[KR155E]

A problem often encountered by Virtual Boy users are glitchy displays, leading to horizontal lines, reversed or generally distorted images, or even complete loss of display activity.

All those symptoms are usually caused by the ribbon cables connecting the LEDs to the motherboard becoming loose, or peeling away from the display PCB.

Fixing your Diplay: Oven method

DogP has come up with a way to fix the problem by opening the system up, removing the display, sticking it in the oven to re-melt the adhesive, and reassemble. It’s not a difficult procedure, except that the typical security bit can’t get to the deepest screws on the VB, so you either need a special screwdiver, a modified bit, or a modified screwdriver.

You can find a guide to fix your displays on DogP’s Project:VB.

Fixing your Diplay: Bypass method

Another way has been proposed by DanB. To permanently fix the problem, his idea was to replace the loosening ribbon cables with some better wires, which he soldered to the PCB. This solution requires much more skill, though, and should only be performed by solder experienced people with a steady hand and a huge portion of patience.

The complete guide can be found here.

Fixing your Diplay: New methods (RECOMMENDED)

Some more methods have recently been developed by DogP to permanently fix the cable problem (contrary to the probably non-permanent oven method): Thread.

• This topic was modified 15 years, 10 months ago by KR155E.

when my ribbon cables started to show issues i would get glitchy horizontal lines appearing on areas with a lot of red. i saw it most when i played faceball and insmouse no yakata. as it got worse i started to see it in both eyes. i also experienced dimming.

i have always had vertical black lines. they are very thin and move when i move. dogp discovered that they may be dust on the leds. wiping them off can fix it. i noticed that after getting my cables soldered, that the black lines were worse. so i’m assuming they collected more dust. i’ve still yet to open it up to clean off the lenses, but i have fixed cables now so i can’t relate that issue to the cables.

this could be your problem. do you have a way to open up the system?

VRJZ wrote:
I’ve recently been seeing a vertical set of lines … that seem to come and go frequently…

I’ve also experienced this. I believe it may be caused when the select line is still mostly connected, yet randomly failing for short periods (on the order of microseconds) the length of which is probably related to harmonics in the vibrating mirrors.

The select line usually keeps one display off while the other is being used (they both share the same set of signals, except for the alternating select line). If the connection “stutters” while, e.g. the left display is being drawn, a tiny fragment of the left display will appear, mirrored, on the right display.

It’s just another symptom of the same problem causing the horizontal lines: intermittent contact between the display and the VB due to failing adhesive. Soldering the cable should fix it.

Lester Knight wrote:
i have always had vertical black lines. they are very thin and move when i move. dogp discovered that they may be dust on the leds. wiping them off can fix it.

Hmm… vertical black lines? The ones I usually see with dust is horizontal (because the mirror goes back and forth horizontally, so a spec of dust, just like the LEDs, will be “draw” sideways).

RunnerPack wrote:

VRJZ wrote:
I’ve recently been seeing a vertical set of lines … that seem to come and go frequently…

I’ve also experienced this. I believe it may be caused when the select line is still mostly connected, yet randomly failing for short periods (on the order of microseconds) the length of which is probably related to harmonics in the vibrating mirrors.

The select line usually keeps one display off while the other is being used (they both share the same set of signals, except for the alternating select line). If the connection “stutters” while, e.g. the left display is being drawn, a tiny fragment of the left display will appear, mirrored, on the right display.

It’s just another symptom of the same problem causing the horizontal lines: intermittent contact between the display and the VB due to failing adhesive. Soldering the cable should fix it.

Yep… I agree. I’ve seen the same thing… sometimes looks like a graphic equalizer, the matrix, etc. Soldering the cable should take care of it.

DogP

i’ve always had a few really thin vertical lines. i saw more of them after my repaired displays were put back in, so i assumed it was dust. i still haven’t had the opportunity to try wiping dust off the leds. it is possible that i am seeing hairline scratches in the lenses, coupled with dust, so it appears worse right now. i still want to find some flat red glass replacements for my lenses, to see if the lenses are the culprit. one of these days when i have time and space to tinker with my vb, i’ll see if i can get to the bottom of these lines.

Lester Knight wrote:
i’ve always had a few really thin vertical lines. i saw more of them after my repaired displays were put back in, so i assumed it was dust. i still haven’t had the opportunity to try wiping dust off the leds. it is possible that i am seeing hairline scratches in the lenses, coupled with dust, so it appears worse right now. i still want to find some flat red glass replacements for my lenses, to see if the lenses are the culprit. one of these days when i have time and space to tinker with my vb, i’ll see if i can get to the bottom of these lines.

Switch out the left and right lens and you will see that the problem is not with the lens. I am assuming you are switching out the red protection piece, if not and you are talking about the actual clear lenses, then just swap the left display for the right display and you will come to the same conclusion. You could do that anyway, but switching out the red eye pieces is easier than the displays.

Hi, I am new to forum and thank everyone for all this good stuff. I am back in the game, I threw out two consoles and a dozen games ten plus years ago because there was no solution for maintaining VB. I purchased a compete system that has the display problem and just yesterday purchased a console only on ebay to practice soldering on. I think soldering is the only “lifetime” solution. I don’t know how to solder but I found this on youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQC4c9Lylg4
Basically the idea is to solder over the laminate, the laminate burns away and then I am to wick the excess solder up. I’ll let you know how I make out because if can do it, anyone can do it.

To the people who have done the solder repair, have you had any success just melting/burning away the laminate at low temperature while tinning/soldering the traces? I got a third Virtual Boy (I must be crazy) and am thinking of attempting the soldering fix again. However, this time I’d be super ultra careful not to move the traces.

Will the ribbon cable suffer from any kind of heat? Or does it hold up okay with mild heat on each individual copper trace?

Depending what you mean by “low” temperature. The stuff is pretty heat resistant and doesn’t melt away at what I’d call low temperature. The heat does travel up the copper pretty well though, which isn’t good. It you really want to burn it away… I think the best way would be with a hot ball of solder. That way there’s very little mechanical force on the pins, and as you melt it away, you also tin the copper and solder the joints. You definitely want some flux though (not too much, or it might drip through into the LED bar).

On another note – I sent a replacement cable design out for fab on flex circuit… waiting to hear back whether they can actually manufacture it.

On another, another note – I got some Z-Axis tape… haven’t gotten a chance to play with it yet though.

DogP

That’s exactly what I don’t want to happen again, the ribbon cable warping from the heat. So just lead a ball of solder over the flux coated copper traces? That is, do not touch the surface with the iron tip right? Just lead the solder ball around? What’s a good way of getting the ball off without disturbing the traces? A solder sucker or just lead it to the edge?

Some new ribbon cables would be a massive help. I’d be able to repair one of my VBs, which needs a new pair.

If you use flux, the solder shouldn’t really glob up on the pins (should stick to the soldering iron)… but if it does, I’d use desoldering braid to carefully wick away the excess solder.

DogP

Is there any way to hold the ribbon cable in place in case the whole thing heats enough to lift off the board? Or does that usually not happen, or is one supposed to just go slow across the pins?

I suppose it’s not an issue either way, solder in most cases cools very fast.

The issue I had is that the heat from my soldering iron seemed to melt the adhesive between the cable and PCB, so sometimes the cable connections would slide out of alignment a little bit. I’ve had better luck using the flux as DogP suggests, and not lingering too long on any one pin.

Also, to remove the laminate of the cable, I mentioned somewhere (I think) that I just use a thin sewing needle to push under the cable in between traces, and pry up gently. I’ve had much better luck this way- you make your way back and forth, only prying up like 1/16th of an inch or less each time. If you pry too much, the laminate peels up the copper too. But if you’re careful, you can gradually peel it up with most of the copper still perfectly attached to the PCB. I use my Swiss Army knife scissors to trim off what I peel up, though you don’t have to I suppose. Then just clean away excess adhesive with that Goof-Off stuff, and solder.

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The whole thing is pretty well stuck in place… the entire cable shouldn’t slide… just the individual wires.

That’s why I like to expose the copper traces before soldering, since you don’t have to worry about getting it hot enough to melt away the laminate… all you need to worry about is getting a good solder joint in place.

Good idea on the sewing needle… I personally use a fiberglass pen and rub it upward against the cable, like an eraser. That peels up the laminate nicely, without pulling up the copper.

DogP

Thanks, the idea came to me when I was poking at the cable with various sharp objects :p.

I tried that fiberglass pencil, I saw that in a previous post of yours DogP…it worked well when I did the lye technique, but for some reason I couldn’t get it to work by itself. When it did kind of work, it seemed like I had to apply so much force that I peeled the copper up.

Hi everyone! I lost both displays with my oven…I’m interested in a fix solder unit or in a pare of wrong displays or unit and find one to solder for me…

If anyone can help me, pleaseeee!!

Does anyone have the photos for the bypass surgery fix? One of the flat pins on the ribbon cable broke off and this seems like the only fix. Oh and the photos don’t seem to be up on the original thread.

Do you happen to have the photos for the bypass surgery? The old post doesn’t have them anymore.

boom wrote:
Do you happen to have the photos for the bypass surgery? The old post doesn’t have them anymore.

I knew these would come in handy 😉

Let us know how it goes (in a new thread).

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Thanks! I’m planning to start this weekend so yeah I’ll start a new thread later on.

Do you happen to know what he used to scrape the film near the vias?