Tried to fix a Virtual Boy with very glitchy displays. The one had no graphics, just red lines. The other had graphics but they were very faint, extremely hard to see. I got it open and tried to solder one of the display boards, left the other alone. I ruined the ribbon cable after a couple of attempts on it, then I tried soldering individual wires to the ribbon cable contacts and plugged the wires into the FFC socket on the main board.

Right now neither display shows any graphics at all. Absolutely nothing. The mirrors still oscillate and the sound still works. The display boards kind of got tossed around by accident as well. How dead is my Virtual Boy? How durable are the display boards? Should I bother doing the “bypass surgery” shown in that other thread?

If you’ve torched the connecting ribbon cable, you might consider the “bypass surgery”. The cables are too frail for the purpose they were built to fulfill, and even excessive flexing can render them inoperable due to the thickness (or lack thereof) of the copper leads. It’s far too delicate to actually repair by hand if broken.

Yes one of the ribbon cables is totaled. How creased does one ribbon cable have to get before it doesn’t work anymore?

What I’m trying to ask is how durable are the displays? And is it possible that the main board can be damaged in a way that it can’t output to the display boards? Should I bother attempting a bypass surgery on the one display to start? I don’t want to bother if the display boards can be damaged easily.

The thickness of the copper inside the flex cable is only so many micrometers, so whatever is necessary to worry a fracture in that is all it will take. Fortunately, *that* scenario isn’t likely to occur through normal use or typical repair handling.

The displays themselves are fairly durable. They don’t have any moving parts, and the most fragile components are encased in a clear plastic cover, so there’s little potential for damaging the display save for scratching that plastic cover.

There isn’t a lot of danger in damaging the mainboard or the display PCBs, unless you manage to shear off entire chunks or something. If you’re able to properly solder wires between the displays and the main board without attaching things incorrectly or making a blob that crosses wires, you should be able to restore the displays’ functionality permanently.

Just remember that the IPD adjustment will move the displays back and forth, so don’t use wires that are too short or that are so stiff they’ll break after repeated adjustments.

Thank you for the help, it encourages me to pick up this project again and wire up the displays “the hard way”, since there might be some guarantee the system is not totally screwed.

What I meant by main board damage is, can shorting lines somewhere on the display board connections, damage the main board in some way? Or no?

Also, can somebody show me specifically which traces have to be connected on the display board? And how they connect to the FFC connector on the main board? I just want to be sure. I think there are two traces that do the same function (probably ground). Also, it seems like there are three traces on each side of the display board edge that don’t do anything… Is this correct?

Keep in mind that the two boards are connected almost in parallel, with only one wire not shared between the two. Thus, if you have bridged pins on one, it will most likely affect the other display, even though that one is working perfectly. And, if that one separate wire is disconnected or shorted, it can cause either nothing to show up, or the display to mirror what the other is showing.

As an example of how much damage the connection can take and still be repaired, see the attached image. This is a “before” of a pair I received from another user who attempted the “mbuchman method”. I worked on the right PCB for a few minutes. So far, it produces an almost perfect display. There is a short between one or more of the BRTx lines which causes all red pixels to be full brightness, but it’s fine, otherwise. The one on the left might be fixable, but it’s going to take quite a bit of work (I’ll probably just try my hand at the “bypass” method).

SirGuntz wrote:
Thank you for the help, it encourages me to pick up this project again and wire up the displays “the hard way”, since there might be some guarantee the system is not totally screwed.

What I meant by main board damage is, can shorting lines somewhere on the display board connections, damage the main board in some way? Or no?

If you short VCC and ground, you could damage the voltage regulator, but if the mirrors and sound are working, this is not the case.

Also, can somebody show me specifically which traces have to be connected on the display board? And how they connect to the FFC connector on the main board? I just want to be sure. I think there are two traces that do the same function (probably ground). Also, it seems like there are three traces on each side of the display board edge that don’t do anything… Is this correct?

It’s just a straight-though, 1:1 cable. You’re right about the three extras on each end, and there are multiple wires for both VCC and ground. Also, I believe the outer two actual traces (i.e. the fourth from each side of the PCB) are some kind of shield. Probably best to connect everything, though.

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It sounds like you guys have information on the display pinout, may I have it if you do? I’d like to better understand what the signal lines do.

It’s encouraging to see these displays take that kind of “abuse” and still work. Perhaps my Virtual Boy can live again, if I can just dedicate several afternoons to soldering like… 62 wires… For both displays.

I think I see what I need to solder on the display board… But how does it go on the FFC connector at the main board? Do I just solder one wire for the two “double traces” which are probably ground or voltage? Do I just determine the wires needed on the display board by the number of contacts on the FFC connector?

(I don’t know what you guys call them, but technically the black ribbon cable connectors are for flat flex cables, FFC)

Again thanks for the words of encouragement and your answers to my questions, guys. If I get this Virtual Boy working, I intend to use it. I’ll celebrate with Wario Land.

Oh yeah I forgot to ask earlier… How many wires are required for one display? I counted 31, not sure if I included the “double traces” or not. I guess I should depend on the FFC connector for that haha, but I just want to be sure.