Game Gear:General Troubleshooting

Below is a list of common issues, their common causes, and their solutions. Effectively all Game Gears need a full recap. Some information was used from this site.

No Power

 * Bad capacitors. Do a full system recap.
 * Corrosion on battery terminals due to leaked AA batteries. Clean them by scrubbing them with distilled vinegar followed by isopropyl alcohol.
 * Cracked wires (between power board and motherboard). Check for cold solder joints and replace the wires if needed.
 * If using power supply, it may be a loose power jack. Reflow the solder on the jack and add fresh solder.

No Audio

 * Bad capacitors. Do a full system recap.
 * Cracked wires or cold solder joints (between audio board and motherboard).
 * Damaged speaker. Replace it.

Black Screen

 * Bad capacitors. Do a full system recap.
 * Damaged or corroded contrast wheel. Verify full range of resistance (0 to 10Kohm) and replace if needed.
 * Damaged ribbon cable.
 * Corroded traces.
 * Damaged screen. Replace screen.

Dim or Washed out Image

 * Bad capacitors. Do a full system recap.
 * Damaged or corroded contrast wheel. Verify full range of resistance (0 to 10Kohm) and replace if needed.

Vertical Third of Image Missing
There are three ICs that drive the image on the screen. If a vertical piece of your image is missing, and it appears to be one or two thirds of your screen, replace the relevant IC directly south of the screen. Try reflowing the pins south of the IC. Some people have luck with heating the ICs with hot air as a last resort before replacement.

Horizontal Lines Missing

 * Similar to a Game Boy screen, this is caused by the ribbon cable detaching. Carefully reflow the ribbon cable connections on the right side of the screen.

Vertical Lines Missing

 * Similar to a Game Boy screen, this is caused by the ribbon cable detaching. Carefully reflow the ribbon cable connections directly south of the screen.

Dead Pixels

 * Damaged screen. Replace it.

Scrambled Image
If it looks like the sprites on screen are garbled, it is likely an issue with your VRAM. Clean pins and reflow VRAM. Otherwise, replace the VRAM chip.