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Catridge's running dry =(

Kamahi

Juz Turned 17~ SweEet~ ^.^
  • 65
    Posts
    19
    Years
    As you all know, there's a battery in the catridge which helps to preserve the save data - that's what i thought. Mine's run dry (couldnt save anymore *sob*) Is it possible to open it up and change a new one?

    If not, dont mind giving me tips on how to take care of it? - might get an emerald soon so i dont want to mess it all up =P

    thx in advance
     
    I never heard of any battery inside the cartridge, how long have you played if your battery has run dry, and what makes you think the battery has run dry?
     
    Belive it or not but in all games with a real-time clock build in, there's a battery o_o
    How else would the game keep the time running correct? XD

    Well there's not much you can do...
    I wouldn't open the module cause it voids your warranty.
    You could either send it to Nintendo to get a new battery or better just wait for your emerald, trade all stuff you want over there and you'll be fine!
     
    smarty_arty said:
    I never heard of any battery inside the cartridge, how long have you played if your battery has run dry, and what makes you think the battery has run dry?
    Hmm... my catridge is like uhmm 3 years old maybe? stopped playing it like one and a half year ago. along with my golden sun 2... all died... lol

    suprisingly my blue is still working fine o0~ (7 yrs old?) xD
     
    This sort of thing happened to LoZelda on our original Nintendo. My sister and I tried to play after about ten years.
    So my sister took the game out of the game cartridge and put it in a other cartridge. The bad news is that once you perform that action, you cant save anymore because I believe the battery is inplanted in the cartridge itself.
     
    Actually, since all GB and GBA games have battery-backup, it needs a battery to save. Plus, games with real time need another battery for the clock.

    I've encountered this problem with my Silver version, so I sent it back to Nintendo. They changed the battery and sent it back to me. But, of course the erased data won't come back :(

    Anyway, I only think the way around is to save less. Hope this tip helps...
     
    Well for starters what version do you have.

    Also for playing it for 3 years it must of had alot of drops and have you saved it alots.
     
    I thought it's supposed to last about 10 years... best thing is to send it back to Nintendo, I think.

    And it *shouldn't* rely on how much you save... my Red is still working just fine, and it's several years old now.
     
    OK, I went to a certain 2ch thread which was dedicated to the discussion of batteries, and this is what I found out...

    Recent GBA games don't use batteries to save (I though they still did, but I was wrong. Sorry.), but instead has a flash memory or a F-RAM inside. This means unless you save a few million times, or drop the cartridge a lot, the data will stay there for near-eternity.

    But old GBA games and all GB/GBC games use a battery to save (actually, the battery continueously sends electricity to the RAM so it stays activated so it holds the data). So, the battery dying = RAM gets no electrcity, so it's not active = data gets lost

    It also seems like while you are playing the game, the internal battery stops sending the electricity to the RAM, and instead gets the elctricity from the GB, which means the more you play the game, the longer the internal battery lives (thats why my sister, who clocked up 600+ hours on her Gold, still has her save data, while I only played for 150+ hours and lost my data.)

    It also seems like G/S/C uses more battery than R/B/Y, since it uses one battery for both the save and the clock. No wonder my Blue version is still alive, while Silver died.

    [EDIT]: Btw, cleaning the cartridge connecter seems to be important too, since if it is dirty, the Game Boy can't read the data properly from it.

    Also, Ru/Sa/Em uses flash memory (or F-RAM) to save, but the clock still runs on internal batteries.
     
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    When you say "recent", how recent do you mean? Are my Sword of Mana and Advance Wars 2 carts going to run out of batteries?
     
    Jedi_Amara said:
    When you say "recent", how recent do you mean? Are my Sword of Mana and Advance Wars 2 carts going to run out of batteries?
    I guess recent games mean games from 2002, since the GBA itself was released on 21st of March 2001 (I'm guessing this, since Ru/Sa came out on 21st of Novemver 2002, and it uses flash memory to save.)

    I think both Swords of Mana and AW2 uses flash memory. They both came out on 2003 right?
     
    Yeah, they're both 2003 games as far as I can remember. That's a relief then, I'm such a slow gamer and I wouldn't want to lose my data before I finish XD.
     
    Lol, tch, I've always had problems with cart batteries, but that's b/c most of my carts are pirated. >_<
    Pirateds, unlike original GBA carts STILL use batteries so unless I manage ta change 'em whilst tha cart is IN the GBA an' tha GBA's runnin' I lose my data. >_<;;;

    The internal battery error thingy doesn't mean that you are about ta lose yar savegame. It merely means that once it runs dry tha clock will stop runnin' an' time-related events will no longer occur.

    Yes, it can be changed manually, but yes, it does void warranty. I suggest ya take it ta some Nintendo store an' let them handle tha problem. ^^;;
     
    Ahaha! Think my Sa is pirated too... That explains why it died so easily while my Crystal and Blue are still sooo active... Note to self: DONT GET PIRATED ONES! Grrr
     
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    It also seems why my Mega Man Zero 2 died so young, since it was pirated. I guess flash memories are still expensive to the pirates.

    Man, I'll love to buy a real and pirated Pokemon GBA cart some time in the future to open them up and see what the difference is like...
     
    Pirate or not... I think I've been conned.... T_T Went for some price hunt the other day and found out that pirys are just a wee bit cheaper than oris...
     
    wow, I'm scared my ruby might stop saving now...:(
    well, anyway, I hope you get your battery fille up or at least get a new one and trade your Pokemon through that to your new game.:)
     
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