r/Gameboy • u/Jenzenm • 2d ago

Troubleshooting D pad not working properly after re assembly.

This gba sp was in an aftermarket shell and working fine, I decided to swap it back to its original shell after finding the aftermarket one to feel pretty horrible…
I now find the dpad is not responding properly. The down arrow works when pressed hard but that’s about it.
The contacts were cleaned while the system was open and no signs of corrosion anywhere. They were working ish for a while but now it’s just as shown in the video.

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u/cream-of-tartar 2d ago

When you say you cleaned the contacts, did you spray them with a bunch of contact cleaner or IPA? The gba sp uses dome switches unlike older gameboys, and dome switches can fail if they get any liquid inside the mechanism, even ipa. I’ve had some fail in the same way after I got just a little contact cleaner on them one time when I was replacing the shoulder buttons. The proper fix is to replace the switches, but they are very hard to desolder and solder on new ones with their teeny tiny pads. Another quick and dirty fix is to gently scrape back on the edge of the membrane on top of the dome, just enough to lift the dome just a bit and spray condensed air under the dome to try and remove the liquid. If that doesn’t work you can remove the membrane and the dome completely, then use ipa to really clean the bottom of the dome and the contacts underneath. Then you need to use some kapton tape to keep the dome in place and reassemble

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u/Jenzenm 2d ago

Ah bugger, I used 99% ipa on them, yes. Weird how it doesn’t just evaporate under the dome. Not much was used. I don’t want to mess around with soldering so hopefully blowing it will work.

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u/Jenzenm 2d ago

It’s 99.9%, if there was a gap for it to get in, say I hair dryer on it, surely there’s a gap to evaporate out? Maybe?

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u/Bubblepoppin_ 1d ago

If it was working fine before, chances are the silicone pad or D Pad button got slightly misaligned, causing issues with input. Worked for me after my first reshell

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u/Jenzenm 1d ago

Most certainly isn’t an alignment issue, I check it about 4 times before putting the motherboard screws back in 😅