Hardware GBA A&B Buttons turned into mush after mod attempt (is it fixable?)

[TheCorruptedBit]

Hello everyone,

Recently I did a shell-swap on my GBA SP and attempted some modding, but nothing came out of it and I re-sealed the case. Upon firing it up for a test, I noticed something odd - the A and B buttons are almost completely unresponsive, with an incredible amount of pressure needing to be applied to register a press. I thought that perhaps the button membrane was too short to push the switch down all the way, but after swapping in my original things aren't much better. Is this a known issue, and is there any way to fix it?

PS - I did some soldering around, including C25. I'm not sure if it's relevant but I want to include it in case it is.

 

[FAST6191]

"shell-swap" "buttons are almost completely unresponsive"
"Is this a known issue?"
If it is a third party one then yes. Quality control on such things on any device seems to be hugely variable (indeed they might have failed quality control in the first place and not been shredded before being dumped on the market)..

If you grabbed a case off a dead/donor SP then that would be a different matter.


Anyway assuming third party
Fixing it. Several choices on what might have happened.
PCB being misaligned -- try opening a door next to a hinge rather than at the handle side, same idea but with a button.
Pokey bit not reaching as far as it needs to. This could be the new ones were too short, the new case is too thick or holds the PCB further away. Lengthen the pokey bit, shave the case down or raise the PCB (or some combo of those if you think that will get better results). I assume you could have caught the need for finishing (if some flashing was left, if the thing needed sanding or whatever.

Do also make sure the screws are in well -- if it is forcing the PCB backwards/case apart then yeah.

Anyway for increasing the size of holes, cleaning them up, maybe giving them a slight taper and making things circular I usually suggest a tapered reamer/handyman's reamer. They sometimes sell them in model shops (remote control car makers being the main buyers I think) but it might be an online thing.
For getting rid of plastic then some needle files/jewellers files will do well. Sculptors files are also a possibility. Riffler files are nice things to have but overkill for most of this.

 

[TheCorruptedBit]

"shell-swap" "buttons are almost completely unresponsive"
"Is this a known issue?"
If it is a third party one then yes. Quality control on such things on any device seems to be hugely variable (indeed they might have failed quality control in the first place and not been shredded before being dumped on the market)..

If you grabbed a case off a dead/donor SP then that would be a different matter.


Anyway assuming third party
Fixing it. Several choices on what might have happened.
PCB being misaligned -- try opening a door next to a hinge rather than at the handle side, same idea but with a button.
Pokey bit not reaching as far as it needs to. This could be the new ones were too short, the new case is too thick or holds the PCB further away. Lengthen the pokey bit, shave the case down or raise the PCB (or some combo of those if you think that will get better results). I assume you could have caught the need for finishing (if some flashing was left, if the thing needed sanding or whatever.

Do also make sure the screws are in well -- if it is forcing the PCB backwards/case apart then yeah.

Anyway for increasing the size of holes, cleaning them up, maybe giving them a slight taper and making things circular I usually suggest a tapered reamer/handyman's reamer. They sometimes sell them in model shops (remote control car makers being the main buyers I think) but it might be an online thing.
For getting rid of plastic then some needle files/jewellers files will do well. Sculptors files are also a possibility. Riffler files are nice things to have but overkill for most of this.

Thanks. It's a first-party SP but an aftermarket shell, so I guess I'll try and use some spacers and poke around and see where it ends up.