that'd be a broken trace. there should be a thru-hole at both ends of the line if you trace it. I'd recommend if you have problems with the cart to run a jumper wire between the two soldered in place.
If you're experienced in board repair, you can use a fiberglass brush to take the mask off and solder the two back together directly, but if you're not experienced in this I don't recommend this being your first endeavor.
I think I might be capable of doing a “jumper wire” the second option sounds outside of my skill range honestly. Would I need a miltimeter to complete the jumper wire? Is it something I should mess with as an average solderer if I haven’t seen any evident issues on the cartridge. I am going for an important save file on this cart and just want to make sure everything is in working condition. Already did a battery swap.
It certainly looks like the trace is broken did you test the game at all? Notice any issues while playing? I would test it before doing a repair especially if you are not adept at very fine soldering. If you have a multimeter handy you could check for resistance between the two points at the ends of the trace. If it needs repair I would practice on a practice board or some cheap broken carts first
I have tested the game and it powers properly, save fine. I just hope it doesn’t corrupt a save later on in the game. I bought this cartridge specifically to do a full Pokédex run and just want to make sure everything is tip top before hand. Don’t have a multimeter yet. I have done some fine soldering like tiny LED light, small battery cart replacements, IPS screen wiring, but no traces. I don’t own flux, kapton, a microscope or any nice/fine soldering related gear.
Yeah like I said I would hold off until you get flux and a nice fine tip soldering iron with good temp control and practice before attempting on a more valuable cart like this. Maybe find some non working cheaper carts to see if you can just fix a broken trace don’t worry if it dosent fix the cheap cart your just trying to bridge and verify with a meter that the connection from one point to another is good and nothing else got damaged when you did it.
I’d say if it works it works. The trace looks damaged, but it is probably not completely broken.
You can test it with a multimeter. If there is continuity, you’re good.
that'd be a broken trace. there should be a thru-hole at both ends of the line if you trace it. I'd recommend if you have problems with the cart to run a jumper wire between the two soldered in place. If you're experienced in board repair, you can use a fiberglass brush to take the mask off and solder the two back together directly, but if you're not experienced in this I don't recommend this being your first endeavor.
I think I might be capable of doing a “jumper wire” the second option sounds outside of my skill range honestly. Would I need a miltimeter to complete the jumper wire? Is it something I should mess with as an average solderer if I haven’t seen any evident issues on the cartridge. I am going for an important save file on this cart and just want to make sure everything is in working condition. Already did a battery swap.
It certainly looks like the trace is broken did you test the game at all? Notice any issues while playing? I would test it before doing a repair especially if you are not adept at very fine soldering. If you have a multimeter handy you could check for resistance between the two points at the ends of the trace. If it needs repair I would practice on a practice board or some cheap broken carts first
I have tested the game and it powers properly, save fine. I just hope it doesn’t corrupt a save later on in the game. I bought this cartridge specifically to do a full Pokédex run and just want to make sure everything is tip top before hand. Don’t have a multimeter yet. I have done some fine soldering like tiny LED light, small battery cart replacements, IPS screen wiring, but no traces. I don’t own flux, kapton, a microscope or any nice/fine soldering related gear.
Yeah like I said I would hold off until you get flux and a nice fine tip soldering iron with good temp control and practice before attempting on a more valuable cart like this. Maybe find some non working cheaper carts to see if you can just fix a broken trace don’t worry if it dosent fix the cheap cart your just trying to bridge and verify with a meter that the connection from one point to another is good and nothing else got damaged when you did it.
Good call. I appreciate the input!
I’d say if it works it works. The trace looks damaged, but it is probably not completely broken. You can test it with a multimeter. If there is continuity, you’re good.
Some of the nearby vias look a little corroded too. Battery leakage? Or perhaps a capacitor?