Do you guys think this looks “pressed” compared to a brand new ribbon cable?

This is the area where the “glue” usually rises up and creates a bad connection between the ribbon cable copper, and the metal on the display chip?

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Well it serves me right for going the cheapest route. My wife always tells me cheap people pay twice! If it reverts back to a bad picture, I’ll blame myself for not clarifying exactly what would be done to it before sending it in.

I’m thinking a heat gun was used too. The guy didn’t want to tell me this because it sounds so ridiculous. I’m gonna try to ask him what was done directly.. can’t hurt.

If it ever reverts back, and this person is nowhere to be found for the lifetime guarantee, I’ll prob try to solder it myself, or send it over to someone on here if they’re still doing the repairs.

My VB came back from repair from the source I mentioned above. I opened it and can’t tell that anything was done to it.. Which makes me think oven method, but the guy said he doesn’t use the oven method, and doesn’t solder them..

Anyone have any ideas?

About my original VB that I tried to fix by replacing the ribbon cable with blue wires; The best I could do with that was to get picture in both eyes, but with two solid red scan lines in both.. I’m giving up with it. Its crazy. When I turn it on after 2 days being off, there is great picture for 5 seconds, then solid scan lines..

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I shipped it out today. What skeeved me out is the UPS and USPS both quoted $20 to ship the box from PA -> CA. Couldn’t believe it was that much for a 12x12x6″ box. How do Ebay sellers do it so cheap?

I initially asked if he uses solder. He said no, that it was too risky, and no oven either, but didn’t voluntarily disclose his method. Sounded like he wanted to keep it on the low, but has to assume I’ll open the thing (assuming I get it back).

I bought a new one with display problems for $60. I don’t feel like investing the time only to be let down again, so I’m thinking about sending it to a guy on ebay to repair it.

Only thing is – he told me he doesn’t use the solder method or the oven method… but he guarantees his repair for the life of the thing (or until he hops off ebay).

Anybody have a guess on what this repair method could be?
The price is right at $30 + $10 shipping.

Thanks for that reply.
I’ve since given up on repairing the thing as per the pictures above. Sorry to get anyone’s hopes up.

One side would work, then I’d do the other side which would cause both sides to not work.. Maybe for 5 seconds I had both sides working until all by itself the lines re-appeared.

Sometimes one display would look great, then 1 minute later there were lines / glitching.. It’s almost like the voltage was building up somewhere until the problem became visible.

Both VBs I bought said they had display problems. When I unboxed them, there were no display problems until a few minutes into playing.. That’s my biggest frustration with this thing. The problems come and go randomly.

I’m really interested to buy one from this new batch also.

I spoke too soon. After fixing the second display, I had about 5 seconds of clear picture in both eyes – as I was about to celebrate, the scan lines came back. I moved it around a little and get pure red in both.

I took off the second display, powered it on again and no scan lines in the first one.. Makes me think the first one I did was good right? Put it back on even more carefully – both have scan lines again.

Now I take off the second display, and the first one now has scan lines by itself… when before it was working great.

Does anyone on here have technical knowledge of the electronics on this? I’m looking for a wire diagram which will label each individual wire. Maybe the scan lines can be known to be caused by a certain wire.

I could afford a new virtual boy, but I’m looking at this like a challenging project.

OH SHIT i just moved it a little and got rid of the scan lines in the first.. I moved the display itself – maybe it was screwed down too tight..

Don’t know if the OP is still around – but if you had the same problem as him (I did), I can verify replacing the ribbon cable with wires works. I managed to fix one eye so far.

I went to hell and back with my display, thought I shorted stuff out, had many wires touch.. saw a good picture, a bad picture, no picture.. back to a good pictures. The display chip took a lot of abuse in terms of heat… but it still works.

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Hey guys – I f’ed up my ribbon cable. First the oven didn’t work, then soldering didn’t work.. kept soldering until the ribbon cable melted / twisted / really didn’t work… I think it might have had a crease in it as the original problem. I lost a metal ribbon wire on the board and thought it was all over.

It took hours of patience and finding the right supplies. But this worked for one eye so far (I didn’t start working on the second one yet). I don’t have any experience soldering, but just winged it. It was very meticulous work. I’m hoping it still works when I insulate the joints and put the cover back on. I used a cheap radio shak soldering iron.

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