Sega Game Gear Repair (Part 1)

A while ago I bought a broken Sega Game Gear on eBay just to see if I could repair it. Older games consoles are typically pretty fun to work on because they have relatively large components which are easy to solder and there are a lot of mods available which can improve their performance. When I received this device it was in reasonable condition for its age but when I flipped the power button nothing happened. Occasionally I would see some white lines appear on a black background but the device was definitely broken.

Sega Game Gear screen when powered on

Since the screen was black and there was no sound it was unlikely that the issue was the screen itself. Usually, if a device can load the game it will at least play the sound even if it can’t display anything to the screen. My assumption was that the Game Gear isn’t smart enough to do a Power On Self Test to determine if all components are working.

Reverse side of the Sega Game Gear with screws visible

On the underside of the Game Gear are four visible screw holes. There are two other screws, one in each battery compartment. Lastly, there’s a security screw under the cartridge.

Security Screw under the cartridge on the console

The security screw wasn’t one I’ve seen before but upon doing some research I found out that this is a standard type of security screw used in older Sega and Nintendo consoles. Screwdriver bits for these screws are available on eBay, however I didn’t want to wait.

Creating a makeshift security screw tool out of household materials

First, I took a BIC pen and de-constructed it as seen above. Other brands of pens will probably work as long as the dimensions are similar. I made sure that the pen fit into the screw slot before taking it apart.

Next, I melted the tapered tip of the pen just enough so that the plastic is pliable. Once it was melted, I pressed it against the security screw to make an impression.

My repair tool ended up looking like this. When I put it into the security screw slot it wouldn’t turn so I had to cut some of the plastic off with a box cutter. It was easy enough but remember to take small chunks at a time so you don’t cut into the screw impression.

Finally, take the tool, press it hard against the security screw and turn. If you’re following along and it’s not coming out easily enough, either press harder to get more traction or if it feels like you might break the Game Gear, just melt the tip of the tool again and take another impression.

Visual inspection of the Game Gear’s system board

Once I had the console open, I checked for anything that looked like corrosion or damage. Just a quick visual inspection for burst capacitors, leaked batteries, burned transistors, etc.

I then tried inserting the cartridge to see if it fit and whether the game could load any better with the case off. Sometimes if there’s conductive debris inside the case it may be enough to clean the components.

I tried powering on the console and confirmed that the LCD was working correctly and that the backlight lit up. Nothing seemed wrong with it so I continued looking.

I eventually looked at the cartridge slot connectors and found that the pins looked bent and one of them was completely misaligned. Let the repair begin…

Soldering the Cartridge Slot legs

To fix the misaligned legs on the cartridge slot connector I applied the soldering iron to the bottom of each leg while pressing down on the top. When the solder melted, each leg just popped into place guided by the plastic separators on each side.

I then soldered the PCB contacts on the underside of each leg (sorry for the blurry photo). When the legs are pushed through, the solder on the bottom of each contact moves with it. This had to be repaired as well to make good contact with the traces on the board. As a precaution, I reflowed the solder on each of the other contacts on that side of the board to make sure all other components which may have become loose were also fixed back in place.

Result is that the game is now able to load

After soldering I put the cartridge back in without putting the device back together to check whether it was any better and it could now read the game and display it to the screen.

As seen above, this device is far from finished as the picture looks quite washed out and the contrast isn’t great. I also don’t like that it’s only visible at a 45 degree angle – you can’t look at it straight on. What’s not apparent from the picture is that the sound is also not working. At full volume I can barely hear it.

This concludes Part 1 of the Faulty Sega Game Gear fix. In a future update I will be replacing the capacitors on the board. The capacitors all look original and will have degraded significantly over time. Replacing them may also fix the washed out screen but if it doesn’t I will look at fitting a modern LCD onto this device. A new LCD should also help with the short battery life as the fluorescent backlight on the Game Gear takes a lot of power.