I’ve had the head unit a while and just got a controller with the AC connection in. I put in my japanese tetris to test it and there is nothing in either eye and no sound. I try to push Start, A, or all buttons and nothing happens.

For about 10 seconds when I first turned it on I got flashes of the warning screen in the left eye but after that it was gone for good. ever since then it was just been 100% blank and dark

I have heard if the issue was needing to heat/solder the 2 display ribbons that it would still have sound so This seems to be either a different problem, or a combination of problems.

I assume since the system turns on using the controller that means the controller works. is there any way to test to see if maybe the controller isn’t working? would the japanese tetris game go past the warning screen on its own or would I need to push A or start?

It sounds like a bigger problem than the glitchy displays, if it were only the displays not giving you any feedback, sound should have started to come out of the speakers after pressing start a few times.
Hard to say where the problem lies, but a good place to start is to be a bit more specific about the adapter used (voltage, DC/AC) which adapter tap you have, did you measure the adpater?

TheForce81 wrote:
It sounds like a bigger problem than the glitchy displays, if it were only the displays not giving you any feedback, sound should have started to come out of the speakers after pressing start a few times.
Hard to say where the problem lies, but a good place to start is to be a bit more specific about the adapter used (voltage, DC/AC) which adapter tap you have, did you measure the adapter?

I’m using the same AC adapter that I use for my SNES. it works fine for that. it’s a US official snes AC adapter.

I know the game boots because I can see the warning screen that looks just like the one I see when I emulated the game. Also I noticed in the emulator that the game never goes past it and makes no sound until you do get past it. this makes me thing there is a chance that the controller could not be working along with the usual display problem

Is there a way to use a multimeter to test and see if the controller is working?

I did get the warning screen to flash on the screen for a split second again about 10 mins ago btw

I am a bit confused, in the first post you said you once saw the warning screen flash and ever since then it was just been 100% blank and dark and now you state that you can see the warning screen? Which of these two is it, can you still see the warning screen when you turn it on, or did you only once see this happen?

I once have had a system where the mainboard froze up. Every once in a while I could quickly press start to get past the first warning screen, but never could get any farther than that. There the mainboard was the defect. Though there every time the warning screen did show the first boot.
If you get nothing now, then it could be something different entirely.

Did you try any other games? The problem might be the cartridge.

TheForce81 wrote:
I am a bit confused, in the first post you said you once saw the warning screen flash and ever since then it was just been 100% blank and dark and now you state that you can see the warning screen? Which of these two is it, can you still see the warning screen when you turn it on, or did you only once see this happen?

I once have had a system where the mainboard froze up. Every once in a while I could quickly press start to get past the first warning screen, but never could get any farther than that. There the mainboard was the defect. Though there every time the warning screen did show the first boot.
If you get nothing now, then it could be something different entirely.

I went and got Mario tennis today because I knew it played sound at the warning screen. Turning this on would actually play sound but then it seemed to crash very quickly. It would play a few notes of the warning screen then black out playing a single note non stop as if it froze. It did this 5 times in a row, then after removing the game and putting it back in many times it now doesn’t even start.

I think the left eye actually works as I was once again able to see the warning screen, with Mario tennis, until it crashed

That sounds like a faulty mainboard. What does it do when you have left it unpowered for about 12 hours?

TheForce81 wrote:
That sounds like a faulty mainboard. What does it do when you have left it unpowered for about 12 hours?

it allows me to turn on both games and they both crash, then it works less and less it seems after about 5 tries

I just ordered another head unit and while I’m waiting for it to arrive I want to send the ribbon parts to someone to fix them (or do it myself) do you know of someone who is currently doing the solder repair?

When you say it hums and vibrates… is it a consistent hum/vibration like a normal VB running, or a sorta warbling faster/slower hum/vibration (sorta like this user’s, though maybe not as extreme: http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6374&forum=1 )?

The VB has optos on the mirrors and attempts to vibrate them at 50 Hz. If the optos are failing, it’ll cause the mirrors to partially or even completely fail to lock. When it partially fails, you’ll see an unstable screen that keeps growing and shrinking in width… and if it completely fails, it’ll hunt badly, even buzzing (like that video above), and stay blank.

Anyway, what I’m getting at, is that the VB games won’t boot until the displays are locked, and if they become unlocked during gameplay, they’ll turn off. Some games will begin playing music before the displays are locked, but otherwise seem locked up. And if you occasionally see the screen for a few seconds, it could be that it’s close to being locked so it begins to boot, and then fails.

Of course it could also be a motherboard problem, causing the game to crash.

DogP

DogP wrote:
When you say it hums and vibrates… is it a consistent hum/vibration like a normal VB running, or a sorta warbling faster/slower hum/vibration (sorta like this user’s, though maybe not as extreme: http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6374&forum=1 )?

The VB has optos on the mirrors and attempts to vibrate them at 50 Hz. If the optos are failing, it’ll cause the mirrors to partially or even completely fail to lock. When it partially fails, you’ll see an unstable screen that keeps growing and shrinking in width… and if it completely fails, it’ll hunt badly, even buzzing (like that video above), and stay blank.

Anyway, what I’m getting at, is that the VB games won’t boot until the displays are locked, and if they become unlocked during gameplay, they’ll turn off. Some games will begin playing music before the displays are locked, but otherwise seem locked up. And if you occasionally see the screen for a few seconds, it could be that it’s close to being locked so it begins to boot, and then fails.

Of course it could also be a motherboard problem, causing the game to crash.

DogP

the vibrating is constant and feels normal. the image seems normal while it’s actually on. If what you say is the problem though will it be an issue if I have someone do the solder fix on the ribbons still? what part is bad if your idea is what’s wrong?

The opto is on a small board attached to the display housing (by the mirror)… it’s completely unrelated to the LED displays, so you can send them out to get the ribbons soldered if you want them as spares. Of course soldering them won’t fix this problem.

Mimiphi wrote:
It would play a few notes of the warning screen then black out playing a single note non stop as if it froze.

I didn’t catch this part earlier… I’d agree that it’s more likely a motherboard problem than an opto problem, since the music shouldn’t stop like that if the displays lose lock.

DogP

DogP wrote:
The opto is on a small board attached to the display housing (by the mirror)… it’s completely unrelated to the LED displays, so you can send them out to get the ribbons soldered if you want them as spares. Of course soldering them won’t fix this problem.

Mimiphi wrote:
It would play a few notes of the warning screen then black out playing a single note non stop as if it froze.

I didn’t catch this part earlier… I’d agree that it’s more likely a motherboard problem than an opto problem, since the music shouldn’t stop like that if the displays lose lock.

DogP

I have another unit on the way that says it works but 1 eye is blank so I want to get the ones I have repaired to stick in that one whenever it gets here