Replace the Battery in your Game Cartridge! **56k warning**

[Master Kirby]

(FYI, I have a copy of this guide at https://sites.google.com/site/masterkirby/gbbattery.)

Can your Pokemon game still hold a save?

If your Game Boy game is no longer able to hold a save, yet can still be played fine, that most likely means that the battery in the game cartridge has run out of energy.

You can easily replace this battery, restoring the cartridge's ability to store save data. This replacement can be performed for much less than the cost of buying a new game. You just need to purchase a new battery.

**Basic soldering skills required**

Materials:
Soldering iron
New 3 Volt Coin Cell Battery - CR2025 (165mAh) or CR2032 (220mAh)
Adhesive tape
Fine tipped hemostat or needle-nosed pliers




Flip over your cartridge.



Locate Screw




Using a hemostat, needle-nosed pliers, or anything else that you can grip it with, unscrew this little screw by turning counter-clockwise.




Once the screw has been removed, turn cartridge over, slide the front cover downwards, and pull it off.



Now you can see the circuit board, and the battery that allows one of the chips to retain the game save data.




You can see that both Pokemon Red and Silver cartridges look very similar, except that the Silver circuit board has a crystal oscillator in the upper left-hand corner to control the passing of time in the game.

Coming next: Removal and replacement of the battery

[Master Kirby]

Removal and Replacement of the Battery

Now that you have the cartridge open before you, take a look at the battery.




You can see that the type of battery used is printed on the board above the battery. For my Pokemon Red and Silver games, the CR2025 coin cell was used. I went to a Radio Shack store to buy my replacement battery. Instead of using a CR2025 battery, I chose to install a CR2032.

The cartridge needs to use a 3 volt battery that fits in this position. The CR2025 has a storage capacity of 165 milliamps per hour (mAh). The CR2032 is also 3 volts, but is 220 mAh so it will last longer. It is 0.7 mm thicker than the CR2025, but since there is some extra room inside the cartridge it still fits.

Take note of the polarities of the battery. The wider side, which is facing the board, is positive (as specified by the + on the board). The side that is less wide, which is facing you, is negative (as specified by the - on the board). Remember this, as you will need to make sure you connect the new battery the same way.


Remove the Old Battery:

**Warning: Use caution when working with a soldering iron! If you touch any metal that is connected to or touching the tip, you will be burned. Only hold the iron by its handle. Do not touch the battery's tabs right after you unsolder them, as they may still be hot. The battery itself may also be hot if it is in contact with the soldering iron for an extended period of time.**

Basicaly, use common sense. If you aren't confident in your ability to handle a soldering iron, find someone else who is.

To remove old battery, you will need to unsolder the contacts where the battery's tabs connect to the circuit board.

**Warning: Do not allow solder to touch any parts of the circuit board other than the pad where the tab is connected. If you create a connection between any of the traces on the board, you may end up ruining your game.**

Once the soldering iron has heated up, touch it to one of the mounds of solder where the battery's tabs are connected to the board. When the solder melts, use some pliers to pull the battery up so that the tab pulls away from, and is not in contact with the board. Then repeat the process with the other tab to fully remove the battery and its tabs from the board.


Inserting the New Battery:

If your new battery does not have tabs in the same positions as the original battery, you will need to reuse the original tabs. By gripping the tab with some pliers (use ones with small or no teeth so you don't destroy the tab) you can pull it off of the old battery. Once you have removed both tabs, straighten or flatten them so that they are in the same shape as they originally were.

To save yourself a lot of wasted time and effort, don't try soldering the tabs onto the new battery. My Dad and I both tried to do that with the new battery I got, but whatever kind of metal or coating it had, the solder would not stick. It may just be that the metal battery dissipates heat too quickly for it to heat to the temperature that the solder will bond to it. If you did try to heat it to that point, it would most likely explode. The one that I had looked like it was starting to bulge from the heat.

Take the flat tab, and solder it to the board's positive (+) contact in the position that it was in when it was connected to the first battery. As you can see in the picture of my Silver cartridge's battery, I placed the battery in place (wider side downwards) and brought the solder up against the side of the battery to make better contact.

Next, place a piece of tape on the side of the battery near the negative (-) contact. You should probably do this before putting it in place. This will keep the negative tab from touching the wrong contact as the bend allows it to lay on top of the battery.

Now solder the negative tab to the pad on the board so that it bends upward and lays flat across the top of the battery, making electrical contact (the tab's metal touching the metal top of the battery).

Place a piece of tape over the top of the negative tab to hold it to the top of the battery.

When you place the cover back onto the cartridge, you want it to press on the battery to hold it in place so that the pressure keeps the tabs pressed against the battery. If you use a CR2025, it will be thinner then the CR2032, so you will need to add a kind of spacer (such as some more tape or folded up paper) on top of the battery until you can feel the cover pressing tightly when you put it back on.

Once the battery is being held tightly, slide the cover back up along the grooves in the sides, so it stays closed, and screw the screw back into the hole to hold everything together.

**Warning: If you open the cartridge again after you have saved a game, you may lose your save file since the pressure of the cover is what was keeping the tabs in contact with the battery. If that contact is lost, the game will be reset.**

Congratulations!

If you followed these instructions correctly, and didn't solder on the wrong places, you should have a working game that can now store a save file while it is turned off! Now when you play, you don't always have to start at the beginning again!

[Master Kirby]

Update:

When you install the new battery, make sure that you don' try to solder directly to the battery. I was trying to play Silver recently, and the game save data was corrupted because the battery wasn't connected well enough. I tried a few different things to connect the battery better, but by the time I got the tab connected well to the battery, it had died from too much heat. The soldering iron can kill the battery it you heat it up too much.

I took the old battery out, and now I am trying a different approach to connect tabs to a new battery. I have made a kind of arc welder by taking apart a flash that you would put on top of a 35mm camera. I connected wires to the capaciter, so that when I touch both of them to the battery and tab, the electricity makes a flash, melting them together. Sometimes this works, sometimes this doesn't. I just need to find a place where I can get the tab to fuse firmly to the battery so I can put it in the game cartridge without losing a connection.

[Master Kirby]

If you can find a battery that has tabs it will save you a lot of trouble in attatching your own. You can buy them online (part number P223-ND at digikey.com) if you want to pay a lot for shipping.

You can also find battery holder clips that you can solder to the cartridge and then just put the battery in it. These clips are the kind of thing you may see holding the CMOS battery on a computer motherboard. You would just have to make sure it is thin enough to fit in the cartridge.

If you don't want to spend a load of extra money buying batteries with tabs, you can build an spot welding device. This will work much better in attaching tabs to your new battery than trying to solder it.



If you have a disposable camera (or any kind with a flash that you won't mind taking apart), you can open it up and make your own welder.

• Find the capacitor inside that stores the charge to power the flash.
• Attach a wire to each lead of the capacitor.
• Use an insulated tool such as pliers to hold the tab in place. If it isn't held down, the spark may make it fly off the battery.
• Once the capacitor is charged up, place one wire touching the edge where the tab meets the top of the battery.
• Touch the second wire to another point where the tab touches the battery.
• Remove both wires.

When the second wire makes contact, a spark jumps between both wires, melting the spots where each wire touched the metal. This allows you to fuse the tab to the battery. If you practice this, you can get it to work. Sometimes you get a stronger hold than others, so make sure you fuse multiple areas where the tab touches the battery.




I covered the tabs with epoxy to add extra strength.

Now your battery should be ready to solder back onto the circuit board.

Here is a short video clip I took to show the spark I was making to weld the tabs onto the battery. [broken link]

Update:
I have finished soldering the battery, with its finished tabs, back onto the circuit board. I have tested that it successfully supplies 3 volts, and I have played it for a while to verify that the saves are sustained.



The most important thing to remember when replacing your battery:
Make sure that there is a firm connection between the battery and the board at all times.

My first replacement battery was ruined by trying to solder tabs onto it. If your battery does not have tabs already connected, find a strong method of connection such as welding the tabs on or using a battery clip made to hold the CR2025 or CR2032.

Good luck to anyone else who tries to replace their battery. If something doesn't work, keep trying. You will eventually find a solution.

[Swinubisdabest]

Hi

is there anyone how lives in nsw in australia who i could get to solder my games as i have 3 games and they have all died and i couldn't do any of the stuff that you need to. i would pay for postage and send the equipment too. i would also put a good word out about you.

[Master Kirby]

Hi Swinubisdabest, I live in the USA, though I don't think you need to be very experienced in soldering to replace a battery in a GSC cartridge. You could do it yourself, saving the trouble of sending your game to someone. If you get a battery that already has tabs attached, it should be a quick replacement. (You can purchase them from Digi-Key. http://www.digikey.com/ Search for part # P223-ND)

You just need to hold the iron so that its tip touches the lump of solder that holds the battery tab to the board. When you see the solder melt, you can use some pliers to pull the tab out of the molten solder.

When you want to put the new battery in, just lay it so that its tabs are resting on the solder pads (Make sure that the positive and negative polarities of the battery match up with the plus and minus symbols on the circuit card). When you hold the soldering iron to the end of the tab, the solder will melt and form to the tab. If you need to add solder, just touch some to the tab, and it will melt. When you see that the molten solder contains the end of the tab, and is touching the contact on the board, just remove the soldering iron and the connection will harden.

If you have access to a soldering iron, and can hold it steady without touching any other parts of the circuit card, you should not have any problems replacing the battery on your own. If you are worried about messing up, just practice soldering things together, or find a friend who could do it.

[SupremeChampion]

Master Kirby, I think this is great guide for people to replace their batteries. Its really easy and seems very simple to do. i'm thinking i might do it should my battery ever die. thankfully, as of now, they're still alive and kicking. but yea, this is a great guide and i recommend that anyone with the tools should do this is they want to replace their batteries

~The Italian Stallion

[Andrew]

The same happened to me. I brought them both out of storage to check them out, Red was still kicking like no-one's buisness and my team of Pokemon looking awesome.

Silver however had died

So I put them all on EBay

[dudestorm]

Hey, just wanted to say thanks a lot for this tutorial. My friend and I did this today, and the game saves perfectly now. We took pictures along the way... I'll probably post them at some point, it was somewhat of an adventure... we ended up just ripping the cartridge open because we couldn't get the screw out. But the game works now, so thanks for that

[hitmonchan99]

Here's another way that I found to replace the battery, and it is without soldering.

I didn't play my gold or silver versions in over a year, but today I decided to take a look. To my horror, my games were deleted, and when I restarted, I couldn't save!

So I took a look at this post, and fixed the battery (short term, at least. I'll see in a few weeks if it works over a long period of time).

Here's the supplies I used:

Pair of tweezers
Needlenose pliers
Swiss Army Knife or any reliable, smooth blade
1 CR2032 20mm battery (or CR2025 battery)
Electrical tape

Here's how I did it:

Use the tweezers to unscrew the game cover off (this might be the hardest part). Slide the cover down, and gently pull it off.

Find the round battery in the upper right-hand side of the game. Notice that the negative tab is fastened to the top. GENTLY use the knife to detach the two attachment points of the tab to the battery. Be sure to NOT break or distort the tab beyond repair.

Now, the battery should be fastened underneath by a "+" tab. Lift the battery and the tab up so that they are still attached, but you can see the underside. Be careful not to rip or break the tab.

Now, use the knife again to detach the two points of attachment. The battery should be free now. Using the pliers, gently straighten the positive and negative tabs, but make sure the negative one keeps its original "bend".

Notice that there is a plastic ring around the removed battery. Use the knife to carefully slice this ring, and fasten it around the new battery, using electrical tape to secure it.

Flatten the positive tab and place the replacement battery on top (make sure the bigger side faces down). Now, place the negative tab on top of the battery.

Press gently down on the battery and tabs, and use electrical tape to wrap around the circuitboard, holding the battery and tabs in place. Be especially careful with the white contraption in the upper left of the board, since it controls the time element in the game.

Put the cover back on, screw the bolt back on, and hope that it worked!

[Master Kirby]

Great! I'm glad to see that this tutorial has been a help to you guys. dudestorm, you sure are right about it being an adventure. Since the game can't save anymore you feel more free to mess around without having to worry about breaking your game. I can understand why you had trouble getting the screw out. I had to hold my hemostats at a 90 degree angle to the cartridge so I could get the tips to fit inside the gap around the screw. I'd like to see those pictures. They are always a help in showing the processes you took to fix your game.

hitmonchan99, I guess you have shown another example of how you can do different things to reach the same goal. Good job at getting past the problem of connecting the tabs to the battery.

I had originally done something similar to what you did; taping the tabs to the battery, but I don't think it was tight enough, so if it was jarred enough it could loose connection and delete my game save. My tabs were a little mangled from trying to solder to them, so they didn't make very good contact anyways. Thats why I spot welded new tabs on my fresh battery. You were lucky enough to be able to detach your dead battery from the tabs without ruining them. The "white contraption" is the crystal oscillator which has a constant pulse allowing the game to keep track of time. I would expect that if your were to put in a different valued oscillator you could make time pass quicker.

[Memory-battler]

Hello. I really admire your battery solution and it's something that I myself have given lots of thought. I was just wondering if you could hazard a guess at something a question I have.
Do you think the same method of battery replacement could be used for Ruby and Sapphire cartridges? I believe that GBA games run on a 3 volt CR1616T battery. I am going to assume that, similar to Gold and Silver batteries, Ruby and Sapphire's will die after a long amount of time. I heard that the average battery Gold and Silver battery life is something like 6 years before a replacement is needed, and I wonder if it's the same amount of time for Ruby or Sapphire. Any thought on the matter would be appreciated, because I would like to try and remedy the situation before my characters are lost. Thanks for your time, and the handy replacement article!

Always,
Mark L.
"memory-battler"

[Master Kirby]

Memory-battler,

I'm glad that you found my battery replacement guide useful. In response to your question, yes I think the same method of battery replacement could be used for Ruby or Sapphire.

Even though a GBA cartridge is smaller than a GBC cartridge, if it uses a battery, it will be connected the same way. I found pictures of some GBA carts, and they look like the battery is connected the same way, using tabs that are soldered to the board.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babel...katorittu.html

If your RSE battery dies, you can replace it with another 3 volt battery. You mentioned the CR1616T. That has a 55 mAh rating, which is much lower than the 165 and 220 of the CR2025 and CR2032 that you can use in a RBY or GSC cart. While it may last one third the time as a CR2025 under the same load, there is a chance that the GBA chips may draw less power and therefore don't need as large a battery.

Just find a 3 Volt battery that is thin enough to fit in the cart, and it should work fine. (The CR1620 is only 0.4 mm thicker, and has a 75 mAh rating, so that may also work.) You will just have to be very careful when soldering because the GBA cart looks like it may have its components more closely packed than in the GBC carts.

One warning in battery replacement. If you still have an active game save, you will need to make sure that you trade your characters to another game before replacing the battery because once you remove it, all game save data will be lost. The only way I can think of to replace your battery without loosing your data is to solder leads from a 3v power supply onto the cart before starting. Then when you remove the battery, as long as the flow of power is not interrupted, the data should remain while you connect the new battery.

I hope that is a help for any of you who were wondering about the GBA games. If anyone has any other questions, I will do my best to answer them.

On a semi-related note, have any of you ever heard of the battery dieing in any games other than Pokemon GSC? That is the only time I have noticed that happening. All my other games for the original Game Boy still work fine. I guess it may just be a result of the clock and the frequent saving that is done in GSC?

[Poryhedron]

Actually, I've heard that GBA games use a slightly different technology that makes them immune to this problem.

[dudestorm]

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...7-f50b0610bebd

there you go guys... all the pictures and description of what we did is in there.

[wshep]

For those interested in finding a better way to remove those nasty screws, I was able to find a cool site that sells security bits that can be used to remove the screws in GB, GBA, and SNES cartridges. I'm not endorsing this above anything else, but I've tried the 3.8 mm and didn't have any problem loosening the screw used to hold both Crystal and Silver together.

http://www.nintendorepairshop.com/to...tion_guide.htm

They ship via USPS, and their payment is through Google or Paypal. It took only two days to get the bit, and I've been ecstatic ever since.

[Master Kirby]

Poryhedron, I think some GBA games are immune to this problem because they use some kind of flash memory chip that doesn't need a battery.

dudestorm, that was amusing seeing how you guys ripped the cartridge to shreds to get inside. It looks like there was some solder holding the tab to the battery. How did you get it to stick to the battery? Do you have a really powerful soldering iron? Whenever I tried to solder anything to a battery, it would never stick together.

wshep, thanks for posting that link. I had been wondering what those screw drivers were called. I was thinking of grinding a nail down to the shape of one of those triwing drivers that you use to open up a GBA. Now I just need to decide whether it is worth the risk to attempt any modifications.

[dudestorm]

i think it was the combination of a strong soldering iron and a large amount of effort/solder... definitely a good time. im focusing on my blue game right now though... the tournament of brutality begins friday

[kipino838]

Thankies!

This fixed my Crystal gmae nicely!Thanks!

Recovered Memories,
Kipino.

[Typhlosion]

The reason Gold/Silver/Crystal batteries die so much faster than Red/Blue/Yellow is the internal clock, which is much more taxing on the battery than RAM alone. Most Game Boy games don't have an internal clock, though, so their save files should still last for a long time. (In fact, the only GB games with internal clocks that I know of are Pokémon G/S/C and Keitai Denjuu Telefang.)

GBA games use EEPROM to store save files. Although EEPROM doesn't require a battery, it has a (very high) limit to how many times it can be rewritten to. R/S/E have internal batteries solely for the game's clock.

Anyway, thanks for the guide! I'll be sure to fix up my Silver game as soon as I can, because I don't want to lose my precious save file. It's not every day you see a completed Pokédex.

Now if only I could fix my Yellow game...

[Master Kirby]

Just don't try to fix your Silver game before it's battery dies. If you remove the old one, you will erase your save file and lose your completed Pokedex.

The only way I can think of to replace the battery without losing the game save would be to solder a 3 volt power source to the circuit card before removing the battery.

[Typhlosion]

Just don't try to fix your Silver game before it's battery dies. If you remove the old one, you will erase your save file and lose your completed Pokedex.

The only way I can think of to replace the battery without losing the game save would be to solder a 3 volt power source to the circuit card before removing the battery.

That's what I meant, but it seems rather risky. I certainly wouldn't want to short out the board.

<edit>
Also, GBA games do in fact run on a lower voltage, so the battery in a GBA game will be drained more slowly than a GB(C) game. Of course, since most GBA games don't even have internal batteries...
</edit>

[Steamtostay]

Hi all, I'm new here...

Question: By using this method, and drilling a few small holes in the case, would it be possible to hook up an external power gauge for the battery? Perhaps even construct a re-charger?

(Oh, btw, the username refers to my love for the Victorian Railways!)

[Bruninho]

Thanks for putting this up, before I read this I was beginning to think that I would never be able to play my Pokemon Silver again! lol I was surprised it worked so well.

[SupremeChampion]

this really has become a very useful thread.. hopefully it works well for everyone.. and i think anyone with any questions should post them in here.

~The Italian Stallion

[AdventureSerum]

So, will the battery of first-generation games give out eventually, too? How long will it take for the battery in those to die?

[Aquanistic]

I registered just to thank you for your guide, and thank everyone else for their guiding wisdom. I ordered Pokémon Red (because I had stupidly sold my Pokémon Yellow when I was a kid) from an online retailer, and they sent it to me, and it wouldn't hold a freaking save! Ugh! But I'm definetely going to try this and use this.

Thanks for all of the time you all put into this!

[chriswyatt]

For those of you who couldn't possibly bear losing all of your saved data once the battery dies in your Gameboy games, I recommend getting a device to backup the saved game data to your PC. That way you can keep your Pokemon forever!!! I know there're devices that can backup the ROM and SRAM from games.

Something like this:

http://www.robwebb.clara.co.uk/shop/copiers/copiers.htm

But there might be better devices out there.

[SupremeChampion]

hey guys, i just heard of an alternative way to possibly fix your battery. someone IM'ed it to me, and this is the first time i ever heard of it, so i dunno how well it works, but i thought it would be worth a post. apparently, if you have an SP, put your game in the SP and turn it on, then plug your SP into the wall and leave it on for a few days. Apparently it should charge your internal battery. i dunno how true it is, but i guess it would be worth a look. if someone could get back to me, maybe verify or test it out yourself that would be amazing.

~The Italian Stallion

[mr_pikachu]

...I was going to check this, but all of my GSC games seem to have magically regained their ability to hold a save file. Not that I'm complaining; it's just really odd.

I'll look through my stuff tomorrow and see if any of my other games are still screwed up. If so, I'll be sure to test them using this method.

[Master Kirby]

The batteries in the cartridges are not rechargeable, so I wouldn't think that leaving your Game Boy plugged in would bring them back to a full charge. My brother's Gold cartridge doesn't hold a save anymore, so I put it into a Game Boy Pocket that was connected to a power cord and left it turned on all last night. When I remove and insert the game and then turn it on, it still does not hold a game save.

As far as finding how much life is left in your game's battery, you could probably take a voltage reading across the battery's terminals and compare it with a graph of Discharge Characteristics from that type of battery's spec sheet. If you see that the voltage has dropped from 3V to around 2.5V (depending on the curve of the discharge graph), then the battery probably won't last that much longer. I Googled CR2025 and found one here: http://sanyo.wslogic.com/pdf/pdfs/CR2025.pdf

[SupremeChampion]

yea, there's definitely a sharp drop off around the 2.5V mark. still, for the battery to be able to last for what, about 840 hours? thats pretty impressive, given the battery's small size. you'd think they'd make it so that all batteries could last that long.

also, thanks Master Kirby for checking that out for me with the whole rechargeable battery thing. i would have done it myself, but thankfully my batteries still hold their charge after all these years.

~The Italian Stallion

[Master Kirby]

The reason they last that long is that the cartridge draws a very small amount of energy. Most devices draw more power than a gameboy cartridge, so they need a more often change of batteries. That chart shows the discharge for the CR2025, which is the original battery. If you do have to replace it, you can use a larger battery that will last even longer. I used a CR2032, so it will last 1.3 times longer (220mAh instead of 165MAh).

[SupremeChampion]

but how does the battery fit? i mean i would think that it shouldn't have enough room to fit in there, the bigger battery i mean. i'm gonna guess there's enough room for you to put a bigger size in?

~The Italian Stallion

[Poryhedron]

The bigger battery has the same surface area; the circle is the same size. It's just close to a millimeter...how to put this...taller. As it happens, there's close to a millimeter of extra space in the cartridge's thickness. This means it might actually be better to go with the larger battery, not just for longer-lasting battery life but also so that the battery will be more securely held in place just by the cartridge walls.

[Master Kirby]

Poryhedron, you're exactly right. The CR2032 is the same diameter, but just 0.7mm thicker (filling the extra space). The cartridge is plastic, so when you use a thicker battery you can still get it to close. Its just a tighter fit.

[jubily_]

Hello everyone!

I know this is a Pokémon forum, but I buyed "Dragon Warrior III" for GBC last weak, and I was unable to save the game too...
I started to search about what could possibly be happening, and I found this fantastic forum!

I regain my hope, and I decided to follow Master Kirby by all means!
I talked to my dad so he could help me with that soldering iron thing, and when we opened the cartridge of the game, we found out that there was no need of soldering, ‘cos the battery just slides off from a metallic structure!

"This is very good!" - I though

Then I just replaced the battery (CR 2032 3V) by a new one and tried to save the game.

Now here's the problem: I couldn't save it again!!!

So, the possibilities are:
- Make a reset attempt (by trying the game without any battery, and then with the new battery... The game could have not noticed the new battery...)
- The new battery can be damaged (yeah, it actually happens once in a million!)
- I simply don't now how to save this... (It’s always a possibility)

I will try these things, but I'm losing my hope...

I appreciate all the help you could give me!

Really thanks!

[mr_pikachu]

I'll admit I'm unfamiliar with most of this process and with the mechanics of DW3. But is it possible that because the battery was not soldered into the cartridge, the game itself is unable to draw power from it? That is, could the battery just be too loose after having slid it in? If that's the case, maybe there's a better way to secure it... not sure. You also may want to check to make sure the CR2032 3V model will work in this case.

Those are the only ideas I have. Other, more technically inclined people probably have other suggestions, but if it's not a battery problem then it would likely have to be something with the game itself. Let's hope it's the former.

[jubily_]

mr_pikachu, I’m really really thankful for your help!
Here’s what I did:

? -“But is it possible that because the battery was not soldered into the cartridge, the game itself is unable to draw power from it? That is, could the battery just be too loose after having slid it in? If that's the case, maybe there's a better way to secure it... not sure.”
Yeah, this is my suspicion too… I took a picture from the metallic structure of DWIII to show you (sorry by the bad quality of it…). It is different from the usual as you can see in the image above…

I’m sure it is connected to the two poles… one above, one down, cos this system compresses the battery against a metallic structure that is itself soldered to the base.

I really don’t know how to secure it better… the system already secures it… but this is the only possibility left…


√ -“You also may want to check to make sure the CR2032 3V model will work in this case.”
This was the model that I took from the cartridge… Of course it could be already changed by the person who had the game before me (it was bought in second hand)…
Truly, I don’t believe anyone could sell a game like this, unless it was damaged… Maybe the guy had already tried to replace battery, and he couldn’t!
Besides that, I noticed that the positive pole (+) was up (faced to me), and the negative pole (-) was faced to the chip base… which is contrary to your Pokémon batteries placement… It suggested me that the guy, who tried this before me, mistaken the position… But I already tried the two different ways, without success…



? - “but if it's not a battery problem then it would likely have to be something with the game itself. Let's hope it's the former.”
I thought that too, but would the game be playable if it was damaged? It could be, but this works fine! …except the savings… but is always a possibility…



√- Make a reset attempt (by trying the game without any battery, and then with the new battery... The game could have not noticed the new battery...)
I already tried it… didn’t work.


√- The new battery can be damaged (yeah, it actually happens once in a million!)
I took a battery from a pc, which is the same CR2032 3V model, to test with another battery, and it stills don’t work.



√ - I simply don't now how to save this... (It’s always a possibility)
“To save one's progress, the player must visit a Church (also known as a House of Healing in early North American versions) and talk to a priest or nun.” (wikipedia)
That’s what I do….


√ - wait one night with the new battery in, to… I honestly don’t know for what! Lol But I even tried this! Didn’t work…

Conclusion: I don’t know what else I can do… I think I tried it all! Uff… but it still don’t work.
Anyway, I must say that I really appreciate your help mr_pikachu! =)
Thank you!

[mr_pikachu]

Hrm. Well, I'm just sorry that I wasn't able to help you actually solve the problem. It's just not my area of expertise at all - I'm a novice with internal computer hardware, and in some respects this is on a higher level.

The one thing I will say is that it's highly unlikely that someone else tried to pull a battery switch before you. Most people wouldn't dream of attempting it, particularly without a guide like Master Kirby's. So the internal workings were probably unaltered when you got it, aside from the battery being out of power. (If you're still unsure, it may be worthwhile to try to find a picture of an open cartridge online for reference.)

Other than that, I'm afraid there's not much more I can offer. Master Kirby still drops by occasionally, so maybe you can catch him then. Or you can try to contact him through his website, or something. He has a lot more technical know-how than the rest of us; he's the one who started this whole thing, after all! So he may be able to offer some advanced insight. Or maybe you'll be able to figure out some alternative solution to your dilemma. However you proceed, though, I wish you the best of luck!