Another virtual pet post spawned by my current virtual pet kick – this time I thought I’d help you out by giving you some tips for Digimon or other virtual pet fixing.
Some of these may be super obvious, but I still felt like I should share them as they’ve been very helpful for whenever I encounter a Digimon or any other virtual pet toy that isn’t working.
Digimon or Other Virtual Pet Fixing: What is needed?
Everything you could possibly need for most issues is a household item.
- Cardboard
- Screwdriver
- Spare screws if you lose one – can be bought from JapanYouWant
- A place to hold (and potentially separate) any screws
- Spare batteries
- Cardboard
- Cotton tip
- Cotton balls
- Methylated Spirits (you can water it down if you’re worried about it)
- Tissues
- Standard HB grey lead pencil
- Tweezers
“My virtual pet’s screen is dirty!”
Open up the device carefully, you won’t need to undo the battery door, but you’ll need to remove the four long screws from the back of the shell, and then the two smaller screws which connect the circuit board to the ‘front’ shell. Be sure to be very gentle when opening the device up, I am always exceptionally mindful of the two small wires connecting the back shell to the board.
Dip a cotton tip or ball is some methylated spirits and carefully and lightly rub it on the screen, you don’t need to use much at all.
Once you’re done, you can put the device together again.
“My vpet’s buttons don’t work”
When I went to start up my Digimon version 6 a few months ago and found that the buttons weren’t responding at all, I almost flipped out, but I decided to try and fix this before I got worked up.
What did I do?
First I opened up the version 6 and separated the board from the shell with the screen and the buttons as described in the previous tip. Once this was separated, I dipped a cotton tip in a small amount of methylated spirits, and brushed it both on the underside of the buttons, and the part where the buttons make contact with the board,
Next, just in case the above didn’t do anything, I brushed the lead of my HB pencil along the contact points on the underside of the buttons, in case contact was the issue here.
I put the virtual pet back together and the buttons worked as expected.
My number 1 suggested tool for Digimon or Other Virtual pet fixing or repairs would most certainly be methylated spirits. However, you can also use contact cleaner.
If cleaning the contacts and apply grey lead pencil don’t work, you can also use aluminium foil under the contacts.
“Nothing happens when I put batteries in!”
This is actually a pretty recent issue that I had – my Japanese version 2 would not turn on when I put batteries in – even fresh ones. A few things were causing this, however, as this is one of the older parts of my collection which I acquired before I really cared to take care of my collection items.
What did I do?
First, I opened it up entirely, as with my unresponsive buttons, and found that there was some green corrosion on the battery contacts, and some black dust/dirt on the back of the speaker. Gross.
I immediately gave everything a scrub with some cotton balls and cotton tips with some methylated spirits. I put the device back together, and tried putting in batteries.
It turned on, but I found that it only turned on shortly, meaning if I moved it a certain way, it would turn off again and needed to have the batteries reorganised, which was fairly disappointing.
I opened it up, cleaned it more, and the problem remained.
So how did I fix it completely?
I cut out a 1cm by 1cm square from the battery’s blister pack, and stuffed it in the battery case.
The problem was fixed, and, interestingly, the sound seemed louder. I guess it works now, so I’m not complaining.
“How do I change the batteries without resetting?”
This isn’t so much as a Digimon or Other virtual pet fixing or troubleshooting issue as it is more of a frequently asked question.
Most, if not all, modern virtual pets actually save progress and allow you to either load or reset once you replace the batteries.
However, for older virtual pets, this is still possible, and in fact isn’t as hard as I originally thought – all you need is a screw driver and some fresh batteries on hand.
What did I do?
I was able to get this easily done on an original Digital Monster virtual pet by simply swapping out one battery quickly, and then swapping out the second.
“My pronged device doesn’t connect right!”
When I first purchased one of my Digital Monster version 4 devices, I found that the prongs were a little sunken into the device and weren’t really responding.
What did I do?
This was before I felt bold enough to open my device, so I took the batteries out, grabbed some tweezers, and carefully bent and adjusted the prongs a little so they would be raised out of the shell slightly more.
Once I gained confidence to open up the toy, I was able to adjust these a lot easier.
Hopefully you found these tips helpful. Do you have your own Digimon or other virtual pet fixing tips or tricks? Please let me know in the comments – I’d be glad to hear them!
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