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When I turn the machine on the graphics of the right display will work normally through the precautions and automatic pause screens but once the actual game starts up the graphics freak out and eventually realign themselves about two thirds of the way up the screen. I’ve tried an alignment test and the vertical lines seem to start in the right position but then drift upwards or, if the screen was in a particularily scrambled state when I entered alignment mode there appears is a red smear. Does this sound like a connection issue, an alignment issue or like something else?

If it is an alignment issue is there any known way to fix it?

I’ve also noticed that in Wario Land using the brightness adjuster affects the screen, on low brightness the image aligns near the top of the screen and as the brightness increases the image moves downwards until it’s ahoy three quarters of the way down, at that point the image freaks out and jumps back to the top of the screen.

  • This topic was modified 13 years, 10 months ago by game freak.
4 Replies

Sorry about the double post, I’m new and didn’t see the edit button.

Wow! I’ve never heard of the image shifting up/down before, or of the displayed image having such a powerful effect on the display quality (although it is a common symptom). I would start by repairing the cable connection with one of the methods detailed here in the forum. If that doesn’t, or doesn’t completely, fix it (which it should) then you can tackle the alignment (which is probably fine).

Oh, and welcome to the site 🙂

That’s reasuring. I had just got this Virtual Boy of eBay and was still waiting for my games to come in so I was super dissappointed when it crapped out on me as soon as I tried out my brand-spanking-new copy of Wario Land. Another minor issue I’ve had is that sometimes the left display would mirror temporarily while I played. Was that probably a cable issue too?

Before I forget, do you know where I can get a good screw driver or bit for this? I’ve heard that the Virtual boy needs a super long screw driver to open.

game freak wrote:
That’s reasuring. I had just got this Virtual Boy of eBay and was still waiting for my games to come in so I was super dissappointed when it crapped out on me as soon as I tried out my brand-spanking-new copy of Wario Land. Another minor issue I’ve had is that sometimes the left display would mirror temporarily while I played. Was that probably a cable issue too?

Before I forget, do you know where I can get a good screw driver or bit for this? I’ve heard that the Virtual boy needs a super long screw driver to open.

Yeah, the mirroring thing is definitely a cable issue.

About opening the unit: there has been a lot of discussion about it on the forum (the search box is your friend ;-)). I think the general consensus is that no one makes a bit that fits out-of-the-box. They all need to be modified in some way to reach the four deepest screws. The short ones need the corners ground off and a slot cut in the back to drive with a flat screwdriver. The longer ones (that supposedly work on the VB) need just a bit of the corners ground off and then will work in a standard hex driver, I think.

There is one manufacturer that makes a one-piece screwdriver (as in, a plastic handle with an embedded metal rod) that works, but I have no idea where to get one outside of Japan (or inside Japan either, for that matter ;-)).

And then there is just cutting a notch in a flat screwdriver (which is what I did) or the “pen melting trick” which I never got to work.

I hope you can get it open and fixed!

 

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