Trying to Fix 3 BROKEN Sega Game Gears - Extended Cut
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- Trying to Fix 3 BROKEN Sega Game Gears - Extended Cut - These Sega handhelds are known for having faulty capacitors, but what else will need to be replaced? Come with me as I try to fix all 3, especially the rare blue Game Gear.
►Tools & Parts I Use (paid link): www.amazon.com...
►TronicsFix Game Console Repair Forum: www.tronicsfix...
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Tools I Use:
-Protech Toolkit: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/QVCjRqq
-Torx Security T8: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/oNFUeS5
-PH00 Phillips: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/u9Elh
-Tweezers: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/j4WX1
-Electric Screwdriver: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/Vtja
-Thermal Paste: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/JToknC
-Canned Air: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/Fbk7arC
Equipment Used:
-Hakko Hot Air Station: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/UCTLRXW
-Nozzle for hot air station: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/PnIG
-Hakko Soldering Station: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/OU4v
-Hakko Air Filter: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/wBHy05k
-Digital Microscope: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/JLqdVD
-Stereo Microscope: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/kkb3aa
-Kester Solder: Amazon (paid link) geni.us/6Z4Y
→Business Inquiries Email: steve@tronicsfix.com
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TronicsFix does not make any claims of the safety of the projects, techniques, or resources listed on this channel and will not take responsibility of what you do with the information provided by this channel. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not TronicsFix. Please do not attempt anything contained in this video unless you accept personal responsibility for the results, whether they are good or bad.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Didnt even know this channel existed. You should definitely advertise it on the main
So glad you're enjoying it! We will be advertising it more as we get more videos uploaded here.
Agreed, I didn't either and I'm very glad to see it. I love the regular videos, but seeing the in-depth work (even when it's significantly longer) is satisfying its own right. :)
first time here too
Same here!!
Yeah! I didnt either and prefer watching the long videos
The channel nobody asked for but everyone needed, thank you Steve and wish you good health 💪
Loving these long format videos. Thank you for sharing them! One note, worth throwing a link to your main channel in the description for new people finding this channel before your main.
Long time viewer/subscriber, thank you for all the helpful and insightful videos.
Glad you're enjoying these! We'll be adding links to and from the main channel soon. Just getting this one up and running.
Loving the longer videos, Steve. I didn’t know you had another channel… luckily the algorithm got me here.
Glad you're enjoying these! We just started this channel recently.
@@TronicsFixLongs soo cool, loving the content so far, thanks for the extended cuts !
Thanks for the long format. I love it. On the recap, I’m surprised that you didn’t clean up the old cap ‘juice’ from the board before you put new caps over the top of it.
So glad you like these long form videos. As long as people watch them we'll keep uploading them. It's been a while since I filmed this video but I think I cleaned it up better than I show in the video at some point. I often don't show the entire process of what I'm doing...even in these long from videos.
I'm so excited to have these in longer format videos.
Also, i wonder if Coke can clean up (removed) battery terminals.
Same!
Everytime that you try something that you've been working on and it turns on, I celebrate it like a goal :)
Greetings from Chile, I'm happy because I found this channel!
That's awesome! That's how I celebrate sometimes too!
I added the McWill screen upgrade to my Game Gear. It's like night and day. You should check it out if you ever get a chance.
Never heard of it but I'm looking it up right now!
Great vid. So glad someone is out there trying to fix these great retro systems. Id love to get a game gear for my collection one day.
This is fantastic. Extended length. Love it. Subscribed
Another great video. You explain things perfectly and show what you are doing and where to find more info . Thank you for uploading and giving me the confidence to clean and take apart my SNES . It’s getting the UV treatment as I type . Take care and thank you again. Looking forward to more videos. ✌️
So glad you're doing some repairs yourself! Hope it looks amazing when you're done.
excellent video. That sonic game brings back huge memories of my childhood. my brother and I each had a game gear which I still have mine. We stayed up late playing it all night.
Love watching the longer videos too :). I recently picked up some Game Gears so this has been helpful :) thanks
I wish you would say what your settings are when you do repairs. Knowing your temp on the soldering iron and hot air is handy info for a novice like me.
Yeah, I try to do that sometimes but usually forget. I've learned to work with my setting pretty much the same all the time with a few exceptions. I don't remember my exact settings but I think I have my irons set at about 750F. My hot air station is usually set at 1100F and I think the airflow is set at 3.
Just keep in mind that your settings will be different as you'll likely have different equipment and you'll be working in a different environment that I work in.
Gave me a big smile when I heard that "Sega" sound.
Had no idea this channel existed. HUGE fan of your main channel. Instant sub from me.
We just started this one recently. We kept seeing comments on or main channel asking for longer videos so we listened!
So happy i found this channel! Long format fixes are the best!!!
This brings back some serious nostalgia! I had the same blue Game Gear with the case and everything...I spent most of my time with it sitting by a power outlet because it would destroy AA batteries so fast! After like a year or so my parents finally bought me a bunch of rechargeable batteries so that I could actually afford to use it on road trips and stuff...
Steve, great health wishes first!
For the short circuit board, why wouldn't you inject voltage, like 1V, and look for heat spot. You can use thermal camera if you one, or the atomizer, or if you got no of these use 95+% isopropyl alcohol and look for a spot where it evaporates fast. This board must be saved!
I was also wondering if this method would've helped save the board. Hopefully he revisits one day using this technique.
great vid, i woulda used a solder wick to clean the pads tho, the mix of corrosion may give issues on the solder making a good enough connection otherwise. But great job either way :)
Good video,the second one is a majesco(a little different,last versions)the other ones is a one chip version,greetings from Spain.
These longer format videos are superb - much prefer these to the shorter variant 👍👍👍
Good to know! Thanks for the comment.
Great video! I had a Game Gear with the TV card but I think I tossed it because it didn’t work after all those years of non-use. Probably the capacitors, as you’ve shown very well here. I’ll be back!
I've almost bought one like that several times. I'm always looking for them.
Love how far our tech has come replacing parts with more efficient and more compact replacements
I love these long forms! I’m always looking for more tronicsfix and restorish content
So glad you like these!
It is soooo cool to compare the boards of retro consoles like the Game Gear compared to modern boards.
I have a blue one i recapped and changed out the backlight a few years ago i never touch but it was good practice for recapping consoles
I really like the blue ones. Nice work on recapping it. That's a lot of work!
Could you inject voltage at those shorted capacitors and see what got hot?
Thanks for the long vid, love those ! Hope you are well too ! I wish the best for you ☺
Thank you so much for fixing Game Gears. I will be releasing a brand new Game Gear game with the help of a publisher this year ! :)
2 out of 3, is Great! Great Repairs and Video. Thank You.
Love the long form videos... I understand that you are not really a modder... But these game gear are perfect candidates for Screen Mods.
Glad you enjoy these longer ones! Yes, I'm not necessarily a modder but I agree that I need to do some screen mods on these!
I'd love to see a modded Game Gear with the back light changed to led. Great video.
@TronixFixLongs. love your fixes and been watching for years but @ 21:05, why struggle with the the solder sticking to the pads, I'm Just wondering why you didn't use some solder wick to clean the pads ? its a very simple clean up job that not only saves time, it does a much better/cleaner job and prevents you damaging the pads, just seams weird to me. I know your not a qualified electronics engineer. But you have lots of skill and years of practise yet you still do it the hard way :)
What type of soldering iron are you using for these videos, and how did you learn how to replace these parts?
I have a question if you could help. I saw it on the second game gear you were fixing. What capacitor can i use to replace a ceramic 121j 2kv. On mine it seems like a burn spot under it so figure that would be part of the issue with mine. I like all your videos and they help me try to fix some of my old game consoles
Do you know why it would be OK to replace those caps with bi-polar ones ? I figure if they used polarized ones, they must have chosen them for a reason. Thanks for the video repair.
Honestly, I'm not sure why the kit comes with those or why they use them in place of the polarized ones.
Non polarized caps in place of polarized ones? Not that I'm complaining. I have a GG to restore and glad to know where to get the kit from.
They seem to work just fine.
Still have my old game gear but haven’t fired it up in ages. Really needs a case replacement as little bits have broken off around the d-pad probably down to overuse and maybe embrittlement (I mean it is like over 30yrs old haha). Not sure if I have the skills or balls to open it up like haha
Thank you so much for this video I have an old game gear to work on and this video will help me
Just saying, but I watch both these long form and cut down versions, even if it's the same vid/topic! These longer vids are great for just having on in the background, or when I'm doing my own techy stuff lmao. Hope to see more of these!
Love to hear it! We're planning to keep uploading these as long as they're getting watched. Glad you're enjoying them.
As a person who has accidentally rested my soldering iron on cases and melted screw ports and the outer shell....smart idea taking the board out.
I recently refurbed one of these, the audio was very quiet so I got a new amp board, they are very cheap, and my screen was totally dead, so I had to get a replacement screen. I can recommend the Benn Venn screens, they are bright and clear and look great. I have a Benn Venn screen in my Lynx II as well, really very good.
Great to know. I'll check those screens out. EDIT: I looked the website and they are sold out of most of what I would have bought. Bummer.
@@TronicsFixLongs That's a shame. Good luck with your future fixes, I'll be watching 😁
I have a childhood game gear. I have the same case , games, and even a battery pack (doubt it still holds a charge). It has same issue no video on screen and assume it’s the universal problem with these. Do you offer a service where I could mail it in for repair. I have held on to it for years due to nostalgia. I’d love to get it fixed.
got a game gear doing like the blue one. Sad i am not in the us to get this fixed by you 😢
You should change the blue one to a OLED screen, it would raise the value on it for sure! Cheers 🍻
For fixing the VA4 there are plenty of more knowledgable ppl over on the BennVenn and Retrosix Discord channels. Great to see the Handy Gear though, think that's the first time I've actually seen one in use :) And wow, you have an amazing looking condition blue game gear.
Honestly I'm loving the long form better than the main channel.
Thanks for the comment! So glad to hear that you're enjoying it. We see a lot of people asking for longer videos so we decided to listen, lol
Nice work thanks for the upload
Thanks for stopping by!
I had one as a kid and accidentally dropped it into a deep fryer full of solidified grease.
We were pretty ignorant when it comes to cleaning/repairing it so it ended up in the trash.
Looking back it likely would've just needed to be cleaned.
Off topic , have you ever put themal paste on a ps5 instead of liquid metal . Would the core get super hot.
Yeah, doesn't work well. Not enough thermal transfer.
No polarity on the replacement caps?
One thing I hope you're doing still is neutralizing the capacitor electrolyte. The flux alone doesn't neutralize the corrosiveness of it. IPA also doesn't completely neutralize it. Generally with something like this, a slightly diluted distilled vinegar works well, then a quick scrub and rinse with the IPA,
I remember that Sega sound! My moms friends kids had a game gear and we played sonic every time we went over there!
Hey Steve where did you source the cap kit from? Also have you ever had any issues using that style as opposed to the standard caps (minus the whole leg manipulation) definitely looks cleaner thats for sure.
Console5 is where most people get their Game Gear caps.
Also, for the ceramic caps, Hand held legend sells them, not sure if Console5 carries those
I think I got these from Console 5. I haven't had any problems with that style of cap but I also have not used these for extended periods. Ceramic caps are more durable in general than electrolytic so I think it's a good move but honestly I'm not sure why manufacturers choose one over the other.
@@TronicsFixLongs There were some tests done and presented on the GG forum on Reddit. For the mainboard, there was no real difference. For the sound board, the thruhole mounted sideways (not sure if this is coming out right!) performed better than the ceramic caps. I'm not an audio engineer nor an audiophile, so I doubt I could tell the difference. For the Powerboard, I believe everyone uses thru hole only. I've done multiple GG with both types of caps and both have worked fine for me with ceramic much easier to work with
Omg. Driving me crazy you didn’t use some copper braids or alcohol to clean anything up. 😊
11:10 - its my ufits MU(greek letter) F or micro farrads.
Wishing you the best with your heath! ❤
soldering with leads still on components is a defect in all classes. please read the ipc soldering specification/handbook
My favorite part is when you do the flux stuff. It looks so cool it’s like you adding liquid metal on it.
Flux is like magic!
The algorithm lead me here...love the longer vids
YAY!!!!! Long format baby!
Nice video Steve, i'm glad the algorithm showed me this channel. I don't agree with whoever put together that capacitor kit, replacing electrolytic with ceramic caps is not recomended in all types of circuits, it's acceptable in some but not all. Also replacing 33µf with 100µf is also not good, it's okay to go up in size but not 3 times the original size. Another thing is that brown glue that is in the lower corners of the main board covering some of the chips of the blue console should be removed because once it turns brown like that it going to go conductive and cause all kinds of problem, that's a well known problem with this kind of glue
Agreed, this capacitor kit seems lazy and cheap. I believe that Console5 offers legitimate cap kits for the different Game Gears models for anyone looking for something better. Haven't used the kit myself though since I buy caps in bulk.
As someone who’s been in the FPV hobby for a couple years now, it’s terrifying how long you held your iron to some of those pads. 😂
But I’m terrible at soldering so I really have no idea what I’m talking about.
I tried to buy one of these a few months back in a store and sadly both of them were completely dead, not showing anything. Would be really cool if we could get something like the Funnyplaying FPGA GBC for the Game Gear, because in how bad the original units are with the caps.
I still have mine from when it came out. Still play it too. Even have the game genie. Also play my turbografx
Wow! That's impressive. That's so cool that you still have it.
Is cfl shorted on the va4?
The cool blue one I'd work on first, in case it needed parts from donor consoles (the black ones).
Yeah the capacitors fail on all of the GameGear consoles main board and the sound board too. This also happens with TurboDuo’s and many of the other products of that era. As long as the leaking capacitors didn’t destroy the board simply replace them and game on!
I've got at least one Turbo Duo that I'll be fixing in a future video!
I did the retro six cap kit on mine but now that I think about it, do these caps have a polarity on them?
Ceramic caps, generally speaking, are not polarized.
@@TronicsFixLongs that’s what I thought but then started 2nd guessing myself
How do you know what side is positive and negative on the replacement caps?
It doesn't matter on this surface mount ones
Where did this Channel pop up from??
I saved all my Lawn, Snow Showvelin & Pop Can money to Finally get the Blue one! got he screw Mount Battery pack, Not the Wart.
Soo Pissed when the NOMAD came out 2 weeks later.
No Idea LOL
It's a new channel we just started. We've seen a lot of comment from people who wanted longer videos so we're making long cuts of most of our videos.
Lol, I hate it when they come out with the new products right after you buy the old one!
Where do you find the new battery contacts for these retro handhelds?
I don't remember where I got these specific ones but I've been buying a lot of this stuff from Retro Six and Console 5
Thank you 😊
That joy plus case makes everything so much better. The big game gear becomes even bigger. And the washed out screen has becomes more clearly washed out😅
When did this even come about? I had no idea.
I wish I get some of these consoles some day in lifetime ❤ here in Argentina those are brutally expensive and the nintendo handhelds are too 😢.
man the sonic 2 game unlocked a core memory from a kid :D
Im sure you know this but just in case for anyone else, for the corrosion on these pads, my friend recommended scraping away at the pad with a craft knife or like the dental pick you have. Then its much easier to solder from
Yes, if there is corrosion on the pad it can be very difficult to get solder to stick to it. Solder sticks best to a nice clean pad.
Some of these old hand helds had great titles. The way gaming is going, today, it may be worth it to invest in good quality older machines.
Why not take all battery contacts out and clean them properly?
Yes 2 in a week Thanks dude.
Lots more to come!
No need to scrape .. just soak in vinager for a few hours and it will do it's job nicely .
Recap happiness. Sweet! 😉👍
I spent so many years on that exact sonic
The flux compasentor. :D
Soaking the capacitor in the flux... I guess you could call it a fluxed capacitor ^^
No link to the gameboys
Steve, once a gain, regular batteries don't have acid, they are alkaline so no acid whatsoever and if they had acid it would definately not react to vinegar which IS an acid. What you see is a redox or reduction-oxidation, which means that the acid (vinegar) is neutralizing the alkaline residue of the batteries.
33:57 satisfaction listening that .... SEGA!!!!!
It’s not battery acid. It’s an alkali as in alkaline batteries. Vinegar is an acid and it neutralizes the alkali.
Oh shit even longer content of my boi sign me up
Liberally fluxing your capacitors Doc Brown and Marty would be proud. 😂
Lol, yep!
Gamegear = cap replacement. They always seem to leak
Yep
Longform for the win!
Glad you enjoy these long ones!
Blacklighting Game Gears is a must.
Luv the shirt
The microfarad -- symbolized as µF using the Greek symbol mu (mew like a cat says ;)
Feed your self before work eat snaks man you need that
Al menos te salieron sin óxido yo compré hace años un lote y ya estaban súper oxidadas las placas :( pistas dañadas componentes dañados perdi dinero
Almost report this channel for content stealing. Thanks for this kinda content
Lol, don’t report us! We tried to make it similar but also different enough to notice that it’s a different channel
@@TronicsFixLongs I'd never. I didn't know about the channel. An instant sub and fav