Crackly audio, no sound, or a washed out screen

94MER / Repair Guides / Game Boy

Game Boy · Symptom guide

Audio that crackles, cuts out or has disappeared entirely. Often paired with a screen that looks washed out or will not hold brightness.

Surface mount capacitors dry out and leak with age. On these handhelds they take audio first and then video, which is why the two faults so often show up together. The speaker is usually perfectly fine.

Do these first. They cost nothing.

Check this before you buy anything

  1. Test with headphones

    If headphones sound correct and the speaker does not, it is the speaker or its wiring, not the capacitors. That is a cheaper fix.

  2. Turn the volume wheel through its full travel a few times

    A scratchy, intermittent wheel is a dirty potentiometer. Contact cleaner often sorts it for nothing.

  3. Look at the board for residue

    Dark crusty rings around the capacitors confirm leakage.

If every one of those comes back clean, now it is worth buying a part.

If that did not fix it, here is the part

Game Boy Advance Capacitor SetGame Boy Advance Capacitor Set$9.99Game Boy Color Capacitor SetGame Boy Color Capacitor Set$9.99

Before you order

Separate sets for the Game Boy Advance AGB-001 and the Game Boy Color CGB-001. Check your board before ordering.

What this is not

This is not a beginner job. It needs surface mount soldering. If you have never done SMD work, practise on a scrap board first.

Related faults

You have to mash a button to make it registerYour Game Gear has no sound or a dead screen

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