Trying to Fix 3 BROKEN Sega Game Gears (Including a rare blue one!)
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- Опубликовано: 15 июн 2023
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Trying to Fix 3 BROKEN Sega Game Gears - I've only fixed a couple Game Gears before so this was a fun challenge. One I couldn't get to fully turn on, one with excessive corrosion, and one that had horizontal moving lines on the screen.
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Tools I Use:
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Equipment Used:
-Hakko Hot Air Station: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/y2JDR
-Nozzle for hot air station: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/zpEWlT
-Hakko Soldering Station: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/MTL0qb
-Hakko Air Filter: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/Gqznh
-Digital Microscope: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/fAw8d4Q
-Stereo Microscope: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/WBO3b
-Kester Solder: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/ETXUh
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Развлечения
it's amazing how much smaller the replacement capacitors are compared to the original ones. technology is crazy
They are a different kind. I was surprised actually. If he used the same kind they would be a lot bigger, but still smaller than the originals. The originals are electrolytics. 90's and 00's electrolytics (especially surface mount) were garbage. These days they are fine. The replacements are solid state. No liquid component. The nice thing is that it won't go bad ever (or it shouldn't) But usually this kind of swap doesn't work. So I don't know why it can be now.
one thing that surprised me is I've never seen square electrolytics before.
@@awilliams1701 They're radial electrolytics fit into a square piece of plastic.
@@awilliams1701you can change electrolytics with ceramics and they'll work if they have the same values. solid caps were all low capacitance 20-30 years ago so liquid or tantalums were the only choices for higher capacitance, nowadays not really
The orginal capacitors are made out of fish oil. Thats why they go bad i had a gamegear when i was a kid in the 90s. It lasted less than two years it wouldnt turn on anymore. Ether i blew the fuse by using the megadrive adaptor or the capacitors went bad and leaked. My guess is they went bad so my gamegear would no longer turn on!
I have repaired over 100 Game Gears so far and just wanted to add some info for the DIY types out there. Firstly all Game Gears need new electrolytic capacitors, replace all of them not just some of them, that includes capacitors on all three boards. Further, with all ceramic capacitor replacement kits you will get undesirable hum on the audio circuit and possibly video interference as well to correct this use appropriately up rated Tantalum capacitors of matching values in place of the ceramics on the sound board and the nearest capacitors to the power input connector. Finally make sure you know what your purchasing before you buy it in other words do not buy 2103K Game Gears, they usually have unfixable screen issues and avoid anything that has rust or sever battery corrosion in the battery bay.
One more thing 😂 do yourself a favor and replace the original screen with one of the new TFT solutions your eyes will thank you and your battery budget will decrease dramatically. With some of the TFT kits I have tested play times increased from 2 to 4 hours to 16 hours.
That's a lot of very interesting information!
Replacing only parts on 2 boards is madness, always do it all as the rest will be failing very Very soon. I've done a few game gears and they are always in need of a full cap replacement 🤘
Yeah I agree with the tft screen. These are borderline unplayable as they are. Also recommend one of those cartridges that you can load up with roms as they can play matter system games as well
@@kevinwoolford123 strong agree. Not recapping the power board is a huge mistake, everything in Sega consoles from this era are known to be cheap and a result of cost cutting. Game gears in particular are notorious for capacitor failure across the board. EVERYTHING should be recapped upon receipt if it wasn't already.
@@kevinwoolford123 Pretty sure Tronicsfix knows alot more about repairs than you
This guy just gave us an entire class on problem finding and fixing. He needs more subscribers. Love your content. Make me feel like I learned something.
did someone filmed the class ?
""Make me feel like I learned something""
@@ramirotapia2217 what is it ?
I did a full cap replacement on one last year it was honestly the most satisfying repair I've ever done. The difference was insane in brightness, sound and longevity.
Oh damn!! Thanks for the heart bud!!
If you call this "insane brightness", then you should try to install a modern LCD. This will blow your mind!
I've fixed so many of these over the years. On that first one when you went to replace the speaker to fix the sound I said out loud, "That isn't going to fix it". XD Sometimes a full recap won't fix a Game Gear too, like on that 2nd one. I've had ones where it'll turn on for a second and then turn off. It's pretty much an over current saving feature on the power board that will automatically shut itself off. Typically means there's a short or another bad component. I fixed one like that once when I found one of the smaller capacitors on the board had a short. I replaced that cap and it worked fine after that. Looks like however that LCD on the VA4 board might be bad with some missing lines. A temporary fix is to heat up the silicon on glass wafers that drive the signals to the LCD. This has only ever been a temporary fix though. It rather won't work or will only fix it temporarily before the lines will start showing up again. Good vid!
Oh, another thing I wanted to mention. There are 3 or 4 screws, forgot how many exactly, who's only purpose is to hold the LCD screen on to the mainboard. You can leave those in and still take the mainboard out of the case by removing all the other screws.
The old Game Gear got 8 year old me through many a road trip. I remember the cigarette lighter power adapter being a must though as you were lucky if those 6 AAs lasted more than an hour lol.
The battery drainage was mostly due to the florescent tube needing power. There's now backlit panel mods that are recommended that replace the dily lit florescent tube and screen that signifcantly improve the gamegears battery life.
Talk about a nostalgic trip down memory lane. I grew up with one of these for many years and hearing that “Sega “ start up was amazing. It’s been so long
It's awesome to see how things have changed over the years.. from those big bucket capacitors to the little micro ones! Im no tec person by far but i sure love watching you do this!!! Keep up the amazing work my man!!!
When I was a kid I never left batteries in my Game Gear - mostly because they were dead by the time I was done playing with it!
These consoles were in good condition. Usually they have some highly corroded boards. The one that I bought, an attempted fix by someone else, I was just about to give up on. Capacitors were replaced but no audio and no video. I remade so many of the copper traces but it finally had audio and after a day more, also video. 👍🏻
Steve, I decided to break out one of my VA4 boards to figure out where those three capacitors go. That section in the bottom left delivers power to the screen and IC5. Here it is how it is all laid out:
The positive leg of C36 connects to both Pin 1 of D1 and R24. R24 connects to R25 which in turn connects to the positive leg of C41. D1 goes to Pin 7 on the power board connector. The negative leg of C41 goes to Pin 18 of the screen. The negative leg of C36 connects to the positive leg of C42 and Pin #5 on IC5. Negative C42 goes to R41 and D5. R41 connects to ground and D5 and pin 5 of IC5. Pin 1 of IC5 connects to the negative leg of C41.
Wow, thanks!
All this to say, the shorting is probably impacting the screen. I would recommend replacing R23, R24, R25, R41, D1, D5, IC5 along side all the capacitors. I bet that solves the short and has a good chance of resurrecting the screen.
@@PyroX792 You're a legend ! Hats off ! @Tronicsfix please try in another video, we all need to see that 2nd GG come back to life !
@@Tronicsfix no problem! Reading my comment again it's hard to follow (at least for me). I can map it out on an actual schematic and email to your business email. I can also check if I made any errors.
That blue unit is pretty sharp. They really should have used that blue as the base model, coinciding with Sega's blue theme.
In any case, nice saves on the ones you got going. Nicely done, as always.
The philosophy you have on repair and being thorough with replacing components is the best way to preserve these consoles for a longer life. I would definitely do battery and backlight mod on this if I came across one.
Literally just got one repaired tonight , carried out a full recap of the soundboard and main board, was still having issues with no display but found this was another common fault with the 2 ASIC model (VA 1 board) had to solder a connecting wire between 2 points of this line and got it fully working again, been following your content since lock down and got into repairing electronics learning more and more from your videos you are a legend Steve
It's really amazing seeing these old consoles get the attention they deserve. I loved your PlayStation video (that was probably my favorite video out of all of your videos), and repairing these Game Gears really makes my day. Thanks Steve!
BRO! You are like the BOB ROSS of electronics repair 💯 he had happy trees..you have happy capacitors 😂. Always a pleasure to watch.
Lol, happy capacitors!
I miss my game gear. Used to have one and the add on that allowed you to play sega master system games. Probably my favorite portable of all time. Compared to today it's not the best, but was fun back in the day.
Yeah, they’re pretty cool.
In Game Gears you have to change every cap, that is included in these sets. But don't use ceramic caps for the audio board. They often create noises. Better to use tantalum or electrolyte caps.
You should have been using the vinegar to clean the corrosion on the PCBs as well. IPA isn't enough to neutralize the capacitor leakage and introducing heat and fresh solder simply accelerates the process. It'll come back.
Also, please be sure to always fully recap any game gear you come across. Just because the power board seemed to be working isn't a good reason to skip it - 100 percent has to happen because all of the caps on these fail spectacularly and leak all over the board.
Hey Steve, great work on fixing 2 out of 3. You probably can fix the second one two. I think the reasons those caps are shorting is because the residue from the leaking capacitors are highly conductive wich can cause components to short out. Try giving it a thourough clean with some IPA and see if that helps.
I bet these Game Gears are older than most of your viewers.
I love it!
Ha, ha, probably true
@@Tronicsfix how old are they? I'm almost 19 and never heard of them before
@@Emily_Bondevik_Official It released in North America in 1991
@@MrOneanddone91 okay I'm definitely too young to know it
Awesome video. Thank you for bringing those Game Gears back to life. Your videos inspired me to get into repairing electronics and the Game Gear is what I chose to start with. (I couldn't get my VA4 board working either, maybe someday) Keep up the great work!
BW-100 is awesome. Used it to clean my 23 year old rc car, while doing repairs. It got years of oil and dirt off. 👍
I snap the capacitors free first and then cut the legs to remove the main body and then clean up all the capacitor juice before I apply any heat to the board.
With the audio board I cut the caps with flush cutters right at the base and then break off the black plastic base.
Once all that's done you can clean and take off the legs individually
The no sound issue reminded me of a similar issue I worked on years ago with a portable dvd player. Nothing I did helped.I made sure the speakers worked when connected to other devices checked the jack and even confirmed I got audio on the RCA outputs. Still dead audio on the speakers. I was just about to give up when something told me to check the menu and sure enough my friend had set the audio to "external only" . I learned to check menu settings first after that. lol
So much dedication for old electronic never cease to amaze me. Congrats !
just so fun to come to youtube and do something in the background while a chill repair video is playing :D
Still have my OG Blue Game Gear. Still works to this day.
I have a later release of the Game Gear, it came bundled with 3 games. I hope it isn't rotting away currently. I need to buy the kit to fix up stuff. I remember asking some enthusiasts what they recommended for first time soldering kits and projects but got the answer of "pick something you're comfortable with" or "it's hard to recommend" and yeah... true. I mostly want to fix up and make my older gameboys and Game Gear back to working order. I don't know if I have the ability to do the screen swap to a more modern LCD screen for the Gamegear. Since it took 6 AA batteries, needless to say, it was mostly played with the power adapter.
Great video! That blue one looks like it's in great condition.
I've fixed a bunch of Game Gear handhelds, and I would recommend to always replace all those problematic capacitors on the main board as well as the sound board and the power board. If the sound or power board caps are left alone, then sure enough pretty soon they'll go bad. Probably even on the first time you play the handheld for about an hour. I think it comes to 19 capacitors total, so once you're already in there, it's not a big deal to do the sound & power boards too.
I like how you clean, and how you go about fixing issues. Very interesting stuff.
When that sound finally worked and I heard that Sega it unlocked some core memories from playing my Sega genesis as a kid
Never fails to amaze me! Good job Steve!
Segaaaaa. My nostalgia senses are tingling.
I'd love to see one of these with a screen mod. Probably could benefit from a battery mod too.
Steve, amazing work as always. I can see why you like that blue one. Have you ever tried replating battery contacts? Would love to see a video on that, I'm sure you have the equipment you need but maybe not the chemicals. Would be really cool.
I have not tried that but I might at some point
Oh Game Gear. so many memories, so many batteries that the portable console needed and consumed.
Ha, ha, yes
Bad memories when I sent out 3 (1 new Blue & black, 1 like new black) GameGears for cap replacement service and never got them back. Guy shut down and disappeared. Lesson learned, Only send one out at a time moving forward
That's a bummer
Ah, that sucks
Thank you Steve for the video. I love watching these repair video's, keep'em coming...lol I wonder how many customers had issues with these capacitors failing back in the day? If is was a high rate of failure, then Sega should have recalled the units and have them replaced.
Oh dear. If only you knew in advance how these things fail. Leaky caps all over the place and they smell is almost like fish. Not nice to work on.
The game gear black and white capacitors are super weird. They're apparently regular cylindrical electrolytic caps that are then encased in a rectangular block of plastic, presumably to make them easier to solder in?
Replacing them with ceramics is fine, and probably they work just as well as the originals for power filtering. But as others said, always be wary of replacing electrolytic with ceramic when it comes to audio circuits--ceramics can be microphonic, can act as speakers and also have more distortion than electrolytic.
I used handheld legends too! The kit and guide were great
Agreed
you absolutely have to change screen and backlight to them, they will be so much better.
That blue one is just begging for an IPS screen upgrade. Nice find!
Agreed!
Ngl Im glad that replacing the speaker didn’t work ONLY because if someone has that problem you will help them!
I have one flying around in my Basement with absolute no reaction. Not on Adapter and not on Battery. But i am to stubborn to throw my childhood away :D
A blue Game Gear was my first handheld console ever! I had so much fun with it, but boy did it go through batteries like crazy! lol
Retrosix has quite a few vids on Game Gear repair. I'm sure he's got something that'll help with the 2nd one.
Great Video! Thank You. 😁
Next stop: Sega CD or Sega Genesis/Mega Drive console repairs. Keep it up, Steve
Great repair video as always - isn't that a no no 1:35 ? ? ? 😁 pulling connectors out by their wiring.
Lines on the screen is a giveaway that the screen connections are corroded.
Possibly a good cleaning will fix that or even a re-soldering of the ribbon connector.
There might even be some tiny capacitors that need replacing on the ribbon connector.
Electrolytic capacitors usually have a life range in hours of 1000 to 10,000.
And that's at 105 degrees.
Usually you can tell when an Ecap is going bad in that there will be a crusty crystalline mass at the base.
Catch it early and you will save all that corrosive Ecap electrolyte oozing over the other components.
I'd think that if you suspected a bad component that you would inject voltage and look for the heat with a thermal camera.
When I was a kid I wanted one of these so bad. My cousin had one and had a master system, I played Altered Beast anytime we went there for thanksgiving or christmas 🙂
Hello. The blue one are very nice. Thanks for all your useful videos. From France 🙂
Awesome work Steve
Always wanted one of these as a kid, might have to one.
Some nice upgrades out there for game gear too like ips screens, and battery mod. Only real issue is the game library
Bro I think we were bidding against one another lol I remember bidding on the Gamegear with the deep scratch in the screen cover
Nice job Steve, you will get the VA4 board sorted in time, might be worth eBaying one even if it knackered just to get a look at one
Hey Steve, why did you de-solder the SMD caps on the audio board? Have you ever tried the "twist off method?" grip with pliers, twist and it should fall off. That's what has worked for me in the past, and saves a LOT of time. Love the content.
Yeah, that usually works but always runs the risk of tearing pads off the board
Wow, I remember those screens are more vivid than that
They are better than what shows in the video
What the heck? How much voltage is in that thing? There is litelarry a high boltage warning on the metal shield thing on the cartrige plug 3:45 Update: i just look at some forums and that high voltage warning is for screen backlight so that high voltage warning is real.
Bought a Game Gear for cheap that was half dead, replaced the dead caps, replaced the sound board, replaced the power board, and added an LCD screen with a glass lens, works beautifully now! :)
Awesome Video tronicsfix
Nicely done Steve! The VA4 boards are always a hit or miss it seems.
According some mentions Game Gear came out of a failed prototype that was sent from a Nintendo developer who didn't want to work with Sega and in order to ghost them after he sent the prototype .
The schematic was used anyways which lead the failure of the handheld.
Interesting
@@Tronicsfix The Game Gear failed due a bad design and it's notable when it needed to replace the capacitors for others in order for the handheld to work.
It's an interesting event for videogame history.
Good job! ♥️
On the scratches on the screens try 1200 wet and dry paper slightly wet and T- cut cutting compound after you wet and dry it, comes up like new (try it first on something old first, just in case it doesn't work out for you)
Game Gears are such a huge pain. Even after all that work... you're left with the Game Gear library lol. Shining Force Sword of Hajya and... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Amazing Video Steve
Glad you enjoyed it!
Have you looked into the hakko fr 300 series desoldering irons? They won’t burn the board as much and will make quick work replacing through hole caps and components.
The board wasn’t burned. It was just the flux.
I wish I had MLCC caps when I recapped my Game Gear years ago. Fitting through hole electrolytics on there was such a pain.
Wow, never seen a blue GG before! 😮
Removing connectors by pulling on the wires, Steve? You're a maverick, breaking basic rules.
Lol, not the best way to do it but it’s tough to do when the plastic on the connectors gets brittle
It’s crazy to think back to when the game gear came out, Nintendo didn’t have that much advancement till the early 2000s when the game boy advance sp came out. 13 years game gears tech was better than Nintendo. Crazy.
Yes, that’s crazy to think about now
You should do a screen mod on one of these. It looks so much bettter, than the original :)
This must be the powerboard over here and this is, no, yes and this is some other board 🤣🤣🤣😍😜
Lol, I’m a newbie with these
hurray for retro!
save as many as you can!
I had a gamegear back in the day. I remember playing power rangers on it before i would go to bed!
Another tip if you use white vinegar to help clean up electrolyte corrosion don’t leave it on the board longer then 15 minutes and make sure to clean it off thoroughly with copious amounts of alcohol afterwards so it doesn’t continue to eat away at your Game Gear.
I bet these would look great with an IPS v2 backlit screen
Yes, they would! Might have to make a video about that.
@@Tronicsfix that would be great 👍
the ips scren mod would also significantly improve the battery life as well.
@@oOignignoktOo1 yep and you could actually use it outside
I'm still surprised the Game Gear wasn't more popular. The color screen and overall form factor were much better than the black and white Game Boy.
Aww yes! I remember replacing all the cap on my Game Gear. 😂
Good video,the second game gear is a majesco😮
Should have done an lcd upgrade for them as well imo. Also you can use polyshine on the scratched up face one.
The reason that vinegar works to clean battery contacts is that when batteries go bad the white powder you see is potassium hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide is a strong base. You mix it with the mild acid in vinegar and it gets rid of it!
my favorite handheld of the past
Great video! The new caps are too crooked for my taste tho
Now you got to install one of the newer replacement LCD screens. Those original game gear screens are rough.
That vertical colour lines you can try to fix heating the ic chip bottom(maybe fix the problem)cheers💪🏻👌🏻
Popcorn 🍿 time ❤😂
Hey Tronicsfix… have you tried BW100 instead of IPA/vinegar for cleaning? Wondering if it may be good for that as well as the stick drift! Curious to know results if you end up testing it. Thanks!
oh my childhood (more like teenage years actually) right there
Great video, will you be putting the Game Gears on your website to purchase?
The smell of the solder iron on a 30y handheld lol
Never seen or even heard of these consoles. Interesting video all the same
Could the short come from the 40+ voltage?
i have two game gears and both need screen being replaced as they go after sometime , because of something wrong with the old screens . just need to get around doing it myself or find a place that does it for me .
It's not surprising it was mostly just capacitors. 90's and 00's surface mount electrolytic capacitors are garbage. If you see anything from those time periods, just replace it. Even a nintendo wii. If it's not broke yet, it will be. TBH I should pull mine out of storage and do that....assuming the board isn't trashed from it. I was a little more surprised the through hole caps were bad. Those are usually pretty reliable.
It’s not battery acid - alkaline batteries contain the opposite of acid - that’s why white vinegar (yes that is an actual acid) neutralises the corrosion
Yeah, that’s true.