IPS GBA: Learn From My Mistakes!

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MN12BIRD

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Published on November 24, 2020 3:30:00 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MQWR85sRUY

Duration: 37:17

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Recently a co-worker and myself decided to go in on doing two IPS GBA's together as splitting on shipping costs will help save a little money and he wanted me to do the mod for him. I thought this was great as shipping and duty to Canada is expensive and we both wanted to do up an original wide format GBA.

There are people who prefer this model to the SP for the form factor alone but also prefer the fact it uses two AA batteries instead of a built in rechargeable battery as they're now starting to show their age not lasting very long per charge and need to be replaced. Also the fact this system has a built in headphone jack can be seen as a bonus for some! I also like the fact that while playing GB and GB color games they aren't sticking out the bottom near your hands and rather stick out the top out of the way. I can say in some ways this is the ultimate way to play all 3 generations of Game Boy games. The cost of the IPS screen isn't cheap but then again neither are SP AGS-101 models. In fact if you already have a nice working GBA (maybe one with a bad screen, bad case, missing battery cover etc) this mod will cost you the same as finding a nice condition AGS-101 with the brighter, backlit screen. The cherry on top? This IPS screen actually looks better than the AGS-101 and with 10 levels of brightness compared to only 2 gets brighter. You can dial in the brightness just right to balance visibility with battery life.

The install is actually not that hard. But there's some small details that you might have to figure out on your own. You can follow other people's instructions but are they using the exact same combination of case, bracket and motherboard revision as you? They may or may not be using a 3D printed alignment bracket at all and this can change what other steps are or aren't required.

I found that using the 3M double sided sticky "gasket" tape in conjunction with the 3D printed alignment bracket caused the "stack" to be too thick and ended up putting pressure on the back of the very thin and fragile IPS panel once it's all screwed together. This caused noticeable bright spots in the top center of the screen and I knew right away I had to go back and fix this. But when I tried to remove the IPS panel from the 3M tape the panel was damaged and now no longer displays any image despite the backlight LED's still turning on. I tested the other screen with the same ribbon and it worked so I know it was the screen that was damaged and not the ribbon.

My instructions didn't mention not to use the 3M tape as they were written for someone who wasn't using a 3D printed alignment bracket. But it's hard to say because even small differences in aftermarket case shells could compensate for this. There is a little bit of learning required as to what works best for you here. IMHO the 3M tape should NOT be used with the alignment bracket. This may seem obvious when you think about it as the bracket holds the panel perfectly in place. The 3M tape is there to hold the screen in place and while some might think it's still a good idea to have the screen "buffered" from the plastic shell the fact is when doing DMG IPS mods with a 3D printed alignment bracket this was never mentioned or shown in other instructions I've seen. With the IPS screens in DMG it seems to be well known to just place the screen in and not use tape. The bare panel rests against the front shell without any noticeable gaps and this is how I did it the second time around. Not only does this give a little extra clearance inside so that no excessive pressure it put onto the screen but it also means removing the screen from the shell in the future will be easier and safer if you wanted to swap custom shells for example. I also realized the extra ribbon connector doesn't need to be folded out of the way but can actually be left under the 3D bracket as it has a slight notch for the 3 wires (for the brightness adjustment) to sneak under. It was clearly made to do this as I saw it in another instruction video with the bracket being used but couldn't tell if they used the 3M tape or not. Again my best results are to not use the tape and use the 3D printed alignment bracket instead.

Learn from my mistakes. This was very upsetting and frustrating to know I broke an IPS panel. But Handheld Legend does sell replacement IPS panels on their own (without the custom ribbon/driver board) for only $15. So while it sucks for now at least I got my co-workers done and I have to say it looks and works amazingly well. I will eventually buy a replacement IPS panel from HHL when I'm making another order as I do plan on doing more of these IPS GBA's for other people in the future. They look amazing and have many benefits over the AGS-101 (unless you really like that form factor of course)