Gameboy/Demoboy II issues

[Radiac]

I recently acquired a Gameboy kiosk in untested condition. Upon getting it home I plugged it in and found out that the Demoboy II was apparently working. It puts the Gameboy border on the screen, but the gameplay area is just static. The actual Gameboy works fine as long as the ribbon cable is unconnected. Once you plug the ribbon cable in the Gameboys screen goes blank. The power indicator is still on, but it won't do anything until you unplug the cable at which point the Gameboy reboots.
I really want to get this thing going, but I don't know where to start.

Any input is appreciated.

[Yakumo]

Sounds to me like a power issue.

Yakumo

[ccovell]

First, get rid of the batteries. The power should come from the DemoBoy unit. I have one of these as well, and the only problems I had with it was that it was very sensitive to static electricity, and to being grounded. In Japan, most outlets have no grounding plug, so when I plugged this thing in, it wouldn't power up unless I held my hand on the metal case.

[Radiac]

First, get rid of the batteries. The power should come from the DemoBoy unit. I have one of these as well, and the only problems I had with it was that it was very sensitive to static electricity, and to being grounded. In Japan, most outlets have no grounding plug, so when I plugged this thing in, it wouldn't power up unless I held my hand on the metal case.

I tried that already to no avail. The Gameboy won't power up when connected to the unit, batteries or no.

Upon further inspection I found one of the wires in the ribbon cable was severed. I spliced the wire and still get the same thing. Is there any reason that this repair would keep the unit from powering on? What I'm getting at is, can these ribbon cables be successfully repaired, or do they have to be replaced?

[marshallh]

If one of the wires in the cable is visibly damaged, it's likely that the others right next to it are internally damaged - bend a ribbon cable enough and it will break.

If you're good with soldering, you could try replacing the ribbon cable - if you need cable, you can get some cheap from allelectronics.com

Where in Missouri are you? You might be pretty close to me.

[Radiac]

If one of the wires in the cable is visibly damaged, it's likely that the others right next to it are internally damaged - bend a ribbon cable enough and it will break.

If you're good with soldering, you could try replacing the ribbon cable - if you need cable, you can get some cheap from allelectronics.com

Where in Missouri are you? You might be pretty close to me.

That's what I was afraid of. I opened up the Gameboy to see how much would be involved in replacing the cable. The amount of soldering required is way beyond anything I could do. So I guess I'm kind of stuck.

BTW, I'm about 3 hours away from KC