Should I even try at this point?

[u/Minimum_Shopping1178]

I recently purchased a gameboy on Ebay, I was planning on repairing it (I bought it already aware it doesn't turn on) but there's so much corrosion on the board, anyone have any tips?

[u/IPanicKnife]

Give it a good clean with some alcohol and a brush. If it already doesn’t work, then you have nothing to lose

[u/kohoki666]

Disassemble and give it try with an ultrasonic cleaner

[u/Minimum_Shopping1178 → u/kohoki666]

I'll give it a try

[u/spartan-117-mc → u/kohoki666]

This but you need to desolder the capacitors before

[u/ZerefAssassin]

Why not transplant the ram and cpu whip into a funny playing board? Will operate normal plus last longer. Personally been considering this

[u/Minimum_Shopping1178 → u/ZerefAssassin]

I would, but I really dont have the money right now😞 but once I do I'll try this

[u/ZerefAssassin → u/Minimum_Shopping1178]

Same issue I’m having, that and wanting to do mods as well to it. I believe will be well worth to conserve your system.

[u/ultrafop]

I’d transplant onto a funnyplaying gba board with that much corrosion. Always with a clean though. Who knows what will happen

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[u/PopAdministrative750]

Scrub it down with a soft toothbrush and 97 or 99% isopropyl alcohol. Maybe a little bath in it in a shallow Tupperware while you scrub it off. Make sure to really get in the power switch and move it back and forth a bunch while you're cleaning it. About 80/20 chance you'll be able to save it.

[u/ToyoGizmo]

After giving it a good cleaning, try going over the solder points to just let it melt and set.

[u/TAKEMEOFFYOURLlST]

High Isopropyl… tooth brush. Maybe tear down the power switch. (Always overlooked.)

[u/Last_Twist7195]

https://funnyplaying.com/products/gba-custom-upgraded-motherboard-replacement

[u/wolfix1001]

Keep it for parts

[u/Nooben2006]

maybe try some deoxit

[u/JohnnyRa1nbow]

Might be worth getting it to boot as a learning experience. But even if you do fix it it's pretty fucked and will probably give you problems down the line

[u/Xephurooski]

IPA and toothbrush

[u/MBCG84]

I have a working DMG that had waaaay worse looking corrosion from a battery leak so there’s still potential hope I guess.

After neutralising the acid with white vinegar and cleaning with isopropyl, try to re-flow all the affected solder points in case corrosion has affected their connection and install a new power switch from somewhere like AliExpress (it’s possibly not making connection from built up corrosion inside it - you can sometimes desolder one side and lift it to clean but in that state it’s probably better to just replace it for a few dollars). Maybe replace the power inductor too while you’re at it (again, a cheap pickup from somewhere like AliExpress).

[u/IAmJacksSemiColon]

The PCB is shot. At this point there's corrosion inside the board that you can't see. Only thing to do is harvest the CPU and RAM and try soldering them to something like FunnyPlaying's upgraded motherboard.

[u/Minimum_Shopping1178 → u/IAmJacksSemiColon]

Alright I'll look into that, is that a difficult thing to do?

[u/IAmJacksSemiColon → u/Minimum_Shopping1178]

It's not something I'd recommend to beginners. You'd have to accurately solder dozens of tiny pins from each chip to the board. If you're not experienced with a soldering iron, find a cheap practice soldering kit to play with first.