Sega Nomad - not working + replacement parts needed!

[ScoreAddict]

Well, I got me TWO Nomads from the US, since we poor Europeans were left out back in the day.

Not wanting to pay too much, I got me two faulty ones:

- Number one had a faulty DC-power jack on arrival which needed replacing badly.

The Sega Nomad's power jack is identical to the PS2's and still available to order, so no worries if you need one! (I even got me one spare just in case.) Problem fixed!

- Number one will power on, but there's only a white-grey/black screen and after a while some "crunchy" noises from the audio. Nothing else happens. The screen brightness can be changed as well as the audio level via the wheel potentiometers, but that's it.

Same story if I connect it to a television via AV-port - including the "crunchy" noises. Interestingly, the television will switch to the correct AV-channel if I turn the Nomad on!

Contacts of the cartridge slot have been thorougly cleaned and the cable (which connects the two halves of the Nomad) has been checked - to no avail.

Since my second Nomad mostly works (apart from the "white screen" issues, see below) I switched its second "half" board with number one's and, voila, the handheld comes alive!

Any idea what's the problem with the board and how to fix it?

- Number two will power up fine and audio will play as it should but the screen is completely white. No wonder, since the wheel of the brightness control is gone! Ripped out, broken out, no idea - it's gone!

The handheld works perfectly (audio and video) if connected to a television via the AV-port.

Alas, the wheel potentiometer (47 kOhm with 4 pins) is a rare(r) type I have not encountered before (most common types are for audio jacks with 5 pins and only at 10-20 kOhm).

Any idea where I can get a replacement? It's (supposed) to be identical to the Game Gear's one, but where to get one? The audio control's wheel potentiometer is NOT the same. It's 5 pin and has a lower resistance value at about 20 kOhm.

Note: Yes, I could do a lcd screen-mod which would render the brightness control issue obsolete. But first I want two working machines in original condition before I try that.

Apart from that, any advice is appreciated! Please help!

And if you need any pictures of the two handhelds, just say so!

Thank you!

[xelement5x]

That sucks with the contrast wheel. A friend of mine broke the contrast on mine but thankfully I still had the wheel and was able to hold it back in place with a dab of adhesive and it still works fine. I had a friend with electronics experience looking to help me source a replacement part but he couldn't find anything after several months of looking, short of stealing one from another broken Nomad.