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  • Joined: 13 Nov 2007
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Game Gear Screen Repair
Post Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 3:03 pm
Howsit?

I have a few Game Gears I am having a go at repairing. I have succesfully fixed 2 of the suckers by simply replacing the caps. When I got to the 3rd one the screen is all crapped up. The screen has horizontal white lines through it. Any idea on how to fix this? I have read through this forum and seen that maybe re-soldering the LCD ribbon to the board maybe a fix but how do you that? I have a proper soldering station do you just have to run a dab of solder on each line from the board to the ribbon?

I had a go at a 4th tonight as well and this one has a weird vertical line in the centre as in the outsides look great the inside looks a little different.

I go over the boards quickly with a cotton bud and metho, might have to give that a better go to as the one with the white lines through it I think came from the mines as the amount of dust, crap and sticky shit (probably from the caps) was amzing.

Any help would be great.
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:19 am
I tried further cleaning and also re-soldering where the ribbon is attached to the main board. It made no difference so I assume once the LCD has clapped out that could/would be it?
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:13 pm
It's been a while since I resoldered a LCD on one of these things but I remember it was quite difficult. I would think that applying some solder and pressure to each connection should be enough.

The screen is controlled by some ICs which are mounted on the edge of the glass. From memory there are three for the vertical and three for the horizontal. Look closely and you'll see them. Each IC needs power, clock, and data. So if it looses power or clock you end up with a good size chunk of the screen going dark, if you loose a data line you end up with a line or two on the screen.

Depending on where the lines are appearing on the screen you can work out which IC (and which of the LCD connections) is causing problems and concentrate your resoldering effort on a few specific pins of the ribbon cable.
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:18 pm
Hey thanks for the reply! I will give it another go, maybe won't pussy foot around like I did before. Whats the worst that can happen! Thanks again
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:08 pm
You'll melt a hole in the ribbon....
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:20 am
I'll be careful, not just as careful as I was before. I have an electrical background (elec fitter) and used to do a fair amount of PCB work, just never did anything with LCD ribbon cable. You gotta learn from somewhere.
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Post Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:14 am
Recently I was asked to fix a Game Gear but unfortunately this particular one had had batteries left in it and had quite badly damaged the board (bad corrosion around the directional pads).

Anyway I got the screen working nicely only when to try the game the character constantly ran right! This was due to the right pad tracks being corroded. No other direction could be used either. It was to far gone to try to fix and there were other spots of corrosion on that sort of the board as well.

But the screen was good so what I am thinking of doing is cutting that section of board out where the screen ribbon is soldered to the board and then cutting off the ribbon on one of the other game gears (that had the dodgy screen) and because the ribbon only takes up part of the track where it is soldered I could use the remaining track to solder my own ribbon wire to the good main board.

Could be worth a try.
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 1:47 am
omp wrote
But the screen was good so what I am thinking of doing is cutting that section of board out where the screen ribbon is soldered to the board and then cutting off the ribbon on one of the other game gears (that had the dodgy screen) and because the ribbon only takes up part of the track where it is soldered I could use the remaining track to solder my own ribbon wire to the good main board.

Could be worth a try.


No, don't cut anything! Desoldering the screen ribbon cable (from the PCB) isn't all that difficult. I just tried it (for the second time) with my broken GG. All you need to do is add some solder to all the PCB pads (don't worry about shorting things). Now, slowly run the soldering iron across the pads and lift the ribbon cable as you go.

When it comes to putting it back on again, clean up both the robbon and PCB with some solder wick (braid), add some solder to each PCB pad, and start to re-attach the ribbon cable. The trick is to heat up one pad at a time and apply pressure to the ribbon till you see the solder being taken up. Make sure you keep the ribbon straight and positioned properly or the last few connections won't match with the board.
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Post Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:30 am
Ok thanks for the advice. I have a variable soldering station what temperature do you recommend? I am thinking something fairly low like 250-300degC?

I am just concerned on assing it up is all. Ah well damned if you damned if you don't.....

Thanks again
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Post Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:31 am
omp wrote
Ok thanks for the advice. I have a variable soldering station what temperature do you recommend? I am thinking something fairly low like 250-300degC?


I don't think it's a good idea to do any soldering at less than 350°C. My soldering iron sits at 400°C most of the time.
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Post Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:47 am
Well I got the replacement screen off the crap board and onto the good board. I have to replace all the caps (to tired tonight) before I fire it up but it looks good. I had a squiz with a magnifying glass and it appears to be ok. I used a few pieces of masking tape to hold most of it down in place and as I got closer I peeled the pieces off till it was all done. While it wasn't difficult I wouldn't want to do it to often lol!

Thanks again for your help.
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Post Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:45 pm
I got similar problems in mines, but regarding vertical stripes. It wasnt caused by the LCD's contacts, but by the 3 chips "glued" in the LCD's glass. When I applied some pression (using my fingers) on one of them those stripes would move horizontally or even disappear... Well, to fix these "chips" I would need some kind of miracle...
Dessoldering it's not difficult in my opinion, just use an small power soldering iron on the ribbon contacts to dessolder and (if needed) to replace the LCD apply some solder on the pads as viletim said. Then do the reverse...
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Post Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:38 am
...has anybody tried replacing the backlight with LEDs?
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Post Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 5:37 am
In an older thread on this forum someone mentioned they had tried but the LEDs were not comparable in terms of brightness to the regular backlight.
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Post Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:09 pm
How about using 30000mcd White LEDs ? I the end, they'd all together suck more power than backlit itsefl....
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Post Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:36 pm
The narrow focal point of a LED makes it a poor backlight. Who would want to make the GG screen look even worse than it already does?
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Post Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:49 am
My GG's screen is all white and the brightness wheel does very little to fix this problem. On top of that I have no sound either. When I shake the GG I hear something rattling around inside O.o! What could be the problem to cause that kind of a problem with the screen? As I said it is very bright producing that sort of photo negative effect and I can see the brightness wheel making the screen lighter and darker but just barely.
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Post Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:30 pm
Replace all the caps in the unit including the ones on the sound board.
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:33 pm
Helloooooo!!

I have a prob thats related to the LCD screen ICs mentioned earlier. I have a display thats 2/3 blank (left, middle vertical) and 1/3 ok (right hand side).

I believe the problem to be with the grey LCD ICs at the bottom of the screen, when held up to the light it looks like moisture has developed under the first too, causing the screen to fail.

Does anyone know anything about this type of Ic? can they be removed/replaced (looks like their glued in) or is the screen a write off??

Cheers!!, grateful for any help...!
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:06 pm
Did you try changing the capacitors? The chips are almost certainly impossible to replace, let alone source.
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Post Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:37 pm
^^Agreed, I have seen quite a few like that now and they are only good for one thing, which is nothing......
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Post Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:22 pm
cheers! might have a crack at the caps (i got the list of which ones), but sounds like my GG, well the screens days are numbered. Again, thanks for your help.
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Post Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:51 am
UP!

Hello I'm new

I've some problems with my game gear 1 asic

Replaced all capacitors, cleaned main board, controlled connections, solders and polarity, changed screen potentiometer (wheel) but nothing to do: the screen is still flickering a little bit

Any ideas?

Thank you!
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Post Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 5:27 pm
Check the power board. Ripple current from the adapter can affect the LCD. Change with another one if possible.
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Screen with horizontal black lines
Post Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 4:22 pm
Hello, im quite new here, and my english is also quite bad. I’ll do my best to explain my problem with this awesome machine


Basically, i changed all the main board caps . And used a new working sound board.

And now, sound doesnt work (i dont know why) and screen got 3 black horizontal lines in the screen.

When i heat the horizontal chip of the lcd with the plumber, the lines dissapear. But in 5/10 minutes they come back.

Can it be fixed easily? I rreally dont know how to works with raibows 😅

Thank you guys
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Post Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 4:58 pm
isan86 wrote
...And now, sound doesnt work (i dont know why) and screen got 3 black horizontal lines in the screen.

When i heat the horizontal chip of the lcd with the plumber, the lines dissapear. But in 5/10 minutes they come back...


So to start with the screen, you may just need to reflow the screen asics. Just heat it enough to melt the solder so it re-establishes a connection to the board.

For sound... You may have a cap in backwards? check to ensure this isnt the case first.

I think this is a good starting point for attempting to fix your system... It sounds like its fixable at least.
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Post Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:06 pm
IllusionOfMana wrote
isan86 wrote
...And now, sound doesnt work (i dont know why) and screen got 3 black horizontal lines in the screen.

When i heat the horizontal chip of the lcd with the plumber, the lines dissapear. But in 5/10 minutes they come back...


So to start with the screen, you may just need to reflow the screen asics. Just heat it enough to melt the solder so it re-establishes a connection to the board.

For sound... You may have a cap in backwards? check to ensure this isnt the case first.

I think this is a good starting point for attempting to fix your system... It sounds like its fixable at least.


Thanks! that was fast

As I said, my english sux xD what’s exactly screen asics?

And the sound. It’s a working sound board. I had ir it on a death screen gamegear , and sound was cool (not the image as well xD)
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Post Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:18 pm
the asic is the "Horizontal Chip" you mentioned above. unless youre talking about the point where the screen attaches to the game gear main board then that too may need to be re-soldered.
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Post Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:43 pm
IllusionOfMana wrote
the asic is the "Horizontal Chip" you mentioned above. unless youre talking about the point where the screen attaches to the game gear main board then that too may need to be re-soldered.


Yes, the black chip.

Ok, so that point should be somehow conected to the mainboard, and when i Heat it with the plumber it can be get stuck on it?

(So, is like...if a cap, is not stuck propertly to the mainboard?)

Sorry, im newbe 😇
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Post Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 12:20 am
isan86 wrote
IllusionOfMana wrote
the asic is the "Horizontal Chip" you mentioned above. unless youre talking about the point where the screen attaches to the game gear main board then that too may need to be re-soldered.


Yes, the black chip.

Ok, so that point should be somehow conected to the mainboard, and when i Heat it with the plumber it can be get stuck on it?

(So, is like...if a cap, is not stuck propertly to the mainboard?)

Sorry, im newbe 😇


Well, I made another try before go to bed.

Now the sound magically works xD disnt do anything, just opened the console. And working only with the 3 boards.

The image... I heated it again with the plumber. And now is working fine for Half an hour.

Do maybe it get f..ked when the console cold down? Or when you close the console?

Im gona shut it down tonight, and see how it works tomorrow morning ^^

Thanks a lot for the help

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Post Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 11:41 am
Well, after 8 hours with the console off. When I turned it on again, there is only one line left (I dont know, maybe after 16h , there whould be 2 😅)
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Post Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 11:26 am
I don't have any technical expertise to offer.
But I think that a Game Gear with a broken screen is an ideal candidate for a McWill lcd screen replacement or any other screen replacement, I'm out of the loop of what is available for GG. A lot of money, yes, but well worth it. Also as an investment, if you ever need money you can sell the modded system and make some extra money.
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Post Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 2:15 pm
D wrote
I don't have any technical expertise to offer.
But I think that a Game Gear with a broken screen is an ideal candidate for a McWill lcd screen replacement or any other screen replacement, I'm out of the loop of what is available for GG. A lot of money, yes, but well worth it. Also as an investment, if you ever need money you can sell the modded system and make some extra money.


I have another gamegear like this (look down) like negative image and only if you put the console in the right position

And somebody told me this is totally unsaveable
So im probably gona try the MCWill. Checked sone videos and doesnt looks very difficult (lot of cables 😅)

If you thing the screen can be saved, tell me how 😇

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Post Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:02 pm
I thought that's the classic "needs new capacitors" symptom.
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Post Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:30 pm
Maxim wrote
I thought that's the classic "needs new capacitors" symptom.


I put new ones, take em out, and put them on again.
Then took it to a specialist, he checked em again and told me he cant make it work :P
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