Hardware GBA SP Replacement Shoulder Button Hardware

Hanafuda

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
4,444
Trophies
2
XP
6,845
Country
United States
Before you go ordering those .... did you try cleaning the existing switches with some contact cleaner??? I have not yet seen a GBA shoulder button microswitch that couldn't be brought back to life.
 

IngrownTesticle

Member
OP
Newcomer
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
18
Trophies
0
XP
134
Country
United States
@Hanafuda What would i be cleaning with the contact cleaner? the switch is enclosed with limited access to anything other than the back side of the board. I heated up the solder on that switch to try and strengthen the connection, it still didn't work. the system in question looks like it had something spilled on it at some point.
 

Hanafuda

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
4,444
Trophies
2
XP
6,845
Country
United States
@Hanafuda What would i be cleaning with the contact cleaner? the switch is enclosed with limited access to anything other than the back side of the board. I heated up the solder on that switch to try and strengthen the connection, it still didn't work. the system in question looks like it had something spilled on it at some point.


I've always had success by just spraying the contact cleaner directly onto the plunger (the little button) and then working the switch with a toothpick or something over and over while the cleaner is still wet (hasn't evaporated yet). That stuff penetrates pretty well and if its bubbling and crackling then it's working at cleaning something out of there.

I'm not saying you're wrong about the switch ... it's possible for it to fail. But I've done this to GBA's, old SNES controllers, you name it. Contact cleaner also saved me from mistakenly throwing away my old EFA Linker cart ... wouldn't allow anything new to be written to it until I cleaned the USB cable contact area, then it worked like new again.

Good luck. Worse thing that can happen is you end up ordering the switches anyway, plus you'll have a can of contact cleaner. Useful stuff and one can goes a loooong way. Last time I bought some it was about $8 at Radio Shack.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

Recent Content

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2: Sorry for accidentally bending over