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View Full Version : Virtual Boy on the Fritz - Advice Welcome



Jive3D
12-29-2004, 10:21 PM
I went home to visit the parents for the Holidays and pulled out some old systems. Got the Dreamcast, Snes, CD-i and Virtual Boy up and running.

Then it happened, the right eye view on the V-boy began to sporatically 'mess up' - that's the best way that I can describe it. It's not specific to any games either, happens no matter what. Sometimes when I turn the Vboy on, or sometime the flickering and statis (mostly looks like red lines) will just happen mid-game.

I've taken such good care of my Vboy and it really breaks my heart to see it having troubles like this. I keep it sealed in the Custom suitcase and all.

The only thing that I can think of that would cause this is that all of my games are stored in a closet that is not very warm. I figured that a Dark, DRY, cool place would be good. Though it gets a little colder than cool.

At first It happened as soon as I started playing after pulling it out of the cold closet, then I let it get to room temp and it didnt happen so much - then a few days later it began to happen again - and the room was cold, but not that cold.

First - is this a common problem with Vboy's messing up.
Second - does nintendo still do repairs? I figured I'd ask here first.
Third - Is the Vboy very sensitive to Cold temp?

I'm all woried and thinking about buying a new Vboy now... comments are weclome.

Happy New Year.

Jibbajaba
12-29-2004, 11:41 PM
The laser unit is no longer functioning properly. They are a snap to replace if you have a spare and the right tools. Just buy a VB head unit (Usually cheap since it doesnt include all the bells and whistles) and switch out the laser unit.

Chris

DogP
01-03-2005, 02:28 AM
Yup, it's very common, Yup, Nintendo still fixes them, and I'm not sure about the cold temp, but I do have a feeling that the temperature changes do affect it. If you can open it up, you can probably fix it yourself... what happens is the thin plastic cable going from the motherboard to the LED pulls away from the LED bar, causing the scrambled graphics. What you should do is just pull the connector out of the motherboard socket and put it back in, and then push the cable against the LED pcb with your finger to make sure it's making good contact. You may want to unscrew the PCB from the mirror assembly and wrap the connector with a piece of electrical tape to make sure it stays tight, but I'm not sure that it'll help.

DogP

Raedon
01-03-2005, 02:49 AM
Your biggest problem will be finding a security bit that fits all the way down in that hole. Also, a short fall off a desk will cause the LED's to go crazy.. It's not a very portable.. portable.

xghstst0riesx
01-03-2005, 03:53 AM
The exact same thing happened to me only a month or so after buying it. I'd fix it if I could get it open :/