Tried to fix a 1995 Sega Game Gear with a capacitor kit and fried the whole board

I was in my garage last Saturday night working on this Game Gear I got from a flea market for $15. It powered on but no sound and a dim screen, classic capacitor problems right? So I ordered a $12 cap kit online and watched like 4 YouTube tutorials before touching it. Got the old caps off fine, but when I soldered in the first new one my iron slipped and bridged two tiny contacts near the power regulator. Smoke started pouring out and the board just died completely no lights nothing now it's a paperweight. I don't even know where to find a replacement board for this version since it's the early model with the double sided board. Has anyone else done something this dumb with a handheld console? I feel like I should just toss it but it hurts to waste $27 total on this thing.

2 comments

2 Comments

barbara39927d ago

Maybe your flea market Game Gear was already cracked inside before you even touched it.

faith_lopez4827d ago

Nah barbara, those Game Gears are tough little bricks. I've dropped mine twice and it still works fine. Maybe you just got a lemon.