Sega Game Gear has Officially becomes loss Hardware!!

[Gameboy30]

This is probably going to be a long post and maybe a rant about how hard it is to fix and to get working a Sega Game Gear as far as buying as is ones and even find Reliable sellers.

Sega Game Gear. Almost impossible to even find a one that I can. repair. For the last two years I bought over a dozen Game Gears and each one of them were unrepairable. 

Lately I bought ones that people say are as is, but it turns out they already opened them and sell them because they too are beyond repair. 

I got more cartridges on the second Game Gear. Then I do My Game Boy. 
I don't understand why such a hardware that has great games becomes loss With bad capacitors and corrosive parts. 

One time I bought a Game Gear that was modified with the LCD screen display. The system Sound didn't work. I opened it up And the job that the seller did with the sodding was horrible. 

 The second one attention came off the pad and damaged the whole game gear permanently because this person had put oversized capacitors on, causing the thing not to fully closed properly. He didn't want to refund me because I opened up the system.  But I end up instead. Learning how to install these LCD Game Gear kits on my own. Just by taking the kit he had Out of that system and put it on another system over four years ago. 

Four years ago I would By broken game gears and fix them and it was a shoe in for extra money. Now I wish I had one of them, because now these things are starting impossible to fix. It isn't bad corrosive padding. It's bad power cables. It's bad motherboards that won't stay on or flicker off, Even after you've replaced the capacitors. 

Repairing structure just simply is not good quality in some Sega Game Gear consoles. I spent over $300 worth of gain gears within the last two years of my life. And I've never had a chance to really enjoy the games that I've got,They just been sitting and dust. 

I tried to screen sellers since I've had issues with Game Gears that I opened and already have replacement competitors and still won't work. Ask them whether or not had they opened them. One person got offended and blocked me because I asked that question. Another person who advertised their Game Gear as tested and. working. I received it in the mail and I couldn't barely power it on and he got mad and told me for complaining about it. 

And whenever I've seen people charge $200 for Sega Game Gear consoles, even the ones that are $100 and refurbished, it's just like a full issue because if it isn't trying to find game Gears to save, its sellers that do a poor job at the soldering causing further problems with the foundation of the motherboards in the near future. 

It's just so hard. I'm just tired of emailing people asking for pictures. Some get annoyed with me and blocked me. Some just don't and will not answer you. 

I used to sell modded PS2 S over four years ago. And one person emailed me. After about few years of not selling them at the time. And they told me that you have any more because every time I buy one from other people, they don't be reliable and that things go wrong in that I was the only person around that they never had issues with. Unfortunately, I had to tell him I don't, because COVID and everything else had made everything so high. 

It seemed like the more these things sit around, the more. They get self destructed. The game gears. 

I got over a dozen power boards. From the game Gears that I bought within the last 2 1/2 years. 13 Powerboards. That was at least about $500 within the last few years. 

I mean, it's just like buying drug money, for instance, the more you try to get high. And if you don't get enough, the more you spend, the next thing you know you don't have any money for yourself or other things. 

At this point I want to sing a game gear that I can mod with a controller one port plus the. Retro 6 Kit LCD Screen and vGA out. 
I want to finish this game your project. But man, it's hard to find ones that are in good shape that you can face without no pads, lifting up or any corrosive things.. 

Speaking of corrosive. There are people that might these things and sell them and they don't even clean the board. They just slap on the caps and that's it. And they sell them to these people. And people don't even know what they getting inside. Until they find out something is wrong when they mess with the hardware. 

It's pretty sickening.  All the systems I've owned the Sega Game Gear is The most challenging system ever dealt with in repair. Perhaps if they were cheaper than $50 For one system broken. Then maybe, just maybe. The console would be actually. Worth getting a bunch of in terms of Given a try for a dozen. Not to the expense were all that will be worth about $500 totaling in 2 1/2 years. 

Retro 6 got this kit where you can buy a brand new motherboard for your Game Gear. But here's the caveat on that, to take the parts from a old game gear and know how to advance, they solder these parts to a board on your own. I don't know surface mount solder. I wish I did.. But even with that said, some gave years that I bought. As soon as you open them, surface mount pieces will fly out of the board. That's how bad some of the corrosiveness will be. 

 

These pictures are just from Google search alone. 

 If it isn't the Soldering it's you trying to work work on broken ones and they're far gone as far as the traces that you see. 

Since almost like the second, Game Gear is just like an animal that is a Endangered Species or something. 

I believe if you have a working Game Gear it should be more expensive than ones that are broken because the chances of fixing them is very, very hard. Unless you have the expertise of doing sMD soldering. You're stuck On your look as far as I'm concerned.

 

 

 

 

[LynxJagLunatic]

Sorry to hear that. I still have my original that I bought in 1993 and it still works. Unfortunately the screen is so faded I can barely see anything. Good luck finding a replacement. 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

On 2/21/2024 at 2:12 AM, Gameboy30 said:

This is probably going to be a long post and maybe a rant about how hard it is to fix and to get working a Sega Game Gear as far as buying as is ones and even find Reliable sellers.

Sega Game Gear. Almost impossible to even find a one that I can. repair. For the last two years I bought over a dozen Game Gears and each one of them were unrepairable. 

Lately I bought ones that people say are as is, but it turns out they already opened them and sell them because they too are beyond repair. 

I got more cartridges on the second Game Gear. Then I do My Game Boy. 
I don't understand why such a hardware that has great games becomes loss With bad capacitors and corrosive parts. 

One time I bought a Game Gear that was modified with the LCD screen display. The system Sound didn't work. I opened it up And the job that the seller did with the sodding was horrible. 

 The second one attention came off the pad and damaged the whole game gear permanently because this person had put oversized capacitors on, causing the thing not to fully closed properly. He didn't want to refund me because I opened up the system.  But I end up instead. Learning how to install these LCD Game Gear kits on my own. Just by taking the kit he had Out of that system and put it on another system over four years ago. 

Four years ago I would By broken game gears and fix them and it was a shoe in for extra money. Now I wish I had one of them, because now these things are starting impossible to fix. It isn't bad corrosive padding. It's bad power cables. It's bad motherboards that won't stay on or flicker off, Even after you've replaced the capacitors. 

Repairing structure just simply is not good quality in some Sega Game Gear consoles. I spent over $300 worth of gain gears within the last two years of my life. And I've never had a chance to really enjoy the games that I've got,They just been sitting and dust. 

I tried to screen sellers since I've had issues with Game Gears that I opened and already have replacement competitors and still won't work. Ask them whether or not had they opened them. One person got offended and blocked me because I asked that question. Another person who advertised their Game Gear as tested and. working. I received it in the mail and I couldn't barely power it on and he got mad and told me for complaining about it. 

And whenever I've seen people charge $200 for Sega Game Gear consoles, even the ones that are $100 and refurbished, it's just like a full issue because if it isn't trying to find game Gears to save, its sellers that do a poor job at the soldering causing further problems with the foundation of the motherboards in the near future. 

It's just so hard. I'm just tired of emailing people asking for pictures. Some get annoyed with me and blocked me. Some just don't and will not answer you. 

I used to sell modded PS2 S over four years ago. And one person emailed me. After about few years of not selling them at the time. And they told me that you have any more because every time I buy one from other people, they don't be reliable and that things go wrong in that I was the only person around that they never had issues with. Unfortunately, I had to tell him I don't, because COVID and everything else had made everything so high. 

It seemed like the more these things sit around, the more. They get self destructed. The game gears. 

I got over a dozen power boards. From the game Gears that I bought within the last 2 1/2 years. 13 Powerboards. That was at least about $500 within the last few years. 

I mean, it's just like buying drug money, for instance, the more you try to get high. And if you don't get enough, the more you spend, the next thing you know you don't have any money for yourself or other things. 

At this point I want to sing a game gear that I can mod with a controller one port plus the. Retro 6 Kit LCD Screen and vGA out. 
I want to finish this game your project. But man, it's hard to find ones that are in good shape that you can face without no pads, lifting up or any corrosive things.. 

Speaking of corrosive. There are people that might these things and sell them and they don't even clean the board. They just slap on the caps and that's it. And they sell them to these people. And people don't even know what they getting inside. Until they find out something is wrong when they mess with the hardware. 

It's pretty sickening.  All the systems I've owned the Sega Game Gear is The most challenging system ever dealt with in repair. Perhaps if they were cheaper than $50 For one system broken. Then maybe, just maybe. The console would be actually. Worth getting a bunch of in terms of Given a try for a dozen. Not to the expense were all that will be worth about $500 totaling in 2 1/2 years. 

Retro 6 got this kit where you can buy a brand new motherboard for your Game Gear. But here's the caveat on that, to take the parts from a old game gear and know how to advance, they solder these parts to a board on your own. I don't know surface mount solder. I wish I did.. But even with that said, some gave years that I bought. As soon as you open them, surface mount pieces will fly out of the board. That's how bad some of the corrosiveness will be. 

 

These pictures are just from Google search alone. 

 If it isn't the Soldering it's you trying to work work on broken ones and they're far gone as far as the traces that you see. 

Since almost like the second, Game Gear is just like an animal that is a Endangered Species or something. 

I believe if you have a working Game Gear it should be more expensive than ones that are broken because the chances of fixing them is very, very hard. Unless you have the expertise of doing sMD soldering. You're stuck On your look as far as I'm concerned.

 

 

 

 

I've had a few GGs sent to me for screen upgrades after the owner had them recapped by Estarland or someone on ebay that specializes in GG recaps that look pretty much like what you have shown. While I'm by no means an expert with SMD stuff, I do have a hot air station that I use to at least try an remove most SMD stuff with it. But I actually hand solder the SMD components into place. So far I've been lucky with the GGs sent in to me. But then I haven't done a bunch of them. Maybe about 20 - 30 over the years? But yes recaps don't and shouldn't look like the examples you have shown above.

 

This was the last one I just did weekend before last that I shipped back out to the owner last week.

 

This is how it was working when I first receive it. Usual white random lines on the screen and no audio at all.

 

Replaced the caps on the audio board first. This is what it looked like after getting the old caps off but before cleaning the pads.

 

Not horrible but that C7 cap did a number on the negative side... but it did clean up well.

 

And looked much better with new caps on it.

 

Using standard electrolytics on the system is totally fine and actually what was on the system originally, just in a square case housing on each cap. I just reform the leads in a similar manner so they sit under the cap. You can see what I mean in this pic of the caps on the right hand side of this same GG.

 

After the new caps it was back to working stock condition again at which point a new LCD was installed. Then the it was all translated into a new case shell with a new glass lens. 

 

Also Retrosix aren't the only ones that offer a complete replacement PCB setup. McWill actually came up with one of his own that seems to replace everything with one of new HD IPS screens already installed and nearly drop in ready but it does require having to remove and swap over the ASICs. I've not purchased one of these yet as they are pricey kits. But... just letting you know..

 

There is another...

 

https://console5.com/store/mcwill-game-gear-full-mod-kit-for-sega-game-gear-640x480-ips-screen.html

 

 

[amiman99]

I feel your pain. I got 2 Game Gears, Many years ago I recapped both of them using thru-hole caps (I did not have SMD caps at the time). One died again for some reason, the other one is fine so far.

 

[mutantcamel1979]

Quote

I feel your pain. I got 2 Game Gears, Many years ago I recapped both of them using thru-hole caps (I did not have SMD caps at the time). One died again for some reason, the other one is fine so far.

I bought a fully modified Game Gear with new cartridge slot, IPS Screen, rechargable batteries etc and it stopped working last night. The GG crashed whilst playing Wonderboy 3 and when I tried other cartridges I just got a black screen. I had been using a Krizz Everdrive (an old version) and it often wouldn't work, having to insert several times. I opened the GG and looks like a wire has snapped off the blue connector. The wires are that stretched, it was bound to happen I guess. Not sure if the Everdrive has fried a capacitor or something or if this wire was loose and it has totally snapped when I opened it.

 

It cost a fortune on Ebay, I'm a bit gutted, but hopefully it's a simple fix.

 

I have 2 original Game Gears that did work but now they don't, probably due to bad capacitors. It's a great shame Sega used such cheap parts. I remember around 1997 shops were selling new Game Gears for like £20. I wish I had a time machine!

Edited October 19 by mutantcamel1979

[+-^CrossBow^-]

On 10/19/2024 at 4:47 AM, mutantcamel1979 said:

I bought a fully modified Game Gear with new cartridge slot, IPS Screen, rechargable batteries etc and it stopped working last night. The GG crashed whilst playing Wonderboy 3 and when I tried other cartridges I just got a black screen. I had been using a Krizz Everdrive (an old version) and it often wouldn't work, having to insert several times. I opened the GG and looks like a wire has snapped off the blue connector. The wires are that stretched, it was bound to happen I guess. Not sure if the Everdrive has fried a capacitor or something or if this wire was loose and it has totally snapped when I opened it.

 

It cost a fortune on Ebay, I'm a bit gutted, but hopefully it's a simple fix.

 

I have 2 original Game Gears that did work but now they don't, probably due to bad capacitors. It's a great shame Sega used such cheap parts. I remember around 1997 shops were selling new Game Gears for like £20. I wish I had a time machine!

That wire was snipped on purpose as part of the modification installs. Pretty sure it is the high voltage input off the power board. However, most of the replacement power boards like the one I see you have installed, do NOT provide this high voltage because it was only required for the backlight assembly of the original GG. So yeah..that only looks broken but was done on purpose as required here.

 

[mutantcamel1979]

I now have the issue that if I simply leave the game gear off a game will load but then will crash. The longer I leave it the longer the game lasts. But seems to last only for a few minutes at the most. This is not just with the Everdrive but with regular cartridges too. There seems to be an issue with the game gear which may or may not be a result of using the Everdrive. Very frustrating!

[mutantcamel1979]

So I tried taking the game gear apart. I haven't connected the sound board but all I get is a black screen with white boarder lines when I insert a game. I think all the connections are there. 

[mutantcamel1979]

[Osgeld]

been doing game gears for like 8 years, only had a couple that would not play ball

 

I will say putting though hole components on already compromised pads is a terrible idea, its like putting a large tuning fork on a bad wheel bearing  

 

I work in electronic assembly *though I used to be a real design engineer* and when I started the company I work for now... we were still producing boards like these (for AUTOMOTIVE!) 

 

Super thin coper, heavy components glued down, flipped upside down, sprayed with a heavy gel flux and sent though a wave soldering machine, one has to be "tender" when messing with boards made this way 

 

Back in the 90's SMT was "new", though hole was established so they adapted old machines to do new things. Where as now we would use stencils to apply a solder paste and use a hot air oven to reflow just the solder. These things were bathed in a few CM of molten solder in a wave of solder (think a chocolate fountain)  then (hopefully) most of the excess would be blown off by air knives before solidifying.

 

Now think that this is normal for automotive, aerospace, and military, then reduce it to the cost of a child's toy ... add about 40 years and give it to the hands of "joe the modder" on ebay 

 

Gameboy's are actually worse in my opinion (they are my #1 fail) , but there was just so damn many made that no one is noticing