Game Boy Zero won't turn on

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EXTINTOR
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Re: Game Boy Zero won't turn on

Post by EXTINTOR » Wed Jul 07, 2021 2:26 pm

rodocop wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:26 pm

Here it is, I think everything is alright.
Looks to be wired to the correct area. You could try cleaning up that red wire a bit. It doesn't look great. But if the measure voltage is not 5v it's likely not the issue, I'd try another boost module if you have easy access to one.
I ordered an adafruit power boost and the problem is gone. Thank you for all your help, but I'm afraid I'm still lost. Now I can't get retropie to work correctly. I flashed the SD using this guide from tinkerboy's site, both methods, it manages to get to the retropie logo but then it starts booting all the way from the beginning.

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Re: Game Boy Zero won't turn on

Post by rodocop » Wed Jul 07, 2021 7:16 pm

EXTINTOR wrote:
Wed Jul 07, 2021 2:26 pm
rodocop wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:26 pm

Here it is, I think everything is alright.
Looks to be wired to the correct area. You could try cleaning up that red wire a bit. It doesn't look great. But if the measure voltage is not 5v it's likely not the issue, I'd try another boost module if you have easy access to one.
I ordered an adafruit power boost and the problem is gone. Thank you for all your help, but I'm afraid I'm still lost. Now I can't get retropie to work correctly. I flashed the SD using this guide from tinkerboy's site, both methods, it manages to get to the retropie logo but then it starts booting all the way from the beginning.
Based on that link it's mentioning it's used if you are using his DPI adapter board.

*Edit* after reading more that image should work.

You can always just try a base image of retropie and see if that works.

https://retropie.org.uk/download/

If a base image does the same I'd think it's something power related causing the issue.

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Re: Game Boy Zero won't turn on

Post by EXTINTOR » Thu Jul 08, 2021 7:19 pm

rodocop wrote:
Wed Jul 07, 2021 7:16 pm
EXTINTOR wrote:
Wed Jul 07, 2021 2:26 pm
rodocop wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:26 pm


Looks to be wired to the correct area. You could try cleaning up that red wire a bit. It doesn't look great. But if the measure voltage is not 5v it's likely not the issue, I'd try another boost module if you have easy access to one.
I ordered an adafruit power boost and the problem is gone. Thank you for all your help, but I'm afraid I'm still lost. Now I can't get retropie to work correctly. I flashed the SD using this guide from tinkerboy's site, both methods, it manages to get to the retropie logo but then it starts booting all the way from the beginning.
Based on that link it's mentioning it's used if you are using his DPI adapter board.

*Edit* after reading more that image should work.

You can always just try a base image of retropie and see if that works.

https://retropie.org.uk/download/

If a base image does the same I'd think it's something power related causing the issue.
Tried again with the prebuilt image, it looks like it's cycling but after like two minutes "emulation station" appears on screen but then this happens. I'm also worried about how everything looks so small and blury compared to what I have seen in others GBZ. After a couple of minutes the window greyed and then the screen shutted down. I haven't installed yet R1 and L1 but I don't think that's a problem.

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Re: Game Boy Zero won't turn on

Post by rodocop » Fri Jul 09, 2021 10:02 pm

That screen you posted is totally normal. You have to configure controls when starting emulation station for the first time.

Since that board you are using utilizes gpio controls you would need to install retrogame and configure it based on the gpios you used.

Here's a link to with retrogame install instructions:
https://learn.adafruit.com/retro-gaming ... s-software


(Tinkerboys image will have the control pre configured, so follow the instructions and hold a button to map controls.)

Also note , you're using a 3.5" composite screen. The quality is not great in general and the menus and text may look blurry etc... You can adjust some settings or change themes to make thing look a bit nicer though.

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Re: Game Boy Zero won't turn on

Post by EXTINTOR » Sun Jul 11, 2021 8:21 am

rodocop wrote:
Fri Jul 09, 2021 10:02 pm
That screen you posted is totally normal. You have to configure controls when starting emulation station for the first time.

Since that board you are using utilizes gpio controls you would need to install retrogame and configure it based on the gpios you used.

Here's a link to with retrogame install instructions:
https://learn.adafruit.com/retro-gaming ... s-software


(Tinkerboys image will have the control pre configured, so follow the instructions and hold a button to map controls.)

Also note , you're using a 3.5" composite screen. The quality is not great in general and the menus and text may look blurry etc... You can adjust some settings or change themes to make thing look a bit nicer though.
Can I solder an USB port directly to the Pi so I can plug in a keyboard?

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Re: Game Boy Zero won't turn on

Post by rodocop » Sun Jul 11, 2021 10:10 pm

You could solder a usb port, or just plug a micro usb to usb adapter and plug into the pi itself.

Alternatively you can use a program like putty to remotely connect to the pi if needed and eliminates the need for a keyboard.

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Re: Game Boy Zero won't turn on

Post by EXTINTOR » Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:12 am

rodocop wrote:
Sun Jul 11, 2021 10:10 pm
You could solder a usb port, or just plug a micro usb to usb adapter and plug into the pi itself.

Alternatively you can use a program like putty to remotely connect to the pi if needed and eliminates the need for a keyboard.
Solded the USB and the keyboard worked fine, now the problem is that I don't have my Pi conected to the internet so I can't download Retrogame. Should I solder a second USB or get an adapter so I can plug in my usb to ethernet adapter and get connection this way?.

I also tried to use Putty for this but I got this error. I watched a ton of tutorials and managed for my PC to recognize the Pi as a device and to show it at my network connections on Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network Connections, which didn't happpen before, but this didn't fix the problem.

Also I want to thank you for all this help, I really want to finish my first project and be part of the community so it's really appreciated.

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Re: Game Boy Zero won't turn on

Post by rodocop » Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:25 pm

Do you have a a pi zero or pi zero W?

If you have a W you should be able to connect to your network, with the use of the keyboard.

With a plain zero you'll need a usb to Ethernet adapter or a usb wifi dongle.

Also note. To connect via putty you need to enable SSH as well.

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Re: Game Boy Zero won't turn on

Post by Dividion » Fri Aug 06, 2021 12:37 am

@EXTINTOR
Did you ever get this working?
For your display, I see you have both the yellow and white wires soldered to the Pi. Both of those are for video signals, but you only need the yellow wire (connected to the square "TV" pad). You have the white wire connected to ground. I'd desolder that one, since the only ground your display uses should be your black wire.
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Re: Game Boy Zero won't turn on

Post by ljglmail » Sat Jan 08, 2022 9:22 am

You have either a hardware or software problem. If you have a black Game Boy Zero, try plugging it into a different TV and see if it will still not turn on. Next, try charging the battery for a couple of hours to see if the problem is related to battery charging. If both of those fail, there's probably something wrong with the hardware. In that case, you could try to get your device repaired or buy a new one, depending on how much money you're willing to spend.

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