I’ve had an absolutely marvelous time using the Anbernic RG35XXSP ever since I received it back in late July, incredible bang for your buck at $60.
After some extensive gaming sessions on the device, I noticed the A button has started to sink down further than the other buttons due to repeated use. Luckily, I have all the tools needed to disassemble this unit on hand. I’m free for the rest of the day, so let’s see if we can repair this minor defect.
#anbernic #rg35xxsp #handhelds #retrogaming
@[email protected] i would be more worried about the battery. I have seen a lot of those swelling and even burning.
@[email protected] Yes, you are right about that. Something I’ll be keeping an eye on, so far so good
Some shots of the disassembly process. A Phillips screwdriver, T6 bit and a steady hand are all that’s needed to get this thing open.
I flipped up the board and immediately figured out what’s going on. As you can see, the shaft of the A button is stuck inside a small hole in the rubber membrane. We’ll need to put something small between the two to keep this from happening again in the future
Here’s what I came up with: a very thin slice of electrical tape rolled into a cylinder. It fits snuggly in the A button hole and should provide some resistance for repeated button presses (I hope)
Now, let’s get this thing put back together and see if there’s been any improvement!
Here is the final result. The button sags to one side in a barely noticeable way, not a huge deal. More importantly, it now feels just the right amount of clicky in comparison with the other buttons. I am reasonably satisfied with how this turned out!
Overall, the disassembly and reassembly process went more smoothly than what I originally pictured. If this issue were to pop up again in the future, it’s not that difficult or time consuming to get back to the internals. Case closed!
@[email protected] nice work.
@[email protected] Thank ya. If other people run into the same issue, hope this will be somewhat helpful!
@[email protected] nice. You killed it, didn’t even take that long haha. Now, I need to finish swapping disc drives on these Wiis I started like, months ago hahaha
@[email protected] Thanks Jake, yeah it was nice to have a free afternoon to tackle this. It feels great to get a simple thing like this out of the way! You should totally do those soon
@[email protected] I really should finish, it was for a coworker of my wife’s, but he’'s now moved to another department haha - still, it’ll be good to have a working drive in the good casing, as the one drive is shot, and the other casing is crap. Made sense. I started it - had to grab the set of Switch/Wii tools for the weird screws etc haha
@[email protected] Any idea why that particular button shaft was getting stuck in the membrane?
Was there a build up of dirt or something that was causing it to lodge in there?
Hopefully your electrical tape solution will work. It seems like it should but my mind immediately jumped to thoughts of how old electrical tape gets all gooey and sticky. I shuddered a bit. 😂
@[email protected] I tend to mash the A button when playing Pokémon, it seems like that has to be what did it. I have not played very many four button games on this device to begin with, so it must have been the repeated use. The B button also left a mark on the membrane, but not nearly as noticeable.
And yeah I tried to keep the sticky part of the tape rolled inward to not touch any components. If it’s an issue later on, not super hard to get back in there
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
:mic: as you all know, folks: it is easier to tear down than it is to build up!
:mic: can he do it?! can he rebuild it?! ONLY TIME WILL TELL!
@[email protected] Too real
@[email protected] if you can fix it, i will inevitably send mine to you. i am very not mechanical.
@[email protected]
I love it too.@[email protected] It’s so great. I love that blue translucent color, totally getting this one if I end up getting one for my significant other
@[email protected] I also love the colour.
Anecdote, but new colours have been announced: https://www.reddit.com/r/SBCGaming/comments/1ff4uak/new_rg35xxsp_colors_coming_soon/
@[email protected] Very nice, hope they keep adding more of these. I would go crazy for a solid dark blue SP just like what I had as a kid!
@[email protected] so nice to see a handheld that can be taken apart and repaired easily, my New 3DS XL fell when I was trying to put on a shirt and play at the same time (true story) now it has two big dead pixels spots on the top screen and that’s killing me. I looked up how to replace the screen but it’s just too complicated of a process for a simple dude like me.
@[email protected] That’s brutal man. I would love to see you able to repair it someday, I used to think this stuff was too difficult until I tried it. But then again, I’ve never worked on a 3DS.
Modding a GBA with an IPS screen some years ago was pretty in-depth, and way more of a job than this one today. I agree that easy access to the internals is a huge plus these days, not something to be taken for granted!