Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

6

Time Required

                          5 - 30 minutes

Sections

1

  • Battery
  • 6 steps

Flags

2

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Introduction

What you need

Step 1

              Battery
  • First step is to locate the problem, the gameboy will give you a message such as this
  • The battery you will need for this cartridge, which is a gameboy original game, is a cr2025 3v battery like shown in the picture

First step is to locate the problem, the gameboy will give you a message such as this

The battery you will need for this cartridge, which is a gameboy original game, is a cr2025 3v battery like shown in the picture

1024

Step 2

  • Get your soldering iron heated, gather your tools, tweezers, and a Steel 3.8mm Screwdriver Security Bit

Get your soldering iron heated, gather your tools, tweezers, and a Steel 3.8mm Screwdriver Security Bit

Step 3

  • On the back side of the cartridge is a priority security bit and you will have to remove it.

On the back side of the cartridge is a priority security bit and you will have to remove it.

Step 4

  • Next you will need to slide the front face of the cartridge down to expose the motherboard
  • Remove the board from the plastic housing and clamp it in a vice with alligator clips for stability

Next you will need to slide the front face of the cartridge down to expose the motherboard

Remove the board from the plastic housing and clamp it in a vice with alligator clips for stability

Step 5

  • Use the soldering iron to gently heat the top tab while at the same time using the tweezers to pull the top tab away from the board
  • Then do the same to the bottom tab until the battery is free, be sure no to heat the board too much and only where it is soldered
  • Install the new battery in reverse order heating the solder first then setting the tabs on the hot solder, a little more solder may be needed to hold it in place, once it is cool check that the battery is secure

Use the soldering iron to gently heat the top tab while at the same time using the tweezers to pull the top tab away from the board

Then do the same to the bottom tab until the battery is free, be sure no to heat the board too much and only where it is soldered

Install the new battery in reverse order heating the solder first then setting the tabs on the hot solder, a little more solder may be needed to hold it in place, once it is cool check that the battery is secure

Step 6

  • The final step is to set the board back into the plastic housing slide the cover shut and tighten the screw

The final step is to set the board back into the plastic housing slide the cover shut and tighten the screw

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

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                                                                                      16 other people completed this guide.

Author

                                      with 4 other contributors 


                    Zane Hogue

Member since: 07/14/2014

648 Reputation

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jackson3jonathan - Oct 14, 2016

Reply

Do you know what battery type is needed for older games like Pokémon Green?

There are no telling marks and it’s notably smaller than the battery used for others I’ve fixed like Crystal or Red. I want to be sure I’m using the right replacement.

Zane Hogue - Oct 21, 2016

The older cartridges should use the CR2025 the gameboy advanced cartridges sometimes use the CR1616, I buy my batteries off of amazon with the soldering tabs on them

Ken Stock - Dec 12, 2019

Reply

When you change a Gameboy Cartridge battery, do you lose the currunt game save , THX

Austin Fischer - Jun 4, 2020

Yes, anytime power is lost to the volatile memory the save is wiped.

Zane Hogue - Dec 12, 2019

Reply

The purpose of the battery in the cartridge is to retain stored memory such as saved games so if you remove the battery for replacement or the battery dies it will delete the saved game. Sucks really hope this helps