Welp, I'm stumped.
I'm sorry for the wordiness, but I feel that if I'm asking for help, I should provide as much information as I can. If I've done anything wrong, posted this incorrectly, I apologize in advance and will take steps to correct it. This is the first time I've ever had a console problem so baffling that I've needed to straight up ask for help - normally I can find what I need on the internet. But I can't find any issue specifically like this that has been addressed before. I would be grateful for some assistance.
My problem is the battery indicator on my GBA SP - specifically, it starts going red after only about 30 minutes of play on a full charge, every time. Here are my theories and what I've tried:
The battery is bad. I very much doubt this, as I have replaced the battery twice now with brand new ones - no change in behavior. Granted both my replacement batteries were third party, but they were from different manufacturers, one that came recommended from another thread on this very site. For them both to have the same exact problem seems an unlikely coincidence.
The motherboard/power switch/contacts/etc are dirty. I have done teardowns and cleanings on this thing before, most recently just last night. No change. I know my way around how to do that, but it's always possible I could have missed something. Still, this doesn't seem likely either.
I screwed something up while doing a housing swap. I replaced the entire housing on this console some years back. Again, this is something I know how to do, and have done before, but that does not mean I didn't somehow screw something up anyway. But that was years ago, and though I have had this battery problem for a good long while now, I can't recall if that's when it started. I don't think it was.
The console is throwing a low battery warning when the battery isn't actually low. I guess this relates to the theory above? Could I have screwed up something internally to make that happen? Is the board just old and on its last legs? I suppose I should test to see if the console actually dies quickly when the battery indicator goes red. I haven't done that yet - I've only had it run for an additional 15 minutes or so on a red indicator, but...it didn't die. If it's only doing for 30 minutes before going red, and there is actually a low charge, you'd think it would die in less than half that time again after it goes red.
A flashcart screwed something up. I'm familiar with all the debates around the theory that the voltage requirements of a flash cart could damage a console over time, and I've seen the explanations both for and against this all laid out. But, I don't know what else to consider here. This console has had three different kinds of flashcart in it since I've owned it: Two fire linkers, an EFA Linker II, and an EZ-Flash Omega. If one of these did cause the trouble, I doubt it was the omega, because I've only had that for maybe two weeks. The Fire Linkers I've had for a long time (naturally) and I don't really use them anymore. As far as I know they both worked fine, except that the label on one said '256mbit' when the actual capacity was only 128. Of the three carts, I'm most suspicious of the EFA Linker. I don't use that one anymore because it eventually refused to save, but of the three, it was the one I used the most by far. Also, from extensive research I was able to determine that my EFA linker is actually a knockoff - it does not support drag and drop. To use it, I had to write roms and saves to the cart using a program called 'long_card'. At the time I didn't know this was indicative of a knock-off, and eventually I decided to just not worry about it, as it was working great - only the process of adding roms was a bit slower. But...it's still a knock off, according to the code on the back of the board. Could it have been responsible? It was never actually in any of the consoles during the writing process, but certainly it was there while playing games and making saves.
Another important point to note is that I also own a GBA Micro, and it is doing the exact same thing. I have not changed the battery in that one but come on...the same exact problem, two completely different consoles? This suggests to me that the problem is a flash cart, because that's the only thing I can come up with in common to both systems - both of them have had all three of my flash carts in them. What else could they have in common, aside from the fact that I charge them both from the same wall outlets in my house? They've also both had the same retail carts in them...is it even possible for a retail cart intended for this system to cause issues with it?
And so, here I am. I enjoy my GBA devices, but with battery life this bad, they're all but unusable. Did a flash cart ruin them both? Or is something else to blame?
Can anyone shed some light on this?
Thank you!!
I'm sorry for the wordiness, but I feel that if I'm asking for help, I should provide as much information as I can. If I've done anything wrong, posted this incorrectly, I apologize in advance and will take steps to correct it. This is the first time I've ever had a console problem so baffling that I've needed to straight up ask for help - normally I can find what I need on the internet. But I can't find any issue specifically like this that has been addressed before. I would be grateful for some assistance.
My problem is the battery indicator on my GBA SP - specifically, it starts going red after only about 30 minutes of play on a full charge, every time. Here are my theories and what I've tried:
The battery is bad. I very much doubt this, as I have replaced the battery twice now with brand new ones - no change in behavior. Granted both my replacement batteries were third party, but they were from different manufacturers, one that came recommended from another thread on this very site. For them both to have the same exact problem seems an unlikely coincidence.
The motherboard/power switch/contacts/etc are dirty. I have done teardowns and cleanings on this thing before, most recently just last night. No change. I know my way around how to do that, but it's always possible I could have missed something. Still, this doesn't seem likely either.
I screwed something up while doing a housing swap. I replaced the entire housing on this console some years back. Again, this is something I know how to do, and have done before, but that does not mean I didn't somehow screw something up anyway. But that was years ago, and though I have had this battery problem for a good long while now, I can't recall if that's when it started. I don't think it was.
The console is throwing a low battery warning when the battery isn't actually low. I guess this relates to the theory above? Could I have screwed up something internally to make that happen? Is the board just old and on its last legs? I suppose I should test to see if the console actually dies quickly when the battery indicator goes red. I haven't done that yet - I've only had it run for an additional 15 minutes or so on a red indicator, but...it didn't die. If it's only doing for 30 minutes before going red, and there is actually a low charge, you'd think it would die in less than half that time again after it goes red.
A flashcart screwed something up. I'm familiar with all the debates around the theory that the voltage requirements of a flash cart could damage a console over time, and I've seen the explanations both for and against this all laid out. But, I don't know what else to consider here. This console has had three different kinds of flashcart in it since I've owned it: Two fire linkers, an EFA Linker II, and an EZ-Flash Omega. If one of these did cause the trouble, I doubt it was the omega, because I've only had that for maybe two weeks. The Fire Linkers I've had for a long time (naturally) and I don't really use them anymore. As far as I know they both worked fine, except that the label on one said '256mbit' when the actual capacity was only 128. Of the three carts, I'm most suspicious of the EFA Linker. I don't use that one anymore because it eventually refused to save, but of the three, it was the one I used the most by far. Also, from extensive research I was able to determine that my EFA linker is actually a knockoff - it does not support drag and drop. To use it, I had to write roms and saves to the cart using a program called 'long_card'. At the time I didn't know this was indicative of a knock-off, and eventually I decided to just not worry about it, as it was working great - only the process of adding roms was a bit slower. But...it's still a knock off, according to the code on the back of the board. Could it have been responsible? It was never actually in any of the consoles during the writing process, but certainly it was there while playing games and making saves.
Another important point to note is that I also own a GBA Micro, and it is doing the exact same thing. I have not changed the battery in that one but come on...the same exact problem, two completely different consoles? This suggests to me that the problem is a flash cart, because that's the only thing I can come up with in common to both systems - both of them have had all three of my flash carts in them. What else could they have in common, aside from the fact that I charge them both from the same wall outlets in my house? They've also both had the same retail carts in them...is it even possible for a retail cart intended for this system to cause issues with it?
And so, here I am. I enjoy my GBA devices, but with battery life this bad, they're all but unusable. Did a flash cart ruin them both? Or is something else to blame?
Can anyone shed some light on this?
Thank you!!
