Gaming GBA Shuts Off After Saving

[cDOTwav]

I bought a GBA a few weeks ago with Pokemon Emerald. After playing for a while and saving a few times, during the same playthrough that day I went to save but my GBA shuts off. I spoke to some people about it and we thought that it had something to do with Pokemon Emerald since it was a repro. Recently, about a week ago I ordered two legit copies of Pokemon Sapphire and another Emerald. Yesterday I played a bit of Sapphire and after saving a couple times with no failure I thought everything was fine, but then I saved again just to make sure and it did the same thing and shuts off. I would try with the new Emerald game I picked up but it has a save file with a couple shinies the previous owner had and I want to make sure I can transfer them before creating a new save. If anyone has any clues as to why it's happening please let me know. Thank you.

If any other information is needed then while the GBA saves the battery light flickers, I'm not sure if that's normal or means anything but I thought I would at least say that in-case it actually wasn't normal. The only thing I can think of is that the Pokemon Sapphire is also a repro and that's why? But as for as I know it's legit and I don't want to ruin Emerald.

 

[FAST6191]

Open the carts if you can but can we see the pins of the cart as most repros don't do a good job with them and we can sometimes tell. Equally do the labels of the games have a little punch mark with a couple of numbers on; while I could fake such a thing in minutes, most of that being getting the shed keys and going to the shed, I don't think we have yet seen repro makers do it.

Flickering LED would be an indicate of serious power draw, and that sort of thing does see things shut off when seen for other things (shorts, cart insertions when powered, end of battery life), and was also to be my next question.
I don't know that I have seen it happen for repros before but it is well within reason -- plenty of flash carts sip a bit more power.
Test, and marginal solution, would be do you have a charger/adapter you can connect to whatever it is you are using?
If it is an original GBA are you using rechargeables in it? They are usually 1.2 Volts compared to the 1.5V of nice disposable batteries and are frequently a source of issues when playing in these circles. If is a SP or micro then the battery is likely on the way out.

 

[cDOTwav]

Open the carts if you can but can we see the pins of the cart as most repros don't do a good job with them and we can sometimes tell. Equally do the labels of the games have a little punch mark with a couple of numbers on; while I could fake such a thing in minutes, most of that being getting the shed keys and going to the shed, I don't think we have yet seen repro makers do it.

Flickering LED would be an indicate of serious power draw, and that sort of thing does see things shut off when seen for other things (shorts, cart insertions when powered, end of battery life), and was also to be my next question.
I don't know that I have seen it happen for repros before but it is well within reason -- plenty of flash carts sip a bit more power.
Test, and marginal solution, would be do you have a charger/adapter you can connect to whatever it is you are using?
If it is an original GBA are you using rechargeables in it? They are usually 1.2 Volts compared to the 1.5V of nice disposable batteries and are frequently a source of issues when playing in these circles. If is a SP or micro then the battery is likely on the way out.

Hey thank you for replying, the batteries I use are 1.5v so that prob knocks that part out, and no there are no punch marks on the label.

 

[FAST6191]

That actually looks legit (no resoldered chip, decent shell, no black blob, pins right size, silkscreen font good and what I would expect for pokemon, test pads in right place). Though at the same time I don't like the dirt on the third pin from right and the dirt ascending into the cart makes me wonder if it went for a swim in a pond/muddy puddle at some point. The dirt is nothing I would expect to see even in the worst bottom of a kid's backpack conditions. If it has then something could have shorted or corroded and that is also prime high power draw territory.

No punched numbers in the label is odd though -- they can be really subtle and only visible in the right light but they should be there. On the other hand if it did go for a swim then it could be someone's attempt at making it look presentable.

The white stuff on the MX chip (which is the save chip) has my concerned as well. Could just be the angle/light and silkscreen underneath but if it is a nice bit of conductive goop.

You can give it a clean if you want and if you have some IPA or contact cleaner (don't use the automotive flavour) then a squirt or three of that could help, however that is also a fairly weak problem sorter for this sort of thing and more the sort of thing you spend a while with a soldering iron to sort (assuming a component itself has not lost the plot).

 

[Kwyjor]

The flickering LED could be a sign of a dirty power switch. This seems to be a common problem with old GBA units (including the GBA SP). I could be mistaken, but there is no real solution except to open it up, de-solder the exterior component of the power switch, and clean it out with some isopropyl alcohol. This has nothing to do with saving, but perhaps the shutoffs you have been observing are just a coincidence.

Does anything happen if you try wiggling the power switch while the unit is switched on? What if you try flicking the back of the case near where the power switch is located?

 

[cDOTwav]

That actually looks legit (no resoldered chip, decent shell, no black blob, pins right size, silkscreen font good and what I would expect for pokemon, test pads in right place). Though at the same time I don't like the dirt on the third pin from right and the dirt ascending into the cart makes me wonder if it went for a swim in a pond/muddy puddle at some point. The dirt is nothing I would expect to see even in the worst bottom of a kid's backpack conditions. If it has then something could have shorted or corroded and that is also prime high power draw territory.

No punched numbers in the label is odd though -- they can be really subtle and only visible in the right light but they should be there. On the other hand if it did go for a swim then it could be someone's attempt at making it look presentable.

The white stuff on the MX chip (which is the save chip) has my concerned as well. Could just be the angle/light and silkscreen underneath but if it is a nice bit of conductive goop.

You can give it a clean if you want and if you have some IPA or contact cleaner (don't use the automotive flavour) then a squirt or three of that could help, however that is also a fairly weak problem sorter for this sort of thing and more the sort of thing you spend a while with a soldering iron to sort (assuming a component itself has not lost the plot).

I can try that and see if that does anything, but as I stated in my original post this happened to the Pokemon Emerald game I bought, which is pretty much free from dirt and grime. Looking at the label of Sapphire I can actually see some lettering imprinted if that's what you mean.