I’m having a hell of a time opening up my virtual boy. I modified a flat head screw driver in an attempt to get them out but its only working on the screws I can see. It works fine when I can see what I’m doing but I just can’t get at the deeper ones, there is just no way to line up the notches and I’m terrified of stripping the screws and making them inpossible to remove. Not to mention the fact that its gouging the plastic on the sides when ever I fail to line the screw driver up with the screws. :/ At this point I feel like I’d rather not risk it on the deep ones unless anyone has some advice and instead buy a bit problem is I’m not really sure what size to get, looking around online I’ve found 2 different sizes, one is 4.5mm the other 3.8mm, I’m also worried about not being able to get to the screws with even those as looking at DogP’s page http://www.projectvb.com/tech/securitybit.html I’d have to modify it and since I don’t have a grinding wheel I’m worried I wouldn’t be able to modify it! Does anyone have any suggestions?

I believe you need the 4.5mm gamebit. I was actually able to order a long gamebit from eBay that gets down into the deep holes in the Virtual Boy. These are them, I believe: http://cgi.ebay.com/4-5-MM-3-8-MM-NINTENDO-SEGA-SECURITY-GAMEBIT-TOOLS-/170523099971?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b3f80343#ht_2334wt_1141

Don’t expect to use these more than a few times though. They’re made out of a cheap metal, and they wear out the bit only after maybe 6 times of screwing and unscrewing anything. If you plan on opening your VB more than a few times, replace the screws with phillips heads so that you can get them out easily the next time.

Thanks, just ordered one. I don’t plan on keeping the security screws, I plan on replacing them with hex screws if I can find some with the appropriate pitch as those are nearly impossible to strip.

Another thing I’ve posted before (and another member here said it worked for him, too) it helps them come out easier if you ever so slightly tighten the screws first. You might give your modified driver one last try 😉 You can feel a little “click” when it works right, like the plastic that’s wedging the screw in is cracking loose (but nothing’s actually breaking, AFAICT, if you do it right).

The problem I’m having is not loosening them but getting my screw driver in the notches. it works perfectly on the screws I can see. But the screw driver keeps slipping off on the deep ones as I can only ever seem to get it lined up with a single notch, when I turn it all it seems to be doing is damaging the surrounding plastic and also possible the screw itself.

Ok I’m done with the screw driver, I tried a few more times on one of the screws and there is just no way its going to work on the deep ones. Infact it may have completely stripped one of them 🙁 looking down the hole with a flash light it looks pretty beat up, I’m not going to touch any of the remaining screws till I get my bit. Anyone have any suggestions on what I should do in the event the screw is to worn for the bit to grip? I’m at a total loss on what to do in the event that it is. Short of cutting out section of plastic the screw is holding in I’m absolutely clueless on what to do.

Don’t worry, you’re fine. The gamebit screw can be partially stripped and still come out with a gamebit driver, since there are many grooves on the screw. I stripped mine like crazy with a modified flathead before I gave up and bought a gamebit. Once you get the gamebit you do have to tighten the screws before you loosen them. It sounds counter-intuitive but it works.

Also, the gamebit I bought was durable but too fat to fit in the deep holes so I had to shave off some metal with my dremel. After that it worked great. Good luck!

My screw doesn’t seem to have to much in the way of slots left unfortunately. :/ Its really hard to get a good look at it and no for sure though, even with a light I can’t really make it out. I thought of an idea that might work if the bit doesn’t, I was thinking maybe after getting the rest of the screws out with the bit if it doesn’t work on the stripped one I’ll dab a little high strength glue in it, like jb weld or something and stick it on the screw, and when it dries try and remove it, I’m not sure if it will work but its the best solution I’ve been able to think up in a worst case scenario.

If all else fails you could always drill out a stripped screw.

You I feel kind of dumb because that never occurred to me haha. I’ll definitely need to practice a bit before I try that if it comes to that. I’ve only done that once and that was on a brake rotor which is defiantly harder to screw up them it would be on a little screw in something made of plastic.

Success! The bit arrived and it was able to remove every screw, I’m amazed it was able to remove the stripped one as when I got it out it looked totally mangled, I can see no areas on it I could imagine it gripping. The bit was almost perfect, had to shave off a little bit on the sides to get to the deep screws closest to the center of the system but that only took about a minute to fix. Now to just get those displays out. 😛

Excellent! Glad to hear it worked out for you.

HonkeyKong wrote:
Success! The bit arrived and it was able to remove every screw, I’m amazed it was able to remove the stripped one as when I got it out it looked totally mangled, I can see no areas on it I could imagine it gripping. The bit was almost perfect, had to shave off a little bit on the sides to get to the deep screws closest to the center of the system but that only took about a minute to fix. Now to just get those displays out. 😛

So basically, exactly what I said would happen. You should be more trusting. 😎