Sega Game Gear Repair


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
 
Nice, my old Game Gear has a little bit of temperamental sound issue.

About a year ago, I was at the dump dropping off some old furniture and I noticed a Game Gear box up on the edge where the staff rest there tea and stuff, asked one of the blokes if that had been dumped - so I could nab it - Someone had dumped it there, pretty much mint looking, even the box was pristine, probably an unused present been sat in someones loft for a couple decades. But one of the guys working there had clocked it and put it aside. I asked what he wanted for it but he said he was going to ebay it
 
Congrats! Recapping a console is such a chore. I still have a pc-engine duo with no CD audio because I wasn't able to replace all the capacitors. Had to switch the optical pickup and replace a few caps to get sound for cartridges and CD games at all, then tried to get red audio working and failed. Probably some caps I missed. My gamegear has seen a lot of action back in the day but still works flawlessly!
 
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