Sega 32X - Won't Read Games - Fixing Ebay Junk 

Those ribbon cables are seated better than most monarchs throughout history!

19:15 I appreciate you turning the screw counter-clockwise to not make any new threads in the plastic. A lot of people on RU-vid don't do that.

Holy cow! I can't believe a simple cleaning and a ribbon cable reset fixed my 32x. Thank you

I haven't been able to use my 32x in 20 years, but you just helped me fix it! I feel like I got a part of my childhood back

Someone please explain why I am so captivated by this guy fixing things.. I have seen many repair videos of many things but this guy just has every bit of my attention!!

if you follow the shielding grime/rust down you can tell somebody spilled something on this 32x and it got the ribbon cable dirty as even the shielding on the lower part of the 32x has that grime right next to the cable. Edit: timestamp where you can see the corrosion under the cable: 18:28

Shoutouts to the dog nose sniffing around at 4:30

I just received a 32x off of ebay today and it had the same problem. I followed along with your video and was able to get it running again, thank you so much for making this!

I know this video is 4 years old and I doubt you'll see this but genuinely this video helped me so much. Thank you

This was just the video i needed to see. I had the same problem as described, same solution. Man, i was about to yell at the poindexter who sold me the thing! Great video! Much thanks!

I wish the 32x got more love in it's day. It was amazing how absurd it was.

It's always best to do your metal sanding over something non-electrical.

This saved my ass!! Thanks probably the most comprehensive you fix it video I've seen. Props and thanks!!!

This video helped me repair my 32x. Cleaned and adjusted the ribbons and cleaned the cartridge slot and Space Harrier booted up great!

Usually it's just the two white ribbon cables that are the cause of most 32x issues.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!! My 32x all of a sudden stopped working! It was the white ribbon connectors. Luckily, I was able to pull mine out easily and reinsert them. It's all up and running again!

keep making videos i really enjoy them and learn how to fix my own problems thanks for all the knowledge you share

Man your videos are so chill. It'd be sick to see you start uploading again

I rarely comment on RU-vid but I must say thank you so much! I suddenly couldn't play my games but this video saved the day.

Excellent repair. Well done all around.

Lol I dunno why but being American I always get a kick out of Canadian accents 😁 Great video as always! This will surely help a lot of ppl fix their 32Xes!

I really enjoy your Videos. Thanks and keep Up with the great Work!

extremely helpful! Helped save my 32x!

Thanks so much! You got my megadrive 32x working again! Happily playing chaotix now LOL

aaah the good ol reseating the ribbon cables trick I’ve worked as a tote man for many years and this was a very common issue with our wagering machines same thing applies to mostly any piece of electronics married via ribbon cable’s

i had the same issue on my uk 32x! very easy fix.great video

$30-35 bucks great deal and a great find my 32X I wished cost that much when I bought one

THANK YOU!!! Just fixed mine with your help!!!!

4:40 "such doge, much love"

Fantastic repair!

4:20 dog [always forget her? name 4 remembering all cartilage names lol]: *sniff* MAstER hAs BUY sOMe NEw STUff

Your patch cable is 3rd party designed to work for the gen 1 Genesis. If you were using an OEM cable, it would be the patch cable plus a gen 1 adapter. In case someone is watching and wonders why their cable is different, or why there's won't plug into the Genesis 1.

Awesome video as always 👍🏻❤️

I've been watching your videos for a while now and i've been wondering, what is the most "complicated" problem you find in repearing those eletronic components? Also, is the newer hardware problems any different from the older ones? Great content, keep it up.

Mine stopped working in 2003, I'll follow your procedure and see what I can get. Thankyou very much

Kona be like "you need me yet?"

All. Modern games use polygons. It's just we can use far more many of them than back in the day. Good video.

Thanks for another interesting vid!.... I definitely prefer the console and controller repairs you do. Can you please do some ps2/ps3 vids?.... I have a bunch of both consoles and controllers in my collection I am trying to fix and some expert guidance would sure help!!!

Could be wrong, but my guess would be that since that foam is in the way of the screws it could be there simply as form of warranty indicator? Like if it's missing you know someone was playing around in there. Probably not, but it was a thought I had. Nice job anyway.

I can smell the handle on that yellow philips screwdriver lol.

Clean yur Segaaaaaa 🤣 Nice video as usually 👍👍

Wish I knew this back then.. I junked mine back in 1999. I thought it had something to do with the electromagnetic plates, no change... There was ONE day where Kolibri started working, but didn't work anymore after I powered off. F'ing wish I kept it all ughhhhh kolibri is flipping expensive now.

kona boy is back again!!!

Typically the reason you see jumper wires attached like that is a cost thing. One of the biggest costs for mass manufacturing is tooling, as I'm sure you know. The jumpers can be for any number of things, including your guess about needing voltage. Obviously they'd rather just design it "right" the first time, but sometimes (using your example) it's possible that maybe the current isn't smooth enough, or there is too much voltage drop, or whatever. Instead of re-designing the board and then having to reprogram the part placement, which could ultimately cost a ton of money if everything needs to be scrapped, it can (and usually is, this case is no different) be far more economical to simply pay a guy to stand on the line and just solder in a jumper. Pretty much ANY time you see that on a board, it's because they determined it was cheaper to just pay someone to hand solder in a patch than it is to revise the manufacturing process. Basically the only time they're ever going to redesign is because they found a way to produce it cheaper.

What’s the brand of the precision driver?

Curious would the RF shields come with your Ebay purchase because that was an issue for some back in the day.

That connector cables!

@RetroRepairs When I turn My 32X on, the power button lights up, but nothing appears - not even the license information, just a blank screen. It doesn't work with Sega Genesis or 32X cartridges. Also, I noticed when I press the power button while the 32X is in the cartridge slot, plugged in, and has the connector link cable plugged into the Genesis the console doesn't turn off (or at the very least the power light doesn't go off - no way to know for sure if the console is off, when it doesn't display a picture). The only way to turn it off is to pull the power cable out of the 32X, remove the 32X from the cartridge slot, or remove the connector link cable. Is this normal?

Hey there buddy what’s going on we meet again have you got the PS2 that I was talking about?

Those ribbon cables come right out after spraying Deoxit on em

I almost thought you'd forget that little foam insulation piece at the end...

Can you tell me how to know if my sega 32x is working if I don't have 32x game? I only have sega genesis game. It work fine with sega genesis game on but have audio issue.

Do you typically aim for cheap broken items to repair and resell or do you mainly just chase the challenge of it? Not sure about the value of a 32X, but $35 for a broken console doesn't seem like a great deal for reselling purposes. But I could be wrong. Great vid!

i fixed 2 32x's in the same night by reseating those 2 ribbon cables on top, all i did. I guess heat builds up and they wiggle their way out of a firm connection.

I don't know if you will see this, but I need some help with a 32x, I bought a 84000A recently and it seems to have a power problem, when I hook it up and power it on nothing happens on screen, and it creates a high pitched whine from the system itself, I muted the tv to make sure, and if plugged into a genesis model 2 it will often be forcing enough power into the system to keep it from turning off until I pull the plug on the 32x, do you think a simple recap will fix it, or is it likely a problem in its mess of components?

So I cleaned it up, I see the license screen and nothing :( old or 32x won't work on it but the Sega CD will out put through the five 5 cable but no sound :( I plugged the high 5 cable in to Sega adapter cable and I can see the old games but now sound ... Only have sound if I use the coaxial cable .. and thoughts?

Oh my God the SEGA Tower of Doom!!!

hi Retro Repairs. I have a question. I bought a Sega Saturn. He goes as far as when I insert a cd. He starts reading them and then the entire console freezes. can not do anything after about 5 minutes, the cd does not turn and it flashes the orange lamp. what do you think is the problem. when I screwed it on and hit the switch for the drive the laser lights up and moves a bit and the lens goes up and down. thanks in advance Miuga

I got mine on Christmas Day 94 and it never worked. It wouldn't play Doom. It had the stats bar at the bottom but the rest was a black screen. Then as an adult I heard that if you had the original version of Sega Genesis, certain 32 X Games wouldn't work.

The ribbon cables come lose of need cleaning that’s usually what causes it not to work most of the time other than the obvious the capacitors need replaced

I have a SNES that has the same problem. When I power on the system, the copyright screen come's on, then it just sits still. I don't know what part I would have to check.

What do you do with all the stuff you fix?

I got an n64 cartridge and the actual board itself is broken where the pins are. I've seen you repair traces plenty of times but any suggestions on the board itself being broken?

A bit of dust cleaning wont hurt

I found a Sega 32X in an old house nobody has lived in for over 20 years and it was caked full of rust which I cleaned up but it still won't read games and it only gives me a blank screen, pink screen, green screen, and orange screen.

hey i have a game system with a screw that is stripped on the top so i cant spin it to get it out how could i get it out?

These things are beyond finicky. I had one when it first came out that stopped working after a couple weeks, exchanged it, and got a new replacement that also stopped working after about a month. So I boxed it back up in the original packaging, and intended to exchange it again, never got around to it, and by that time Sega discontinued them. That thing sat in one closet after another getting shuffled around, move houses twice, until finally I got a hair up my ass to do something about it. A few week ago I was setting up my retro games in my new house and decided to take a stab at fixing it. Push in the ribbons, tested it uncovered, and well... Holy crap it works! Put the thing back together tested it again, and... nothing......well, son of a bitch. Long story longer, it went back and forth a couple time with it, and just when I was about to give up and just play the thing without coverings it had occured to me that it inserted into the cartridge slot deeper when it was outside of the coverings. The edge connector on the PCB was making minimal contact with the socket, and thus would not work. So my next move was one I was hesitant to make, but I pulled out the old Dremel tool and started grinding down the lip on the bottom of the unit. For what ever reason the top cover of my model 1 Genesis was pushing out the 32x from the cartridge slot. Once I sanded that lip down a bit (take your time with it, please, lest you risk putting excessive load onto the top of the motherboard of you Genesis) everything worked fine. Hopefully that helps one of you guys out there looking to fix one of these. I have a deep suspicion this could be one of the major reasons these thing tend to stop working.

32x again. Oh well. This system definetly had got potential, especially when it comes to the 3D gaming. Sadly those were the times devs started to design the 3D games for PCs more willingly, because it was much easier, as you could use the pure power coming from the RAM, instead of pulling many tricks to make it working

do you ever buy things and end up not being able to repair them, or does it almost always work out?

That foam piece is suppose to be there. Mine has one too.

I get tissue and fold till it is thick enough to touch each side of the cartridge slot then slide it across.

My 32x doesn't work with my Everdrive anymore. It will play whatever game is already flashed to the cart but if I try to load another game it comes up with an error message. The Everdrive still works fine when the 32x is removed and I just use the Genesis. Any ideas? I have cleaned all the slots and tried the 32x on multiple consoles with the same result. Any help would really be appreciated. 32x runs normal carts perfectly.

I bought a 32x on eBay and when I hooked it up it didn't work, and it was the ribbon cables.

I really should be keeping my eye open for "not working" 32X's on ebay. It may be my only option for being able to afford one.

Cool!

Genesis really does what Nintendon't, I will never understand what they were thinking with 32X and Sega CD all connected with each other like that.

Mine powers on. But wont even. Display the sega boot logo. Any ideas?

Point is.... Bought for 35 non working.. Sold for 65-70 working.. doubled money for a few minutes cleaning.

I'm thinking those ribbon cables were locked into the slots with pinch mechanisms. I noticed tiny pin holes that probably need to be pushed to release the locks.

What happens if you stack multiple 32X on top of each other? I'd like to see what happens.

The dog is at 4:32

Did you ever fix your broken 2DS?

What TV is that?

Those poor ribbon cables.....

Wait, all you have to do is wipe the ribbon cable pins with IPA?! Dammit, someone get me a time machine so I can go back and save the 32X my brother threw out when it stopped working when we were kids.

*at least he didnt shoot it with a flaming bow like the nerd did*

Hey Retro Repairs! I'm hoping you can help me out in some way! I just bought an N64 off a co worker of mine. It came with all the necessary cords and controller, it will properly turn on but it won't read any games. I should point out that it is missing the flappy cartridge holder, that may have something to do with it. Anything you can do to help?!

Yo, I hear a dog walking around

I swear those were easier to open than this when I was 10...

Thank you. Say hi in your next video to livrai-nos

I swear he advertises "Isopropyl alcohol" *shows bottle* in all his vids.....a possible sponsor maybe....lol😂😂

damn you could of least of dusted of the Genesis

Those laminated plastic ribbon cables are fucking awful and I despise them.

OMG can you dust that magadrive is dirty ! does my ocd no good at all

I kind of gathered from looking around in your room there that nobody ever sits on that couch because it's very dusty I think you need to dust your couch because I don't think anybody sits there and place your games I think the only thing you do is you you sit over in the table and repair them and nobody sits at that couch and plays the games because I don't think that couch has been sat on for a long time being that it's a little couch or pleather couch the dust is just very thick on it

Well if you want I can send you the game I am hoping you to fix...

BRO!. Do yourself a favor and get on a FORUM that specifically revolves around your system or has a section..... Sega16.com is your friend..... The knowledge in their Forum is infinetely superior to anything else when it comes to RETRO SEGA.

Where did you get 99% Isoproply Alcohol ? The Best I could find was 91%.

Why do people hate the 32X? Simple. In this world... I t ' s k I l l o r b e k I l l e d ! *Omega flowey intensifies*

damn you're super rough placing those cables into the system ... ouch cringe