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[GB] Wario Land failing to load

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Got a copy of Wario Land for my GameBoy at the weekend and when trying to load it gets stuck at a blank white screen after the initial Nintendo logo.

I've attempted cleaning the pins with isopropyl alcohol and using an eraser. Iv'e also tried opening up the cart and re-flowing the pins. Admittedly i never added new solder (ran out of flux).

Checked all joints under a magnifying glass and can't see any evidence of broken traces or bad joints.

Has anyone had any experience of this kind of behaviour and resolved it?

I haven't tested the battery, multi meter was in the car, but ive not known dead batteries to cause this kind of behaviour.

Thanks.
 
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Got a copy of Wario Land for my GameBoy at the weekend and when trying to load it gets stuck at a blank white screen after the initial Nintendo logo.

I've attempted cleaning the pins with isopropyl alcohol and using an eraser. Iv'e also tried opening up the cart and re-flowing the pins. Admittedly i never added new solder (ran out of flux).

Checked all joints under a magnifying glass and can't see any evidence of broken traces or bad joints.

Has anyone had any experience of this kind of behaviour and resolved it?

I haven't tested the battery, multi meter was in the car, but ive not known dead batteries to cause this kind of behaviour.

Thanks.
Have you cleaned the system contacts?
 
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Didn't think about the system itself. No i haven't but i have tested it on a GBC and pocket and it behaves the same.

Can't hurt to give them a clean either way though.
 
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Didn't think about the system itself. No i haven't but i have tested it on a GBC and pocket and it behaves the same.

Can't hurt to give them a clean either way though.
True. Can you post pictures of the game PCB, both sides?

Admittedly i never added new solder (ran out of flux).
It might be good to get yourself some rosin flux for soldering work in future.
 
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Yup, ill post some when i get in from work.

It might be good to get yourself some rosin flux for soldering work in future.

Yea i usually have some in. Forgot to replace it when i last ran out.

Photo's added. As i said can't see anything obvious, however all i did was try and reflow the existing solder. When i get my hands on some more flux ill try adding some more solder.

kOne.JPG
kThree.JPG
kTwo.JPG
 
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Nothing is standing out to me either. Maybe it is just the battery. That date code says Jan 94, so it's definitely due for replacement. That game is worth the effort to fix.
 
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Worst case here is someone played with a neodymium magnet and wiped the cart. Also it's very difficult to solder those small batteries in, I learned the hard way by cooking a couple and went with friction fit in the end on a Zelda Minish Cap cart. Just use whatever material you can fit inside the cart to hold the battery in place and keep contact with the probes. If it still won't load with a fresh battery my guess is a kid killed it with a magnet.
 
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I do have spare batteries left over from replacing some N64 carts, i think they are the same will check.

I hope someone hasn't killed it with a magnet. I assume legit carts can't be re-flashed?
 
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I do have spare batteries left over from replacing some N64 carts, i think they are the same will check.
N64 carts take CR2032 or CR2025 type batteries. GB/GBC/GBA carts all used CR1616 types because the 2032's are too large to fit. CR1616's are dead cheap.
Or
And the better deal;

I hope someone hasn't killed it with a magnet. I assume legit carts can't be re-flashed?
You can't kill carts with magnets, oobymach is either trolling or woefully misinformed.
 
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Thanks for the info (and showing UK results ;) ) , ill order some when i get Flux.

You can't kill carts with magnets, oobymach is either trolling or woefully misinformed.

I suppose it would only affect magnetic media? Which the carts aren't. If so that means its more likely mechanical failure external to the chips, which is repairable.
 
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You can't kill carts with magnets, oobymach is either trolling or woefully misinformed.
I take it you've never tried. Neodymium magnets of sufficient gauss can wipe any cart, especially gameboy carts which are super thin to begin with. I've done it to similar hardware with same chips, you should give it a try with an original gameboy game you don't care about with the magnet you find in your hard drive. Let me know your results after giving it several passes over the entire back and front of the cart. I'll wait.
 
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I take it you've never tried. Neodymium magnets of sufficient gauss can wipe any cart, especially gameboy carts which are super thin to begin with. I've done it to similar hardware with same chips, you should give it a try with an original gameboy game you don't care about with the magnet you find in your hard drive. Let me know your results after giving it several passes over the entire back and front of the cart. I'll wait.
That is not how the laws of physics work. You can not make non-ferrous alloys react to a magnetic field now matter how strong it is. Game carts do not contain ferrous alloys, nor any metals that will react with a magnetic field strong enough to cause damage. Welcome to my ignore list.
 
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That is not how the laws of physics work. You can not make non-ferrous alloys react to a magnetic field not matter how strong it is. Game carts do not contain ferrous alloys, nor any metals that will react with a magnetic field strong enough to cause damage. Welcome to my ignore list.
Just saying I've not only wiped a cart I turned a router into not a router so ignore me if you will I laugh in your face at your ignorance of things you've not tested yourself. You've not only not tried this you're telling someone who has that it's impossible. Go ahead and ignore the truth but it will not make it any less true.
 
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Yea lets not nose dive this thread into an argument about who's right over magnet damage.

Thanks for the input on trying to resolve my cartridge problems.
 
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Yup, ill post some when i get in from work.



Yea i usually have some in. Forgot to replace it when i last ran out.

Photo's added. As i said can't see anything obvious, however all i did was try and reflow the existing solder. When i get my hands on some more flux ill try adding some more solder.

View attachment 145181
View attachment 145183
View attachment 145182

I've had the same problem with the cartridge of pokemon silver and gold for the Gbc, and the solution that worked for me was to resolder all pin of the Ics. The Pcb is so thin that after years of inserition some solder joints had cracked and sometime the games didn't load. The accused joints wasn't visible whit the naked eye...

At least for the pokemon cartridge if the battery is dead the save game don't persist and the internal clock will be resetted any time the game is powered off, i don't know if with Wario it's different.

It was a pain to do, but now they work whitout any hiccups.

Hope that you can manage to repair it.
 
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Well sadly its still kaput. Re-soldered everything and still the same. My soldering is not the neatest but it is serviceable with no shorts or anything like that.

May just have to accept its dead.

Thanks for the advise anyway
 
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