Sega GameGear - Capacitor Replacement and NEW LCD screen!

Hi! Thanks to www.pcbway.com for sponsoring this video.
A kind donation brought this Sega Game Gear into the Basement.
Unfortunately it arrived with a few issues. First of all we need to deal with the capacitor problem that plagues all of these old Game Gears. Once that is out of the way we can tackle the next common problem, the screen!
We use a BennVenn IPS LCD screen kit in this build, and it gives much better results over the stock LCD screen.
Please note, this video is for entertainment purposes only. Don't try any of this yourself.
Thanks for watching. If you would like to support this channel please 'like' and leave a comment. If you are feeling especially generous you can also share the video. But you don't have to, I'm not your mum.
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Sources:
Gameboy Image: WILLIAM WARBY www.flickr.com...
GameGear Adverts: • Game Gear Commercial C...
Gameboy Sales Data: en.wikipedia.o...

[@RichsRandomRetroReviews]

Seega *commence eye twitch*. Awesome video as usual. The quality of these just get better and better.

[@TheBasementChannel]

Seeeeeega.

[@polymatt]

Very nice! Great job for the first time with surface mount. Totally agree - only way to get better is to do it! Just remember… flux is your friend :)

[@TheBasementChannel]

Thanks mate! I get lazy cause I don’t want to have to clean up the flux 😅

[@MrLurchsThings]

That ribbon cables looks like it makes it a lot easier than having to do all the individual wires like I had to when I got the really early prototype years ago.

[@TheBasementChannel]

Yes, although it would have been even easier if there were some sort of instructions 😅 but I do love the neat finish it provides.

[@djsi38t]

Quite an endeavor you took upon yourself and just an amazing outcome.Cheers to you!

[@TheBasementChannel]

Why thank you for your kind comment! Cheers back to you!

[@HumphreyMurray]

I'm seriously impressed mate! That was a seriously high tech repair 🤯

[@TheBasementChannel]

Thanks Humph! Almost as impressive as circling wedgetail eagles! 😉

[@Mac84]

Great restoration! I have a few Game Gears I need to restore, I need to install one of those screens. It looks great!

[@TheBasementChannel]

Thanks Steve! The screen is amazing! Transforms the whole game gear.

[@TheRetroChannel]

Nice work mate. I've also played with heating up the drivers in the original screens and found it never fully revived them. Good choice with the Benn Venn screen.

[@TheBasementChannel]

Yes in hindsight I should have gone straight to the screen replacement, I didn’t realise it was so much better than the original. And they are quite reasonably priced.

[@vswitchzero]

Awesome work! The IPS screen looks incredible 👍

[@TheBasementChannel]

Thanks! Good luck with your project, looking forward to your video.

[@BigBadBench]

Really impressive results, and nice video as always!

[@TheBasementChannel]

Hey thanks so much for the encouraging feedback!

[@mygarart2764]

Great work! Why not adding a modern rechargeable battery too? :)

[@TheBasementChannel]

On the future to-do list 😉

[@mygarart2764]

@@TheBasementChannel waiting for it!

[@helenandcraigpollard8249]

Wow! Seriously impressive. So close with that heat on the screen ribbon and then no. Roller coaster ride 😂.

[@TheBasementChannel]

It’s about as exciting as my life gets 😆

[@superduperman7202]

The rotten pads are an absolute soul destroyer. Ive bought many Game Gears and it's hit or if they are fixable. Ive had several where the capacitors have melted too much away to even save the board. Im glad you got through it, and those screens with a new lens make all the hard work worth it.

[@TheBasementChannel]

Yes I’m super happy with the result. Sometime you have to roll the dice on these things, I’m glad it worked out for me this time around. Cheers for the comment!

[@djpythonsexotics2704]

Awesome! Wish I had your skillz👍👍

[@TheBasementChannel]

If I can do it, so can you! Thanks for the comment!!

[@GarthBeagle]

Excellent job!

[@TheBasementChannel]

Thanks Garth! I’m just happy I didn’t make it worse 😅

[@Rocky1138]

One thing I've seen done by other KZbinrs is snipping the 34v wire from the power ribbon cable. I don't know if it's required but it would suck to be powering stuff you no longer need since you're not using all the circuitry for the CFL.

[@TheBasementChannel]

Good info, I haven’t heard about this but I guess it makes sense?

[@SIBUK]

This is amazing!! But how did you figure out where to solder the screen?

[@TheBasementChannel]

The ribbon sort of only fits one way. There’s also some instructions around on the web but they’re a little bit outdated.

[@Fred_le_lorrain]

Nice work. How long does the battery last with this lcd screen?

[@TheBasementChannel]

Thanks! I’ve only used it connected to the power adapter, but I imagine it should last a bit longer than before without the huge power hungry backlight array.

[@aa-au]

Nice rebuild. If you were soldering those surface mount components by eye then you did pretty good. By watching Bruce from Branchus Creations' videos, he added a little flux to the pads to allow the solder to flow real easily. Just watch any of his videos and you will get an idea on how he does it. I'm not keen on soldering surface mount components yet, but I may give it a go one day.. maybe...

[@TheBasementChannel]

Thanks for the comment! Yes I’ve watched Bruce’s soldering tutorial, it’s very good. I might need to get a microscope if I do much more of this sort of work!

[@Nguyen_Phuc08]

I replaced the original power board with USB-C board that utilise rechargable batteries. Weight a bit less and more run time. SMD soldering is not so hard, my first try was on the Sega Gamegear as well.

[@TheBasementChannel]

Yes that’s the other mod I’m considering. Still wondering how much money I want to spend on it 😂

[@BrianIwinski-cp4ps]

I have GG with same symptoms as you present here. Where can I get capacitors changed out? Would you do it for me??

[@TheBasementChannel]

Do it yourself Brian! If I can do it, anyone can!

[@taunzihansen1475]

Where is the best place to get game gear parts?

[@TheBasementChannel]

Just google around, that’s what I did.

[@fionacerecke8397]

Sooo clever!!!

[@TheBasementChannel]

You are!

[@leandrograziosi]

Someone told me some game gear screen cannot be changed by a new lcd one. Do you know anything about it?

[@TheBasementChannel]

You just have to buy the right screen for your model of GameGear.

[@leandrograziosi]

@@TheBasementChannel a friend of mine told me he can't use a new chinese lcd display on VA4, VA5 or taiwan hardware... Do you know anything about it?

[@dmitriykoltunov4261]

Those are not tantalum capacitors. Those are ceramic caps from Retro Six.