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View topic - Strange Game Gear Recap Issue... Help??
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 Strange Game Gear Recap Issue... Help??
 Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 4:59 pm
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Hey all
I've recapped quite afew Game Gears but this one has me really, really confused... So I recapped it... it was working perfectly fine no problems at all apart from it would turn itself off if the brightness was too high if you started the console with the brightness down and got it running then turned the brightness up it was perfectly fine. I thought it might just need using so I left it on the bench running to test it as I do with most of my Game Gears. it was running for about 10 minutes and the screen was getting dim again like a leaking cap Game Gear would... I've had this dimming problem before and reheating the solder points on the brightness wheel usually fixes it. I did this and now im getting this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dXaVVso540 It will flicker some white lines some times as you see in the video but that's all. I've connected the sound and it is playing the game just nothing on screen. I've tried removing the brightness wheel completely to check for possible shorts found none... and I also removed the 0.47uF caps for new ones as well as the 47uF and 22uF caps for new ones (which if my memory serves me right either the 22/47uF or the 0.47uF caps are todo with the brightness wheel??) regardless though still no luck on this. Does anyone have any idea's? Really confused with this one. |
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 8:33 pm
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| I've just taken all the capacitors off and put another new set on and still the same thing... this is bizarre. Can anyone help save this Game Gear? | |
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 9:01 pm
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Try checking for shorts around the contrast wheel and caps.
P.S. Which SN is this? |
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 9:53 pm
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This is the P20172831 model. The HGG-3210 model is working great and now on eBay :)
I've checked the contrast wheel (literally removed it and checked it all then put it back together) and also removed all of the caps and put brand new ones in again still the same issue... it's really strange. |
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:21 pm
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Here's some images of the brightness dial which i've removed again and also some pictures of the board. Maybe someone can spot something?
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:19 am
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Ok I've had the brightness dial off again completely and cleaned up the area around it. Put it back in place with new solder... still nothing... Although I am getting more of a full screen flicker instead of lines now as seen here (excuse the music):
Fed up and giving up. I'm guessing it's the brightness dial that has magically given out of me all of a sudden... Great! :( Guess this ones destined for the scrap heap. 
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:57 am
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| Can you just solder a resistor in it's place to verify that the pots are the problem? | |
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 2:04 am
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I'm afraid I don't have any resistors handy :(
What do you think the issue is? It's so very strange... It kept turning off when i first recapped it if the brightness was right up but if you had it down, turned it on then upped the brightness it was fine but would turn off eventually. Then the screen got dimmer and dimmer so i tried my usual trick of reheating the dial but since then... nothing... So confused. |
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 3:29 am
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Try to get some of the flux away from M24.
http://www.smspower.org/forums/files/dscf4518_195.jpg |
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 10:00 am
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I've tried that, still not working.. Although after being left over night it did power up then turn itself off like it used to then second try the screen was on but with lines on but faded away and now I'm getting nothing again.
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:56 am
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Cleaned the entire board and removed any flux traces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRYTplggDYk Starting to give up... Only other thing it could be is the brightness dial but I noticed when it does show abit of the picture its not showing the game its always white. It also improves on giving me a white screen when i press down harder on the brightness dial itself so perhaps it's that!? Think this ones a lost cause unless any of you have any idea's. |
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 3:15 pm
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| Could you take a photo of the whole board for me? | |
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 4:25 pm
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Certainly here you go
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:18 pm
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Posting some areas of curiosity. Also, what's up with the two caps stuck together?
On "Check": 1. Try cleaning the corrosion 2. Resoldier the positive leg. It looks a little like a cold soldier joint. 3. That pad isn't important, but it looks damaged. 4. Again, not important, but it looks damaged. 5. Resoldier both ground legs. On "Check2": 1. Try resoldiering that cap. It looks cold. 2. That one looks a little corroded. Try cleaning it up a bit. 3. Probably just another board revision, but my GG has micro caps in those spots. 
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:32 pm
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The 2 caps are in parallel they are a 47uF and 22uF cap which gives a total of 69uF for the 68uF requirement which should be there.
I cannot get 68uF caps from anywhere but I was told some time ago that you can do this and they run fine. 30+ Game Gears later (including my own) and I've never had a single issue what so ever. It works great. I wil go over your list and do as you suggested thank you for your input. I have had some success though! I've made some progress. I removed the 22uF and 4.7uF caps and cleaned all the flux around that area and now I'm getting this. It's an improvement i guess! I need to stop guessing and work out which caps do what, do you happen to have a list of what caps control what (buttons, LCD, etc) so i can remove the ones I need to and give it a good clean and see if i have any further luck. |
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 9:06 pm
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I've done everything you mentioned Capt. still nothing... same thing occuring... It really is so strange.
And yes those micro caps are due to board revision it's caught me out before too haha! I'm thinking i might try heating the metal part on the right side of the LCD (usually what you do when you want to get rid of horizontal black lines). Other than that I'm really out of idea's. It's had a good clean now, brightness wheel off and cleaned then reinstalled with fresh solder. It's also had 2 sets of caps now still nothing... so strange. Does anyone have a capacitor list? i.e. 22uF does this... 4.7uF does this... etc etc... must be someone who knows? 
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 10:01 pm
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Tried cleaning and replacing the last cap which was the 100uF cap near the brightness dial. Nothing still.
So i tried heating the little metal bit near the LCD like you do to remove black lines. Did that and straight away instant dark screen, I'm getting absolutely nothing from the screen apart from this now... I'm guessing the LCD is just knackered and I finished it off. In the bin it goes i guess... 2 days I've been trying to sort this thing out. I've had enough. RIP Game Gear. |
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:33 pm Last edited by Capt. 2110 on Fri Oct 30, 2015 12:00 am; edited 1 time in total |
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We have some cap lists. What board model was this?
I have a GG like this. I gave up, but I didn't throw it out. I used it's D-Pad rubber for a Game Boy(Yes, I know I'm a horrible monster. Get over it.), I used it's sound board for experimenting, and I used it's case and buttons for a WIP RasPi Gear. So don't toss it, save other GGs with it. EDIT: Forgot the metal cartridge slot shielding swap. I bent one quite badly, so I swapped it with the one from S49024196. |
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:41 pm
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http://www.smspower.org/forums/14962-WhatDoR47uf50vCapsDo
Go to the third to last post on page 1. |
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:44 pm
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Yeah that's what i mean't sorry. I'd never chuck spares away it will be of some use to something down the line I'm sure and it's shell is in very clean condition so it will serve its purpose as spares. Just hate not being able to revive it. :( What do you think happened to it / is wrong with it?
It's a 837-7996 board. But if you have lists of other boards I'd greatly appreciate those as well for future reference. Edit: thank you once again Capt. that is exactly what I was after. That's the exact same post I was referring to as well. For anyone stumbling over this thread and wanting that info too:
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:53 pm
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| Where was this GG made according to the case? Japan? S49024196 was made in Japan and my broken eBay bought restore was Japan. Both never worked. I guess they age poorly. | |
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 12:09 am
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| The serial for this one was P20172831 | |
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 12:12 am
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Sorry, I was asking about this part. What's yours say?
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 12:22 am
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Mines Japan
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 12:33 am
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| Yeah, I'd just use it for parts. I've have ABSOLUTE ZERO luck with Japan units. All of my working ones are from Taiwan. | |
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:03 am
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Strange I've got 2 other units here which are Japanese and they work great. Never mind though it's in the parts bin now.
I've got 3 more arriving tomorrow. Hopefully they will be less of a headache. |
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:20 am
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| Alright, good luck with those! | |
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2020 4:55 pm
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Hey all
I dig up this topic a little bit! I have the same problem as you dreamscape. I mean the one with brightness wheel turning off the console if turned high, but console starting well if the wheel in turned low. I've seen you usually fix this by resoldiering the wheel. I've fully recaped my GG, main, sound and power boards (checked the caps again and again). I've resoldiered the brightness wheel and cleaned the flux everywhere I can fid it and in between the wheel points. It still does not work properly... One time I've started the console with low brightness and increased it slowly, let it run for few minutes and it was working for a while, even got a full brightness working up to the maximum... but it turned off again eventually! So I would like to know if finally you (or any guy here) have find a way to fix that particular issue and how?! I'm starting to get mad... 🤪 Thanks! |
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Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:40 pm
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Same here, when brightness knob on my GG is low to medium its fine, when i crank it up it dies, power out. Ive recapped, and recapped again two times, checked voltages on my power board pins, all clean, all good. Im clueless now what the deal is.
Just wanted to add that I dont think its the pot/brightness knob itself that causes the issue but increasing brightness knob increases voltage readings on some areas of the board, so my best guess is theres a part (maybe a cap maybe something else) that cant handle the increase in voltage. But i have no idea what |
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2020 7:06 am
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I found this post, someone seemingly started to play with the brightness circuit route, removing resistors and such, seems to have solved this problem in his case.
Cant post a link Cause im new, forum wont let me but putting how to find the post below: Look up “atariage game gear shutdowns not due faulty caps” On google. First article |
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2020 11:00 am
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That link:
https://atariage.com/forums/topic/212206-game-gear-random-shutdowns-are-not-due-... Doesn’t seem to explain what the issue is. |
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:03 pm
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| Yep Indeed not, however it might provide more clues for others where to look next. My background is unfortunately not in electrical circuits I only know basics, and im dying to find some clue as to what I can do next to restore my otherwise perfect GG. Screen is top notch, sound is ok, just shuts down when brightness set too high. :/ | |
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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2020 10:01 am
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I know you said you checked the voltages on the power board pins, make sure pins 1 & 2 are +5v, and pin 9 is +34v respectively.
The power supply circuit has an auto shut off protection if the voltage is not stable or there is a short/overvoltage. If the DC board is ok then something else in the contrast circuit must be bad. https://console5.com/techwiki/images/d/de/Game_Gear_VA0_Schematic_-_Main_PCB_2.p... In the lower half of the diagram, you can see the contrast control circuit going to pins VDD/VSS of the LCD. |
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Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2020 7:40 am
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@djbass
Just a quick thank you for following up and keeping this going. I will need to check the 5v and 34v pins on my power board again, and I will try to monitor the voltage there as I crank up my brightness Pot to see if there are any fluctuations there. I have not done that exact test yet, we have a new born at home and my wife would divorce me if she sees me soldering instead of changing diapers, but ill get the time to give it a try soon and see. Indeed might be something wrong in the contrast circuit, I would in addition wash that whole area down with Isopropyl alcohol, perhaps some cap juice leaked around down there and is creating a short but I believe unlikely to be the problem since the GG works just not with contrast cranked to medium/max brightness. Just looking at this very simplistically, Unit works when contrast is low, which means lower Voltage in the circuit. As you increase brightness the Voltage in the circuit increases however the safety threshold is reached when Contrast is set to middle or higher which triggers the autoshutdown security measure so there is too much voltage in the circuit at that moment. Perhaps blown or faulty resistor is allowing too much voltage to pass through somewhere?? I feel a short is unlikely since the unit would kick into auto shut off as soon as you turn it on. When I read up on other forums I see many people with this exact same issue (with contrast set to med GG shuts off) pointing me in the direction of a possible common faulty component. Oh my poor poor baby.. (the game gear I mean). More on this if I can figure anything more out. |
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