Virtual Boy Homebrew not functioning

[Gooseberrysoda]

Hi all, bought a used repro of Bound High on eBay a few years back-- by the time I got around to getting the VB fixed, I realized the game didn't work, but it was way too late to contact the seller. Anyone have experience fixing a repro'd game cart?

[Ziggy]

Hey! Sorry for the late reply, but I just saw this post.

Can you elaborate a little on the problem? Does the game simply not boot? Ie: a black screen? And I'm assuming you have already tried cleaning the cart pins really well.

[Gooseberrysoda]

Hey, no problem, I just remembered I made this thread myself Yes, unlike every other cart, it doesn't even register that a game is inside when turned on. Tried blowing, cleaning, etc. Hopefully not a lost cause? It looks like it would be really fun to play on the hardware.

[Ziggy]

It's not a lost cause, it just depends on what you're able to do yourself. Can you open up the cart and post a picture of both sides of the PCB?

[Gooseberrysoda]

Hey there! Finally tracked down the correct bit to crack it open. Here's what's inside. https://ibb.co/WPnrKyT

[Ziggy]

Would you be able to post the image(s) to the board using the image tags?

e.g.:

Code: Select all

[img] url [/img]

[Gooseberrysoda]

Of course, here you go:

[Ziggy]

Hmm, well there's not a lot going on in that cart. There's just a single flash chip, LH28F160S5T, and it appears to be 5v tolerant. There's only two possible reasons I can think of why it's not working. One or more of the pins on the flash chip might have a bad connection, in which case it just has to be reflown. Or the data on the flash chip is bad and it needs to be reflashed.

I would first try and reflow the pins, there's a good chance that it'll work after that. If that doesn't do it, then I would pull the chip and verify the data on it (and reflash if needed). And if that doesn't work, then the flash chip is bad and needs to be replaced.