What to do with dead GB carts?

[noiseredux]

I've had a few situations now where I've ended up with a completely dead GB cart. It's very rare mind you, but it happens.

Right now, it seems my copy of FF Legend II is dead. I have the official Nintendo GB cleaning kit and tried it to no avail. I've also tried warm water on the PCB. Nothing.

In the past when I've just accepted the carts are gone, I've thrown them out. I hated doing so though. I threw out Sneaky Snakes and Galaga/Galaxian. It felt awful. Y'know... "the Game Boy guy" throwing out GB games. It's weird.

So before I throw out FFL2... can anyone think of anything useful I could do with the cart so that it doesn't just end up at the dump?

[Incognito D]

frame it? or mod it into something like an external hard drive casing or desk clock?

[dsheinem]

You should save up dead Game Boy carts and make a chain mail-style suit of armour from them. You should then wear that suit to PAX East next spring.

Others may have other suggestions, but none would be better than this one.

[noiseredux]

You should save up dead Game Boy carts and make a chain mail-style suit of armour from them. You should then wear that suit to PAX East next spring.

Others may have other suggestions, but none would be better than this one.

[noiseredux]

I'm wondering if they can be used for "donor carts" for anything useful... where's Ziggy?

[BakaTanuki]

Stick a flash drive in it. I have done that with a broken Pokemon Red cart.

[finerion]

Here are a couple of projects I have seen others do with Game Boy carts:


Programmable Game Boy cart: http://hackaday.com/2010/07/14/programm ... k-through/

NES Game Boy Player: http://hackaday.com/2010/05/11/original ... boy-games/

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Right now, it seems my copy of FF Legend II is dead. I have the official Nintendo GB cleaning kit and tried it to no avail. I've also tried warm water on the PCB. Nothing.

Rubbing alcohol and Q-Tips?

Don't forget to try a brand new pencil with a fresh eraser! The original method for cleaning carts and still works really well on most stubborn cases.

Also, try taking the cart apart and lightly usung a tiny bit of sandpaper to polish or expose a bit of the contacts. Keep in mind this is a last resort and only for extreme cases; and you need to be as gentle as you can be with the cart. Otherwise you can scrape off a trace from the PCB or grind away the contacts.

[Hobie-wan]

Don't forget to try a brand new pencil with a fresh eraser! The original method for cleaning carts and still works really well on most stubborn cases.

A white plastic eraser works better than a pink one.

Also, try taking the cart apart and lightly usung a tiny bit of sandpaper to polish or expose a bit of the contacts. Keep in mind this is a last resort and only for extreme cases; and you need to be as gentle as you can be with the cart. Otherwise you can scrape off a trace from the PCB or grind away the contacts.

Instead of sandpaper, use the green side of a dry scrubby sponge. It will still abrade it a little and scrape off crap, but is gentler than sandpaper and won't make it look as terrible.

Though it all depends on how they are dead. If they won't start up at all, then it could be contacts. If it starts up and then locks after starting a game, I have Pokemon Red, Link's Awakening, and Revelations - The Demon Slayer that all do that. I think maybe they are susceptible to drops or static shocks or something as I can't see anything physically wrong with them.

[noiseredux]

Though it all depends on how they are dead. If they won't start up at all, then it could be contacts. If it starts up and then locks after starting a game, I have Pokemon Red, Link's Awakening, and Revelations - The Demon Slayer that all do that. I think maybe they are susceptible to drops or static shocks or something as I can't see anything physically wrong with them.

in the case of my FFL2 it loads up, hits the first note of music in the intro and sustains for infinity. So yeah. Something's off. I already bought a replacement (with manual this time!) but...