GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 1 of 12
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide
Thank you for your purchase of a GameBoy Color replacement speaker from Nintendo Repair Hut. This
guide will guide you through the steps of installing your new purchase. If at any time you have questions
please feel free to contact us at Starwander@Comcast.net for assistance.
Things you will need:

GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker
Picture One: GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker








V 1.0
Soldering iron
Soldering braid
Electrical wire
Tri-wing screwdriver
Small Philips head screwdriver
Small flathead screwdriver
A clean working area where small screws will not get lost
10-15 Minutes of free time
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 2 of 12
Getting started:
If you have a fair amount of soldering knowledge it is safe to skip ahead to step one, otherwise it is
recommend that you read the following how to solder guide, which will discuss the soldering techniques
you will need to successfully replace your save game battery.
Soldering Techniques:
In order to solder and unsolder correctly you will need a soldering iron, solder and soldering braid. Once
you have these items it is safe to proceed forward. For the duration of this project it is not recommend
that you use a cold heat or any other instantaneous heating soldering gun, since these devices use an
electrical current to melt the solder. Passing a strong electrical current through your games is not
recommended and as such should be avoided. We recommend that you use a typical soldering gun, the
type that you have to plug in and wait to heat up. In addition it is recommended that you set your
soldering iron to 30watts for the duration of this project.
Unsoldering:
Correctly unsoldering a joint is rather easy once you get the hang of it. In order to unsolder a joint place
soldering braid over the solder you wish to remove and then place the soldering iron over the soldering
braid. The soldering iron will heat the braid and in turn the solder will liquefy, which will be sucked up by
the braid. Please see picture one
This is the inside of a Super Nintendo game cartridge.
The
soldering
braid is
placed over
the solder
you want to
remove
Picture One: Soldering braid usage
V 1.0
The soldering iron is
placed over the
soldering braid
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 3 of 12
Although it might take a little while to completely remove all of the solder, patience and persistence will
pay off in this case. Every 10-15 seconds remove the soldering braid and check to see if the solder have
been fully removed. Take note to notice that the solder is accumulating on the soldering braid as it is
being sucked up. As it is sucked up you should periodically keep cutting off the used portion of the
soldering braid and use fresh braid as needed. Once you have successfully removed the braid you will
want to clean the area off with a little rubbing alcohol to ensure the area is clean.
Soldering
Now that the solder has been removed you can now remove the object that the solder was holding in
place and you are now ready to solder something new into place. For the purposes of this project it is
safe to use a generous amount of solder, though this is not always the case with most soldering projects.
The two most important things to keep in mind are:
1) Never allow patches of solder to overlap or touch, doing so creates a short, thereby rendering the
circuit inoperable.
2) Make sure to use enough solder to securely attach whatever it is you are soldering, do not be afraid
to test the joint out.
Keeping these items in mind lets continue with our demonstration. This part of the project is pretty easy
once you get used to doing it. All you have to do is take your solder and place it over the soldering joint
and then lightly place the soldering iron over the solder. This is just like unsoldering, although this time
you are soldering and not unsoldering. This part is a little tricky when you first start and is hard to
describe with words alone. It is recommended that you test out melting solder first to get an idea of
how it behaves.
One ideal exercise you might want to try is to attempt to solder together two pieces of wire. Take two
pieces of wire, strip the ends, twist the ends together and then practice applying solder over this twisted
joint. During the course of this project if you run into trouble remember you can always back track and
remove the solder and try again, using the soldering braid. Soldering braid and solder are very cheap
and as such are worth playing around with to get comfortable with before you go ahead and try to
solder in a replacement battery. Now that we have covered the basics of soldering and unsoldering, let’s
get started with the replacement of that speaker.
V 1.0
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 4 of 12
Step One
Firstly, remove the battery cover and find the six tri-wing screws holding the casing together as seen in
picture two below. If you do not have a tri-wing screw driver we sell them on our website.
Tri-Wing Screws
Picture Two: Back side of the GameBoy Color
V 1.0
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 5 of 12
Step Two
Once you have removed the six casing screws separate the back and front portions of the casing. Once
you have the system open it should look like picture three below.
Screws
Picture Three: First stage of disassembly
Locate the three Philips head screws (this number may vary) holding down the mother board and
unscrew them.
V 1.0
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 6 of 12
Step Three
Once the Philips head screws are removed locate the ribbon cable at the top of the mother board as
illustrated in picture four below.
Gently push upward with the a flathead screwdriver on
the black prongs. These parts are very easy to break, so
please use caution
Picture Four: Ribbon cable removal
Locate the two black prongs on either side of the port holding the ribbon cable in place. Take a flathead
screw driver and gently push upwards to release these prongs. Please use caution as they are rather
easy to break and cannot be easily replaced. Once you have released the black prongs the ribbon cable
should easily come out of the port. Do this now. After the cable has been disconnected please remove
the mother board from the casing.
V 1.0
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 7 of 12
Step Four
Once mother board has been removed from the shell you are finally ready to start tackling the speaker
replacement. Firstly however you need to orient yourself to the proper orientation of the speaker wires
form the front and back of the mother board. Please see the pictures below.
Positive terminal
Negative Terminal
Picture Five: Back side of the mother board
V 1.0
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 8 of 12
Step Four Continued
Positive Terminal
Negative Terminal
Picture Six: Front side of the mother board
Once you are oriented to the proper orientation of the leads on the speaker please proceed to step five.
V 1.0
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 9 of 12
Step Five
Now you will need to cut wire to serve as the leads for the speaker. Cut strips of electrical wire and then
strip their ends. Please see picture seven below for examples.
Picture Seven: Wire leads cut and stripped
Make sure that you leave yourself enough working room, although you don’t want the leads to be two
long however. Once the wire leads are ready please proceed to step six.
V 1.0
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 10 of 12
Step Six
Now that you have your leads ready it is time to solder them onto the speaker itself. We recommend
the following strategy. As seen in picture eight below place the exposed wire on top of the terminal and
then apply the solder. Make sure to stabilize the wire when soldering otherwise it can move about.
Positive Terminal
Negative Terminal
Picture Eight: Recommend way to soldering the lead on
Once the leads are soldered on please proceed to step seven. As you will notice in picture eight above
the terminals on the replacement speaker are labeled. This will come in handy when you install the
replacement speaker.
At this point you might be wondering why we don’t recommend that you use the existing wires that
connect the old speaker. You can use this approach, although if the wires are damaged in any way this
will prevent your speaker from working. Replacing the terminal leads at the same time with the speaker,
just avoids potential headaches and is easy to do.
V 1.0
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 11 of 12
Step Seven
Now that the leads are soldered on your speaker should look like picture nine below.
Picture Nine: Wire leads soldered onto the speaker
Now that your speaker is ready to be soldered onto the circuit board remove the existing speaker from
the system. Once it is removed simply solder on the leads from the new speaker. Remember to orient
the terminals correctly. They are listed in picture eight above. Before you reassemble your system we
recommend that you take the time to clean the buttons and the rubber pads underneath them at this
time. Doing so will improve their function and to help avoid problems down the roads. You can use soap
and water or other kitchen cleaners. Once everything is clean please reassemble your system and enjoy.
If something isn’t working correctly after you install your replacement speaker at this point please see
our troubleshooting section at the end of this guide.
V 1.0
GameBoy Color Replacement Speaker Installation Guide V 1.0 Page 12 of 12
Technical Support Section
While we hope that the installation of your screen protector was without complications, things
sometimes happen. This guide will help you through correcting the most common problems that occur
when installing this part, although if you should require additional help we are more than happy to
answer your questions at Starwander@Comcast.net. Please read through the statements and select the
problem most similar to yours
1) My sound doesn’t work
a. Most likely the cable to your stereo was cut when the system was being reassembled.
You will have to dissemble the system to check for sure. If you find the cable(s) is/are
cut they will have to be re-soldered back together. If the cables are intact the speaker
itself is most likely defective
2) My button(s) do not work
a. Most likely this is due to them being improperly situated or dirty. Either way you will
need to dissemble the system. Once it is apart clean the parts if you have yet to do so
and then properly align them in their holes. They will appear to fit correctly when they
are properly situated
V 1.0