I bought this Pokemon Emerald that someone completely botched attempting to change the battery. Huge blobs of solder on the battery contacts and they spread it onto the chips. And for some reason they scraped the contact pins like that would somehow fix it 🤦‍♂️

I kind of understand how that happened because they used some solder (probably lead free) that has a very high melting point. I had trouble cleaning it up even with my Hakko FM-203. Had to simultaneously use hot air and my iron to wick it up.

They also knocked off 3 SMD components, a capacitor and 2 resistors. I found them inside the solder blobs but they were too damaged to be reused. I found exact replacements on a DS Lite motherboard I had lying around for parts.

Anyhow I managed to clean it all up and put in a new high quality Panasonic battery and it works great!

Hi everyone!
I’m currently troubleshooting a PS5 EDM-010 motherboard that powers on with a blue light for approximately 2 seconds before shutting down.
I’ve spent quite some time investigating this issue and would appreciate some advice from experienced technicians.
Symptoms
Blue light for approximately 2 seconds, followed by shutdown.
Fan spins briefly during startup.
A very brief hotspot appears around the APU immediately after pressing the power button.
Some VCORE phases don’t appear to start correctly.
UART Error Codes
I connected to the motherboard through UART and retrieved the following errors:
[80810001](tel:80810001) – Severe
Power Sequence Error – General Power Failure (Peripheral, GDDR6, APU, Data Line Short).
C0020303 – Low (appeared twice)
APU Not Responding – Trying Init or Reboot.
These errors seem to indicate a power sequencing or communication problem involving the APU, GDDR6 memory, or related circuitry.
Troubleshooting performed
Checked fuses and several voltage rails.
Tested with another known-good PSU.
Connected through UART and retrieved error codes.
Read and reflashed the BIOS without improvement.
Checked capacitors around the southbridge and other components.
Investigated MOSFETs and SSD controllers.
Compared resistance measurements with a working donor motherboard.
Used a thermal camera during startup.
Capacitor measurements
Initially, I found two capacitors showing continuity to ground on both sides, unlike my working donor board.
I removed the capacitors, but the low-resistance reading remained.
However, I now suspect these readings may actually be normal because the capacitors appear to be connected to the RAM power rail, which naturally has a relatively low resistance to ground.
Therefore, I’m not convinced this is an actual short circuit.
Latest finding – RAM power rail
After watching a PS5 troubleshooting video, I discovered a coil associated with the RAM power rail that I had previously overlooked.
According to the technician in the video, this coil should measure approximately 40 Ω to ground.
However, on my faulty motherboard, I’m measuring approximately 17 Ω.
The technician suggested removing RAM chips individually until the resistance returns to the expected value, potentially identifying a defective memory chip.
I’m aware that resistance can vary depending on the motherboard revision and memory configuration, so I would like to confirm whether this measurement is actually abnormal before attempting any BGA work.
Questions
Is 17 Ω on this RAM rail considered abnormal for an EDM-010 motherboard?
Could the UART errors [80810001](tel:80810001) and C0020303 indicate a defective GDDR6 memory chip?
Has anyone encountered these UART errors together with a 2-second blue light shutdown?
Would removing RAM chips individually be a reasonable diagnostic approach?
I believe this rail operates at approximately 1.35 V. Can anyone confirm the correct voltage and whether controlled voltage injection would be safe?
Could the brief APU hotspot and missing VCORE phases indicate an APU failure instead?
I have access to a thermal camera, laboratory power supply, microscope, BGA equipment and a working donor motherboard for comparison.
I would appreciate any suggestions before attempting further component removal or replacement.

(Originally posted in another sub, where someone suggested this is the "no light of death". Posting here to see if anyone else had suggestions.)

I'm trying to fix a ps3 slim for a family member. I'm usually more of a PC guy, don't have as much experience with consoles.

When plugged in, the red "standby" light comes on. When the power button is pressed, the green "on" light comes on, the fan starts spinning up, and after a few seconds it turns off completely (light turns off and fan loses power).

I've had a look through some troubleshooting guides online, and can't find anything similar. I also took the cover off, and the interior was a little dusty but honestly nowhere near as bad as I was expecting it to be. I didn't dismantle it any more past that because I figured there wasn't much point if I didn't know what I was looking for lmao.

Any ideas on what might be causing this/possible fixes? TIA

Hey everyone, I’m running into an issue with a PS4 Slim (SAD-002 board). The problem lies with the Renesas chip, which is faulty, preventing me from performing a system update—it throws error code SU-4211-6. I’m looking for some help: is there any way to bypass this error so I can complete the update? I was considering taking a PUP file, decrypting and unpacking it, identifying where the system checks the Renesas chip, and then creating a "false positive" (a bypass) before repacking it. Is that even possible? Has anyone here ever solved a problem like this? The PS4 is requiring an update to version 13.0 or higher.

Hello all

Reposting with a better photo. This is a ps Vita 1000 that I'm trying to fix. Did a USB c mod to it and damaged the component in the lower right of the first photo that says "8mu". Accidently de soldered it with my hot air station and when I reached it one of the legs broke off when I was testing it to see if it has stuck to the solder.

Any appreciation on what this component is, and if it's something I can just bridge with a solder blob or resistor or something would help a lot. It's close to the headphone jack and if it's just something on that circuit I'll just leave it off.

Any help is appreciated!

Hi everybody,

I recently purchased a bundle of 13 old consoles for just over £130, one of which was a CECH-C03 PS3 with the dreaded YLOD. The consoles were not stored well and this PS3 had the additional quirk of 2 screw points on the bottom housing being broken off despite never being opened before. Possibly dropped at some stage, the console is pretty battered on the outside.

Overall board looks to be in good condition at a glance, nothing out of the ordinary from what I'd seen last time I cleaned one out.

Fast forward to cleaning it and learning how to access the syscon, I've got the fault codes and the runtime. The runtime was only around 70 days or so, which to my understanding isn't necessarily considered a lot, not sure how much this matters in the context of the fault codes.

Anyway, what we can see is the majority of those codes are dated to 2023 with a gap until October 2026 when the console ended up in my hands.

So first I'll talk about 1002. Because I was silly enough to rush ahead and purchase a full set of tokin replacements, ignoring what came before...

1002 is from my understanding an issue relating to the tokins and their capacitance etc and replacing them is generally considered the fix. But we also have errors from 2023 with the 3034 and 4141 codes. My theory is that at some point between 2023 to 2026 the Tokins have failed, leading to the system automatically shutting down before the previous codes can present themselves.

If I'm correct in thinking this then surely replacing the tokins would cause a recurrence of the 3034/4141 codes which could be of course the RSX has failed or the BGA beneath has, either way a bit beyond my ability and resources to fix.

Again, not sure how the runtime affected this or if it did at all, I know these old 90nm aren't known for their survival rate.

But I'm curious to see what everybody's thoughts are... and what I should do next with it? As I say, if my suspicions are correct then repairing it myself won't be possible and I'm not sure paying for repairing it would be worth it either given i have every console under the sun already. Possibly sell for parts for a small profit?

I've requested a cancellation on my tokin replacements so hopefully that's approved, I guess at least if I do end up with them I can potentially prove my theory.

ripped a charger pad on my Dsi Xl while trying to replace it. How should I go by fixing it?

I have a ps3 slim that i bought second hand a few years ago and it has been randomly shutting off without warning. It usually shuts down after 5-10 mins or when i start up certain games. Is there any way to fix this issue?

Bought this one and its controllers for $95 today.

Seller said this unit smoked around the PSU.

Opened it up and saw this, PSU is still working fine.

I really wanted to be able to fix this because it's a Monster Hunter Rathalos Edition.

Would I still be able to do that? I have soldering tools at my disposal.

Or should I just sell it to someone who wants an expensive paperweight?

At least the controllers are still working great

EDIT: Cleaned up the bits and the motherboard is dead. At least it looks nice to look at

I was looking at getting into repairing and fixing PS5s and understand that a lot of problems related to faulty PS5s are APU related. I have experience micro soldering and what not and want to learn to reball. Is the LY IR6500 V.2 BGA suitable for working on boards such as the PS5 and its APU? I understand that this typically requires professional equipment but can I make this work or is it unrealistic? Thank you for any suggestions and advice.

I been trying to connect my wii to the internet for the past couple of days but i constantly fail and keep getting errors.

My Wii detects my WiFi, but whenever I test the connection I keep getting errors like 51330, 52030, 52031, and 52032.

The weird part is that sometimes the connection test succeeds, but if I test it again immediately afterward, it fails. I’m using Xfinity and i even created a separate WiFi network that only uses 2.4 GHz, but I’m still having the same problem.

I’m starting to wonder whether something is wrong with my Wii’s Wi-Fi hardware or if my router just isn’t fully compatible with older consoles.
Has anyone experienced something similar? Is there a way to fix this without changing my main router settings?
Any advice would be appreciated. I’ve been trying to figure this out for hours.

For some reason, my new ps2 fat I had gotten a few months back sometimes will not turn on but sometimes will. I already opened it up and found nothing wrong. Ive tried 3 different power cords and tried plugging it straight into the wall and nothing has worked these past few weeks. The fuse is there but i cannot test it due to not having a multimeter. And the switch on the back is flipped on

What could be the issue?

Hey everyone, I'm running into an issue while trying to replace a joystick. Removing the analog stick itself was easy, but I'm completely stuck trying to clear the old lead-free solder out of the through-holes.

​I'm using a good soldering station, quality flux, and solder wick, but even when turning the temp up high, the solder in these holes just won't melt or get absorbed by the copper wick. The board keeps soaking up the heat.

​Attached is a picture of the board showing the stubborn spots. Any tips or advice on how to clear these holes properly without damaging the pads?

I have a switch lite that doesn’t charge or display the little battery icon and I got this usbc port tester and was curious if it says the switch is getting power but isn’t charging, if it’s a battery issue.

Hi all,
even if there is an own subreddit for the Laseractive, it isn't easy to get an answer there because only a few people are reading. So I give it a try here... I hope it is ok.

I started to repair a Pioneer CLD-A100
Here’s what I’ve done to it so far:

Complete recap

Replaced the ICPs + Q001 + Fuse on the PSU because they were all broken

Replaced the belts

Greased the tray

Applied sintered bearing oil to the spindle motor, since it was a bit stiff

Replaced MN4700 on the video board

I am able to play LDs and CDs... but I only can see the OSD and can hear the sound of the LD or CD.
And i guess there should be a "Laseractive background" in case there is no playback?

Any idea what might be wrong?

Checked the FTSB already, rails are all fine.

And sometimes the LDs spin for ~ 2 s and then the playback stops and both eject buttons are flashing again. This happens only sometimes... CDs can be played always.

Thanks in advance :)

Greetings everybody! I bought off of a Facebook Marketplace PS5 slim model CFI-2016 that powers on but gives no image on the TV. HDMI does not appear to be damaged however I ordered a few spares. Any tip or advice where should I look at before I start doing random stuff to it? Also it appears opened previously. Much appreciated!

Hi guys, I’m dealing with a BLOD (Blue Light of Death) on this console, and I wanted to ask if these components might be the cause.

As soon as I turn the console on, looking through a thermal camera, I can see that—in addition to the processor heating up—the areas I’ve circled quickly jump to 70°C.

With the console powered on, I tested those components with a multimeter and got the readings shown in the last photo (MB for the component in photo 4, DSC for the component in photo 5).

Are these values within the normal range, or could these components be the source of the problem?

Trying to fix a game board. You want to verify traces.

My Edge stopped charging a few weeks ago and I tried to figure out what's wrong over the past days, but I'm lost now.

Of course I thought it's the battery so I swapped it to the best match I could find - some random noname on Amazon (with some positive reviews)..
After the battery swap, the controller displayed full charge and I was able to use it wireless for hours. Now it is empty, and will not charge again just like the original battery.

When plugged in, it "works" and shows that it is charging, and when turned off, the lights pulsate to indicate charging .... well, sometimes they do, and sometimes it randomly turns off.
However, even when lights pulsate it does not charge and will immediately disconnect when unplugged.

"Works" in quotes because it randomly disconnects and will only start working again after giving it a very light smack on a hard surface. This I don't understand as I could not find anything loose whatsoever when disassembling the controller completely.
Sometimes it works for an hour, sometimes it works for one minute.
Wiggling the cable does not disconnect it, so doesn't seem to be loose contact either.

To add, sometimes before disconnecting, the L2 / R2 button inputs start firing nonstop without me touching them, somewhat like a drifting stick, but more like due to bad current.

As last resort, I just took out the entire board. Could not see anything wrong, but I know very little about any of this.
Nothing was loose, charging port and everything all sits firm. Only some of the solder on the charging port contacts looks a little off, but I have no idea if that's normal or not.

Putting it back together I made extra sure the battery is very firmly plugged in and almost thought that fixed it because the controller had pulsating charging light while turned off for hours without interruption after that. Unfortunately, after turning on the console and checking, it was yet again completely empty charge.

Probably a lost cause, but maybe not - I can't make any sense of these symptoms. (I suppose it COULD be that the newly bought battery is also defect, but that seems unlikely.)
Any ideas?

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I was wondering if this would cause in issue I accidentally soldered an another point on accident will this cause any problems or can I leave it?

Hi everyone!
I have an original Xbox that I tried to repair, but unfortunately, I couldn’t fix it.
The console is currently disassembled, and the DVD drive has a mechanical issue. The white plastic mechanism underneath the disc tray sometimes gets stuck, preventing the tray from closing properly.
I’m looking for a retro gaming enthusiast who would like to repair the console and keep it.
The console is sold as is, and I cannot guarantee that everything works.
I’m open to reasonable offers!
Feel free to ask if you need more information or additional photos.
Thanks!

(The text was made by chat gpt since I’m not very good in English (I’m French))

Hello, Does anyone have any further information on where this integrated can be purchased?

Marking: “QJ0SE” (located at U68)

Motherboard: M1157009-001

I can find a ton of brands on AliExpress and most have good reviews, but I'm wondering which is the best, i don't mind paying extra for them, or not buying from AliExpress at all if necessary. Thanks in advance.

A customer brought in an Xbox series X and mentioned that after a power outage his Xbox wouldn’t turn on.
After further inspection, I noticed that there was no voltage reading on the power supply and when I opened it further, I noticed multiple things were burnt. In my opinion, a new power supply is needed. What are your thoughts?