GPA White LCD, but HDMI Works
#11
Okay, it's working now. I'll run through the problems I had and what I did to solve them in case it's useful for anyone else:

1) White screen

Replugged the screen and used the little tabs at the side to secure it. I'd never done one of these types of cable before but in retrospect it's rather obvious and quite easy once you know how they work.

It was still just showing a white screen so I thought I'd try a different screen. I got the same result so I thought I'd try a different GBA Pi board. When unplugging the pi from the board I noticed that I'd done quite a terrible job with the soldering.

After re-soldering it worked.

2) Up button not working

Replugged every, checked the seating of the D-pad.

Guess what? It was my soldering again!

3) GBA emulator not working

It seems to have an issue detecting the correct video mode to use. I've tried all the 320x240 modes with no luck. Anyone know what is the correct mode?

Are there any other settings I need to change for that?

On this whole this was a lot of fun and probably easier than expected overall. I had some trouble getting hold of a suitable flat lithium battery so I used something quite different and it fits really well. Apparently it's a battery pack for a cordless phone, it has three stubby little cells and is 3.6v / 650ma.
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#12
(02-06-2017, 05:03 AM)linusnorton Wrote: 3) GBA emulator not working

It seems to have an issue detecting the correct video mode to use. I've tried all the 320x240 modes with no luck. Anyone know what is the correct mode?

Are there any other settings I need to change for that?

On this whole this was a lot of fun and probably easier than expected overall. I had some trouble getting hold of a suitable flat lithium battery so I used something quite different and it fits really well. Apparently it's a battery pack for a cordless phone, it has three stubby little cells and is 3.6v / 650ma.

There are 2 points here: GBA and battery.

GBA
I think you may need the GBA bios. This should be covered elsewhere. Please see
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-set...oy-advance
and it talks about the BIOS file a bit. I feel like you should not need to do anything with the video modes.

Battery
Please be SURE that the battery you have chosen is a lithium (LiPo or LiIon) battery. I am very worried (by your description) that you actually have pack of 3 1.2v NiMh (or NiCad) cells (in series). While it may work, I worry that it will not charge properly, and it could lead to problems.

If it is not Lithium (which I think it is not), please ask in the battery thread about recommendations where to find a good battery. http://forum.freeplaytech.com/thread-4418.html

I will also talk this over with my electrical engineer partner. Yes, he confirmed that Lithium-Polymer or Lithium-Ion should be the only cells to use. He said that you can power the GPA with NiCad/NiMh, but you should not charge NiCad/NiMh in the GPA.
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#13
(02-06-2017, 05:37 AM)Flavor Wrote: Battery
Please be SURE that the battery you have chosen is a lithium (LiPo or LiIon) battery. I am very worried (by your description) that you actually have pack of 3 1.2v NiMh cells (in series). While it may work, I worry that it will not charge properly, and it could lead to problems.

If it is not Lithium (which I think it is not), please ask in the battery thread about recommendations where to find a good battery. http://forum.freeplaytech.com/thread-4418.html

I will also talk this over with my electrical engineer partner.

Oops - I expect you are right. I was sure I'd checked but I double checked the packet and it doesn't actually say. Nothing has exploded yet but I will get a proper battery pack Smile

Edit: This is the battery - http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/36v-cordless-t...tery-fz09k and it is definitely wrong
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#14
(02-06-2017, 06:04 AM)linusnorton Wrote: Oops - I expect you are right. I was sure I'd checked but I double checked the packet and it doesn't actually say. Nothing has exploded yet but I will get a proper battery pack Smile

I updated my previous post with some info from my partner. He has read/reread the datasheet for the charging circuitry. That's what would be a concern. You could use the battery to run the GPA, but it is not designed to charge NiMh/NiCd cells. Please be careful.

Do not use the GPA to charge NiMh or NiCd cells.
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