Previously I wrote a post about replacing the capacitors of a Game Gear (see, Game Gear re-cap). I recently bought another Game Gear that would not power on, so I made another re-cap, with a slightly revised routine for replacing the capacitors. For instructions on how to disassembly the Game Gear, and how to identify the capacitors, please see the post linked above. In this post I will jump right into the re-cap process.
Game Gear re-cap
During my previous re-cap, I had some problems with broken pads, and in some instances, difficulties in getting solder to stick on what was left of the pads. The re-cap went fine anyway, and in a couple of cases I could use other solder points than the original. Now, this may have to do with my lack of soldering skills, but I still wanted to find a way around this.
What I did with the latest Game Gear I bought was to refrain from desoldering the old caps; instead I carefully wiggled them off. As seen in the images below, this left fairly large soldering points to attach the new capactors on, with the legs of the old capacitor still there. I am aware that this is far from best practice, but it worked very well for me.
The exception was of course the power board that does not come with surface mounted aluminium capacitors like the audio board. The capacitors on the power board are the easiest part of re-capping the Game Gear.
As seen in the image below, my recently aqcuired Game Gear was in good condition and I doubt it had ever been opened before. The image further down shows the re-cap in process.
I started with replacing one capacitor at the time on the right side. Then, at the left side, I replaced the capacitors that were positioned next to each other in pairs, to make sure the new capacitors would not get in the way of each other, or cover the golden circles on the main board. Those are markings where the cases touch each other and if they are covered, the Game Gear cannot be closed.
As seen in the Twitter post below, my Game Gear is now working perfectly. I will add a new screen lens as a final touch.