My daughter and son share a Leapster handheld from Leapfrog and it’s always need calibration. I’m posting this so I would know to recalibrate it when it goes out of alignment.
| Question | |
| How can I calibrate the Leapster™ handheld? | |
 |
|
| Answer | |
| The following are instructions for calibrating the Leapster™ handheld.(1) Insert a cartridge, turn the unit on and wait for the sign-in screen to appear.(2) Hold down the Home, Hint and B buttons simultaneously.(3) When the screen changes, press the A button.(4) Using the Stylus, touch the center of the targets. |
Notes 
January 18, 2007 at 8:01 pm |
Thank you! We were going crazy with the Leapster not knowing where we were clicking! =)
January 21, 2007 at 2:46 pm |
I have the red older style Leapster and the screen needs recalibrating, but this doesn’t work. Does anyone know how to reset the older style?
January 24, 2007 at 12:14 am |
Hi, thank you so much. I kept the instructions, so I would know, but with Christmas and all the new stuff I can’t find them. So thank you so much for posting this so it could help so many of us.
Anna
January 30, 2007 at 3:31 pm |
Thanks for the instructions. Me and my daughter thank you! Peace.
February 9, 2007 at 8:47 pm |
Thanks this stopped my 5 yr old Daughter from driving me insane with “Mummy the shapes won’t pick up!” PS I have the “old red one” and this worked on it!
February 19, 2007 at 5:44 pm |
Thanxs 4 your note I have been trying to find it on leapster web site. lost the instructions ages ago & was trying to do it from memory!
February 27, 2007 at 10:24 pm |
Thanks so much for the information. I tried to calibrate my daughter’s L-Max with your instructions, but I was unable to complete it, I think. She has been complaining about not being able to choose options in the center of the screen with the stylus. When I attempted to touch the center target during calibration, it did not register the sensation of the pen. Has anyone encountered this problem? Maybe I’ll have to contact the company?
May 9, 2014 at 6:21 pm |
I have this same problem. Did you get yours resolved?
January 17, 2016 at 6:21 pm |
Mine won’t allow me to touch center target, did you find a fix to this problem?
September 30, 2016 at 2:11 am
Please did you ever figure out what was wrong? Because mine is doing the same thing
March 1, 2007 at 3:38 am |
Thanks, this works perfectly…saved me!
March 3, 2007 at 1:25 am |
We have an OLD first generation leapster, and the touch screen just quit working. (2003 model, has worked great up until about 1 month ago) I tried the calibration trick of holding down the 4 buttons, but it froze on the screen telling you to touch the center of the target, but never going on to show a target to touch. I flipped the unit over, took out the battery pack, and on the left side (viewed from the back) found a small black button. I pushed that, and put the battery pack back in. Everything works fine now that I turned it back on. Hopefully that will fix it for good! Just wanted to pass this along.
May 4, 2007 at 5:28 pm |
Hey Thanks! My daughter was loosing her mind because the princess wouldn’t dance the way she was supposed to even though she was doing it right with the pen 😉 You saved the day!
May 23, 2007 at 11:56 pm |
Leapster L-Max recalibrates differently. I was trying to use the instructions and it kept asking for a blue button. For the Leapster L-Max push B, A, Hint, and Home when you turn it on. Do not have a cartridge in the player or it will think it is a regular Leapster. Once it says calibrate screen it will say to press A, then wait until a target appears in the upper left hand corner, touch it and you should hear a sound, then a new target appears in the lower left hand, repeat actions, then lower right hand screen, and finally the upper right hand screen. If it stops at any time and doesn’t get more arrows, try it again or turn it off and see if the pen works. It took several times but I think ours is finally working again.
Thanks, everyone, for your tips.
June 17, 2007 at 4:07 am |
I also have the older version Leapster. I found that if I put in a cartridge, the trick would not work. However, if I left out the cartridge and pushed “Home” “Hint” and “B” buttons, it asked my to push “A” and then to touch center of various circles. It worked! Thanks for posting the tip. It was really getting frustrating for the kids but I didn’t want to throw it away.
July 2, 2007 at 2:42 pm |
Thanks for the invaluable resource here. I first tried the three-finger salute (Home+Hint+B, then A), but the screen still would not respond. I tried the black button on the bottom, then retried the three-fingered salute, but it STILL would not respond. . . . . . Finally, I called tech support with the unit in the unresponsive state. As I was explaining my situation, the unit somehow FINALLY allowed be to calibrate it! MORAL: Be patient and try a few times before calling up tech support.
July 8, 2007 at 8:31 pm |
Everytime I do this – I always tell myself, “I won’t forget how to do this NEXT time,” but I always do. Thank you for posting this.
August 9, 2007 at 3:48 am |
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September 18, 2007 at 10:35 am |
Thanks sooooooo much! Saved our little boy (and Mummy!) from loads of frustration.
September 26, 2007 at 12:00 am |
Thank you so much for posting this. My daughters leapster needed to be recalibrated, and I actually found the manual. But, the manual says to press the little blue button (b button), hint, and pause buttons. Which I did and did and did, and it didn’t work. Your way worked great, how does leapster get a way with screwing that up in the manual, I would have never figured it out. Thanks.
October 23, 2007 at 2:18 am |
I tried to recalibrate my daughter’s Leapster using your directions, and everything went well until I got the message, “touch the center of the target”. A target never appears! There is nothing to touch and I have tried touching the screen with the pen, but nothing. any more suggestions?
October 24, 2007 at 2:17 am |
Works like a charm – we have a red leapster and my 3 yr old was so frustrated. thanks!!
November 18, 2007 at 3:37 pm |
We tried this with our old red leapster and when it didn’t work, I called Leapster and they told me to mail it to them and we received a new one within 10 days. Our red one was a couple of years old at the time! Leapster’s service was great. In my opinion, if you’ve got a Leapster that doesn’t work, give the customer service a call.
November 21, 2007 at 1:12 am |
This is sooo aggrivating! The screen on the leapster will not work. I called tech. support and they couldn’t really help. Just told me to send them the unit and they’d send another, but I’d rather just fix this one. Tried the calibration technique. No good. Get to the second target and I get nothing. So… I guess I’m sending it back.
November 25, 2007 at 12:24 am |
Worked perfectly well for me – thanks so much as we have had this problem for a couple years and have just avoided using the games with the stylus. Now I will go out and purchase some new games! Btw, we have the old red one as well – the instructions didn’t work with a cartridge, but did without and just using the game that comes integrated with the Leapster!
December 2, 2007 at 2:25 pm |
Thank you so much. I’ve come here several times to recalibrate; HOWEVER, I think I have a different problem this time. We have the new version (L-Max) and the screen is not responding AT ALL to the pen. Does anyone have experience with this? Thank you!
December 25, 2007 at 7:35 pm |
mine wont turn on any help would be great.just got it today
December 26, 2007 at 1:44 am |
Santa just brought a L-Max (pink w/puple back) to my daughter. It worked out of the box and then the screen stopped working. After close inspection there was a piece of debris pressed between the screen and the underside of the case near the outer perimeter (maybe styrofoam). It appears the screen was constantly being pressed down by the debris. I took a small instrument and removed it without scratching the screen, flipped it over and it worked fine. I think the design could have a better seal around the screen edge, but for 65 bucks its an awsome educational value.
January 6, 2008 at 6:39 pm |
This worked with my pink Lmax, thank you so much!
January 13, 2008 at 5:36 am |
my son just got the l-max leapster for his birthday, and the screen is not responding to ANYTHING, i tried the recalibrating it, but the target never shows up..can someone please help me with this..
THANK YOU
January 14, 2008 at 2:12 pm |
During the calibration of my son’s Leapster, it goes to all four corners and beeps on each one. Finally there is a target in the center. When I touch it, there is no sound, but the target moves back to the original corner and seems to want to start over. Is this how it is supposed to respond?
January 21, 2008 at 3:38 am |
I have similiar issue that Davis has. L-Max that does not respond to the center cross-hair. The 4 corners work like I would expect, but once it goes to the center, it just wont respond.
January 21, 2008 at 2:31 pm |
I am having the same problem as David. Once going to all four corners and then to the center, it goes back to the original corner and it justs keeps going through this cycle. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
January 21, 2008 at 11:19 pm |
I had the same problem on my daughter’s l-max that I would press the corners and then it would go to the middle, wouldn’t sound, and then back to the upper left hand corner. I tried pressing B as I was doing it and it worked! Calibrated wonderfully! Hope this helps.
January 24, 2008 at 2:18 am |
I have an older red leapter that I’m having problems with too. The center target just won’t respond. I just email tech support, so I’m hoping they will be able to help me. My 3 yr old is so sad without his leapster!
January 24, 2008 at 5:45 pm |
Having no luck calibrating my sons leapster,same problem as many others with the centre target,it just wont beep and it goes straight back to the first target.I’ve tried pressing many combinations of buttons whilst attempting calibration but to no avail.Nightmare.I’m now going to contact leapster for a replacement.Wish me luck,will let you know how i get on,and long it takes.
January 24, 2008 at 7:57 pm |
Well I called and they just told me to use my finger on the center target. It worked. She told me I’m going to need a new pen but they don’t have the same model in stock anymore. I’m wondering if I can just get it replaced. My son’s are now fighting over the L-max since the pen works on that one.
January 4, 2015 at 3:55 pm |
This worked for me.
January 25, 2008 at 11:53 pm |
we got two leapster lmax and the screen does not work i called tech support because it was not even a month old and they are sending me shipping labels to return the product. i wished there was a reset button on it . we got them dec 2 2007 at circuit city ,i tried returning them there but they wouldn’t take it back because it was more than 30 days, i tried to explain that they were christmas presents and were not opened till dec 25 so needless to say i will not buy anything else from there.
January 26, 2008 at 1:07 pm |
Thank you so much for post the directions. You saved me alot of time, and I really needed that today. so thank you agian.
January 28, 2008 at 1:44 am |
Thanks for everyone’s entries. Our Leapster will not calibrate It is a new one (pink and purple). The sylus worked the first day. The support is NOT 24/7 as stated. There is no black reset button under the battery cover. The calibration screen will come up and ask you to press A but then nothing happens. There is just a screen that says to “Touch the center of the target” with no target. No matter where I press nothing happens. Also the calibration screen does not come up if you have a cartridge in as stated in the posts. (Ours will only appear without a cartridge). It appears that our only hope is the support and a replacement. From the posts it appears that this is not just a problem with a handful of customers, but quite a few.
February 2, 2008 at 7:09 pm |
I couldn’t calibrate with a cartridge, but it worked without one. Thanks!
February 10, 2008 at 10:53 pm |
My Daughters Leapster has lines on the screen and we can’t get them to go away..
March 8, 2008 at 4:19 pm |
i’ve tryed everything and it still wont calibrat at all what do i do?
March 25, 2008 at 10:21 pm |
The leapster that was purchased at Christmas won’t come on. We have changes batteries, but still don’t get any response.
Please help
March 26, 2008 at 11:19 pm |
One thing to note – as the Leapster gets older, dirt, crumbs and other grime will make its way into the corners and sides of the touchscreen. It gets wedged in-between the casing and the touchscreen.
When this happens, the touchscreen will act strangely, such as registering taps only on one side of the screen, or refusing to detect any movement/taps unless a certain ares of the touchscreen is held down. (When this happens, you will often hear the sound of the tap/press, but nothing will react on-screen, i.e. buttons will not work even though you can hear the tap sound.)
To resolve this, take a piece of paper, fold it in half and then use a corner of this folded paper to sweep between the edges and corners of the touchscreen and the case. You should be able to push in a little less than 1/4 of an inch with the paper safely. You will feel small blockages, but these likely are the aforementioned grime and can safely be forced away using the paper.
After doing this, the touchscreen should work correctly again.
-=- James.
April 5, 2008 at 4:53 am |
Screen not responding? The answer for me was a VERY TINY piece of debris….perhaps a siver of a Cheerio?….sitting between the frame and the screen. A quick sweep with a paper clip and we were back in business. Whew!
April 7, 2008 at 6:36 pm |
Thanks sooo much. I gave a hand me down Leapster to my daughter as a birthday gift and it wasn’t working. I was looking for a manual online and came across this and now it is working great. I recalibrated and also cleaned between the screen. Thanks again!!!
April 18, 2008 at 10:01 pm |
I found that if I put in a cartridge, the trick would not work. I left out the cartridge and pushed “Home” “Hint” and “B” buttons, it asked my to push “A” and then to touch center of various circles. It worked! Thanks goodness because I was trying to track down the reciept and box so I could take it back!
April 26, 2008 at 2:04 pm |
Hi. We just received a used “Batman Multiply, Divide and Conquer” cartridge, with no instructions. We cannot figure out how to get past the “Training” section. Does anyone know how to do that or know where I can find out? Thanks!
June 5, 2008 at 10:16 pm |
Well, I just got off the phone with customer support. They treid the finger trick as well and it did not work. They offered to sell me a new one for 50% off. The tech lady however said the new Leapster 2 is coming out on July 1 and it will be a lot better. It will play all the old games as well. I think I can wait a month and just go with that.
June 7, 2008 at 5:01 pm |
I bought my leapster lmax on ebay which I wish I hadnt of because I can get one brand new for my hastle I am going through. I am also having trouble with my screen I tried these combinations and my center dot will not make sound or change the screen . Now waht do I do ? I dont have an information as to how to reach the tech support ppl for this game ither and would love some help. anyone?
June 23, 2008 at 11:04 pm |
Does anyone know how to reset a leapster? My daughter has one and it completely stopped working.
July 14, 2008 at 11:53 am |
THANK YOU!!! I kept telling my dh that there has to be a way to recalibrate the screen 🙂 Thankfully, my kids “understood” and were playing games recently that didn’t require the pen or at least not the pen use for “details” 🙂
August 9, 2008 at 12:18 am |
I bought a Leapster 2 from a Garage Sale, person said her child did not like it. She could not find the directions. When I turned it on there were names on the 1st sign in screen. How do you change them?
August 14, 2008 at 7:26 pm |
You can not change the original games that come on the leapster…However you can buy games…check ebay out.
August 21, 2008 at 11:54 pm |
in the battery area, there is a little hole about 1/8″ dia and ther is a little black reset button.
not sure but you may try that
September 3, 2008 at 3:43 am |
Hi everyone,
I have the same problem as David. My child owns the Pink Leapster. I got to the calibrating part by pressing the buttons, no problem and the four corners are working fine with the beep and all. But when I got to the center one, it does not respond nor beep. It automatically goes back to the top left corner. Tried many times, did the sweep between the frame and screen, tried calibrating the center targert with my finger as well as pressing the B button while I calibrate with the stylus. Nothing works!! Anymore suggestions? Thanks!!
September 16, 2008 at 3:13 am |
megan: i have the same problem. here’s my solution… get the leapster 2. i’ve given up on the l-max. it doesn’t even turn on anymore. ugh! let’s just move on.
September 22, 2008 at 3:17 pm |
Can you tell me what to do when the screen goes white. I can hear it, touch the screen and tell it is doing things but not see anything. I have tried messing with the contrast and brightness, but nothing. My daughter has only had this game for two days…..help me!!!!
September 28, 2008 at 6:34 pm |
My son has the grey and blue leapster. Taking out the cartrage and following the steps did the trick. I am glad this was here
October 10, 2008 at 7:46 pm |
We have the 2003 blue/gray leapster. None of these options worked…UNTIL I replaced the game cartidge with a different game. (Something I learned when the same thing happened with the GameBoy Advanced consoles). Apparently it went bad and caused the Leapster to malfunction. The unit cannot be recalibrated withiut a cartidge loaded for this model (like the newer units). Once I reset the black button (under the battery chamber top-left side), I loaded a different cartridge, powered it up, waited for the names/opt menu prompt, hit the HOME-HINT-B buttons down until the calibration text appeared, execute the calibrations and voila…it works poyfectly now…the “bad” cartridge was unsalvagable…but I can live with that. Too bad I can’t have THAT replaced by Customer Service!! :^) I have had this Leapster unit for 5 years and it ROCKS! Great product!
October 10, 2008 at 7:48 pm |
We have the 2003 blue/gray leapster. None of these options worked…UNTIL I replaced the game cartidge with a different game. (Something I learned when the same thing happened with the GameBoy Advanced consoles). Apparently it went bad and caused the Leapster to malfunction. The unit cannot be recalibrated without a cartidge loaded for this model (like the newer units). Once I reset the black button (under the battery chamber top-left side), I loaded a different cartridge, powered it up, waited for the names/opt menu prompt, hit the HOME-HINT-B buttons down until the calibration text appeared, execute the calibrations and voila…it works poyfectly now…the “bad” cartridge was unsalvagable…but I can live with that. Too bad I can’t have THAT replaced by Customer Service!! :^) I have had this Leapster unit for 5 years and it ROCKS! Great product!
October 25, 2008 at 8:21 pm |
Thanks so much to everyone with the great tips. Our screen stopped responding and we thought it was a bad pen. I was told I’d have to wait 90 days for a new pen. But, using advice from this page, I cleared out the crumbs and debris from under the edges of the screen very carefully with a small paperclip, and whalla! Everything worked perfectly again. Just for good measure, I calibrated the screen as well. Now, after two months of collecting dust, our L-max is once again being used by our very excited son. Thanks everyone!
October 28, 2008 at 1:14 am |
Just wanted to thank the post which recommended unscrewing the entire unit and cleaning the screen. I was unable to get a response from the stylust any other ways and Leapfrog customer service was not of any help.
When taking it apart take you time, and remember where all the screws belong. There are a few thin wire which fold out just enough to be able to complete the task.
Thanks you again, as without the stylist the toy is useless. (BY the way this was leapster blue and gray a black reset button)
October 29, 2008 at 5:31 am |
We have the older blue/grey leapster with the reset button. The touch screen stopped working. Doing the “3 finger salute” started the calibration routine, but the target never appeared, and the touch screen remained unresponsive. Pushing the reset button did nothing. Cleaned the crumbs out of the edge of the screen. Nothing.
Then I remembered something about using the original “Learning with Leap” cartridge that came with the game. Aparently the calibration routine is different from the one in the newer cartridge that I was using (Learning with Leap said “big blue button”; new cartridge said “A Button”.) Anyway, using the Learning with Leap cartridge did the trick! It’s working again!
November 2, 2008 at 11:26 pm |
I have the pink leapster learning center system. I bought 3 of these the same year, 2006. The 2 green ones work, the pink is completely unresponsive. I’ve hit the black button, done the 3 finger thing, cleaned the crumbs, cleaned the battery compartment, stood on my head and yet still nothing. I’ve also read every post above, and they are GREAT suggestions. So, who’s got a phone # for me?
Thanks!!!
November 7, 2008 at 9:10 pm |
same problem as everyone else – the touchscreen doesn’t
work in spots, and hte middle calibrate touch part would never
register.
tech support was fairly useless, said they dont repair older
units, which basically leaves me SOL. she did offer a 10%
coupon, but am unsure if i want to spend more money on
anything made by leapfrog to tell the truth.
i tried cleaning hte screen and i took the unit apart and did
a major clean on the screen, but it still didn’t do anything. since
so many folks reported this problem i’m guessing its a flaw
in the design or the build and there isn’t much we can do.
well, lesson learned i guess…
-hoss
November 12, 2008 at 2:58 pm |
Thanks! This helped us a lot!
November 17, 2008 at 11:34 pm |
The home button is mstuck, anyone knows how to clean it?
November 19, 2008 at 1:26 am |
Has anyone taken apart the unit to look at whatever is under the frame border? I’m wondering if there is a crumb in there that I cannot get out. I’d like to take it apart and have a look without busting up my kid’s leapster.
Any advice would be welcome.
November 19, 2008 at 4:20 pm |
We’d just like to say thanks for this information, we had a leapster booklet but its lost now. Mum searched the web and we found this a big help yeahhhhh!!!!!
November 21, 2008 at 9:00 pm |
Thank you for this blog post! Each of our girls has a leapster and it has been nothing but problems since one of the screens went out of calibration. Thank you so much!
November 22, 2008 at 3:26 pm |
JOSIE – Use rubbing alcohol and a Qi-Tip… Rubbing alcohol iwll notharm electronics and will clean the button.
December 9, 2008 at 4:08 am |
here is a calib method for leapster 2:
Question
Why doesn;t my Leapster2 respond to the stylus pen?
Answer
If your Leapster2 does not respond to the stylus pen, it needs to be calibrated. Calibrating the Leapster2 is easy:
1) Ensure that a cartridge is not inserted
2) Hold down the Hint button while turning the unit on
3) When the LEAPSTER menu screen appears, press the A button
4) Touch each of the crosshairs that appear with the stylus
5) Restart unit
December 15, 2008 at 7:30 pm |
Hi – How Do I remove all the DATA from it? It has alot of names and we no longer need them? It (manual) says PRESS the “X” button to delete a game however we dont see one? Would only like 1 name in the menu not 3….
December 21, 2008 at 3:51 am |
I have tried to calibrate my daughter L-max pink/purple leapster for hours now. It will do the frame quick, but the center one don’t beep to say it’s calibrated. I tried the carterage trick and the finger trick. But the center point doesn’t respond. Is this calibrated or do we still have the problem. My daughter loves this game and We’ve got every game for it so I loved to get it working again.
December 23, 2008 at 8:28 am |
Thank you for that cleaning tip! I had to sweep three times, and when I did the Home+Hint+B button recalibration finally showed a target to tap. My kids’ Leapster (from 2005 I think) now finally works again!
December 23, 2008 at 5:42 pm |
Thrilled to find these suggestions. I will remember that debris can be an issue, but for now the calibration seems to have helped. Thank you SO much!
December 26, 2008 at 9:30 pm |
Wow, I wish I would have started at the bottom of these posts! My son has the Leapster 2 and screen stopped responding. I finally got to the “How to calibrate the Leapster 2” post and it worked! Woo hoo! Now he can play all his new games from Santa… Thanks for the info Kannan!
December 31, 2008 at 5:41 am |
Thanks for posting the leapster 2 calibration. I have had to calibrate my son’s 4 times since getting it new in September. I lost the instructions this go around and completely forgot how to do it. Thanks again Kannan you saved the day!
January 3, 2009 at 4:29 pm |
Thank you for info on leapster 2 calibration, worked for us!
January 3, 2009 at 4:58 pm |
Our leapster 2 was only a few days old, bought in the Woolworth closing down sales and thus taking it back was impossible. Could not get past the select your name screen. The instructions for calibrating the screen sorted it out -great and thanks!
January 5, 2009 at 12:50 am |
I have an old red/gray 2003 leapster that won’t turn on. I have tried new batteries, plugging the 9V adapter plug directly into the console, and using the left side reset button under the battery compartment. Any suggestions. Thanks!
January 5, 2009 at 6:50 am |
Holding the hint and starting the Leapster does the same as the home hint and b button trick. I also have a center point problem. It is like there is a 1″ box in the center on the screen that won’t read when calibrating the screen.
January 11, 2009 at 4:19 pm |
Wow. Thank you Kannan! My daughter’s Leapster 2 stopped working 3 weeks after she got it for Christmas. It was almost impossible to find help for the Leapster 2. I recommend everyone take a Sharpie and write those directions inside the unit behind the batteries so you won’t forget. Thanks again!!!
January 22, 2009 at 3:59 am |
Our daughter’s pink/purple leapster does not have any sound. We’ve put in new batteries and made sure the sound/music note feature is turned on. The stylus pen and touch screen seem to be working fine…does anyone know if calibrating the leapster will fix our no sound problem? Thank you!!
January 25, 2009 at 9:22 am |
Thanks Kannan, I was getting frustrated trying to calibrate my daughter’s Leapster2 which was her christmas present. Your instructions solved the issue.
February 16, 2009 at 7:30 pm |
Thank you Kannan, you saved us from huge problems with our 3 year old being unable to use his favourite toy.
Thanks again.
February 17, 2009 at 1:22 pm |
Thank you so much for posting this. I’m trying to calibrate my son’s Leapster (it’s the green and gray one, not the Leapster2 or the LMax) and I’m having a problem. I can touch the first 4 targets with no problem (in the corners) but when the center one comes up (it’s the 5th one), I touch it and nothing happens. Any idea why? I can’t get it to recognize the last touch!
Thanks!
February 18, 2009 at 1:04 am |
We’ve got the red and gray LMAX and are still having trouble with the center target- there is no response. I’ve blown canned air all around, swept the lip between the screen and case with paper corners, and no joy. There is no reset button under the batteries. I am particularly annoyed since I just got the Recharging System and we have many leapster games. I have two others but had hoped to fix this one since it is our only LMAX. Customer Service was MOST unresponsive- I was very unhappy as I have made numerous purchases directly from them and have several other toys made by them as well. GRRRRR!
Patty N.
March 2, 2009 at 2:29 am |
For Newer Leapster 2 Calibration:
If your Leapster2 does not respond to the stylus pen, it needs to be calibrated. Calibrating the Leapster2 is easy:
1) Ensure that a cartridge is not inserted
2) Hold down the Hint button while turning the unit on
3) When the LEAPSTER menu screen appears, press the A button
4) Touch each of the crosshairs that appear with the stylus
5) Restart unit
March 27, 2009 at 12:40 am |
Hi ,
I was going to order a new stylus, all calibration tech failed when i read abt the screen cleaning with paper technie. It really works like a charm. Many thanks to you for bringing back joy to my kids…
April 1, 2009 at 3:34 am |
I cannot touch the center of the target with my pen sometimes do you know why?
April 7, 2009 at 4:13 am |
Same darn problem, pen stopped working. Tried to calibrate but couldn’t get the target to show up. Tried a paper clip along the edges that got the target to show up but when I tapped the target nothing happened. Then I tried the thick paper along the inside of the screen to clear out the gunga and viola! Worked like a charm and I have a happy 5 year old! Thanks everyone!
April 8, 2009 at 1:51 pm |
I can’t touch the center target either. Calibration doesn’t work unless you touch all of the targets.
May 22, 2009 at 12:33 am |
The sound on my son’s Leapster 2 stopped working this week. I called tech support, they asked me to put in headphones to see if the sound worked on the headphones, it did. They then said to try rotating the plug for the headphones 360 degrees to see if that would jump start the sound. It didn’t, so they told me to send it in and they’d give me a new one.
June 12, 2009 at 3:34 am |
thank you so much kannan, your instructions were perfect for the leapster 2 wish they were closer to the top of the screen would have saved me some time messing with the other leapster instructions. my 4 year old is one happy camper
August 4, 2009 at 1:16 pm |
The reset button on the old units is actually on the circuit board, accessible via a hole in the case under the left hand battery well.
August 6, 2009 at 4:52 am |
Thank you very much. you saved me!!! My daughter said tanks. bye!!!
August 6, 2009 at 3:38 pm |
Thank you so very much! My son and I were able to re-calibrate our Leapster with the instructions you gave!!!
August 30, 2009 at 3:59 pm |
you rock your a rock start.!!!!
kid now happy again.!
😉
September 6, 2009 at 3:47 am |
I just bought a used leapster (gray and blue) 2003 model (#20200) It is not responding to the reset commands. I do not have the original game cartridge- does it have to have one to recalibrate. I pushed the tiny black reset button under the battery on the left side and that did nothing to help either. Any suggestions?
September 10, 2009 at 1:56 am |
Thanks Kannan – would add (for people like me who need extra-detailed instructions 🙂 ) you should press the hint button and hold, THEN turn the leapster on, and it will bring up the menu. I was turning it on and shortly after pressing the hint button, and that wasn’t working. THANKS!!
September 12, 2009 at 5:38 pm |
Thank you for your directions. It took me a couple of tries but it’s working. You were on point with the directions. My 4 year old will be very HAPPY when she comes in and finds that it works. Thanks
September 13, 2009 at 2:17 pm |
i tried and it didn’t work
September 22, 2009 at 6:11 pm |
Thanks AGAIN! I look this page up each time the leapsters needs a calibration (about once a year) and your post is always there for me!
October 5, 2009 at 2:12 am |
Thank you for this. One note – the first two game cartridges that I tried did not let me into calibration mode. The third cartridge did so you may have to try multiple games before the system will let you in. Thanks Again!
October 7, 2009 at 7:33 pm |
Here’s what you need if you have a LEAPSTER 2
Ensure NO GAME is in unit
Power Unit off
While turning Leapster 2 on, hold down HINT KEY. (Key in middle with question mark on left hand side)
Once unit switches to other menu, Hit A to begin calibrating.
Follow prompts with sylus pen to reprogram Stylus pen.
Once you are done it will return to original Calibrating Menu.
Power Unit off
Turn unit on with game inserted. Stylus pen should respond.
October 17, 2009 at 2:09 pm |
Thank you, Kannan! I was going nuts trying everything else! My boys are thrilled!
October 19, 2009 at 9:49 pm |
I tried to calibrate my son’s Leapster and it does not go to the target screen. I was told if you still touch those area’s it will recalibrate. Could someone tell me the order and area of the targets so I can try this??? PLEASE!
October 26, 2009 at 2:14 pm |
I have tried many times to hit the hint and a buttons, or the hint home and b.. none of these are working? It just keeps saying “if you see your name, touch it with a pen.” Any other ideas? This is getting very old! Thanks for any help!
October 26, 2009 at 2:20 pm |
Nevermind, it is finally working! I made the mistake of hitting the hit key AFTER I had turned the device on. So if there are any other goobers like me, press the hint key BEFORE you hit the power on button!
October 30, 2009 at 6:31 pm |
Thank you. I followed your instructions to the letter and it worked like a charm. Needless to say, we now have a much happier child on our hands.
November 2, 2009 at 2:12 am |
If you are trying this with the L-Max make sure the unit does NOT have a cartridge inside.
turn on the unit and wait till you see the 3 circles (games)
hit home, hint and B at the same time and hold.
The system will ask you to press A
then hit the targets with your pen.
Pretty much same as above but with out a game inside.
November 20, 2009 at 3:44 pm |
Have a Leapster 2. Tried calibrations but it did not work. I looked under the gap between the screen and outer case and found a cookie crum jamed in there that was creating a contact so the stylus would not work. Had to get a pin to pry it out. Once I did that everything worked fine.
November 23, 2009 at 12:13 am |
does anyone know how to sort out the center target problemm the screen freezes and the pen just wont register, there must be a solution!! HELP!
November 24, 2009 at 6:36 pm |
Just want to thank the kind folks who have contributed to this site with their suggestions on how to fix the Leapster. Me and my daughter have the Leapster 1 which we bought from a thrift store, and then I got the Learning with Leap game off eBay. Just in case anyone else is using the same model (Leapster 1 is the gray set with a blue rubber flip cover) – if calibration doesn’t work, either with (a) home+hint+B buttons depressed at the sign in page (b) powering up with the hint button depressed, then pressing A; or (c) pressing the little black button inside the left battery compartment, you really have to use the piece of paper to clean the gap between the screen and the silver frame on top of it (suggested by James R. Twine above). That was what saved our Leapster. Even after we got it working, I found that there’s still quite a bit of dirt especially at the bottom edge below the two small holes for the flip cover to latch onto. Once cleaned, the pen became more responsive and my kid could draw better with it too. The thing I wanted to add to this website is to clean your screen while holding the Leapster upside down. That way, any dirt that has been scraped out with the piece of paper is likely to fall downwards and away from the Leapster. Because the dirt can be very small and light. That’s all from me, this page is an excellent resource for parents!
November 24, 2009 at 6:39 pm |
look at us, we love our kids so much we’ve become leapster mechanics LOL
November 27, 2009 at 5:38 pm |
I tried this over and over both with a cartridge and without (we have the original, older leapster) and it did not work. Just before I was about to give up, I tried using a different cartridge (Sponge bob to be exact). It worked on the first try. Thanks so much for this post!
November 29, 2009 at 3:15 pm |
We’ve been using not so nice words about my sons Leapster L-Max for months….this has saved the day!! And saved the game from being tossed out the window. I followed the steps to a T and they worked fine. Thank you so much for posting them, you really made a little boy very happy to have his game back. Wish I looked sooner.
December 7, 2009 at 4:11 am |
To add to YJ’s instructions, I did and still my leapster would not show the targets just the “touch targets” instruction. I had to open up the leapster (6 screws), then remove the 4 silver screws which loosens the screen enough to remove all the trapped crumbs. That did the trick. Also the targets are each corner starting at top left going counter clockwise then the center. 5 targets total.
December 9, 2009 at 6:09 am |
I have similar issue with many of you have after select the 4 target and the 5 one wouldn’t work. However, i tried pressing the center of the 5 target just a little hard and hold it down for 5 seconds and it worked. Finally! Thanks all for your help
December 14, 2009 at 3:53 pm |
I tried all the “re-calibrate” methods listed for our pink/purple Leapster. After holding down the keys, it would change screens but no targets ever appeared. I was about to call tech support when I read James R. Twine’s suggestion of cleaning out under the edges with a piece of paper. It worked the first time- like someone else said- “why don’t I start reading these comments from the bottom up!?!?!”
December 20, 2009 at 8:14 pm |
I was in church this morning setting for the first service when I noticed the young daughter of one of the worship team members crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said her Leapster was not working. It was not responding to most commands. A quick Goggle search on my Blackberry and I found this page. It took all the hints (re-calibrate screen, touching the center target with my finger and using a piece of paper to clean out the edges) but I got it working again for her. Thanks to all your suggestions a little girl was made happy at 7:30am this Sunday morning. 🙂
December 20, 2009 at 8:15 pm |
I was in church this morning setting for the first service when I noticed the young daughter of one of the worship team members crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said her Leapster was not working. It was not responding to most commands. A quick Goggle search on my Blackberry and I found this page. It took all the hints (re-calibrate screen, touching the center target with my finger and using a piece of paper to clean out the edges) but I got it working again for her. Thanks to all your suggestions a sad little girl was made happy again at 7:30am this Sunday morning. 🙂
December 21, 2009 at 1:27 am |
Had the same problem as so many. We have a green 2003 Leapster. Great machine for years. I tried the “Home,” “Hint,” “B” calibration, but it wouldn’t bring up the X for screen calibration. Tried the wedge of paper under the edges of screen to clean out debris. I got some, but still didn’t get a response from the stylus or recalibration routine. Thinking there might be more under there, I used a dental cleaning pick and got a TON of gunk from under the screen edges in one swipe all the way around.
On restart, it accepted stylus input perfectly. Restarted again and calibration worked as well. I think the key for folks struggling with failed recalibration is debris under the screen edges.
Thanks to all for the ideas.
December 23, 2009 at 9:20 am |
Thanks for this web posting, having like most of you lost the instructions for our leapster 2 and a tantrum from a five yr old this has been a god sent. Thanks again and thank god for google.
December 24, 2009 at 5:42 pm |
this didn’t work for me, but the following did:
1) Ensure that a cartridge is not inserted
2) Hold down the Hint (?) button while turning the unit on. Continue to hold the Hint button down until the LEAPSTER menu appears.
3) When the LEAPSTER menu screen appears, press the A button
4) Touch each of the crosshairs that appear with the stylus
5) Restart unit
December 26, 2009 at 4:01 pm |
Santa purchased the Leapster L-Max on ebay for my daughter for Christmas. It worked great for about an hour and a half. Now the screen is completely yellow and stays that way continuously. I can hear what it is saying and it is talking like the game is working fine so I am assuming it is just a screen problem. I have tried all the tricks listed on this post and still nothing. There is absolutely nothing on the screen at all, it is just yellow. Any other advice is appreciated. Thanks!
December 26, 2009 at 5:23 pm |
I got the center calibration to finally work!
(Same problem that many have reported)
After the 4 corners, the center calibration point didn’t register. Instead of just a point, I “drew” small circles around and around the center target. I did this for about 3-5 seconds until it finally registered. I had to make the circles a little larger, but always well inside the target’s circle.
December 26, 2009 at 11:54 pm |
Stylus was not connecting to images on screen…i followed the “home,hint, B” instructions, but it only took WITHOUT a game in the leapster. i got to the point where it said “press button A.”….then, it said to hit center of target. As with many who have written in, there was never a target that showed up! I took the batteries out 5 times…there is no black reset button in battery compartment area. Nonetheless, i took a piece of paper and scraped under the screen a few times-without me using the stylus, little targets started showing up in the upper left corner, then bottom left, eventually hitting every corner. target appeared in the center of screen. the game made me do this sequence two more times, but then…IT WORKED!!! the stylus worked with the color corral game that was already installed. My child drew a few pictures there and then we shut it down and installed a game to to see if it would work!!– ALAS! it did. thanks to everyone for putting their experiences here…patience…patience…patience and a little bit of everyone’s ideas together! thanks!
December 27, 2009 at 12:31 am |
OMG thank you!!!! my friend sent me her son’s orginal leapster and told me it worked fine… but when we tried it out, the pen wouldn’t work!!! i was so bummed… then i found this post! the calibration didn’t work for me, but the black button sure did! my son is happier than a pig in poop – and so am I! =) THANK YOU!!!!!!
December 30, 2009 at 1:16 am |
Tried to callibrate without success. Everything marked goes to the opposite side of the screen. Just bought leapsters, charging stations, carry bags, and games for the grandchildren’s Christmas. Of course the original boxes and sales receipts went out with the Christmas garbage collection–only to discover that after 3 days of use the Leapster malfunctioned. So disappointed.
December 30, 2009 at 10:09 pm |
I have an old Leapster and once you push the Home, Hint and B button and then A and are sitting at the “hit target” screen – you must wait awhile before the targets finally come up. I was reading this list and must have left it at the mode for about 3-5 minutes when I heard it make a beep noise to indicate the targets were up. I was just getting ready to give up! Thanks for the help.
January 2, 2010 at 12:21 am |
some models recalibrate in this manner: hold down the “?” button while turning on, press “a” then touch the dots
January 17, 2010 at 8:29 pm |
Thank you !!! My friends kids don’t use their old leapsters anymore so she gave them to me for my little kids to use but the screens wouldn’t work. I thought they were too old & was going to throw them away… I am so glad I saw this & tried it. I have the Blue/Silver Gray & also the Pink/Silver Gray leapsters. I did this w/o a game in it & now I don’t have to toss expensive toys in the trash. How awesome is that!!! Thank you!!!
January 18, 2010 at 11:42 pm |
Thanks for the posts, it helped me realize I am not alone. I am soooooo annoyed with the company. The Supervisor of customer service agreed that they are not standing by their product. Leapster L-max- it will not turn on and she said it can’t be fixed. What a shame that this is happening to so many people. Then they offer a 10% off coupon??? What is that???? It is not right that the product is flawed and they expect us to throw it out and buy a new one.
January 23, 2010 at 3:38 am |
I just received an L-Max 2003 Model 20200 (triangular shape, grey with blue buttons) as a hand-me-down and the pen was not working. Got on this page and tried every trick as I read a new one along and then again several times: the tri-button recalibration method, the reset button in the battery compartment, the finger touch, I’ve got to Summer 2008 postings, ready to give up and call customer service, and I try the finger again and it worked, the targets moved around as I used the pen. Don’t know which method worked though, but in the end the pen works. Try everything and be patient. Thanks to those who posted before.
January 23, 2010 at 3:52 am |
Wanna add some: to those that couldn’t find a black reset button in the battery compartment -take the cover off, and the battery is the black H shaped thingy immediately under the cover,it is not your regular “A” battery, and it comes off with some effort, it fits snug in the compartment. The button is on the left side looking from the back on the bottom of the battery groove.
January 30, 2010 at 3:02 am |
My son has the Leapster model that was out right before the Leapster2. For this one I had to boot without a cartridge (not holding any buttons down at boot). Wait until it shows the screen with the 3 circles. Then hold Home+Hint+B. You’ll get the calibration screen requesting you hit the ‘A’ button. After that you should see the targets appear, starting on the top left. For me, at first, no targets showed. I used the suggestion of folding a piece of paper in half and clearing out any crumbs stuck under the sides. Sure enough out of the 5 crumbs one of them was a small Doritos chip touching the screen. I removed that and the targets appeared.
Thank you for this post, my son’s going to feel like it’s Christmas morning tomorrow.
February 4, 2010 at 2:35 am |
I am about to give up on this Leapster. It’s the 2005 model. And even holding, or drawing little cirlces at the centre target does not work. The Leapster is clean, I cleaned the screen, no crumbs found. Centre target still doesn’t work, anymore suggestions?
February 12, 2010 at 2:41 pm |
I’ve got the L-Max and the center target is going out. I tried to tap the screen to get the center to register but it didn’t work. There isn’t gunk under the screen. I had to press and hold at the center target and it registered. It won’t be perfect, but hopefully it’ll hold my 6 yr old until his birthday in November when we can get him a DS.
February 23, 2010 at 7:54 am |
I think we have the L-Max model. It was a hand-me down and the screen stopped responding. Recalibrating with all methods wasn’t working. Cleaning around the screen wasn’t working. I tried everything else above and nothing worked. What finally worked was a can of compressed air sprayed into the crevices between the screen and body. Now it works.
March 4, 2010 at 3:34 pm |
Many, Many Thanks my granddaughters Leapster2 is now working again.
March 6, 2010 at 8:00 pm |
I love my Cricut expression! It has made my scrapbooking life SO much easier. I don’t own too many carts but my favorite is Paper Pups.
March 21, 2010 at 9:45 pm |
My sons Leapster would not let him select his name and I searched all the post did what everyone said and it did not work. I finally found the instructions, I did keep a set. to recalibrate Leapster2 hold down hint button while turning on, the the LEAPSTER menu screen appears (let go of the hint button) press the A button then touch each of the crossharis that appear on the screen. restart unit.
April 4, 2010 at 10:27 pm |
Thank you everyone! The pen wouldn’t draw in the right place – so our drawing programs couldn’t reach the edge of the screen. Try finishing a maze when you are estimating 1/4 inch left!! Our old pink/gray leapster required the 1-power on with no cartridge- holding down Home/Hint/B together. After it started blinking – then we could press A and find the center of the target points. All was OK.
Unfortunately – we had to do this again in about 15 minutes. I hope that is the end. It will have lasted through 2 kids and about 7 years. A great grandma gift!
April 5, 2010 at 4:16 am |
Thanks so much for this site. Lost my instructions and up until the post on the “How to recalibrate Leapster 2”, nothing worked. Now works like a charm.
April 10, 2010 at 6:11 pm |
Tried to recalibrate but didnt work. Pressed Hint, Home and B button but the screen doesnt change, just changes to the same background. I press A and nothing happens. This sucks. Seems to work for everyone else…
April 12, 2010 at 3:36 pm |
we have a leapster original 2007 model (green and grey) and a pink and purple leapster L-max – recently, both of them stopped playing cartridges except for the Cars Supercharged cartridge – all other games when inserted are not recognized by the leapsters. We got a new leapster and all the other games (we did not try the cars game) work just fine on it – I am thinking that the Cars game somehow messed up the computer in our two older leapsters – neither one have a reset button in the battery compartment – any suggestions?
April 17, 2010 at 5:43 pm |
CALIBRATION – summary of hints from here that eventually got our circa 2007 green leapster’s screen recalibrated – in no particular order: 1) “home+hint+B” to get started, 2) “A” button next, 3) cleaned dirt from the gap between the plastic and the screen all the way around with a toothpick (seemed to be the KEY ELEMENT to get everything else to work), 4) be patient and keep trying until you see the targets – the first one should appear in the top left corner while the text is still on the screen, 5) if it doesn’t work just right the first time try again, 6) unit should beep each time you press a target center. As Yoda might say “patience a virtue, is it not?”
April 18, 2010 at 11:32 pm |
My sister was driving me bonkers with the leapster!
April 29, 2010 at 3:53 pm |
Got it to work!!! Thank you for all the posts and info. Awesome!
July 17, 2010 at 10:24 pm |
this did not work.
July 18, 2010 at 2:27 am |
tried it. got to the calibration screen and it worked until we tried to push the middle target.
July 20, 2010 at 1:49 am |
I got a used leapster for my daughter, the orginal version. I, too, found that this process works without the cartridge.
July 23, 2010 at 4:51 am |
I thought that I tried all the things that were listed above and I was just about to give up when I thought that I would take the whole thing apart. I figured that it didnt work anyway and if I broke it, it would be ok. I cleaned around the screen, took ALL the sticky stuff off (which looked like it was supposed to be there…) Put it all back together and it works better than it did before!!!!! After a year of sitting on the shelf collecting dust my daughter can now play one of her 10 games!!! YEAH!!
This site rocks!!!!
July 26, 2010 at 2:56 am |
Thank u sooooo much!! Was going to toss it out and with just a few easy steps games works just like new. U rock!! X
August 6, 2010 at 11:37 pm |
Thank you so much! I found a Leapster for $7 at Goodwill brought it home and realized that it wasn’t working correctly. I googled problems and people mentioned this. It worked – woot!
August 13, 2010 at 6:33 pm |
I am so glad I found this site. It helped me recalibrate my son leapster after 4 months
August 15, 2010 at 8:44 am |
Thank you for posting this. Fix worked first time and so helpful as I’d lost the instructions. 4 yr old son now v happy again.
August 15, 2010 at 5:08 pm |
We have the OLD leapster with the pen not working at all and I was getting the same problem with the scren freezing for calibration and not getting the targets to show up – I did find the black reset button underneath the battery pack but that did not work – I was getting worried – then I tried opening up the entire leapster – took off the battery pack screws in the blue area then tried to take the silver part of the leapster case apart – 6 screws and underneath the battery pack there were 2 of those screws in the siver area. I looked at the area where the screen was – there were 4 small screws that held the screeen in and a orange strip of plastic with wires in it that seemed to be connected to it on the bottom left corner. I loosened the four screws a tiny bit and lightly touched the orange strip of plastic with the wires right where it seemed to go underneath the screen. Tightened the screen screws back up and put it all back together. PRESTO! Not sure why but it worked. I had been trying to fix this for several hours and it was my last resort. Hope this gives someone else the same relief that I got (a happy toddler)!
August 30, 2010 at 9:38 pm |
THANKS!!! I have tried forever to get my sons green Leapster to work. I would get the calibration screen to come up, but never any targets. Our unit also had no black button reset option. Our solution worked in that I performed the screen cleaning while the screen calibration option was active (the one saying to click on an invisible target). I used a business card that I cut in half, which allowed me to clean not just the sides, but also the corners. And Voila, the targets then popped up on the screen and I was able to complete calibration. Works perfect. I had searched Craigslist several times trying to find a replacement, but now I don’t one. This web site was a huge help!
October 15, 2010 at 8:15 pm |
Thank you so much. We were about to throw ours in the bin (we have 2!) but now they work againl.
We have the old style silver ones with the blue screen cover and it worked on these perfectly.
December 13, 2010 at 6:36 pm |
I also wish I had started at the bottom of the many posted comments. The first 40+ remedies did nowt to remedy the problem of my daughter’s Leapster (purchased in 2008 – Pink console) not permitting the pen to work. The post that finally nailed the problem of calibrating was what appeared to be the least likely solution: Power down, remove any game cartridge, power up whilst holding down the ‘Help’ button only – this then automatically presented the calibration screen and the rest is self explanatory. I suspect that each model/year of build has a different solution – all predictably time consuming and irritating, but at least my daughter is happy. Good luck.
December 13, 2010 at 8:40 pm |
I wish this site listed solutions from newest to oldest, but I got as many hints as needed. I couldn’t get the calibration screen to get targets to come up using B, Home & Hint, or adding the A button. I’ll have to try the help button lol Anyway, it turned out there was some food jammed between the console and the screen. Nice. Gotta love kids! It works great now and saved me from the guilt of throwing it away!
December 13, 2010 at 9:05 pm |
Try the business card method of cleaning that I suggested: (apologies in advance if you had tried that, but just thought I would mention it because nothing else worked for me and I think this is the only method that will clean the depths of the corners properly)
Our solution worked in that I performed the screen cleaning while the screen calibration option was active (the one saying to click on an invisible target). I used a business card that I cut in half, which allowed me to clean not just the sides, but also the corners. And Voila, the targets then popped up on the screen and I was able to complete calibration. Works perfect.
December 28, 2010 at 8:41 pm |
Question? On some of the games for the 1st Leapster when we put a game in it comes up with a Big Question Mark and won’t let you play the game? What does that mean?
January 1, 2011 at 5:01 pm |
I couldn’t get the calibration to come up. I had to use the procedure without a cartridge. I think the big question mark means the game is damaged and it can’t read it.
January 8, 2011 at 7:58 pm |
My daughters leapster original pink (not triangular) has lines in it is it broken???
January 29, 2011 at 12:47 pm |
well i tried everything that was posted on here and still ad no joy. i found this way worked for me.
1. no game cartridge in and unit turned off
2. turn unit on whilst holding down the hint key
3. press A and then using stylus press little circles that appear.
This worked for me straight away. i think it depends which leapster you ave.
February 18, 2011 at 12:47 am |
GGREAT!!! thank you very much. I fixed the problem!
March 29, 2011 at 4:44 pm |
Thank you so much! I had the kind that needed to have the ? button pressed while restarting. It worked like a charm! Thanks Catherine and Dee Dee for saving me some major bucks!
April 15, 2011 at 3:01 am |
I tried the “home”+”Hint”+”B” trick and it worked! Thank you.
May 7, 2011 at 2:24 am |
Another easy way to calibrate the Leapster 2 is just press the ? key and the power button.
June 1, 2011 at 9:55 pm |
[…] How to calibrate the Leapster handheld « Michael GobacoMy daughters leapster needed to be recalibrated, and I actually found the manual. But, the manual says to press the little blue button (b button), hint, and pause buttons. Which I did and did and did, and it didn’t work. […]
July 8, 2011 at 5:12 pm |
What if there is no cartridge to insert. All if my daughter’s games are downloads from the Leapster website through a USB port
August 20, 2011 at 1:20 am |
I have a yellow spot in the screen, how do I remove it have the blue/grey 2003 model
September 27, 2011 at 2:07 pm |
I had several to recalibrate and this worked for some. I recall that on one of them it took a while for the targets to show up. I have an older red leapster and the targets do not seem to be showing up. We’ll see if I can figure it out or if it is garbage.
September 27, 2011 at 2:57 pm |
Update on my lack of success with the older red leapster. It is a 2003 – so I may have to give up – but that would be too bad since the machine and screen are in EXCELLENT condition. I can get it to the calibration stage but the targets do not show up. I have tried the black reset button and have tried different combinations of pressing buttons. Any other suggestions?
September 27, 2011 at 3:04 pm |
UPDATE #3! Gosh, these things can be frustration but I got lucky! I tried a tip that I have seen before about using a toothpick to clean out crumbs around the edges of the screen. I did not see any crumbs, but I actually poked around with a steam knife edge and voila! The target quickly appeared and I was able to calibrate. I know have 5 working leapsters (3 kids). Time to post on kijiji!
October 10, 2011 at 5:07 pm |
Glad we found these suggestions, seems like everyone has a different technique that worked for them. We have the original Leapster model from 2003 that we bought used from Craigslist and the stylus stopped working, and my son got agitated with it. After some trial and error, we found that turning the unit on without a cartridge in, then pushing the home+hint+b button at once brought up the recalibration screen and then it worked fine from there. I also took a thin piece of paper and swept out the edges of the screen and removed a bunch of debris. Hope this helps others.
November 18, 2011 at 4:49 am |
FYI (and maybe someone else has said this – didn’t read every comment – if you have the explorer, it’s the left directional button rather than the home button, with help and B – otherwise it’s perfect! Oh, and I think I had to click one of the top buttons to get past the callibration icon (which I couldn’t clck with the stylus due to…well, the callbration being off 🙂 )
November 27, 2011 at 7:41 pm |
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August 25, 2012 at 8:22 pm |
Leapster Explorer screen is not responding to the stylus
Follow these steps to calibrate the touch screen:
-Begin with the Leapster Explorer POWERED OFF.
-Hold down the QUESTION MARK button
-Continue to hold the QUESTION MARK button and turn the unit on using the power button.
-Once the unit turns on and is on the CALIBRATION SCREEN you can let go on the QUESTION MARK button.
-Touch the crosshair icon with the stylus. A large crosshair icon will appear in the center of the screen.
-Touch this icon with the stylus and this will bring up the SCREEN CALIBRATION procedure.
-Touch each of the crosshairs (5 in all) with the stylus as they appear.
-Press the B button to exit as the calibration is completed.
August 31, 2012 at 8:52 pm |
I always used to study post in news papers but now as I am a
user of internet so from now I am using net for articles, thanks to web.
September 8, 2012 at 10:44 pm |
Thanks this stopped my 5 yr old Daughter from driving me insane with “Mummy the shapes won’t pick up!” PS I have the “old red one” and this worked on it!
September 13, 2012 at 4:58 am |
My four year old has the pink and purple model and like many others we have the problem with the centre target not working; all four corners respond, but when the centre pops up no amount of pressing, drawing circles, finger usage, or foul language seems to make it respond. I’ve taken it apart and cleaned it, I’ve restarted and tried again, I’ve tried both the ‘three-finger-salute’ and the ‘hold hint while restarting’ methods to get to (two different) touch calibration screens. Has anyone found a solution that worked for just the centre target? A particular wire that comes loose? A midnight ritual involving aquatic mammals and the spirit of Wlford Brimley? Lightning? Anything?
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December 10, 2012 at 2:50 pm |
I am having an issue where the Leapster will not turn on with a game in it and will shut itself off if a game is inserted. Do you have a fix for this?
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June 15, 2013 at 8:47 pm |
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August 10, 2014 at 4:40 am |
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April 16, 2016 at 7:28 am |
Could you show were home hint b button are on pink lepster leapfrog
August 8, 2016 at 2:19 am |
There’s probably nobody here at this point