiometer directly to the LCD. A bit of tunning on the pot, and the result is PERFECT.

A lot of thanks to malheur and gaggi for sharing their discoverings.

But I didn't stop there. The 32 pin adapter I bought directly powers the lcd backlight trough the 5V rail. This gives too little brightness, so I tried soldering to the alternate points for increased brightness. But before doing that, I had to cut on the adapter the trace that goes from P1, to 5V, to prevent shorting the 5V rail to anywhere else. I read people saying that after soldering P1 to D1A, the console turns off. This is because the P1 on the ribbon adapter needs to be isolated from 5V rail first.

Soldering the cable, increased the brightness a little, but it was still too far from what the screen can do. So I connected the backlight to an external power supply, and increased the voltage very slowly. I saw that on 12V, the current was not too high (25mA), and the brightness was even a little higher than the AGS-101 on its highest setting.

The problem is the following: the AGB-001 doesn't have any 12V rail capable of supplying 25mA.

So I decided to use a DC/DC step up converter to elevate the 3.3V rail to 12V. I also implemented brightness level control trough the built-in GBA buttons. I made the following PCB:

It uses a LMR64010 from Texas Instruments for elevating the voltage from 3.3V to 12V. This 12V can be directly taken to the LCD for the maximum brightness. In the other side of the PCB there is a a N-MOS transistor, for chopping the 12V rail, so the brightness is controlled trough PWM. The gate of the transistor is controlled by a Microchip PIC10LF322 microcontroller, which is connected to the SELECT, L and R buttons. This is the final assembly:

There are 6 brightness levels. The highest is a bit higher than AGS-101 on its high level. The lowest is far lower than AGS-101 on its low level. The other levels are intermediate.

By pressing SELECT + L the brightness is decreased and by pressing SELECT + R the brightness is increased. The microcontroller stores the setting on its memory, so everytime the console is powered up the brightness level is recalled. In the unlikely case a game uses the SELECT + L or SELECT + R combination, I implemented a lock function. By pressing the select button 3 seconds, the screen does a double blink, indicating that the brightness control has been locked. Pressing SELECT for 3 seconds again, unlocks the brightness control.

The following video shows how it works. The image quality and brightness control are far far away better on real life than on the video. This is the 40 pin one:



Sorry for my english, I am not a native english speaker.

Thanks for reading my post, and good luck to everyone modding their GBA. If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask.

Nice work.

I've measured the voltage on the left leg of DA1 and it is about 13V, while you are using 12V with the step up converter. If the DA1 leg already provides a high voltage, what is the problem with DA1 then? Can't it supply enough current?

I have ordered a 32 pin adapter and my intention was to directly solder the P1 to the DA1 leg. In this case, is mandatory the cut for isolating P1 and the 5V rail? I have seen that most people just solder it without cutting, with no problems (apparently...).

Could you indicate in a photo the trace that needs to be cut?

Thanks

 

[davidmorom]

Nice work.

I've measured the voltage on the left leg of DA1 and it is about 13V, while you are using 12V with the step up converter. If the DA1 leg already provides a high voltage, what is the problem with DA1 then? Can't it supply enough current?

I have ordered a 32 pin adapter and my intention was to directly solder the P1 to the DA1 leg. In this case, is mandatory the cut for isolating P1 and the 5V rail? I have seen that most people just solder it without cutting, with no problems (apparently...).

Could you indicate in a photo the trace that needs to be cut?

Thanks

Hi ServenIkhana.

Yes, there are about 13.5V on the D1A pin, but after connecting the LCD backlight the voltage drops to 11V, because it cannot supply enough current. LEDs are non-linear devices, so altought it could be hard to believe, there is a big diference in brightness and current between 11V and 12V. Unfortunately, there is no point inside the gba with 12V, capable of supplying enough current for getting the LCD maximum bright level. And that's why external circuitry is needed.

Referring P1, I can't tell if it is mandatory to isolate it (using my 12V step up regulator I can assure is mandatory to isolate), because as soon as I received my adapter I cut the trace (just to be safe). But there are people complaining about the console turning off after soldering the cable, so I asume this could be the reason. Anyway, I highly recommend you to isolate it, to avoid shorting the 5V rail with the 13.5V one. In the 32 pin adapter I have is very easy to do, I attach a photo showing where to cut (don't know if yours is different).

After cutting that trace, the backlight will no longer be powered trough the 5V rail (it will stop working), so you can connect it to wherever you want (3.3V, 5V, D1A...).