Trying to fix my old Game Boy Color and the screen went completely black

I was in my garage in Phoenix last weekend, finally getting around to replacing the screen on my childhood Game Boy Color. I bought a new backlit LCD kit online for about 35 bucks. Everything was going smooth until I plugged the new screen's ribbon cable into the motherboard. I turned it on and got nothing, just a solid black screen with a faint hum from the speaker. My heart sank. I spent the next two hours checking my solder points with a magnifying glass, reflowing a couple that looked cold, and triple-checking the cable was seated right. I was ready to give up, but then I noticed the tiny contrast wheel on the side was turned all the way down. I gave it a tiny nudge with a small screwdriver and the picture popped right up, bright and clear. I felt so dumb but also relieved. Has anyone else had a simple fix like that completely stump them on an old console repair?

2 comments

2 Comments

brookebailey2d ago

Ever spend an hour troubleshooting just to find out you forgot to plug it in? lmao that's my usual move.

cooper.reese2d ago

Oh man, that's the worst feeling! I once spent like 45 minutes trying to figure out why my monitor was black, checking all the cables and everything. Turns out I never hit the power button on the actual monitor. I felt like such a genius. It's always the simplest thing you overlook.