GBA Games with Save Batteries?

[alienjesus]

I was under the impression that all GBA games saved with flash memory, and that having a battery normally meant the cartridge was a pirate copy. However, recently, two of my games for GBA have stopped saving and constantly erase themselves - both of them Fire Emblem - Fire Emblem (7) PAL copy, and Fire Emblem 6 NTSC-J.

Out of curiosity I got myself a triwing screwdriver and opened them up, and Fire Emblem 7, as expected, seems to just have a flash memory chip inside it. I have no idea what I've done to cause it to erase itself so much, but somethings taken the damn thing out. I'm pretty sure these are irreplacable too right, so I have to fork out for a new copy? It's worth noting the game will hold the save for a while before it drops it, I managed to play through about 20 hours of the game over 2 weeks the last time I played before it erased itself again.



However, when I opened Fire Emblem 6, I found me a save battery. I'm positive it's not pirated - the soldering is neat, the board has Nintendo printed on it, the code on the front of the cartridge matches up with Fire Emblem 6 if you google it, theres a 2 digit imprinted number in the label and the sticker looks genuine and lined up perfectly. It's the worlds best fake ever if it's a pirate. So I'm fairly chuffed at the possibility of getting this game working again, but I'm really not sure how I'd go about replacing the battery, I assume I can just desolder the current one out, but I need some help identifying what type of battery to replace it with, and whether it'll need soldered in again, or if I can just tape it (I've never soldered before, and I don't fancy my first attempt on this game cartridge).

Also, despite also having a battery for saving, I cant seem to notice anything missing from the board of Fire Emblem 6 - does it have flash memory AND a battery save? seems odd if so.


close up of battery, can't see any type of number or anything indicating what type of battery it is, unless im stupid and thats what the black printed numbers are:




Questions:
1. Flash Memory is completely irreplacable right?
2. What type of battery is in my FE6 cartridge
3. Do I have to solder in the replacement battery?


Bonus questions:
4. What type of screwdriver do I need to buy to open up Game Boy color cartridges
5. What about to open up my Game Gear console?

[noiseredux]

news to me, but this page (when translated) seems to talk about Japanese GBA carts that DO have batteries:

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... rmd%3Divns

[alienjesus]

Reading through that was a pleasantly surreal experience (gotta love computerised translations), but unfortunately no luck on finding out what type of battery is in them. It seems quite a few games in japan had batteries, especially early on in the GBA's life - maybe it was more affordable or quicker to develop on time for early japanese release dates, compared to the usually later western releases of the cartridges.

Do you know if theres a type of screwdriver to open the GBC and GB carts noise? Or do I have to do it the hard way?

[CRTGAMER]

More info here:

GBA Cart Battery Question
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 23#p353523

[alienjesus]

More info here:

GBA Cart Battery Question
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 23#p353523

Ah, well that confirms that they're not too rare, but can anyone tell me what type of battery i need to replace it.

[Hobie-wan]

Your picture tells you once you know what you're looking for, it is a CR1616 battery. The problem is finding ones with the tabs on them already. Also about the flash versus non flash, the boards with batteries will say SRAM ##K next to the memory chip that the battery feeds to keep the data. Flash chips will be labeled EEPROM. They can be replaced, but probably needs to be the exact same chip number and obviously it is delicate soldering work.

You need these to open up your other stuff. There's a chart which tell you everything needed, but TL;DR is the 3.8 for GBC and GB, 4.5 for GG and GG carts. You might as well buy both at once.

https://ssl.perfora.net/electricquarter ... 187a45efc8

[alienjesus]

Your picture tells you once you know what you're looking for, it is a CR1616 battery. The problem is finding ones with the tabs on them already. Also about the flash versus non flash, the boards with batteries will say SRAM ##K next to the memory chip that the battery feeds to keep the data. Flash chips will be labeled EEPROM. They can be replaced, but probably needs to be the exact same chip number and obviously it is delicate soldering work.

You need these to open up your other stuff. There's a chart which tell you everything needed, but TL;DR is the 3.8 for GBC and GB, 4.5 for GG and GG carts. You might as well buy both at once.

https://ssl.perfora.net/electricquarter ... 187a45efc8

Oh yeah, I see it on the board now you point it out - Thanks! I guess I'll go searching the web to see what I can find.

As for the replacing Flash chips, it sounds like it would a be a pretty complicated job. I guess I'm forking out full price for a new copy of Fire Emblem. The problem is that it's quite pricy, and seems a big target for pirate carts on eBay, so I don't want to fork out loads of money for a fake.

Thanks for confirming what I need to open up Game boy and game gear carts. I'm on a bit of a fixing spree at the minute, I want to try and fix up Fire Emblem 6, Pokemon Gold and Silver (all dead batteries), my PS2 Slim (dead laser) and my Game gear (dead capacitors(?) - no sound). I'm sure a couple of my older games probably don't save anymore too, but I haven't encountered them yet. I know i'd be pretty gutted if i was half way through phantasy star and my save died though, so perhaps I'll replace that battery ahead of time?

[Hobie-wan]

I know i'd be pretty gutted if i was half way through phantasy star and my save died though, so perhaps I'll replace that battery ahead of time?

If you have a multimeter, check the battery. If it reads less than say, 2.5 volts, you might just go ahead and replace it.