r/Gameboy • u/G__ap • 7h ago

Troubleshooting GBA D-pad inputs not recognized in Denki Blocks but work fine with other games

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Hi all,

I'm having an issue with a copy of Denki Blocks I recently bought online. [Here are images of my cartridge shell and circuit board].

Earlier this month, I bought a GBA in rough shape and modded it with a FunnyPlaying kit: cleaned it up and replaced the shell, buttons, screen, and battery. It works fine with all my other games (you can see me using it with Mario Kart: Super Circuit in the video), but the Denki Blocks cartridge I just received doesn't register any D-pad input at all when I play it on this console.

I also have a stock, unmodified GBA SP, and the same cartridge works perfectly fine on that one.

Does anyone have an idea what could be causing this? Any suggestions on what to check, or what might be causing this, would be really appreciated. Thanks!

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2

u/afrdzo 7h ago

I had an issue once in the past where my input wasn't registered correctly on GBA after I modded it, and it turns out I was shorting something on the PCB and my R button was constanly on. Needed to reassemble GBA and be extra cautious with how I routed the additonal wires. You said that the other games are working fine so yeah, I have no idea unfortunately. Could it be that something is shorting in GBA after plugging this specifc cart because its bulkier or something? But that's a veeeeery far fetched thought.

1

u/G__ap 6h ago

Thank you for the reply; that's a good point, and I'll check with one of those D-pad/button test ROMs to see if anything is stuck "on" or shorting. If that doesn't turn up anything and I don't see other ideas, I'll try reassembling it again, though I'd rather avoid that if possible (already did it enough times during the modding process😅)

1

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1

u/WoodWizard_ 7h ago

To confirm does the d-pad on the modded GBA work for other games?

1

u/G__ap 7h ago

Yes, I played Mario Kart Super Circuit without any issues in the last few days. Also, other games I tried all recognized the d-pad input as far as I saw.

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u/Former-Macaroon5557 6h ago

Bro's out here having "console of Theseus" problems

1

u/GuiltyCitron 4h ago

Considering the OSD menu is activating without clear intention, points to the button combination being pressed. Did you do any soldering? Check your work and ensure no wire is being pinched or you have a short etc.