gbadev.org forum archive

This is a read-only mirror of the content originally found on forum.gbadev.org (now offline), salvaged from Wayback machine copies. A new forum can be found here.

Hardware > GBA Link Cable Wire Color Codes

#174913 - cjmaynard - Mon Aug 02, 2010 8:05 pm

Hey everyone!

Well, I am both new here AND new to GBA hacking, but I am not a noob when it comes to Pro/Hobbyist forum boards and making sure I do some serious searching before I ask dumb questions :)

That in mind, I have searched here, Google, and everything in between and I still cannot find a satisfactory answer.

I figured since I am new to this particular hobby, I would start very simple, and just do the GBA GPS hack found here (I am sure you all know the one):

http://www.msh-tools.com/GBA/gbagps.html

I am using a MS-Branded Pharos GPS-500, and I figured the easiest thing I could do is just a cable hack between the GPS cable and a GBA Link Cable (in other words, no real hardware hacking yet!). The problem I have run across is trying to decipher which cable colors belong to which pins in the GBA link cable I have cannibalized.

I have found a few diagrams online, but they reference wire colors that do not match mine. My wires are colored:

Red
White
Yellow
Blue
Brown
Black

Whereas most things I find online mention a different scheme, including orange and green but lacking yellow and white.

I suppose I can always start testing the lines, but I figured if there was an existing knowledgebase I would just utilize it instead. Let's just say that hardware hacking is a new hobby for me, and I chose the GBA SP as a starting point because of how easily I can obtain replacements if I goof...but I am still proceeding with great caution with everything until I grow more comfortable with electronics in general (I am a bored 3D Animator by trade).

Any help here would be greatly appreciated, and if a topic or webpage exists on this subject, please feel free to provide me just a link - I do like researching and finding things out for myself whenever possible! This is just one of those things that maybe I am not searching properly for, but I been looking for two days now with no progress :(

Thanks in advance, and I hope to be able to share back to the community as soon as I am up-to-speed.

#174915 - dantheman - Tue Aug 03, 2010 3:03 am

I suspect every company that makes GBA cables does the colors differently. Honestly the easiest method would simply be to use a voltmeter set to a setting that beeps when the two leads are connected, poke one end in one of the six pins on the end of the cable, and the other to a random wire. Figure out which pins map to which colors.

The issue I had when trying my own mini project (connecting an SNES controller to the GBA link port) is that none of the cables I found had the right pins. Apparently only 4 pins are actually needed for 2-player gaming, so most cables you find won't have all 6. The ones I got from DealExtreme, a random one from Gamestop, the GBA-to-Gamecube cable, and my official Nintendo-brand link cable all only have 4 of the pins actually connected to wires, with the other pins either missing, tied to ground, or tied to another active pin. I eventually just gave up since the project wasn't all that interesting to begin with.

#174920 - cjmaynard - Tue Aug 03, 2010 2:00 pm

Thanks dantheman, that's what I'll do next!

I figured that would probably be the case, but a guy can hope, right?

Once I figure it out, I'll reply back to this thread so anyone else who discovers they have the same type of cable with the same colors can benefit from it :)

#174921 - gauauu - Tue Aug 03, 2010 3:53 pm

I had the same issue when doing some hardware hacking at one point. My colors were also different, but I just pulled up my notes, and they are different than yours also. So I'd just echo what dantheman said and get out your voltmeter/multimeter.

#175000 - cjmaynard - Sun Aug 15, 2010 12:01 am

Ok, it took me a while (my schedule is all wacked out), but I finally found my voltmeter and tested the cables.

As I recall, this cable end came from a 4-way link cable in the DreamGear 15-n-1 pack. If you have one of those, these colors should match up (but testing is probably not a bad idea anyway!).

Pin 1: Red
Pin 2: Black
Pin 3: Brown
Pin 4: Yellow
Pin 5: Blue
Pin 6: White

Thanks again to those who replied, and I hope this helps someone else out along the way :)

#175007 - wintermute - Sun Aug 15, 2010 11:05 am

The colors are irrelevant, use a meter. In a pinch you'll get by with a bulb, a battery & some wire.

Even cables from the same product can and do have different colors used.
_________________
devkitPro - professional toolchains at amateur prices
devkitPro IRC support
Personal Blog