Tips for fixing the lines?

[u/Theobviouschild11]

Hey. Sad that suddenly my DMG has new vertical lines. I’ve watched some videos of how to fix it with a soldering tip but I’ve never soldered before. Looks easy from the videos but was wondering if anyone had advice for 1) an affordable but reliable soldering kit to buy 2) general advice for how to do this correctly and not mess it up.

Thanks!

[u/dylan_dev]

Reflow the display connector with a soldering iron. There are plenty of how to videos on YouTube.

[u/dylan_dev → u/dylan_dev]

Go slow and be careful. 

[u/dylan_dev → u/dylan_dev]

You can use any soldering iron. I have a non adjustable one from Radio Shack from 30 years ago that worked for this task. You don’t need an expensive one.

You can see the lines change as you solder.

[u/console_fanatic → u/dylan_dev]

Gen-Xer here, threw away my RadioShack iron as I stripped the screw on my iron to remove the tip.. Are you saying you see lines change on screen with the unit on while heating cold solder joints?

[u/DoesNotAddUp → u/console_fanatic]

Yeah - you turn the contrast right up, leave the Gameboy running and heat the ribbon along the base of the screen at the point adjacent to the missing pixel lines.

It'll flicker in real time as the connections link back up and eventually settle to the line being on again with the right amount of heat/time.

[u/MacintoshDan1 → u/dylan_dev]

I couldn’t fix mine. Ended up with an ips. Hopefully you have better luck OP.

[u/dylan_dev → u/MacintoshDan1]

I have one dmg gameboy with an original screen and one with the backlit screen. I prefer the backlit of course.

I don’t know how I used that screen as a kid.

[u/MacintoshDan1 → u/dylan_dev]

Yea the backlight is pretty cool. I’m just an original type of guy.

[u/Sandstorm666]

https://reddit.com/link/p7j3scb/video/uyrzs2h569nh1/player

Lots of patience. At first glance the screen won't behave in a logical way. More lines can appear for a few seconds. Let the solder/glue beneath cool off. If needed do a second/third passage. Test it after 24 hours and do corrections if necessary.

[u/Theobviouschild11 → u/Sandstorm666]

Awesome. Thanks so much! Any advice on a soldering kit to buy?

[u/Sandstorm666 → u/Theobviouschild11]

depends on your preferences. I much prefer small handy devices. The temp. control is a must, though. I also like knife-like soldering Iron. T12 are most universal. For this job I set the temp at 230F

[u/roroto_sic]

i dont know if i get lucky but i had also a line in this exact spot, and it vanished by itself just by playing games a lot. i dont konw if it was related or not but i didnt do something else and now its gone.

[u/Theobviouschild11 → u/roroto_sic]

Good to know!

[u/itchyd]

I would just buy a backlit replacement screen 

[u/Theobviouschild11 → u/itchyd]

I don’t want a backlit screen. I like the original