PSA: Recapping a Sega Genesis is WAY easier than swapping the whole power board

I fought with a Genesis Model 1 for weeks chasing audio buzz before I just pulled the trigger on a cap kit for $8 and fixed it in an hour. Has anyone else found that the simple recap almost always wins over hunting down obscure replacement parts?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_anthony24d agoMost Upvoted

Did you have the audio buzz problem too? I spent like three weeks swapping out power boards and filtering caps one at a time on my Model 1 before I finally just did a full recap on the main board. Stupid thing had two bad caps near the audio amp that I missed because they looked fine on the outside. That $8 cap kit was way less hassle than trying to find a replacement power board that didn't cost more than the console itself.

webb.val24d ago

Close but not quite right on the power board cost thing. Those replacement boards are actually still pretty cheap if you know where to look. I got a used one off ebay for like fifteen bucks last year, shipped. The REAL pain is finding a proper power brick for the Model 1, since they use that dumb proprietary connector that nobody made after 1993. Those go for thirty bucks easy now, and half of them are knockoffs that buzz worse than the original caps. Still, I agree the cap kit is the way to go. Once you've got a soldering iron out, you might as well hit everything with fresh caps and be done with it.