Gameboy pocket having random resetting issues

[Locke141]

I bought a 108 in 1 gameboy game cart for a whole $8.26 shipped. Unfortunately my gameboy pocket seems to be having issues. It plays for a few seconds to a minute the resets. Might this be do to some old caps in need of replacement?

I was planing on doing a back light install so am not agents opening it up.

[pbj]

Have you experienced the same problem with another cartridge?

[Locke141]

Have you experienced the same problem with another cartridge?

Yes, I went back to one of my old cards to test, with the same results.

[lilshawn]

I bought a 108 in 1 gameboy game cart

i'm gonna stop you right there.

any cartridge not sanctioned by the manufacturer for use in their system is not guaranteed to work at all. period. TBH, most of these bootleg carts have something that doesn't work, be it a game...saves...the cartridge itself...

who knows, you could have a bootleg of a bootleg of a clone of a bootleg of a clone. 

that said if it does it with other game packs you might need to just clean the contacts for the cart in the system. it's the easiest thing to do and fixes 90% of issues.

[Vigo]

Gotta ask - are the batteries fresh? My Gameboy was doing that, was just crappy batteries that couldn't hold enough voltage for a long period of time.

[Titchgamer]

My first suggestion would be to change the batteries and clean the battery contacts if req’d.

After that you going to be looking for caps etc I think.

[Locke141]

With original games same relates.

I tested the batteries and but will try with a completely different pair. If that doesn't work I'll clean contacts. I also ordered a back light kit off Aliexpress as the sight that came recommend was out of stack. If cleaning the cart slot and battery terminals don't help I'll try the caps.

I'll keep you all posted.

[Titchgamer]

Good luck dude.

[opt2not]

Yeah I would first try cleaning the battery contacts.  After that, I'd check out some of the solder joints along the power line on the PCB and see if there is any cold joints.   THEN, I'd go with replacing the caps with some high quality ones.

You can find a multitude of schematics on the gameboy hardware here:
http://www.devrs.com/gb/files/hardware.html

Here's the power schematic, it would be a good idea to check your voltages coming out of here, but you might want to check some of the components in this circuit and see if there is anything starting to fail:

[pbj]

If I had to guess, battery corrosion has leaked onto where the contacts are soldered to the board.  Firing up and playing fine for a few seconds implies a power delivery issue, IMO.

[opt2not]

https://handheldlegend.com/blogs/news/corrosion-cleanup-battery-contacts

[Locke141]

Thanks guys,

I have been a bit stomped with all the activities that comes with being a teacher at the end of the school year. I’m hoping to get back to this this week but I also have a back light kick on it’s was so may just tackle it all at once.