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Hi all, I picked up a 2nd Game Gear at the swap meet recently and its giving me a ton of problems. I've already replaced the 12 capacitors on the board, and on the power and sound boards. However, the system still isn't working.

On batteries, it won't turn on at all. The power supply does work, I tested it in my other GG.

When plugged in, it will turn on for a second and then turn off. Sometimes it will stay in longer, but I get a white screen with horizontal blocks that travel down the screen.

Any ideas? I'm sorry If this was covered in another thread, I searched but couldn't find the same problem.

That still sounds like a capacitor issue. Check over your work and be sure none of the caps have been soldered in backwards.

Thanks for the reply. I suspected there wasn't any other option. I rechecked and replied the solder on all the capacitors and still no luck. This one may be beyond my skillset to repair, if it's even repairable.

Yeah, sometimes the capacitors just eat away at hard to find traces and there's not much you can do. If the unit is shutting off shortly after power on, that means the Watchdog circuit is being activated. Try not to apply power when that happens.

My guess is the CPU isn't getting the Vbatt signal from the voltage divider which is important in startup. Although in that happens usually the system won't power on at all..

Please don't throw it away though either keep it for parts or you can donate it to me if you need to find a home for it. One of these days I plan to dive into detailed GG hardware repairs and develop a guide for problems like this.

Author	Message
DarrylFC Joined: 21 Mar 2020 Posts: 2	Trying to repair a game gear Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 11:45 pm
DarrylFC Joined: 21 Mar 2020 Posts: 2	Hi all, I picked up a 2nd Game Gear at the swap meet recently and its giving me a ton of problems. I've already replaced the 12 capacitors on the board, and on the power and sound boards. However, the system still isn't working. On batteries, it won't turn on at all. The power supply does work, I tested it in my other GG. When plugged in, it will turn on for a second and then turn off. Sometimes it will stay in longer, but I get a white screen with horizontal blocks that travel down the screen. Any ideas? I'm sorry If this was covered in another thread, I searched but couldn't find the same problem.

IllusionOfMana Joined: 08 Sep 2018 Posts: 270	Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 11:52 pm
IllusionOfMana Joined: 08 Sep 2018 Posts: 270	That still sounds like a capacitor issue. Check over your work and be sure none of the caps have been soldered in backwards.

DarrylFC Joined: 21 Mar 2020 Posts: 2	Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 12:59 am
DarrylFC Joined: 21 Mar 2020 Posts: 2	Thanks for the reply. I suspected there wasn't any other option. I rechecked and replied the solder on all the capacitors and still no luck. This one may be beyond my skillset to repair, if it's even repairable.

segasonicfan Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 374 Location: USA	Posted: Tue May 05, 2020 9:43 am
	Yeah, sometimes the capacitors just eat away at hard to find traces and there's not much you can do. If the unit is shutting off shortly after power on, that means the Watchdog circuit is being activated. Try not to apply power when that happens. My guess is the CPU isn't getting the Vbatt signal from the voltage divider which is important in startup. Although in that happens usually the system won't power on at all.. Please don't throw it away though either keep it for parts or you can donate it to me if you need to find a home for it. One of these days I plan to dive into detailed GG hardware repairs and develop a guide for problems like this.

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