– Retrodrömmar
I have a tendency to buy broken Gameboys on Swedish eBay for around $20-$25, and then fix them. They usually suffer from two faults that are easy to repair: corrosion on the battery connectors, and vertical lines on screen. However, in some cases, the screens are beyond repair (if they have dead horizontal lines, or damaged flexible PCBs). Then, a VGA mod may come in…
Read more
I bought a Compaq Contura 420C laptop for a fairly good price at Swedish eBay. The downside? Both hinges were broken. It seems like this is a common problem on these old laptops. In this post I will show how I repaired them. It is by no means a pretty fix, since I lack the tools to weld metal pieces together. But it works. I…
Read more
I picked up one of those chinese portable gaming/video/music/camera handhelds super cheap at Swedish eBay, just out of curiosity. These units come under a variety of name such as “X6” etc and can be bought on Amazon, Wish, Ali Express etc. They are a slightly more advanced variant than the small “Gameboys” bundled with a number of NES games. In this post I will write…
Read more
In this post, I will make a full disassembly of a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), including cleaning the 72-pin cartridge connector. If you experience “pink” screen or having problems running games, this is the first measure to get your NES in working order again. The unit I am working on is an ex-rental. This unit has never been opened before, and is in excellent condition,…
Read more
As described in another post, I’m using a Compaq Presario CDS 520 as a MS DOS gaming machine. I bought it in almost perfect condition from Swedish eBay, except for a broken “right arrow” key on the keyboard. In this post I will describe how to fix that. First, separate the top and bottom of the keyboard by removing the three marked screws below. As…
Read more
In this post I will write some hopefully useful observations from working with the Compaq Presario CDS 520, with the goal of turning it into a MS DOS gaming machine, similar to my Presario 433 I owned as a child. According to the wisdom of the Internet, Compaq stands for “Compability” and “Quality”. Compability refers to IBM PC compability. (This post is updated on a…
Read more
If you recieve a message “Your Xbox can’t recognize this disc. Make sure it’s an Xbox game, DVD movie, or audio CD. Also check to see if the disc is dirty or damaged. Remove the disc to continue.” from your old Xbox, it might be time to clean the laser. In this post I will show you how to open your console, and clean the laser….
Read more
In this post I aim to disassembly and clean a dirty Nintendo Gamecube. To do this, you need a special Gamebit screwdriver, and a couple of ordinary Philips screwdrivers + some cleaning products (soap, water, alcohol). Follow this guide step by step and assemble in reverse order. The Gamecube is relatively easy to work with since it is a modular build, similar to the Dreamcast….
Read more
A common fault on Nintendo 64-consoles is that the reset button gets jammed. When it is pressed, the console won’t start. In this post I will show how to fix the reset button. You will need: A Gamebit special screwdriver for Nintendo products (available at Wish, Aliexpress, eBay etc) A cleaner (isopropanol, or soap and water) A lubricant (I prefer silicon spray) Step 1: Open…
Read more
This post is a summary of reflections regarding the possibilities to emulate Microsoft DOS on the Dreamcast. These are the options we have found: DosBoxDC (0.6) Fake86 Dreamcast (0.13.3.15) ScummVM 2.0 Among these, ScummVM is by far the best option, as elaborated below. DosBoxDC DosBox is one of the most popular Ms Dos emulators for many systems. Theemulator (current v.0.74) can run a fair share…
Read more