vcoleiro1
Hardcore Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2011
- Messages
- 4,685
I got a boxed Sega Game Gear about 6 weeks ago. Got it home, and sure enough , it didn't work. So after reading about it I embarked on the old Cap replacement journey. First off, getting the caps was little bit tricky, I thought I'd be able to get the Caps from Jaycar or Alltronics. Nope, in the end I had to get one of the caps from a specialty place, and the last cap off ebay. Should have gone for one of those cap replacement kits you can buy for the Game Gear on ebay, although they are a little more pricey.
I replace all the main board and sound board caps first, as I didn't have all the power board caps at this stage. It worked for a while, but then started turning off after a second. So I waited for the power board caps to arrive. After finally getting the last cap in the mail today, I replaced the Power board caps. Who knew there are like 17-20 caps that need to be replaced in the Game Gear, mostly surface mount. Anyway, I replaced all the caps, got to soldering the last leg of the last cap , and guess what , somehow I took the pad off. After pulling my hair out and swearing for 20 minutes thinking I'd just wrecked it, I managed to solder the last leg to an area of trace I scratched off. Phew.
What a pain in the arse that was.
Anyway, I thought I'd post some of the resources I used for the repair:
http://www.retrogaming.com.ar/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5984&start=45
http://console5.com/wiki/Game_Gear#VA1_-_Twin_ASIC_.28837-7719-01_and_837-7996.29
http://www.smspower.org/Development/GameGearCapacitorValues
https://www.youtube.com/embed/P6WhTFskI1o?feature=oembed
I replace all the main board and sound board caps first, as I didn't have all the power board caps at this stage. It worked for a while, but then started turning off after a second. So I waited for the power board caps to arrive. After finally getting the last cap in the mail today, I replaced the Power board caps. Who knew there are like 17-20 caps that need to be replaced in the Game Gear, mostly surface mount. Anyway, I replaced all the caps, got to soldering the last leg of the last cap , and guess what , somehow I took the pad off. After pulling my hair out and swearing for 20 minutes thinking I'd just wrecked it, I managed to solder the last leg to an area of trace I scratched off. Phew.
What a pain in the arse that was.
Anyway, I thought I'd post some of the resources I used for the repair:
http://www.retrogaming.com.ar/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5984&start=45
http://console5.com/wiki/Game_Gear#VA1_-_Twin_ASIC_.28837-7719-01_and_837-7996.29
http://www.smspower.org/Development/GameGearCapacitorValues
https://www.youtube.com/embed/P6WhTFskI1o?feature=oembed