Hello all,

I just joined the PVB community and it’s great to be here!

About a year ago I purchased a complete in box Virtual Boy that was basically never used. I thought to myself “All right! this is in amazing condition!” Then after a few months it got hit with the inevitable glitchy display problem.. I researched and attempted to permanently fix it myself using the soldering method, even though I have no soldering experience. Well, that ended up being a mistake. I was halfway successful as I got my display to somewhat come back on the lens that was having the issue. I went back to work on it some more and I ruined the cable.

So, I went out and purchased another virtual boy that has the glitchy display problem to be a ribbon cable donor for my main Virtual Boy and for whatever else may happen in the future.

I was led here from a website mentioning RunnerPack did the service, but I noticed from reading that he has retired from providing this service (I was too late! lol).

Anyways! I don’t want to lose more money by failing at the solder fix again. I don’t have the skill. My question is, is there anyone else that provide the soldering method repair service on here?

Thanks all, Have a good day!

Contact HP Lovethrash.

speedyink wrote:
Contact HP Lovethrash.

FTFY 😉

Welcome to the site, RotoMan!

If you are located in Europe or if HP cannot help out, just send me a PM.

Thanks guys for the fast response and warm welcome! I’m located in USA in Tennessee. I will try and contact HP Lovethrash.

I am very excited to get my Virtual Boy back up and running!

Thanks again, fellas! 🙂

RunnerPack wrote:

FTFY 😉

Welcome to the site, RotoMan!

Haha, was definitely a quick as I was leaving post. Thanks

Welcome to the site RotoMan, I love how it says you joined the site over 40 years ago! Oh glitches =P

I noticed that as well, haha! I forgot to ask.. has anybody has seen that before with new accounts? lol. I dunno what to do about it.

There is an Ebay seller that offers the service for $35 + $9 shipping. I am having him do a repair for one of my visors and will update on the result when I get it back.

I think HP lovethrash is cheaper if you are in the US and I am cheaper for sure. We both are known to repair reliably, is there any reason you want to try someone else?

While I’m not comfortable enough to repair another person’s VB, I did recently have to do this myself, and it’s not terribly difficult.

All you really need is a screwdriver, a gamebit, flux, and a soldering iron. The reason glitchy display is caused by the LED PCBs being connected by glue instead of a solid solder connection (probably one of Nintendo’s dumbest decisions). All that needs to be done is painting some flux over the pads and using a bit of solder to form solid, PERMANENT connections between the ribbon cable and the LED PCB.

The ribbon cable is fairly straightforward – it’s even possible to remove the cable entirely and solder in kynar wire – you just need to make sure that the contacts match up correctly.

Quite frankly, the hardest part is getting the VB taken apart – it’s a bit of a strange beast.

RotoMan wrote:
I noticed that as well, haha! I forgot to ask.. has anybody has seen that before with new accounts? lol. I dunno what to do about it.

How prescient of you to join this site a whole 25 years before the Virtual Boy came out.