|
Post by Southbomb on Dec 3, 2003 20:56:11 GMT 2
Question of MY day! If you have a broken Game & Watch is there anyway to fix it. For example I have a widescreen game and the sound works, but the LCD does not appear. I have never taken apart these games before, so would it do any good to open it? Have you guys faced a problem like this before?, and have you fixed the problem? -Matt
|
|
|
Post by MikeHill on Dec 3, 2003 21:58:10 GMT 2
I was reading something about this last night, as I have a DK2 in a very similar sounding condition to the one you mentioned. The guide suggested unscrewing the back plate, and then testing the game with the back off. If it works, then screw the plate back on very gently. I decided to give this a go this afternoon, although all but 2 of the back screws were far too tight for me to remove them. I screwed these 2 back in, tested the game and... *It Worked!!* I have no idea why and its less than technical, but it might be worth a try I now own a MIB DK2 that i paid about £15 for ;D
|
|
|
Post by sAner on Dec 4, 2003 13:56:44 GMT 2
Guys, It's actually very easy to open up games (multiscreens are a bit harder but it is also possible to open up these games and fix them). I've opened up around 5 games (3 widescreens, one silver screen and one multiscreen) and it went pretty well. Although I must admit I had some troubles re-assembling the multiscreen game (it was Bombsweeper). With the help of the frequent posters of Spinal's forum (especially QJ) I managed to get it working again! As I wrote; widescreen, new widescreen, silver and gold games can easily be taken apart and some common problems (like not working or slowresponding buttons, fading sprites, etc.) can often be easily fixed this way. Most of the times just fastening the inside screws will do the job. I've once received a Toss Up with only half the LCD working. After opening it up and tightening the inside screws, it worked 100% again! BE VERY CAREFULL WHEN OPENING A G&W UP THOUGH: the back of the plastichousing is attached to the inside of the actual game with a plastic wire (this is the sound cable). When you open a game up too roughly, you can easily break the wire and ruin the sound. You'll have a problem then. This is also the main reason why you can't change the backs of the games. If you have a great working game without a s/n, you have a problem as the backs can not easily be switched. Hope this helped a bit? You can ask specific questions if you want to. sAner
|
|
|
Post by mpanayiotakis on Dec 4, 2003 16:18:48 GMT 2
I've included a few instructions on how you can fix specific problems in my game&watch faq www.geocities.com/mpanayiotakis/faq.htmlMost problems are relatively easy to fix. I've opened all kind of g&w excluding the crystal screen ones. Michael
|
|
|
Post by Southbomb on Dec 5, 2003 1:15:03 GMT 2
Okay,
I unscrewed all the screws and opened the game. First time I have seen the inside of one of these widescreen games. Everything was disasembled except for the sound wire of course. When I opened the game the clear screen came off and behind it was a clear glass. I dont understand how the images appear. Is the inside supposed to have something in between the glass? Well, when placing everything back together nothing improved. Only the sound worked and I was never able to get the LCD to appear. Maybe something is missing inside? Can you guys help?
-Matt
|
|
|
Post by sAner on Dec 7, 2003 12:56:38 GMT 2
Hi Southbomb,
Behind the glass (which is fastened to the printplate, etc.) should be 1 or 2 (depending on the game) backgrounds (plastic screens) and (most importantly) a silver screen. This silver screen is the filter. Without this filter the lcd will not work.
I hope this helped .... Sorry for the late reaction.
sAner
|
|
|
Post by QJ on Dec 7, 2003 15:09:15 GMT 2
sAner, I'm going to have to correct you my old friend ...the silver screen is not the filter, it's the back drop which fits behind the glass. The filter is the plain (slightly smoke coloured) plastic which fits on top of the other plastic picture insert which in turn fits on top of the glass. If you put the filter the wrong way around you will not be able to see the LCD's and the screen looks kinda black. Maybe this is what's happended to Southbombs game? Also, it could be that the filter itself is so badly damaged (due to sun fade) that you can't actually see the LCD sprites even though they are working. You could always borrow the filter from another known working widescreen game just to test (making sure of course the filter is the correct way up!). QJ
|
|
|
Post by foxterrier2000 on Dec 8, 2003 9:30:43 GMT 2
Hi! Yeh thats what happened to me, I got a broken parachute for $5us, fixed it and then the screen was very dark. I wasn't sure what was wrong for a long time, until i got daring, and opened it up again. I ended up selling it for a lot more than what i paid!!
|
|
|
Post by sAner on Dec 8, 2003 9:30:54 GMT 2
QJ, Thanks for correcting me!! Hehehe, I knew what the silverscreen was but mixed the names up (English is not my mothers language). Anyway, please correct me again if I'm wrong, but you need the backdrop also, right? From what Southbomb wrote I got the idea he misses the backdrop. Anyway, the filter (sunscreen alike plasticscreen) is important too. I once placed it the other way around and the sprites were hardly visible. sAner
|
|
|
Post by foxterrier2000 on Dec 8, 2003 9:39:38 GMT 2
Hi! May i ask, how do you repair slow responding buttons? As 1 of my remaining games has this problem!
IFT2000
|
|
|
Post by sAner on Dec 8, 2003 13:14:22 GMT 2
Take off the rubberbuttons and clean the metal (I don't know how to call it in English) underneath with a soft dry cloth or with some 100% alcohol. Slow buttons needs cleaning 99% of the time, that's all.
sAner
|
|
|
Post by Southbomb on Dec 8, 2003 19:27:56 GMT 2
Thanks for helping me guys, but it seems the game is broken! Ahh, its not worth the trouble. I guess I can just salvage the buttons and the battery cover! Is it possible to switch serial numbers? Can I take it off and put it on another game. Have any of you guys tried this? Not sure if it will work though as the glue is old and strong.
-Matt
|
|
|
Post by QJ on Dec 8, 2003 20:31:42 GMT 2
I think it was Spinal who was the master at switching serial numbers ;D ;D ;D ...he once said if you got a sharp blade (like a razor blade) you could remove a serial number easy enough.
Serial numbers are unique to each game model. For example the panorama games all begin with a "9", so if I saw one that began with something like "37" then I would know it's been taken from an early Futuretronic multiscreen game release.
If the game has no serial number the chances are it's probably in a used/poor condition anyway so is it really worth it?
QJ
|
|
|
Post by sAner on Dec 8, 2003 20:54:50 GMT 2
;D Hahaha! Spinal was indeed the master at that, QJ! Seriously; as a serious collector I am really, really, really, really AGAINST switching serial numbers. You just can't do it. You can't especially just switch the s/nrs of different games around. Am I the only one who sees this??? You just can NOT take off the s/n of f.e. a DK-52 and put it on a Lifeboat. Using a s/n of the same game is probably the least problematic. When you have f.e. a great DK-52 which has it all, except a s/n and you take off the s/n of a very bad other DK-52 and glue it on the good DK-52 ... it's probably not such a bad thing to do. On the other hand; serial numbers are sacred to collectors, you can not fool around with them. And then again; I've tried doing it in the past because I was curious after Spinal's stories about switching s/nrs and it always, always shows. sAner
|
|
|
Post by Southbomb on Dec 8, 2003 21:21:01 GMT 2
Hehe ;D I guess I touched upon a very sacred controversial question. If my broken widescreen game had a serial number then maybe I would attempt to take it off. I don't want to ruin any of my good games! So does each game start with a specific number? -Matt
|
|