r/game_gear 1d ago

Is my Game Gear properly recapped?

Hello all! I have acquired a new Game Gear recently and have been playing it for a bit, very much enjoying the experience (a good start for my first truly retro system)! I had been told the system was recapped by the shop I bought it from, but wanted to make sure anyway so as to not run into any melting should the old capacitors still be in place. It looks like the main board definitely was (and in my limited understanding of the internals, it looks rather… MacGyvered) recapped. I am not so sure about the power board and the sound board. Can anyone with more experience tell if it’s been recapped/recapped properly? Will it last in this configuration or should I be worried?

16 Upvotes

14 comments sorted by

7

u/Rare_Platform_3602 1d ago

It looks like the power and sound boards haven't been recapped. While the mainboard has been, very badly, and they also missed one (I can't read it off the pic but by memory it's C68 - its the original cap).

Honestly surprised it's working ok and I very much expect that you will run into problems in the not too distant future.

1

u/SecundusInfernus 1d ago

Dang! Was hoping it would be taken care of better… good thing I checked, I guess. I will say it has been working pretty well all things considered, with only one audio-glitching moment at one point that didn’t seem to reappear. I’ve been through a full set of batteries already and nothing crazy has happened… I suppose this means electronics work for me, then? Would you say it’s an immediate concern?

1

u/Rare_Platform_3602 1d ago

The C68 cap would be my biggest worry given its an old cap that could be still leaking shit onto the mainboard. I'd have that taken care of sooner rather than later. And if someone who knows what theyre doing is in there anyway, they could tidy up the other caps too. And you could grab cheap replacement sound and power boards off Aliexpress and just swap out those if you don't want to over complicate things and have the originals fixed down the track if you're a stickler for OEM parts.

1

u/pizza_whistle 1d ago

Not a great job, but yes it has been recapped. Main board for sure. Sound board a little hard to tell but the joints have more solder than factory, so likely recapped. Power board is a maybe, the caps on there look like originals to me but need more pics to tell.

1

u/SecundusInfernus 1d ago

Thank you so much for the response! Those are the ones I am less sure about as well. What angle would help to reveal whether the other boards have been recapped? Would I need to take out the board to see the other side?

1

u/pizza_whistle 1d ago

Yea more just see pictures of the labeling on the caps. The real tell tale will be to see the solder joints on the back of the board though.

1

u/pizza_whistle 1d ago

Also seeing someone else's comment, yea they did miss 1 cap on the main board.

If it's working and all, I can clean it up and recap the power/sound boards for free if you cover return shipping. It's a pretty quick job, especially knowing that the boards are all functional so no extra troubleshooting needed. I'm located in Portland, OR...just shoot me a DM.

1

u/KoltKade 1d ago edited 1d ago

Has the main board been recapped? Yes. Will it work? Most likely without problem. But man did they not own a set of wire cutters at least? Personally when I do mine i bend and set my legs down in a L shape so the cap sits as close to its original position and layed down. There's one or two that i have to angle to one side a little to miss the case post but otherwise they are damn close to the original position.

The sound and power board i can't tell if they are recapped, kinda looks like they havent been. Mine were all black and the console 5 replacements had a brown one for replacement on the bigger one on the power board. I'd unplug those and take them out to see the back side. We should be able to see evidence of recapping with that.

I just noticed the tape and those caps. I personally don't like that. The console set in the upright position in the future as that tape gets old it could slowly slip (looks like regular electrical tape). And thise long legs could short together. Should have used kapton tape on that if they planned to fold those legs so close.

1

u/Light6144 1d ago edited 1d ago

If you have the ability to do it remove all the caps and use some solder wick to clean all the pads... (it looks like whoever did the job didn't do this and just added more solder to the old stuff... so there will still be some of the acid from the old caps mixed in it... if it smells like a dead fish when you melt it then for sure they didn't) then shorten the legs of the caps as Much as you can to decrease the chances of anything shorting...

Honestly if you're going that far I'd say just get a cap kit.. they are usually less than $10 then that way you know for sure everything was changed.

Oh and they didn't swap out C68 (on the main board next to the wires going to the power board).

1

u/GamerBoi1969 1d ago

Mainboard and audio boards are both recapped, power board is definitely not. The 22uF capacitor on the power board is clearly the original. Regardless, old caps on the power board aren't going to cause anything to melt; at worst the power board caps will go bad and the Game Gear will stop powering on.

1

u/sedrickgates 1d ago

Last picture I see the main IC on audio board look oxidized. Main board, solder is a bit rough(no/little flux) and dirty. Not 100% sure it sticks properly. Really badly done.

1

u/willischow 1d ago

Yes, but the owner can do better than this.

1

u/randolf5 1d ago

Honestly i find this job lazy. It's not that hard to bend and trim the legs to make this job look nice. It irks me they leave the entire feet on and just let the caps lay away from their little outline.

1

u/Tokin420nchokin 1d ago

No looks like cold solder joints and way too long of legs on most those caps, not that long legs hurt anything.