Here’s some pictures of the patient, it’s terminal.

(screenshot brightness/contrast adjusted, I’ve never had to take a picture of a VB screen before)

I’ve been picking away at this VB on and off, hoping it isn’t actually as hard as it looks, but I give up now. First it was the disintegrating ribbon cable that I pitched out, then it was trying to hand wire the display to the main board, which is where I’ve reached my limit. Clearly the VB is well beyond my capabilities, and I’ve had to solder rather difficult things before. The above pictures were the best I could do, given the tools I have and the ridiculously tiny soldering required. I’m not even gonna try to solder to the other side, seems the ribbon cable has a nasty crease in it, it barely displays anything.

I don’t know what else to do at this point. Sell it for parts? Forget about it? I guess if I offered enough money, maybe someone on here could fix my Virtual Boy, but I doubt that, I’ve pretty much buggered this thing up permanently. I’d be surprised if anyone could fix it now. Well, I guess the right display is still fine, it’s the left one that’s been soldered to death. None of the traces burned but it’s a mess.

What do you guys think I should do now?

[TheForce81]

This is bad, nothing permanent and not really a fix. Sorry to say, but the problem will return, could take a year or two, but it unfortunately will happen.

Thanks for clearing up what he does to “repair” them. Too bad it cost you money to no avail.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by TheForce81.

Well it serves me right for going the cheapest route. My wife always tells me cheap people pay twice! If it reverts back to a bad picture, I’ll blame myself for not clarifying exactly what would be done to it before sending it in.

I’m thinking a heat gun was used too. The guy didn’t want to tell me this because it sounds so ridiculous. I’m gonna try to ask him what was done directly.. can’t hurt.

If it ever reverts back, and this person is nowhere to be found for the lifetime guarantee, I’ll prob try to solder it myself, or send it over to someone on here if they’re still doing the repairs.

Do you guys think this looks “pressed” compared to a brand new ribbon cable?

This is the area where the “glue” usually rises up and creates a bad connection between the ribbon cable copper, and the metal on the display chip?

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You know what, since you dared to experiment on the repairs and posting your findings here, which helps the community to know if there is another good method of repairing the displays and how, I am willing to repair them with the soldering method for free if you want me to.
You only have to pay for the shipping costs and if you send the displays without the head unit, that saves you a lot on shipping!

If you want to use my offer, just send me a PM and we will sort it out.

Hey TheForce81, thanks a lot for that offer. I would still pay you for your time of course. I finally have a working VB and I almost beat Wario Land for the first time last weekend. One level left.

I’ll play a few more games while its working, when I get a break with it, I’ll send you a PM and ask about your services. Thanks again for the generosity.

My VB that I decimated is finally fixed.

This is my first VB that I botched the surgery on, gave up, then came back tonight and found a short in the wires using a fluke multi-meter. It must have been a very small piece of metal, too hard for me to see. I scraped it out using an 18G piercing needle. I just played for about 10 mins and graphics are like new.

The red circles I put just to show how !@#%$ed this thing was in those spots.

My second VB was “fixed” by an ebay seller who claimed permanent repair. Well he used some trade secret of his, probably a heat method, and now I have scan lines again after a year. Take it from me – get it soldered.
Force, idk if you’re still active, so I asked HPlovetrash if he is interested in doing it… I did this Frankenstein job, but I’m smart enough to realize you guys are the real masters.

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Wow, that is one hell of a job well done lol!! I have been contemplating trying this with one of my VB’s and a couple of displays that were beyond repair.

What wire did you use? Kynar? And did you use an iron or a special soldering station that uses hot air?

I am still repairing VB displays by the way.

*I bow to you sirs* I don’t think I have quite enough soldering skill to do these repairs.

Thanks, but really I have no soldering skills either. If I did this, probably anybody can with enough patience. It looks terrible, but I played for another hour+ last night and no problems (Wario land).. I’m hoping this is it.

It took a lot of trial and error because sooo many times it would be glitching, and I’d take all the wires off and re-attach them.. then it would be good for 5 seconds, then glitch again.. or one eye would work, etc. If it was possible to easily short out the circuit or burn it, I def would have done it 10 times over.

I wish I knew the wire specs – I found a little spool of this stuff at my last job (french benefits!!), but really we would have never used it. It looks like the wire size is 0.5mm diameter, and it’s a silver metal. The first wire I tried was too big, and way too hard to attach to the board.

I had to rip off the top connector part where the “cardboard square” of the ribbon cable used to go in. The exposed pins were a lot easier to solder than onto the chip itself.

The soldering iron is a $10 radio shak. Apparently it works at 800 degrees – so prob why I burned up the original ribbon cable so badly.

Force – I’ll PM you now about your services.