GBA SP sound not working

[supergamer368]

I have a GBA SP. Once I noticed the sound no longer works. I cleaned it with alcohol and the sound worked for about 3 plays. Then it cut off again. Any ideas??

 

[Drud1995]

Make sure the speaker pins are making contact with the circuit board. If not, try bending the speaker pins up more to make contact. If that still doesn't work, buy a new speaker for a $1 or 2 on eBay.

 

[supergamer368]

It doesn't help. I raised those pins high. Any other suggestions (other than cleaning, which i tried)???

 

[Drud1995]

Do you know if the speaker actually works then? Take a 9V battery or something and touch the pins to it for just a split second and see if there is any noise or movement within the speaker. If so, it is fine, if not, it's probably dead. If that fails, check the circuit board for shorted connections. If there was a short on the board, you might be able to solder wires from the speaker to the correct pins from the audio chip.

This image should help if that's what you want to do: https://i.imgur.com/i929k.jpg

You could also use a multimeter to check if there resistance hits OL when connected to the speaker, meaning the speaker is shorted and dead. You could also check the connection with the GBA SP on and the multimeter connected to the leads that the speaker makes contact with, while checking for a voltage on the multimeter.

 

[supergamer368]

Nothing is working, I charged the console, I put the speaker to a multimeter, i put it to a battery (the speaker does work, proven by both) i i don't want to solder. Any other ideas?

 

[Deleted User]

ive seen replacement speakers for the gba sp on ebay for around $5, maybe buy one of those?

 

[supergamer368]

I don't see the point, the speaker is not at fault. There's something wrong on the main board, but I can't figure it out. and no amount of rubbing alcohol is going to fix that. I think.

 

[Todderbert]

You mentioned cleaning it with alcohol and it worked for abit, try a fine flexible emery board, or very fine sand paper and clean the terminals every so slightly using that method. I've brought games back form the dead doing that. using like a 800-1000grit wet/dry sandpaper board.

 

[supergamer368]

I'm sorry but i'm stupid what do you mean by terminals? Those little gold colored spots where the speaker touches the motherboard?
EDIT: the speaker is confirmed working, quiet "beep" sound comes out of it, but no game sound.

 

[Todderbert]

I'm sorry but i'm stupid what do you mean by terminals? Those little gold colored spots where the speaker touches the motherboard?
EDIT: the speaker is confirmed working, quiet "beep" sound comes out of it, but no game sound.

Check your volume slider, make sure it looks clean. Though I have not had a SP volume slider go bad before.

Yes the little gold colored spots where the speaker touches the motherboard. Also sand the terminals on the speaker. If that fails, get a new speaker, I don't think your MB is bad. Speakers always go bad.

 

[NeMesiS]

I've come across a few GBP, GBC & GBA's where either the sound wouldn't work or wouldn't turn on.
I managed to repair most of them by re-soldering the 4 pins on both switch's...
I really don't think there's much that could actually go wrong with the speaker.

 

[driverdis]

Bit of a necrobump here but I wanted to share that putting a thin layer of solder on the two pads for the speaker worked for me.

The speaker contacts wear out the pads on the board over time and cause them not to make contact well. Solder will fill in that black hole it makes on the pads and should be good to go a while.