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Why is my GBC game cart not storing saves

I recently picked up and old copy of Pokemon Crystal for the Gameboy Color, it wasn't storing saves data, which I mostly expected so I replaced the battery with a brand new battery and when I tested it, it still wasn't holding the save data, I opened it back up and double checked my soldering work to make sure I had installed the battery correctly and that the solders were good and couldn't find any issue. So what else could cause the save data to be almost immediately lost other than a dead battery?

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crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

Nintendo soldering in cartridges is notoriously bad. Check EVERY solder joint on the board. Especially the legs on the chips. Over time they tend to crack. Reflow every one if you can. Did you check the battery voltage before you fitted it?

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To add: please measure with a multimeter. If you measure 3.2 - 3.3 volts from the battery at the solder point contacts on the motherboard, it should be good!

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Definitely a bad solder joint in one of the smaller chips, reflowed all the solder starting from where the battery terminals are and moving outward checking after every section of the board to see if it would hold a save and after doing the little tiny baby chip near the battery it started holding saves.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

Yep! Sounds like a colt solder joint!

Hopefully it stays good now, that you did a reflow! Have fun gaming again!

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Joshua Miles crwdns2934231:0crwdne2934231:0
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