Home / Mame Boy Advance SP / Mame Boy Advance SP Troubleshooting

Mame Boy Advance SP Troubleshooting

Created:21 September 2023, Last update:18 December 2023, 881 views

One of the major causes of issues with the Zega Mame Boy Advance SP kit is improper soldering. Consult the GPIO pinout and try reflowing all pins associated with your particular issue including:

Display issues
Audio issues
Control / Input issues

Over 99% of issues so far have been caused by soldering issues when attaching the Raspberry Pi to the mainboard.

LCD remains black when power is applied

Check the ribbon cable is orientated correctly and try reseating. If in doubt please email me.

LCD remains white

This means that while the power supply to the LCD is good, the video signals are not. Check all video signal solder points according the the GPIO pinout

No audio

If you did not use the headphone jack please view this article.
Try an alternative speaker. You can touch any speaker wire to the speaker audio pads on the mainboard if you do not have another SP speaker handy.
Ensure the volume wheel is turned up (this is more common than you think).
Double check the audio GPIO soldering according to the GPIO pinout. Pay careful attention to the GPIO with no through-hole.

Mame Boy Advance - What is it?

Mame Boy Advance SP FAQs

Mame Boy Advance SP Pre-install Checks

Mame Boy Advance SP Troubleshooting

Mame Boy Advance SP GPIO Pinout

Mame Boy Advance SP Image Downloads

Preparing a Gameboy Advance SP Shell

Audio without using the headphone jack