Bivert a DMG Game Boy

Sun. April 15, 2012
Categories: Game Boy

So, I already wrote about what a biversion was in my pocket guide -; that can be found on the pane on the right -; so I’ll cut to the chase: This mod + an inverted screen == a really high contrast screen.

You will need:

      1 x 74hc04 or similar data inverter
      1 x DMG (Game Boy)
      1 x tri-wing screwdriver
      Some wire
      Solder
      Soldering iron
      Patience
      A knife

Open up your DMG.

Find this part at the top.

There is an array of 6 dots near the top of the board. The lower-left and lower-right dots have two traces (light lines on the green part) going to the big white connector. Take your knife, and cut off the traces near the big white connector that come from the 2 dots:

Now, grab your 74hc04 chip:

Solder 2 wires from the big white connector (the pins corresponding to the traces you just cut) and solder them to pins 2 and 4 of the chip (starting in the lower-left corner of the chip). The leftmost wire goes to pin 2, the rightmost to pin 4.

Then, solder 2 wires to the dots from before:

Solder those 2 wires to pins 1 and 3 (pin 1 goes to the left dot, pin 2 the right dot)

Now on the other side of the chip, pin 14 (across from pin 1) gets a wire soldered to the spot shown in this picture:

Back on the front, solder from pin 7 a wire to the grounding point shown in the picture:

Now, make it all fit:

Success!

5 Responses to “Bivert a DMG Game Boy”

  1. John Says:
    June 12th, 2012 at 7:54 PM

    Thank you for this guide! I successfully did this to two DMGs. However, I broke the last two I tried it on. The contrast was flickering and eventually lots of artifacts occurred and now the screen appears to be dead. Even after taking the chip out and bridging the cut traces again, no luck. I’m quite experienced with electronics and soldering, and can guarantee that everything was done super neatly. Any idea what happened? I don’t want to mess up a third DMG ;)

  2. Mee Says:
    July 1st, 2012 at 7:30 AM

    @ John: I had this problem, too, when I did this to my DMG the fist time. Just solder the wires to the grey connector again, but more carefully and with less solder. The two pins should not touch each other.

  3. mmnestuante Says:
    August 15th, 2012 at 2:50 PM

    Thanks for the guide. I used your tutorial to improve the contrast of the LCD on a Game Boy that has a backlight installed, reversing the polarizing screen.

  4. Tyler Says:
    February 9th, 2013 at 9:48 AM

    Shouldn’t you be tying all the unused inputs to ground? Also I’m now becoming cautious about attempting this do to the two comments here that have apparently broken several DMGs installing this. Honestly, how safe is this mod when installed correctly? did they just have a bad solder job somewhere, or will I run a significant risk of blowing my screen up? I’m confident in my soldering abilities, but if the mod is at fault I might have to pass, even though I’d love a super contrast screen.

  5. Circuit Ben Says:
    March 1st, 2013 at 5:38 PM

    Thanks so much for this, I’ve referenced it while biverting loads of DMGs, and it’s clear and easy to follow.

Comments