The R button my son’s 2-year-old Gameboy Advance SP has stopped working. (It’s just out of warranty, of course.)
Are there any simple things we could try to fix this or is it a lost cause?
If you’re so inclined, there are screw drivers of the sort needed to open Nintendo consoles (IIRC they have an odd three slotted screw) on Ebay for cheap. Inside they’re pretty simple mechanically, if that’s the problem. Check on Ebay as well for GBs sold for spares, you might cannibalise the parts that way.
Ex-Nintendo employee here.
What’s “not-working” about it? Does it depress fine, like the L button? Or does it feel sticky or stuck down? If that latter, that means it was either damaged via some kind of physical impact, or food or a liquid of some kind found their way around the button. If this is the case, take a new, dry toothbrush, and run it around the edges to dislodge foreign material and see if that works.
If not, Nintendo can always repair an out of warranty system for $55. But better yet, they’ll offer you an even better deal: a re-manufactured system (rebuilt with new parts; seriously as good as new) for a mere $40. You can choose the color too.
A couple of shots of compressed air seem to have done the trick, but I will definitely file away that bit of info about the re-maunfactured system for future reference!