Nintendo Game Boy Troubleshooting

The Game Boy is an 8-bit hand held video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It is the original Game Boy, characterized by its large gray casing and reflective black and white LCD screen.

Note: This troubleshooting page covers only the original Game Boy. Every other Game Boy after it is covered in another troubleshooting page.

Always make sure you have batteries that have a charge installed in the back of the Game Boy in the battery compartment.

You may need to check if batteries exist in the battery compartment. Also make sure that they are correctly inserted and that they are not "dead" batteries.

The power LED on the left side of the screen does not turn on when the system does. This could be the cause of a broken LED and can be replaced.

Check if you have corrosion or other residue on the contact points in the battery compartments. This might prevent the batteries from transferring power to your unit. Use a screwdriver or similar to scrape the residue of the metal.

Make sure that when you insert your cartridge it is not blocked by dirt or other debris. Also check that the cartridge is going into the dock completely, allowing for a connection to occur. Also check for damage done to the cartridge itself, water damage and or shock problems can cause a technical failure with the cartridge.

If your cartridge is fully functional and the system turns on but still the game does not load a technical problem may have arisen. The connections that run the game to the main CPU may have been broken or faulted.

The connections to the screen are the most fragile connections inside the Game Boy, if these connections are crossed or manipulated in any way the screen will exhibit bars. These run length and width wise on the screen usually on the edges. Replacing the screen or Game Boy may be imminent if unable to repair connections.

Sometimes all the screen needs to do is have a technical reset to clear the connections and allow the screen to go back to working order. This can be done by accessing the screen via guide.

If this is the case, you need to follow the repair guide and place the buttons back in their respective places, making sure that they line up with the repair guide instructions.

This would require an entire board replacement, which costs more than the actual Game Boy, buying a replacement is the only option.

There may be a connection problem, or the speaker needs to be replaced. Make sure that the speaker has had no water damage in the past.If the speaker is indeed broken, you can do a replacement, or you may need to do a complete replacement of the system.

If the headphone jack is not functioning, there is most likely an issue with the connection and the entire piece needs to be replaced. This is an easy fix and follow the repair guide.

If there was ever any water damage to your Game Boy system, there is a major issue. DO NOT TURN ON YOUR GAME BOY you need to let your system dry for a few days to ensure that the circuits will not short and cause the boards inside to fry to a crisp. Also after a few days make sure to go inside and clean the copper plating on the back of the CPU board, this copper plating can "Rust" and will cause shorts over connections. If a turning on of the Game Boy did occur the Game Boy need most likely to be replaced. Follow repair guide.