Trying to FIX a Faulty SEGA GAME GEAR purchased from eBay 

You can swap the screens out with a modern LCD kit from "McWill" on the AtariAge forum. You worked out that the flex ribbon glue weakens on the LCD there - the large connection on the bottom, and the smaller one that joins at the side. You can (if careful) heat the flex ribbon with a soldering iron - drag slowily over the ribbon (not whilst its powered up). That can often re-join the flex ribbon to the PCB. They are 'glued' onto the PCB and the screen edge with special conductive glue. They would have been joined up with a "hot bar" at the factory. But the random colours seen would perhaps suggest another fault with the screen, or what's driving it. Maybe some corrosion was the cause of the coloured bars, but the 3 sections flicking on and off did indicate the ribbon edge. I've also got a couple more Game Gears I need to look at soon on my channel (one was donated yesterday, the other was one of the two seen in that Lynx repair I did the other week). BTW - that zap you got, its around 200v for the backlight as you said! I got a similar zap the other week lol, whilst working on that other Lynx (which I now have working too).

True Story: after watching a bunch of your videos, I was full of false confidence so I decided to try 'to fix' some broken stuff around my place. My 1st victim was a Bell & Howel lightbar that stopped working after a couple of months of use. I opened it up, noticed a couple of loose wires, hooked them up & the thing works again .. I'm a genius! :)

Best fix it videos you will ever see. Somethings you can fix some you can't. good learning and teaching at the same time thanks Vince m8

Your channel has inspired me to buy and repair an old DS lite, it came in the mail today and I am currently repairing it

It’s really good to watch someone learn and seeing the growth of their skills

This was a nice surprise when i got on youtube.......i was'nt expecting another fix it video so soon after the last one im really enjoying this series....again very interesting and entertaining.....thankyou vince .....i really enjoy your channel :)

Really glad I found these videos I find them kinda relaxing and educational to watch .

I appreciate you wasting money just to make us viewers happy. :) Another great video, bro! Can't wait for more.

You were who inspired me into repairing broken stuff so i just refurbed a old fat DS and it worked out great. Thanks, greetings from Albania!

Solid effort. Looking forward to the next game gear fixes, I have every faith you will have at least 2 working. Thanks for the upload. 👍

Keep this up bud great series, I don’t know what it is with you I found you by accident and I sub 5 minutes into the video because you sound so honest and genuine, Ifs amazing watching you and the way you talk about the things you fix, I would love if you started a let’s play with the games you play with theses consoles maybe the old one’s, But don’t ever stop these videos you deserve a hell off a lot of more subscribers and trust me I’ve seen channels grow and grow you’re going to be up there, I hope you read this and understand how much I appreciate watching you’re work and you have a little funny side what comes out now and then you should do it more, Most honest and real guy I’ve seen in a while. Give me some love back as I would watch you out a puzzle together while talking and I’ll be entertained 😂 Keep it to bud have a nice day see you next time!

Props to you for trying. I would have stopped when I saw how bad the circuit board was.

Thanks Vince. I am starting to repair my Game Gear which is as corroded as yours in this video. I know that my repairing is highly unsuccessful but I will do it anyway. Thanks for your experience!

Waited 36 minutes for Vince to blow into the cartridge. VINCE DID NOT DELIVER TODAY.

Bad luck but you are really good. I learn from your lingo. I have a shake in my hands but watching your videos are all good. Thanks!

DON'T put solder on button pads, they are gold plated and this prevents them from oxydise, if you put solder they will oxydise pretty fast and this will ruin them. The problem is with cable from board to display (the big one) it is peeling or was hitted by electrolityc acid from old capacitors

Excellent videos Vince! I myself like to take things apart, as well as try to fix them. I've had good and bad outcomes, it feels great when you can figure something out and fix the problem, have it be the right way or the just go at it with limited skills way. Just a note, always be gentle! Unless it's a vehicle lol

Another good video, love your honesty, and music choices. Keep upi the good work Vince, love watching these vids.

Oh well, education is priceless. You've inspired me to go hunt out my old gamegear

Shame it didnt work out, Still love the videos! Learned something new regarding the vertical lines. Cant wait for the next video!

Possibly batteries have leaked at some time. If you get it going, you might want to look at upgrading the screen. I watched a video where the guy put in a modern LCD screen and it looked much better and the battery life is much better because the original uses something primitive (I think it's a fluorescent bulb).

Personally, I'd recommend replacing ALL the capacitors as well as well-known failing parts whenever dealing with vintage/older gear. Load of hassle and a right pain in the rear sometimes, but if it's something of value or worth restoring, may as well do it right first time. Aging plastics and ribbon cables don't take kindly to repeated dismantling and re-assembling, so it's better to minimize the risk of any further damage by getting everything done at the same time.

Bach, Chopin and board repair. What a treat.

I didn't know about the polarity of cables and things of that nature. So I've learnt something new 😀

It's a shame you couldn't get it fixed.. But will look forward to seeing you fix the other 3.. Great video by the way too 😉

Could you tell me where you got this kit? I love your videos are following the challenge of repairing continues with the repairs

Great video. I recently picked up a Game Gear with 7 games for £5 from a car boot. I wasn't expecting it to work but i though it was a good deal over all. It was in a sorry state (internal corrosion) and beyond my skills unfortunately. It was in a similar state to yours.

good video mate ,i never had a game gear but cool to see you trying to fix one

Hey great content as always dude, Might I suggest some ideas for the future, consider demonstrations of installing HDMI & RGB conversion kits for retro consoles.

Really glad u did this video always wanted one of these as a kid but never got one Really enjoyed this one

Wonder if if you run the soldering iron over the connectors to the LCD Screen it will allow those pins to reattach via re-flow. I do that with the Original Gameboy which has a similar set up and it fixes lines in the screen.

I love watching these videos!

so I was sitting here watching this video, and the wife walks by and quips "oh is that the switch destroyer?" LMAO

i love this guy videos a little big but very cool

Awesome video, just some considerations, measuring batteries on an open circuit (a.k.a no load) doesn't give the most accurate results and the chrome plating inside the Game Gear could be a form of a light RF shielding to protect it from weak electromagnetic interference.

You did anyway a great Job. Like your Videos very much. Greetings from Germany.

such an awesome channel haha love the tips and knowledge thankyou

Hey Vince! Im not sure if u will ever read this but i wanted to ask you if it might be possible if you make a video one of these days where you take your working switch and measure alle the caps and pins around the M92T36 chip (maybe once with charger plugged in and once with only the battery) so that we guys that want to repair our switches could have something to compare our voltage measurments to. My switch for example has a short somewhere and im getting very strange voltage readings on the board. As i dont have a working switch laying around i cant compare the measurments to know if that part of the board is working properly or not. As you know there is next to none information about switch board schematics and stuff like that. Im sure that would be a REAL big help. As the last video u did this party and it helped me out a ton already ! I sure hope u will read this

Not too long ago I recapped one of these, spent like 3 hours (cause lot of pads rotted away) just to find out that the screen has a small crack on the very end of the top part, and half of it is dead.. so sad(

Great video vince. Whats the clamp your using?

such a shame you did a great job of recapping it i was really hoping this would have worked for you..i have one with vertical lines your vid will help me a lot when i get round to doing mine.

Hi Vince is it possible for you to check my game gear, I keep getting weird white lines, when I am playing some games?

If possible Vince could I have a few of the components from the board if you don’t get it working?

Good on you for working on the GG, plenty out there in need of TLC. Game-bit sweet, going to make your work so much easier. ;) I recommend the McWill upgrade as well since the caps help but the screen is old too and I'm afraid they don't age like fine wine. :\

I remember only being able to afford a pack of batteries once a week for my Game Gear, which lasted for 2 hours of use. There was no save game feature and pausing was a battery killer.

Love your videos keep up the fixing 👍🏻😀

I got the same problem! should i replace the screen for a retro six or should i just dont do anything?

One question here ! How do you cope with the fact that sometimes you might destroy something? I recently destroyed a neogeo mvs and i was bummed for a week...it wasnt expensive (around 50 euros) but it was a blow on my psychology as a repairer.

on Gameboys with vertical lines you run a soldering iron over the ribbon cable, might work for game gear as well. worth a try

It was still a good video bud it just sucks there is dodgy buggers on ebay. None the less thank you for your time and effort.

Love your videos, inspired me to mod my gba

Loved the video Vince.

Hey Vince I have an Xbox 360 (2013 model) and a computer monitor that only uses VGA. I was hoping if you knew some way to connect the HDMI output from the xbox to VGA from the monitor. I watched your video about connecting the xbox one S but I need to know where to find the adapters that come with sound output for speakers. As in if they come in female only or male only input/output. It would be a great help thanks! :)

Do you know if possible to get a T1 transformer for de game gear?? Thanks nice video...

Hopefully the other game gears only have bad capacitors, that way you don't have to switch out the LCD. However, even if the LCD works the McWill mod really improves the overall quality of the unit, so it's worth the challenge of installing it on one of your game gears imo.

hey vince i just wanted to say i subscribed a few weeks ago and im enjoying your content as i am also a person who will have a go at repairing things. i noticed you get a few items with scratched screens and some of those arent so bad and as i remember you had a dreamcast once which you tried cleaning the lense on with a car headlight cleaner but did you know this can fix scratched screens using a buffing wheel on a drill

You should revisit this! New IPS screens exist for it now! It would be an excellent test of your soldering skills. If you still got this guy, you can fix it and give it a new, better life. FIX YA BOI!

Vince, I sugest you look up Arcade Jason, sure he's working with arcade games, but he still might have some input for you on this thing.

I know it might be risky I could be other things that are actually wrong with it other than the screen but you can get a kit that allows you to install a modern LCD screen i'm not sure where you find it but I've seen it in another video

I'm trying to fix my GG right now. The motherboard is not in a bad shape like yours, but I noted as soon as I opened that the capacitors had snapped from their pads. I've tried a recap but the tin doesn't want to stick to the pad! (obviously the capacitors leaked). I've tried with IPA, flux and so on but nothing. Any advice for me? Thank you

Just clean the contacts of the cartridge holder, because the pins are bend after years of use, clean them with alcohol, use a pencil rubber afterwards on the contacts maybe bend a little and that fixes your cartridge connection. Then start replacing the capacitors, because leakage was clearly visible. Adapt your deduction skills to more common problems which turn up after years of use. Things to go bad with cartridge consoles are, besides of the common capicitator flaws with the game gear, more cartridge connection related then you think.

The sega game gear works with the power base adapter 3025-18 9v 1a standard Sega adapter. The polarity of the sega adapters is always switched, so the middle core pin is the -, and outer one the +. A little sega gimmick, they pull on you, to avoid the use of universal adapters presumably..

Any new or aftermarket lcd screen out there? Or the cables are screwed? :(

what do you do after you fix these things?

Same thing happened to me. Bought a broken GG off eBay, recapped it (as that is what everyone said to so) and it turned on and the sound was good but no picture! I went through the same steps you did, trying different games and prodding the screen ribbon cable but nothing. It was cathartic seeing that I'm not the only one who went through this grief.

Vince, you really need to use the RU-vid audio library and use some of that when you're speeding things up vs classical music that doesn't fit.

No need to apology my mate vince..regards to all mate

Columns is an awesome game, my favorite version is on DS via Homebrew.

lol i can rember breaking the screen on mine an getting a new one thru insurance. i used the old one as a light by taking the lcd off an using the insanely bright back light as a camping light with the rechargeable battery/slash house brick lol.

Loved this video

You cold try to wave your solder iron over the both the screen and main board not touching the ribbon cable just enough to heat up the glue this works with the game boy but worth a shot. Also you should check out Voultar's channel as it might help you with other repairs.

I fixed a faulty game boy by carefully heating the ribbon cable at the bottom of the screen it gets rid of vertical lines.sadly not long after it developed horizontal lines which can 't be fixed.maybe the same fix would work on the game gear.

The 3 chips are column drivers - the hot bar flat flex cables do fail over time - it's fixable but it's a parts machine tbh

Great music Vince.

Nice to hear Chopin miusic here. Pozdrowienia z Polski

love your channel!!!

I actually got a really good Game Gear game on my 3DS the other day (Virtual Console has it). Defenders of Oasis. Great JRPG with an Arabian flair. I also haven't bought alkaline batteries in many many years...all rechargeables.

Love the Videos Vince :)

Will you ever do a giveaway love your videos Vince

apply heat with your iron to the ribbon cable it will reconnect the screen to the board might not work on this one but worth a shot anyway

I know you fix consoles a lot is there any way to contact you so I can maybe get a 3ds fixed I would love to see a video with my 3ds in it and it has a problem where most of the time it doesn't detect an SD card and rarely it does I would pay

Yeah Vince, that also led to not so great battery life

Apply slight heat to the screen connector.it worked for mine but I had horizontal lines.

Could I politely ask if you wouldn't use the fast forward button so much in the next video, would be interesting to see some of the repairs.

Finally we know how you look :) we can see you reflection in the shield at minute 32

for ac-pinout you can easy check it for continuity, from the battery to ac

is it possible to replace the screen?

Awesome video as always

Yep, confirmed. Your videos do make good ASMR videos!

Corrosion from leaking batteries Pull out the distilled clear vinegar to neutralise then clean with isopropyl 👍

SEGA Game Gear... Sweet. Havent watched the vid yet but I am going to make a guess that it is bad capacitors as that is the most common mode of failure for Game Gears. EDIT: Nope, I was wrong :-P

"we got 2 lots a lines now were making progress" 😂😂😂😂

Vince you should fixing a ps vita! I'll watch this game gear one later when I can but ive seen some interesting vitas on ebay! One is stuck in idu mode and there's others with buttons not working and stuff! Just a thought mate

Those early surface-mount electrolytics in the plastic casing were terrible. They have destroyed many an electronic appliance from the early 90s.

Well done mate

You use try the Nintendo ds digital tv tuner for the gaming thing that u do on the pocket tv and see if I can work or not

The caps in these leak everywhere and if not caught early, destroy the boards!

Ever heard of ESD safe?

Have you got anymore videos coming

Isn't there an LED kit for these?