hi. im new here and new to the virtual boy. i bought it not knowing if it worked or not and got it in the mail today and lo an behold it wont work completely. it loads the warning screen and plays music but as soon as i get to the main menu on mario tennis it shuts off. is it the cartridge or something else?

Hey, welcome to the site! (love the completely random user name :thumpup:)

That’s a real head-scratcher… If I had to guess, I’d say it was a problem with the voltage regulator, or maybe a dry capacitor on the power rail.

Are you running from batteries or an AC adapter? If the latter, what kind?

Is it possible you’re just bumping the power cord/battery box?

When you say it “shuts off” you mean it just goes dead, no sounds, no vibration, no nothing, or does it just reboot?

Does it come right back on if you cycle the power switch?

Try turning it on with no game in and see if it stays on longer (it won’t make a picture or any sounds, but if you listen closely you can hear the hum of the mirrors vibrating).

ha thanks.im running it off batteries until i can get a ac adapter.and i dont think im bumping the battery pack ive sat the controller down and just let it go. i just tried it without a game and it went dead no sound or vibrations and yes it comes right back on when i cycle the switch. thats how i got it to come on in the first place. i spent a good 15 minutes when i got it trying to get it to turn on

Ah… so maybe it’s a dirty switch, then. Try tapping and wiggling the switch while it’s on and see if you can get it to turn off. If it’s not the switch, maybe it’s corrosion in some other part of the power circuit. It could be the controller connector, a break in the controller cable, the contacts where the battery pack connects, the contacts on the pack itself, the battery contacts inside the pack, or even something going haywire in the “low battery” detector in the controller.

I still think it might be capacitor- or regulator-related, though…

if you’ve got everything stationary,then i agree with runnerpack; its probably cap related. if you have the know how it wouldn’t hurt opening it up and seeing if you can find the issue