Hardware GB Micro R shoulder button failing

[Lemmy Koopa]

The R button is failing on my GB Micro and it's really annoying. It works better for a while if I press the button really hard, but it usually goes back to being crap after a day.

Any way I can fix this?

 

[Ozito]

If you feel comfortable with a soldering iron then you should replace it, the button is of the same size like the ones that the DS Lite uses.
If you don't want to replace, then you could try to desolder it and clean the metal pads that make contact, with something abrasive.

The right trigger is the one circled in red.

Use some soldering braid/wick and desolder the contacts in the back(pic1) and the the two points on the front(pic2).

pic1

pic2

Here's a juxtaposition showing the trigger button of the DSL and the GBM, they're pretty much identical.

DSL at the top and GBM at the bottom.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

If you feel comfortable with a soldering iron then you should replace it, the button is of the same size like the ones that the DS Lite uses.
If you don't want to replace, then you could try to desolder it and clean the metal pads that make contact, with something abrasive.

The right trigger is the one circled in red.
View attachment 8444


Use some soldering braid/wick and desolder the contacts in the back(pic1) and the the two points on the front(pic2).

pic1
View attachment 8445

pic2
View attachment 8446



Here's a juxtaposition showing the trigger button of the DSL and the GBM, they're pretty much identical.

DSL at the top and GBM at the bottom.
View attachment 8447

Isn't the DSL known for failing shoulder buttons too? I might just clean the trigger.

 

[lordgoober]

my GBASP 101 is also having right shoulder problems. I should see what I can do about it.

 

[Ozito]

Isn't the DSL known for failing shoulder buttons too? I might just clean the trigger.

That's what I've read too, but I haven't encountered it yet on any of the DS I've repaired, besides if you learn to replace now then you can do it again later on.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

That's what I've read too, but I haven't encountered it yet on any of the DS I've repaired, besides if you learn to replace now then you can do it again later on.

I don't have a DSL though and honestly I think it would be better if I just opened up the contacts and fixed them. It's possible that it's collapsed or something.

 

[Yepi69]

Or maybe its dirty, open it up and clean it.

 

[Ozito]

I don't have a DSL though and honestly I think it would be better if I just opened up the contacts and fixed them. It's possible that it's collapsed or something.

Does it still click?

I was thinking that you could buy replacement from ebay instead of salvaging from a DSL, maybe I gave the impression of that with the DSL comparison.
Anyways, I removed and took apart the switch if you were interested in seeing how it looks before doing it yourself.

Have in mind to be careful with the flex cable from the d-pad board going to the main board, breaking or tearing it will render the GBM useless.
Unless someone finds out the alternate points (would be really helpful since I need help with this myself) to solder new wires to substitute for the broken flex.

To remove the switch/trigger, I added solder on the three legs, bridging them, on the back of the switch, add enough to form a blob as in the picture.
Read the next step before pushing towards the arrow.

This next part should be done as quick as possible but as careful as possible too.
When the solder has cooled down a bit (without burning your finger when you touch it), put the soldering iron back on the blob and keep it molten.
At the same time, grip your board with your free hand and with your thumb nail, start pressing gently to the direction of the arrow.
Take your time with this and try to not have the switch hot for too long, It can deform the plastic base and break the switch.


As you can see in the red circle, I pushed to hard and the soldering pad came off, although this pad isn't vital for the functionality of the switch, it does keep it in place.

So far so good.
Remove the switch by heating up the two points in the front.
And as you can see in the picture, I was able to add solder to where the pad was ripped up, making it possible to solder that corner down to the main board when replacing the switch.

Now, with something sharp or pointy (razor blade or small screwdriver), bend the flaps indicated by the arrow, there's 4 in total.
When done, just pull the chassis, be careful though, the rubber button and the metal cap inside might fall out and can be hard to find.

Then just proceed with cleaning the metal cap and inside the base with some isopropanyl.
With a razor blade or something equivalent, gently, scratch away any dull discoloration on both parts (metal cap and base).
Rinse with isopropanyl, and reassemble.

Before

After

When soldering the switch back, make sure that the legs on the chassis are protruding through the holes on the main board (the holes can be seen in pictures 2,3,4 and bellow).
I started with soldering one corner on the front first and then adjusting so that the connection on the backside are properly aligned and then soldered the other corner, fixing it to the position.

OPTIONAL
You can with a multimeter, check that the three connections on the back are making contact and that the switch registers when pressing it by doing the following.

Connection 1 and 3, should have 0 (zero) resistance, in some DM, you can hear a buzzer or a led light up.
Connection 1 and 2, should have quite a high number in resistance, when pressing the switch, it should drop down to 0.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

post

Wow, thank you for such the descriptive help, you didn't have to do that. Seriously thank you. It does still click, but the clicking doesn't determine whether it triggers or not. I know the clicking means the trigger is changing to make contact to actually make it work, but it's not working until I press harder further into it, sometimes really hard.

I had the same problem with my mouse's clicker and have fixed those triggers before, so I could probably do this. I don't have a solder kit atm but this still helps a lot and I'll try it out asap.

 

[Pagio94]

Isn't the DSL known for failing shoulder buttons too? I might just clean the trigger.

Yeah, DSlites has a lot of problems like that but they're all related to the little metal piece that make the plastic button go back

 

[Hanafuda]

Ozito's instructions for replacing the microswitch are excellent. But before doing anything that drastic, try cleaning the switch with a few blasts of electronics cleaner. I've been using this stuff on GBA and DS shoulder buttons for a lot of years, and I haven't had to do transplant surgery yet. I buy this stuff at Radio Shack ... and just get the regular, not the one "with lubricant." You don't need the inside of your GBA coated with light machine oil. Comes with a little red straw that attaches to the nozzle so you can direct the blast right into the switch.

(not my pic)

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

Ozito's instructions for replacing the microswitch are excellent. But before doing anything that drastic, try cleaning the switch with a few blasts of electronics cleaner. I've been using this stuff on GBA and DS shoulder buttons for a lot of years, and I haven't had to do transplant surgery yet. I buy this stuff at Radio Shack ... and just get the regular, not the one "with lubricant." You don't need the inside of your GBA coated with light machine oil. Comes with a little red straw that attaches to the nozzle so you can direct the blast right into the switch.

(not my pic)

I really need to get myself some contact cleaner. There's a lot of stuff I have that could use it. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Hanafuda]

I really need to get myself some contact cleaner. There's a lot of stuff I have that could use it. Thanks for the tip!

It is VERY useful stuff. For example, I have an old EFA Linker cart that was laying in a drawer for a couple years after I started getting fail to write errors. But one blast of the contact cleaner on the micro-USB connector on the cart and it was back up and working. I've also 'brought back' old hard drives that my PC started failing to recognize by simply cleaning the SATA connections.

 

[MKLOL]

Nice guide by Ozito!

Managed to resolder a new switch. Was pretty hard since it so small, but fixed the problem.

One other thing to not is that at least on my Gameboy micro, the button itself is rubber, so u can always remove it with some pliers, and try to clean it / try it that way.