[FeistyGirl]

Well it was a rocky road, but I was able to do it…

I now have 3 perfectly working Virtual Boys!!!

Referring to my last topic; I purchased 2 VBs online, only to have them arrive DOA. Ended up getting a mint 3rd one while waiting for a refund on the others… well since I wanted the games that came with it he offered me a partial refund and told me to just keep the 2 units.

I orders a repair bit online, got it over the weekend, and of course it was WAY too short for the 4 deep screws…

So yesterday I went out and bought a little dremel kit to try the screwdriver trick. Didn’t work, couldn’t get the screwdriver to catch on the screws… so I decided to try and shave down the bit to fit in the holes… no luck with the dremel unless I spent 50 hours doing it…

Went over to my In-Laws and we used a grinder to grind down the bit so it would fit into the hole. So last night we got all the screws out and got replacement flathead screws… it was almost 10 so I called it a night…

Today I baked my parts… first time on the semi-operational one resulted in no real change, and I was ready to call it a failure, but when I touched the board near the contacts, it cleared up a bit.. so I baked it a bit longer, and this time it went from only showing half screen to a full screen… getting there! Needless to say I was getting a bit excited at this point… and after baking once more, success!

The second unit that was completely blank on both screens worked perfectly after the 1st time! (I let it bake a bit longer then the 1st one)

Both systems are now fully operational!

MASSIVE props to everyone here who helped me along the way, and more love to projectvb.vze.com for the clear instructions that I was able to follow easily…

I am now the only unofficial female Virtual Boy Repair person in the USA. 😛
(thanks to you guys of course)

• This topic was modified 16 years ago by FeistyGirl.
• This topic was modified 16 years ago by FeistyGirl.
• This topic was modified 16 years ago by FeistyGirl.

Nice work, FG.

Congrats!

DogP

[SjoekieNL]

Seriously , i’m getting exited here , because I NEED to do this too!!!

But I’m a bit afraid I do it wrong because I never did this before or saw it…. 🙁

• This reply was modified 16 years ago by SjoekieNL.

DogP – I could have never done it without your site! I owe it all to your crystal clear instructions! (edited my original post to reflect my thanks!)

Mysticmaus – I was in the same boat as you are sweety… My hardware repair abilities are about as weak as my ability to pee standing up… but go to DogP’s Site and you will see everything you need to do it… I was surprised at how amazingly simple it was…

Once you have the right tools that is! 😛

If you have any other questions or concerns just ask.. I really have to say that the community here has been extremely helpful through the whole process for me!

I’m certainly gonna try it as soon as i got the equipment for it! , pray for me XD 😀

I’m very happy that it worked with your Virtual Boys 😀

But just a question , why do you have 3 ?, and why not sell 2 of them? , there’s always somebody searching for one 😎

Mysticmaus wrote:

But just a question , why do you have 3 ?, and why not sell 2 of them? , there’s always somebody searching for one 😎

Simple:

The initial purchase was for 2 virtual boys and 11 games… my assumption was that one was probably not working since the price was so cheap. Of course when I got them neither worked and the owner ‘had no idea they didn’t work’ and ‘last time he used them they were both fine’

I REALLY wanted a Virtual Boy, and I saw another one online that was in mint condition. Adult used only and stored away in the blockbuster case for the past 9 years in a smoke free environment. Paid a little more for the system, but I got a pristine machine that works flawlessly…

While cruising around for info on the Virtual Boy (specifically I wanted to see a full game list and see where the homebrew scene was at) I came across this forum and the links and instructions on fixing exactly what was happening on the other 2 machines… after some coaching from the fine folks here I figured I would take the plunge… since I already had a working VB there was no harm cracking the other 2 open…

And the rest is history!

My little one has been banned from touching the pristine one, which has been driving him crazy… so now he has one he can play with…

Still haven’t decided what to do with the 3rd one though… maybe for display next to the Vectrex 😛