From: woodcock@crchh427.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Gregg Woodcock)
Subject: [Gameboy]: Dropped Lines, the whole story...
Reply-To: bn202@cleveland.freenet.edu
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Richardson, Texas
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 18:48:39 GMT

OK, here is the whole story as put together by phone calls to Nintendo
and a local authorized service center.

Many Gameboys were distributed in the beginning with screens that might
be defective.  The defect caused solder breaks to occur that manifest as
dropped (alwasy off, always green) *vertical* lines.  There is a new
screening process that eliminates these defective screens from getting
out.  The last batch of Gameboys built before the new screening process
was somewhere around batch G02000000.  If your Gameboy's serial number
is less than G02million, *and* it is determined to not have been abused
(no teeth marks, superglue, etc) by the repair center, it will be
repaired free of charge.  Otherwise, it will cost around US$35.

Nintendo has formed the "Nintendo World Class Service" [snicker snicker]
Center Consumer Assistance Hotline at 1.800.255.3700 which operates
between 4AM and Midnight (Pacific Time) Mon-Sat and 8AM to 5PM on
Sundays.  If you call they will cross-reference your zip code to give
you a list of "Authorized Nintendo World Class Service" [hee hee hee]
Centers.  When you call the first thing they are going to ask is whether
you tried a cleaning kit yet [translation:  since we fix this for free
we want you to buy a useless remedy from us that has a 10,000% profit
and a .0000001% success rate].  Your answer (regardless of the truth)
should be, "Yes, but it didn't help".

I hope this helps you but it probably won't help most people since the
current serial numbers are at least at G10million.

*********************Nintendo lovers hit 'n' now*********************

On a side note, the only Nintendo replacement product the service center
did not carry was the replacement screen.  When I asked them why they
didn't they replied that the screen was very hard to replace and that
the Gameboy must be taken apart to do it properly.  This would void the
warranty if done by the owner [translation:  You are too stupid to be
allowed to do it yourself when we can charge you $25 for 1.5 minute's
work].

P.S.  Can you belive that Quality BS has infected *Nintendo*!!!  They
care about us about as much as Clinton does!  I can just hear the
marketing department now..."Yes Mr.  Nukiyamaguchichineesanshee; Quality
is the absolute *latest* trend buzzword in US business now and we will
impress all the poor saps who buy our stuff buy using 'World Class' and
'Quality' in all our advertising.  We'll be telling them just what they
want to hear while we price gouge them to the poorhouse."

P.P.S. Don't get me wrong...I love my Gameboy but I freely admit that
it is the IBM PC of the Video Game world; a fanatically loved relic
whose time is passed and whose technology is inadequate.  That is why
I usually play my Lynx.  I just use my Gameboy for the good puzzle
games it has.  Tetris and Scrabble would be just as good on a TRS-80.
-- 
THANX...Gregg   bn202@cleveland.freenet.edu   woodcock@sdf.lonestar.org
ESN 444   day 214.684.7380   night 214.530.2495   *I buy used Vectrex stuff!*
Newsgroups: rec.games.video