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JustRob
03-07-2007, 12:02 PM
I picked up a GG from a friend a little while ago, along with Foreman For Real. At the time I wasn't in my big Sega kick so I just kind of put it in a box and forgot about it. Lately, I've been in a "Everything Sega is a gift from Mount Olympus" kind of collecting bug and remembered about the GG.

I pulled it out of the box, tossed some new batteries in and...nothing. Turning the brightness control gave me some different shaded darkness on the screen so I knew it at least was turning on. I pulled the cart and cleaned the contacts in the unit and on the cart with a bit of rubbing alcohol on a qtip and christ was that shit dirty. I let it dry, put it back in and...well, I'll let this video show you what happens.

http://www.geocities.com/robertalpizar/ggvid.mov

Anyone know what's going on and how to fix this?
Imstarryeyed
03-07-2007, 12:24 PM
Greetings, do you have an AC adaptor to try it out with? I wonder if you are getting enough power to the unit.. an AC adaptor may help troubleshoot that. If you are not getting enough power then it might be time again to pull out an emory board or file and try to clean those contacts again.

It might be time to open up the unit and also clean those contacts on the unit where the cart goes as well as the cart contacts.

I hope you get it going soon!
JustRob
03-07-2007, 12:47 PM
Well, there are 6 brand new AAs in there. They've only been in there for about 5 minutes, so I'm sure the GG drained them dry already. I don't have an AC adapter but I can pick up one of those modular radio shack ones. I've been meaning to do that anyway.

I'll open the thing up and give it a good cleaning when I get home. I needed a project for tonight and that will do.
davidleeroth
03-07-2007, 01:16 PM
Might be a short somewhere. Does the power stay on without a cart inside?
JustRob
03-07-2007, 02:13 PM
As long as that video I linked is viewable...

No, it does the same thing with or without the cart. It stayed on before I gave it that cleaning. I think I may have tried to run it before it was fully dry though..if so, I'm a dumbass. If not, it could have a short. Like I said before, it would stay on, but the screen was just a variable void of different shades of darkness depending on where the brightness wheel was. Now, it comes on, then turns right back off.
CrimsonNugget
03-13-2007, 08:52 PM
Mine does something similar when the batteries are shot, though on new batteries something might be bad on the inside. I'd get a hold of an AC adaptor to make sure.
agbulls
03-13-2007, 08:53 PM
My Game Gear is for sale if anyone wants it :)
Rev. Link
02-06-2008, 12:14 AM
I'm taking a look at a Game Gear for a guy I know, and I'm having a similar problem with it.

It works just fine when it's plugged in, but it won't turn on at all with batteries. I know the batteries are fine, they're the rechargeables I normally use in my Wii controllers. I opened the Game Gear up and looked inside, and it's immaculate in there. There's no corrosion of any kind, not even dust. Nothing appears to be loose, but the battery compartments are covered by plastic that I don't think comes off. Anyone have any suggestions as to what could be the issue? Could it just be a bad wire or something?
evildragon
02-06-2008, 12:49 AM
A common problem with Game Gears are the capacitors. They are electrolytic and die QUICK. (bad batch?)

Replacing them almost always fixes these types of problems.
omnedon
02-06-2008, 11:33 AM
Make sure you are using alkalines, not modern NiMH or Li-ion. Or try a Genesis 2 AC adapter as was mentioned before.

I've sen GG's act very strange with NiMH, but great with alkalines. It's worth eliminating the possibility.
Cloud121
05-25-2008, 04:48 AM
How do they act strange with NiMHs? And why not use Lithium batteries?
ApolloBoy
05-25-2008, 05:15 AM
A common problem with Game Gears are the capacitors. They are electrolytic and die QUICK. (bad batch?)

And it doesn't seem to be isolated with the Game Gear either. Both the TurboExpress and the TurboDuo have similar problems (much more so with the TE). It seems as though there was a bad batch of capacitors in the early 90s; maybe someone could research this?

But anyway, my GG did the exact same thing. Once I replaced a few capacitors it worked fine, although I still need to fix the volume (another common GG problem also caused by bad capacitors).
COUNT SMRIFNACK
05-25-2008, 10:21 AM
The video no longer works:? But anyway, I bought a GG at a thirft store a coouple weeks ago. When turned on it would only light up the screen very dimmly for a second or two. I finally figured out the by switching it on-then off-then on...very quickly, made the unit turn on completely. It worked every time.
The sound was also shot on the speaker and the headphone jack. So I replaced those two capacitors and the sound was fixed.

Good luck with it.
Cloud121
05-25-2008, 02:59 PM
So, is the Game Gear incompatible with Lithium batteries? How about NiMH rechargeables?
Cloud121
05-27-2008, 02:22 AM
Bump. Anyone?
omnedon
05-27-2008, 10:27 AM
It is unreliable to test with anything other than alkalines.


My GG will not work with NiMH, but will work with alkalines. It would probably work with NiCd's as well. They do not deliver power the exact same way, and the GG was designed with alkalines in mind. Even the owners manual says 'Alkalines only' .

NiMH and Li-Ion were not even invented yet. When trying to isolate a problem you need to eliminate as many variables as possible. New, different batteries are a new variable.
Jimid2
06-05-2008, 06:43 AM
So, is the Game Gear incompatible with Lithium batteries? How about NiMH rechargeables?

omnedon's observations re: troubleshooting not withstanding, I've been using 2500mAh NiMHs in my Game Gears for years without any noticeable ill-effects. I also use them in Game Boys, the Atari Lynx, my Sega Nomad and every other handheld I've got in the house, and I've never had any problems with them...
omnedon
06-05-2008, 11:15 AM
Maybe just my GG. =)

Anyway, when troubleshooting, removing variables first, is the only way to isolate a problem.
Bratwurst
06-05-2008, 11:40 AM
Maybe just my GG. =)

Not all batteries are created equal, either. Nintendo has discouraged the use of rechargeable batteries in their handhelds right up to the first iteration of the GBA. I've never encountered a problem personally but wouldn't rule it out.
RASK1904
02-19-2009, 12:08 AM
Wow realy bring one back here. I just got a Gamegear for 2.50 and popped in some games(cleaned them and the system first) I had and It works.....kinda. The sound is great. The screen on the other hand is kinda light black/grey. If you turn the brightness wheel all the way towards the bottom you can see the games at a crazy low angle from the bottom. I read the posts and I am using NiMH batteries. But no one ever cleared that up? What about the bad batch of resisters? Could this be the problem? Any help would be great!
Joe West
02-19-2009, 12:44 AM
do like i did, look around for a beat-up gg thats working & swap mother boards,
thats the easy way.......
Gameguy
02-19-2009, 02:29 AM
Wow realy bring one back here. I just got a Gamegear for 2.50 and popped in some games(cleaned them and the system first) I had and It works.....kinda. The sound is great. The screen on the other hand is kinda light black/grey. If you turn the brightness wheel all the way towards the bottom you can see the games at a crazy low angle from the bottom. I read the posts and I am using NiMH batteries. But no one ever cleared that up? What about the bad batch of resisters? Could this be the problem? Any help would be great!
The screen issue could be caused by bad capacitors, as described below.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/eviltim/ggrgb/ggrepair.html

Or it's possible that it's not getting enough power from the batteries, you could check with other batteries or with an adapter to make sure(it's the same as a Genesis 2).
Ed Oscuro
02-21-2009, 06:55 PM
And it doesn't seem to be isolated with the Game Gear either. Both the TurboExpress and the TurboDuo have similar problems (much more so with the TE). It seems as though there was a bad batch of capacitors in the early 90s; maybe someone could research this?
These are old handhelds, but yeah, there was this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Now this is making me wonder if I shouldn't have somebody do a tv *and* a cap mod on a GG of mine. Hmm!
RASK1904
02-22-2009, 02:00 AM
Thanx for the wiki article.
Ed Oscuro
02-22-2009, 04:07 AM
The screen issue could be caused by bad capacitors, as described below.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/eviltim/ggrgb/ggrepair.html
Thanks for that article. The screen issue definitely matches what RASK and I are experiencing.

Might be a good time to get caps checked out on both my GGs, my PC-GT, and my two Nomads...hmm. Would be spendy though.

Edit: It's worth mentioning I'm using a wall plug with this GG, too.

Is Omnedon still our best source for this sort of work? And does he do the TV output mod? :O