Help me fix my Nomad: dark screen

[davepesc]

I just got a Sega Nomad in an ebay auction and my joy was shattered when I turned it on and couldn't see anything.

Well, I could see something, I could kind of make out shapes if I moved the unit around and caught the right angle. It was like there was a dark cloud covering the screen and you could just see outlines through it.

Also, the sound was very low, even at the max setting. There was sound, but I almost had to put my ear to the speaker to hear it.

Could it be an issue with the power supply? I was using a third party 9 volt adapter.
I tried 3 different games and got the same results from all. Haven't tried outputting to a TV to see if there is any difference.

Suggestions?

[Wonder_Hamster]

My screen has a similar problem, but it seems to work fine if I push and keep pressure on the contrast knob, or tape it in place. Anybody else know anything about this?

[InsaneDavid]

Could it be an issue with the power supply? I was using a third party 9 volt adapter.
I tried 3 different games and got the same results from all. Haven't tried outputting to a TV to see if there is any difference.

That's what it sounds like to me but I haven't spent much time with the Nomad, so it could be a common problem with a common answer. As you're having both video and audio failures it seems like something isn't right with the power. Have you tried running it off of battery power?

My screen has a similar problem, but it seems to work fine if I push and keep pressure on the contrast knob, or tape it in place. Anybody else know anything about this?

Sounds to me like the contrast potentiometer is loose from age or damage, replacing it would probably fix the problem, but again I'm not an expert with the Nomad.