Sega Game Gear Help. !@!

Trying to get homebrew running on your PSP? Want to add a screen light to your Game Boy? Trying to figure out how to work your GP2X? By popular demand, discuss it in here! (This forum is for pre-built handhelds, NOT custom made portables!)

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Scythe of one
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Sega Game Gear Help. !@!

Post by Scythe of one » Sat Oct 09, 2010 6:56 pm

Hello Benheck Community, I am new to this whole "mod scene", however I am looking to do a fair bit of them and post my findings, Currently however Trying to fix My older broken objects before I start cutting and hacking away at things.

I am in need of some assistance with my Sega Game Gear.
These are the symptoms and I am experiencing

1st System powers on the SCREEN TURNS and the back light on - No "real picture" AND no sound, Scene looks as if I placed a bad cart in, all Fizzled
2nd It is unable to power From Cord, must use batteries
Others Tid Bit's
Fixed, Lose Wire. Re-soldered
No I dont think its the Caps The screen turns on and is still as clear as GG gets.
I am unable to find a single broken trace on any of the mobo's


About the system Last played 2 years ago, and worked like a dream it has been in a case free of dust dirt n such. the sound was not failing at all No system adjustments have ever been made to the unit. A freind of mine wanted it, She powered it on and well it didn't work. any suggestions on the internal components would be much appreciated

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nitro2k01
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Re: Sega Game Gear Help. !@!

Post by nitro2k01 » Sun Oct 10, 2010 12:22 am

The GG's at the time were built with a batch of really bad capacitors which have degenerated over time. This is the cause of both these problems.There are tons of info if you search for bad caps (or capacitors) game gear. In particular:

http://members.optusnet.com.au/eviltim/ ... epair.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
My blog
ASM Retro <- Gameboy Classic Backlight

Being the sadistic bastard I am, I have covered Frog's left eye with a Santa hat.

Last edited by nitro2k01 tomorrow, 1:48 pm; edited 1 time in total

Scythe of one
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Re: Sega Game Gear Help. !@!

Post by Scythe of one » Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:55 am

nitro2k01 wrote:The GG's at the time were built with a batch of really bad capacitors which have degenerated over time. This is the cause of both these problems.There are tons of info if you search for bad caps (or capacitors) game gear. In particular:

http://members.optusnet.com.au/eviltim/ ... epair.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
My issue with checking the Caps is, most people who say/have done and checked it say it leads to a dull screen as the give away, while the GG dosent work functionally the screen the lines are still very bright will put it back together and take a picure when i get off work.

So are bad caps decaying Caps capable of static lines?


Sorry If I sound Silly, but I just figured them to be the issue with dead/dull screens an any case ill look into the caps

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Tibia
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Re: Sega Game Gear Help. !@!

Post by Tibia » Sun Oct 10, 2010 11:44 am

Replace the caps. They're ancient and very poor quality. The voltage must be at least the rating in there now, but it can be higher. The capacitance, in farads, can vary a bit. The tolerance is usually around 20%. EvilTim has a fantastic page on repairing the caps. He's even got the best chart of what the stock capacitors are.

LED modding the back light will improve the picture quality and nearly quadruple your battery life. I wrote this guide, as long as you can solder, you can do it.
Last edited by Tibia on Thu Oct 14, 2010 2:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Scythe of one
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Re: Sega Game Gear Help. !@!

Post by Scythe of one » Sun Oct 10, 2010 6:15 pm

Tibia wrote:Replace the caps. They're ancient and very poor quality. The voltage must be at least the rating in there now, but it can be higher. The capacitance, in ohms, can vary a bit. The tolerance is usually around 20%. EvilTim has a fantastic page on repairing the caps. He's even got the best chart of what the stock capacitors are.

LED modding the back light will improve the picture quality and nearly quadruple your battery life. I wrote this guide, as long as you can solder, you can do it.
that is a very Detailed Guide, I will for sure be doing that mod, after of course If can get the thing running. Replace the caps Few questions As you seem to know a bit about this little system :)

What will work best to remove Scratch form the screen, With psp and game boy's I tend to use slivo or basso however the GG semi "soft screen" Are these able to make it Clear?

What Caps Do you think provide the best connection

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nitro2k01
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Re: Sega Game Gear Help. !@!

Post by nitro2k01 » Mon Oct 11, 2010 7:49 am

Scythe of one wrote:My issue with checking the Caps is, most people who say/have done and checked it say it leads to a dull screen as the give away, while the GG dosent work functionally the screen the lines are still very bright will put it back together and take a picure when i get off work.

So are bad caps decaying Caps capable of static lines?


Sorry If I sound Silly, but I just figured them to be the issue with dead/dull screens an any case ill look into the caps
Scythe of one wrote:that is a very Detailed Guide, I will for sure be doing that mod, after of course If can get the thing running. Replace the caps Few questions As you seem to know a bit about this little system :)

What will work best to remove Scratch form the screen, With psp and game boy's I tend to use slivo or basso however the GG semi "soft screen" Are these able to make it Clear?

What Caps Do you think provide the best connection
Just a a side note, could you please stop capitalizing random words when you're typing?
My blog
ASM Retro <- Gameboy Classic Backlight

Being the sadistic bastard I am, I have covered Frog's left eye with a Santa hat.

Last edited by nitro2k01 tomorrow, 1:48 pm; edited 1 time in total

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Tibia
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Re: Sega Game Gear Help. !@!

Post by Tibia » Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:51 pm

Scythe of one wrote:What will work best to remove Scratch form the screen, With psp and game boy's I tend to use slivo or basso however the GG semi "soft screen" Are these able to make it Clear?
I honestly don't know. I've got such a stack of totally dead Game Gears that I can usually just grab a screen cover that's still relatively clear. I've never tried to clean one up.
Scythe of one wrote:What Caps Do you think provide the best connection
I use regular electrolytic caps with radial leads. It's just a little can with the two leads on the bottom. The stripe is on the negative side. I tend to use only manufacturers I know make good caps, like Chem-Con or Sanyo. Mouser and Digikey will tell you either in the description or on the data sheet who makes what capacitors.
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Snow_Cat
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Re: Sega Game Gear Help. !@!

Post by Snow_Cat » Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:13 pm

:| You mean capacitence in Farads?

I usually use acrylic wax (ie: car wax) to buffout scratches, but the resulting clairity isn't that great...

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Re: Sega Game Gear Help. !@!

Post by Tibia » Thu Oct 14, 2010 2:18 pm

Snow_Cat wrote::| You mean capacitence in Farads?
Yes, I did mean farads. Thanks for pointing that out, I've fixed it.
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