sega game gear help

[SNKNostalgia]

Replace all of them. Might as well do it so there are no problems in the future.

[kazekirifx]

Replace all of them. Might as well do it so there are no problems in the future.

He sounds like he knows what he's doing, so that might be good advice.

It would be horrible advice for the relatively inexperienced like me, though. I've broken electronics while trying to do simple mods and fixes - even attempting to replace caps. "If it ain't broken, don't fix it," is my motto.

[turbokon]

I have 3 Game Gears and all of them have screen and sound issues. I fixed the sound on one of them. These things tend to break. I reckon you'll have a hard time getting lucky and finding a fully working one at a flea market for $10.

I don't even like portable consoles. I'd kill for a way to connect real Game Gear hardware to a TV or larger monitor, since I just can't enjoy emulation, knowing that it's emulation. Actually, I think I did find an article online once about someone who managed to mod a Game Gear for this purpose, but it was way way too serious an operation for my taste.

The tutorial I saw required building a board. If thesteve is into gamegear, I'll bet he'll be able to find an easy way to mod for a composite out in a heartbeat. That guy is a mad genius!!

[thesteve]

from what i have been able to find out, the easiest way to play GG games on a TV with real hardware is an adaptor for the SMS (same chipset).
that said the GG is missing the video decoder from the SMS, so it never produces any thing close to video out.
the board to do it is a clone of the custom video decoder used in the SMS.

[kazekirifx]

from what i have been able to find out, the easiest way to play GG games on a TV with real hardware is an adaptor for the SMS (same chipset).
that said the GG is missing the video decoder from the SMS, so it never produces any thing close to video out.
the board to do it is a clone of the custom video decoder used in the SMS.

An SMS modded to play GG carts would rock! Any idea how feasible this would be? I know there are some hardware complications involved.

I know there are patched ROMS out there for some GG games like GG Aleste to be played on SMS, but in that case each game needs to be modded separately.

[thesteve]

i thought it was more direct.
i see the GG can play SMS games

[storino03]

Yeah, but it's harder to do in reverse.

[420GOAT]

i found a local killer electronics supply store nearby and got a iron, solder, and all the caps and then some for $9!!!! so i figured what the hell and tried my hand at electronics, at first it was a bit shaky but by the last few i was getting the hang of it. now i know why some mods are best left to the pro's. here is my first cap replacement ever! im no longer a mother board virgin.





here it is in the end, so i dont have to tilt the screen to see any more, but then the thing will play for a minute, then it cuts off, then after two secs it cuts off. if i keep the contrast low it stays on but i cant see the f*cken screen. there are still lines though so i think the lcd is junk now.  here is the final product. well no point of throwing away good money after bad so ill cut my losses and may just scrap it or sell it for parts and get my girl another "good" one. or maybe the Nomad. any ideas on my power issue? thanks.

[thesteve]

id start by looking over your cap change.
if any caps are reversed they can short when loaded.
stripes in the pic are a common LCD failure mode (non system specific)

[SNKNostalgia]

Also, shorten the legs of the caps to 2/3 cm to 1 cm. The legs might be touching or will eventually touch other components.

As mentioned, before doing anything match up + and - with the caps and the motherboard. If any are backwards turn them around and power up the system, if that doesn't work then replace the caps that were in backwards as they could be fried. Check for an gooey leakages that are brown and clean it off. Check if there is any corrosion where the leakage was at.

As for the LCD screen. There are people that replace them with current gen LCD screens, that have 3x-4x the picture quality. You can do the same to a Nomad and maybe even a Turbo Express/GT. Also, I have seen a guy take the rechargeable battery packs for handhelds and replace them with long lasting Lithium Ion batteries.

[thesteve]

the TE/GT screen I do.
others do the nomad.
the GG was an anomaly of sorts, as it doesnt have anything close to a video signal.
there are some encoders out there for the GG, but i havent seen them for sale and wouldnt call them final products.

[420GOAT]

now all the the caps but one had a stripe. the legs are not touching anything. one did have a "NP" with no stripe. i cut the legs even which were different lengths. then i could nut remember which was neg. it never blew up so i thought it was ok. the info on game gears says that its common for the power to cut off and led is trhe cure.

[thesteve]

the np cap doesnt have a polarity

[kazekirifx]

This rules.

http://www.lcv.ne.jp/~mgs1987/sega/gg2.html

and I'd settle for this too

http://www.sankichi.flnet.org/ggtv-rev01.html

Here's one in English
http://members.optusnet.com.au/eviltim/ggrgb/ggrgb.html

All of this modding is too complicated for my taste. I'd pay good money for one made by someone else though.

[Black Tiger]

i thought it was more direct.
i see the GG can play SMS games

The Game Gear might be able to run the games, but it has a lower resolution and SMS games get cropped. The Game Gear has a huge master palette and I believe stereo sound, so those don't translate properly to SMS hardware. I have seen working SMS console with a Game Gear added to them, but it was basically a two-in-one console.0