How to adjust brightness on Sega Nomad when knob is broke

[Urzu402]

i have a nomad and my brightness knobb is broken, i need to know how to adjust the brightness so i can play using it, i am sorry if this is the wrong board to ask this i am new here.... also i dont have a security bit to open it is there anyway i can just adjust the brightness, i dont care about the dial being on there i just want to be able to play it....

[jb143]

Other than taking it apart and fixing it, the only thing I can think of is to tilt it until it looks better. That, or make sure it has fresh batteries. The screen gets dimmer as the batteries fade. Of course you could also hook it to the TV.

[Urzu402]

i am using an ac adaptor so its not the batteries, the screen is black with the backlight shining away it does work if i hook it up to the TV but i have a genesis to do that.....

[jb143]

What exactly is wrong with it? Is the knob stuck or loose? Your not going to be able to do much without taking it apart first. Though you might be able to blast down in there with some potentiometer cleaner or electronics cleaner and see if that helps. It all depends on what the problem is.

[Urzu402]

the knobb/dial is completely broken off the thing it spins on, you can hear and see it inside, i need to know what to turn inside to change the brightness i cant open it up so i have to prod through where the opening of the dial is......

[jb143]

In that case you should be able to adjust it somehow. Ignore the white circles in the pic below. The knobs are the black disks in the bottom corners. It should give you some idea of how you'd be able to do it. If you can get a rubber band or something around it you might be able to turn it like a pulley. If whatever cause the knob to break, pulled anything loose from the circuit board though, then your probally out of luck without taking it apart and fixing it.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii12/jeremy_burk/gennomadbutton1.jpg

[Urzu402]

thanks for the help, i tried poking in there with a small screw driver, which probably was dangerous since the unit was powered on, i got it to flash to a playable brightness but then it when to being too dark......

[gercma]

if you blow in the knob hole you can change the brightness for a little time, i used to do this when the sound knob in my nomad was broken, anyway, it's not that hard to change it
Sorry my bad english :) :) :) :) :)

[coreycorey2000]

It is really quite simple to replace the knob (only 6 pins need soldering). I replaced the volume knob on one last week. I removed the knobs from a Game Gear because they are exactly the same. So I even have an extra brightness knob if you want to replace it. Without the plastic part that broke off I don't think you can adjust it properly without opening the system. If you buy the screwdriver bits to open the system, make sure they are long enough. My normal bits didn't work so I had to buy longer ones.

[Urzu402]

i dont have a soldering gun nor do i have the bit to open it, so i cant replace it i am no good at soldering anyway i have only soldered once in my life........