My old Game Boy Color kept shutting off and I was blaming the power switch for months

I was cleaning the switch with isopropyl alcohol every other week, convinced it was the only problem. Then last Tuesday, I was swapping the screen on my workbench and noticed the battery contacts looked a little dull. On a whim, I gave them a scrub with a pencil eraser, which I read about in a forum years ago. The thing powered right up and hasn't cut out once since. I felt so dumb for focusing on the complicated part and missing the simple, obvious fix right in front of me. All that time wasted taking the whole thing apart over and over. Has anyone else had a moment where the fix was way simpler than the problem you imagined?

2 comments

2 Comments

john_sullivan21d ago

Classic case of overthinking it. Isn't it crazy how our brains just lock onto the most complex solution first? Makes me wonder, what finally made you look at the battery contacts after months of focusing on the switch? Was it just pure luck, or did something click?

olivia_anderson2d ago

My buddy Dave spent two whole weekends trying to fix his lawnmower's engine, buying new parts and everything. Turned out the wire to the spark plug had just shaken loose and was barely hanging on. He reattached it in five seconds and felt like a total genius after all that.