A couple months back, when I placed an order for my DS flash card, I couldn’t resist checking out what other goodies the site had (I was paying for shipping anyway, after all). And then I discovered… GBA shells. I bought my GBA used, so it was pretty beat up.

So what was another $5 to have a new[ish] system, after all?

oohhh, shiny.

Um, I assure you these are, in fact, two different colors. See?

I prepared my desk, dumped out the plastic bag of new hardware, removed the battery to my old GBA, and then realized… I needed a tri-wing screwdriver.

A what? Apparently Nintendo products use this funky little screw that doesn’t really work well with your standard screwdrivers. But good ol’ Amazon, I was able to pick a used one up for a penny (well, plus $5 shipping) and then had to sit back patiently and wait for it. (Okay so my “new” GBA is costing me $10.) And by the time I received it, and remembered to bring it home from the office, well, I don’t remember now when I started this project.

But now it’s here! Not only am I now the owner of a bizarre tri-wing screwdriver, it’s also magnetic. You can’t not love a magnetic screwdriver.

See?

Ergo, I begin my task. Painfully removed the dusty, stripped screws to reveal… my goldmine. A miniature logic board.

This is what I’ve been waiting for, kids. Now the real fun begins.

These pieces are so tiny. Like, really tiny. Even with my tiny, feminine fingers, I have difficulty handling the hardware. Especially this.

Not only is the screen ribbon tiny, it’s also positioned in a really awkward place on the logic board… especially considering I can’t move it that far away from the GBA body. Somehow, I detach it without breaking anything (I think). Now my desk is full of electronic goodness, tiny screws and buttons and… no new hinge. What? I’ve inserted the old screen into the new display, and am attempting to close it, when it occurs to me that there’s nothing there to spring. I have no hinge.

Okay fine, I’ll use the old one. Which seems like a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself, but there is one minor issue—it’s not coming out. I can’t pry it out, and it doesn’t want to pop out if I push from the inside, either. So I call upon my trusty old friend.

(Oh, hey, happy Independence Day!)

Lo and behold, I stumble upon this tutorial. Wow! If I had found this months ago, even hours ago, perhaps this task would have made more sense. Regardless, I do learn one thing—I have been attempting hinge removal properly, but they’re a pain and need some extra force. At least I know I won’t break it (I think).

After much struggle, they finally pop out. The hinge comes with a little plastic cap, so you’re not staring at a screw all the time. In my attempt to fit the old hinge into the new system, with new cap applied, it gets stuck. I forcefully remove it. Hinge comes out, cap flies off, is now lost somewhere on my floor. Search for five minutes to no avail. You know what? It’s just a hinge cap. I don’t care that much; I’ll use the old one. Even if I stripped part of it and it won’t properly connect to the hinge screw. Whatever. In time, after breaking out the hammer to get the bugger in, our new GBA has a hinge.

(Is that krazy glue? Perhaps.)

The rest is easy. Reattach the screen, put new buttons in place, screw the logic board in. Close it all up. It turns on (victory!), but I have no sound. Open it up, unscrew the logic board, clean around the speaker. Reseal. Now we have victory.

For $10, I have a shiny system and a prideful sense of completion. And one less thing cluttering my desk. But you know I’m keeping those old buttons. Hey, you never know when I’ll need spare A/B buttons and a D-pad. Right?

Sunday, 04 July 2010   ♦   electronics