Sega GameGear Capacitor Replacement Kit Page 1 of 26

Sega GameGear Capacitor Replacement Kit

Thank you for your purchase of a Sega GameGear capacitor replacement kit from Nintendo Repair Hut.
This guide is designed to help you through the many steps involved in the installation of your
replacement capacitors. If at any time you have questions or need assistance please dont hesitate to
contact us at [email protected].

Things you will need

1) Sega GameGear Capacitor Replacement Kit

2) Soldering skills
3) Soldering iron
4) Soldering braid
5) Solder
6) 4.5mm Nutsetter security screw bit
7) Small Philips head screw driver
8) Small needle nose pliers
9) Clean work area and about two to three hours of time
10) Patience
11) Fume hood

Safety

This repair requires hours of extensive solder and unsoldering. Much of the old solder is composed of
lead and other harmful toxins. In addition the board is covered in plastic and glue that will be melted
during this repair. All of these substances should not be inhaled. Throughout this repair you should use a
fume hood to protect yourself from the dangers associated with breathing these fumes in. Please do not
try to do these repairs without one. We are more than happy to provide you with a full refund on this
repair kit rather than have you endanger yourself because you lack the proper protection equipment.

Soldering Skills Needed

This repair requires extensive soldering skills and should not be attempted by a novice. You are more
likely to damage the system if you dont have the proper skills. We recommend that if you are not
completely comfortable with your soldering skills you return this repair kit for a full refund at this time.

Patience

This repair requires roughly two to three hours of intensive work. If you start to get tired we
recommend that you stop and come back to the work at a difference time. Attention to detail is an
absolute must during this repair.

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Index

Topic Page
Index of capacitors in kit 3
Introduction to the three versions of the Sega 4-5
GameGear
Using a capacitor checker 6
Introduction to soldering 7-8
Disassembly guide 9-12
Introduction to capacitors 13-15
Soldering surface mount capacitors 16-17
Soldering radial mount capacitors 18-19
Index of capacitors 1 ASIC (VA1) 20-21
Index of capacitors 1 ASIC (VA4) 22-23
Index of capacitors 2 ASIC 24-25
Troubleshooting section 26

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Index of Capacitors in Kit

In case you are interested here is an index of all of the capacitors include in this repair kit. As you may
notice the capacitors are packaged by type and labeled accordingly for ease of usage. If you ever find
what you need more of a particular type of capacitor please contact us at [email protected].
We are more than happy to sell them individually.

Capacitor Quantity
22uF 6.3V 4
100uF 6.3V (Audio Quality Capacitors) 3
100uF 25V 1
100uF 6.3V 3
33uF 6.3V 1
1uF 50V 1
22uF 35V 2
47uF 4V 2
0.47uF 50V 2
820uF 6.3V 1
10uF 50V 3
10uF 16V 4
10uF 6.3V 4
68uF 6.3V 1
4.7uF 35V 1
100uF 4V 1
47uF 6.3V 2
22uf 50V 1

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Introduction to the Three Versions of the Sega GameGear System

There are three versions of the GameGear console in regards to the capacitor layout. To identify what
version you have you have to open your console. As you notice in the picture below it has one ASIC chip,
however some consoles have two ASIC chips.

ASIC Chip

Picture Introduction: ASIC Chip

If you console has two ASIC chips then there is only one layout of the capacitors for this version. If you
system only has one ASIC chip there are two layouts of the capacitors. In order to find out what layout
you have you need to look at the left side of the mother board as seen in picture two below.

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VA number

Picture Introduction: VA number

Notice in picture two above it says VA1. There is another version of the Sega GameGear with only one
ASIC chip that is labeled VA4.

So to recap there are three versions of the Sega GameGear in regards to the layout of the capacitors.

1) One two chip ASIC version

2) Two one chip ASIC versions
a. One is listed VA1
b. One is listed VA4

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Using a Capacitor Checker

While you can certainly change out every capacitor on the circuit board this is both a tiresome and
unnecessary action. While you might have heard or read otherwise on the internet if a capacitor is
working it does not need to be replaced if it is working within factory guidelines.

There are devices that allow you to check capacitors to determine if they are operating within
appropriate parameters. We use the CapAnalyzer 88A Series II. It is very simple and operator friendly;
however it does cost over $200. This is a great deal of money; although if you are doing regular
electronics work it is a great tool to add to your collection along with a voltmeter and oscilloscope.

There are many capacitor analyzers on the market, although most cost several hundred dollars. If you do
purchase one, we recommend getting one that can check capacitors in circuit. This allows you to check
them each capacitor without having to unsolder it.

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Soldering Techniques:
In order to solder and unsolder correctly you will need a soldering iron, solder and soldering braid. Once
you have these items it is safe to proceed forward. For the duration of this project it is not recommend
that you use a cold heat or any other instantaneous heating soldering gun, since these guns use an
electrical current to melt the solder. Passing a strong electrical current through your games is not
recommended and as such should be avoided. We recommend that you use a typical soldering gun, the
type that you have to plug in and wait to heat up. In addition it is recommended that you set your
soldering iron to 30watts for the duration of this project.

Unsoldering:
Correctly unsoldering a joint is rather easy once you get the hang of it. In order to unsolder a joint place
soldering braid over the solder you wish to remove and then place the soldering iron over the soldering
braid. The soldering iron will heat the braid and in turn the solder will liquefy, which will be sucked up by
the braid. Please see the picture below.

This is the inside of a Super Nintendo game cartridge.

The The soldering iron is

soldering placed over the
braid is soldering braid
placed over
the solder
you want to
remove

Picture Introduction: Proper usage of solder braid

Although it might take a little while to completely remove all of the solder, patience and persistence will
pay off in this case. Every 10-15 seconds remove the soldering braid and check to see if the solder have
been fully removed. As soldering braid is takes up solder periodically cut off these used sections as
needed.

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Soldering:
Now that the solder has been removed you can now remove the object that the solder was holding in
place and you are now ready to solder something new into place. During this project it is not safe to use
excessive soldering material as bridging between joints is very easy due to their close proximity to each
other.

The two most important things to keep in mind are:

1) Never allow patches of solder to overlap or touch, doing so creates a short, thereby rendering the
circuit inoperable.
2) Make sure to use enough solder to securely attach whatever it is you are soldering, do not be afraid
to test the joint out.

Keeping these items in mind lets continue with our demonstration. To apply the solder take it and place
it over the soldering joint and then lightly place the soldering iron over the solder. This is just like
unsoldering, although this time you are soldering and not unsoldering. This part is a little tricky when
you first start and is hard to describe with words alone. It is recommended that you test out melting
solder first to get an idea of how it behaves.

One ideal exercise you might want to try is to attempt to solder together two pieces of wire. Take two
pieces of wire, strip the ends, twist the ends together and then practice applying solder over this twisted
joint. During the course of this project if you run into trouble remember you can always back track and
remove the solder and try again, using the soldering braid. Soldering braid and solder are very cheap
and as such are worth playing around with to get comfortable with before you go ahead and install your
replacement part.

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Step One:

Please turn your system over and locate the six Philips head screws and one 4.5mm Nutsetter screw that
are holding the casing together and unscrew them. If you do not have a 4.5mm security screw bit we sell
them on our website.

4.5mm Nutsetter screw

Philips Screws

Picture One: Starting a long journey

Once the screws are removed please separate the two halves of the casing and proceed to step two.

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Step Two:

As you separate the two halves of the casing you will notice two cables that run from the back casing to
the front casing; disconnect them. There is also one cable running from the front of the casing to the
back; disconnect it. At this point we want to remind you that the layout of your system might be
different depending on what version it is.

Picture Two: Two halves opened

Once the cables are disconnected separate the two halves of the casings. If any other impediments
occur to prevent this please deal with them at this stage and continue onwards to step three.

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Step Three:

Now that you have separated the front part from the back part back it is time to start its disassembly.
Please locate the four Philips head screws holding down the RF shield and unscrew them.

RF shield
screws

Picture Three: RF Shield

Once the RF shield has been removed please continue to step four.

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Step Four

Now that the RF shield has been removed it is time to remove the mother board from the front casing.

Please locate the eight Philips head screws that are holding down the mother board and remove them.

Philips Head Screws

Picture Four: Mother Board Removal

Once the main mother board has been removed there are two minor boards remaining:

1) Power board
2) Sound board

Both are easily removed from the casing as they are only held in place by two Philips head screws. If you
need to access them please do so at this time.

Now that the system is fully dissembled you are ready to start replacing the capacitors; however it is
important for us to familiarize you with the basics of how capacitors work.

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An Introduction to Capacitors

Before we jump into the capacitor replacement its important to understand the basics first. A capacitor
is used to store electrical energy. It has two listed measurements microfarads (F) and voltage (V). You
will notice when you look at your replacements capacitor it has the microfarads and voltage listed on it.
It is important that you replace each capacitor with the same ratings as the original for optimal
performance.

There are two types of aluminum electrolytic capacitors used by the Sega GameGear that vary on the
way they mount to the circuit board.

This is a capacitor.

Picture Five: Sample capacitor, radial mount

The capacitor seen in picture five above features a radial mounting, hence called because it has legs that
originate from the capacitor and then fit into holes on the circuit board, which are then soldered into
place.

Continued on next page

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Picture Six: Sample capacitor, surface mount

The capacitor seen in picture six above is surface mounted since its legs are soldered directly to the
surface of the circuit board.

Each type of capacitor has a negative and positive lead. It is very important to make sure that you dont
get these backwards. The positive terminal should be soldered to the positive terminal on the circuit
board and the negative terminal to the negative terminal on the circuit board. Fortunately the positive
terminal is marked on the circuit board; however the terminals on the capacitor are not marked. This is
discussed on the next page.

Continued on next page

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Most capacitors do not have the positive and negative terminals marked with symbols, but instead the
negative terminal is defined by the terminal that originates from the part of the capacitor that has a
strip running down it. This strip can vary in color.

Picture Seven: Radial mount capacitor negative terminal

In this case the strip is silver in color. Please dont be fooled as the strip can be different colors. Just
remember that the strip always denotes the negative terminal of the capacitor. The same is true for the
surface mount capacitors. If you look back at picture seven. The negative terminal is marked by the side
of the capacitor with the black half-circle.

Now that you have a general understanding of what capacitors are and how to properly identify their
microfarad and voltage rating it is time to start replacing them.

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Step Five:

Now that you are familiar with the two types of aluminum electrolytic capacitors in the system it is time
to start replacing them; however this is tricky. Removing the surface mount capacitors requires some
patience and a delicate touch.

Contact destroyed due to

improper capacitor
removal

Good contacts ready for

soldering

Place tip of soldering iron

here

Picture Eight: Improper removal of a surface mounting capacitor

Please study picture eight for a moment and notice that CC104 and CC103 have been removed. Do you
notice how the contact pointed out by the blue arrow looks different than the other three? This is
because it has been damaged by improper removal of the CC104 capacitor and is now ruined. While it is
hypothetically possible that this can be repaired in most cases this unit may not be salvageable.

Please, please use caution and dont let this happen! Using our strategies this can be avoided.

1) Do not pry the old capacitors off ever.

2) Use a soldering iron with a very narrow tip to unsolder the surface mount capacitors. The proper
place to unsolder is shown in picture nine above. In this fashion the capacitor can be safely
peeled off the board and the contacts can be preserved.

Continued on next page

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As seen in picture nine below CC103, CC101 and CC102 have been replaced. This image is worth
studying as it shows how cleanly these replacement capacitors can be installed if care is taken.

Notice the following please:

1) Negative terminals is marked

2) The part number is listed

Picture Nine: Clean installation of capacitors

We recommend that you start by cutting the leads of the replacement capacitor very short, about 2-
3mm in length. Then apply a small amount of solder to the negative terminal. Once done place the
negative lead of the capacitor onto the mound of solder and re-melt the solder along the lead to sink
into the mount.

After the terminal lead is securely attached then using a set of small pliers bend the positive lead so it
sits directly over the positive contact on the circuit board and solder it into place. Once finished check
the joints for strength.

The strategies for replacing the radial mounting capacitors are somewhat different and discussed next.

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Radial Mounting Capacitors Installation

To start please unsolder the capacitor of interest. We recommend the following strategy.

Picture Ten: Proper usage of soldering braid

Place the soldering braid over the solder joint and then heat the joint with your soldering iron. The braid
will suck up the solder and free the lead. You can also apply a small amount of traction on the lead by
grasping the lead from the other side with a set of needle nose pliers and pulling if needed.

Once the leads are unsoldered please proceed to the next page.

Continued on next page

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Next you need to solder the replacement capacitor into place. Remember negative to negative and
positive to positive. We recommend the following strategy.

Picture Eleven: Lead soldering

Insert the leads and then bend them at a ninety degree angle. Then cut the leads down to the desired
length. Finally solder the leads into place.

Please continue replacing the capacitors as needed. Here are some very important points not to forget.

1) Make sure you do not bridge any terminals

2) Make sure the leads of the capacitors dont touch each other.
3) Dont be afraid to bend the capacitors leads. You will have to flatten them anyways to get the
casing to close.

Once you are finished please reassembly your system and enjoy your working unit; however if
everything is not working correctly after it is back together please see our troubleshooting section at the
end of this guide.

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1 ASIC (VA1) Capacitor Index

Mother Board Listing

Part Listing Value

C1 33uf 6.3V
C4 10uf 6.3V
C11 10uF 6.3V
C14 10uF 6.3V
C42 10uF 6.3V
C43 22uF 6.3V
C45 4.7uF 35V
C48 68uF 6.3V
C49 100uF 4V
C54 0.47uF 50V
C55 0.47uF 50V
C68 100uF 6.3V

Audio Board Listing

We included audio grade capacitors for use on the audio board. They are marked as such. They are more
expensive to use, although produce superior sound quality. The audio board is the circuit board with the
audio dial on it

Part Listing Value

C1 100uF 6.3V
C2 100uF 6.3V
C3 100uF 6.3V
C5 47uF 4V
C7 47uF 4V

Continued on next page

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Power Board Listing

The power board is the circuit board with the power plug on it.

Part Listing Value

C5 22uF 35V
C11 100uF 25V
C13 820uF 6.3V

Note

While examining the circuit board you will notice a variety of small parts that also have numbers that
start with C that are not on the above list. While these are indeed capacitors, they are not aluminum
electrolytic capacitors and therefore do not need to be replaced. While they can fail doing so usually
requires a significant surge through the board that would fire the circuit board. So you can effectively
not worry about them for the purposes of this repair.

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1 ASIC (VA4) Capacitor Index

Mother Board

Part Listing Value Mount Type

C1 33uF 6.3V Radial Mount
C31 100uF 6.3V Radial Mount
C33 22uF 6.3V Radial Mount
C36 22uF 6.3V Radial Mount
C37 10uF 16V Surface Mount
C38 22uF 35V Radial Mount
C39 10uF 50V Radial Mount
C40 47uF 6.3V Radial Mount
C41 47uF 6.3V Radial Mount
C42 10uF 50V Radial Mount
C43 1uF 50V Radial Mount
C44 22uF 6.3V Surface Mount
C46 22uf 50V Radial Mount
C47 10uF 50V Radial Mount
C55 100uF 6V1 Surface Mount
C75 100uf 6.3V Radial Mount
Audio Board Listing

We included audio grade capacitors for use on the audio board. They are marked as such. They are more
expensive to use, although produce superior sound quality. The audio board is the circuit board with the
audio dial on it

Part Number Value Mounting Type

C1 100uf 6V2 Surface Mount
C2 100uf 6V3 Surface Mount
C3 100uf 6V4 Surface Mount
C5 47uf 4V Surface Mount
C7 47uf 6V5 Surface Mount

Continued on next page

1
100uf 6.3V radial mount capacitors are used to replace these 100uf 6V surface mount capacitors
2
100uf 6.3V radial mount capacitors are used to replace these 100uf 6V surface mount capacitors.
3
100uf 6.3V radial mount capacitors are used to replace these 100uf 6V surface mount capacitors.
4
100uf 6.3V radial mount capacitors are used to replace these 100uf 6V surface mount capacitors.
5
47uf 6.3V radial mount capacitors are used to replace these 47uf 6V surface mount capacitors.

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Power Board Listing

The power board is the circuit board with the power plug on it.

Part Listing Value Mounting Type

C5 22uF 35V Radial Mount
C9 10uf 16V Surface Mount
C11 100uF 25V Radial Mount
C13 820uF 6.3V Radial Mount

Note

While examining the circuit board you will notice a variety of small parts that also have numbers that
start with C that are not on the above list. While these are indeed capacitors, they are not aluminum
electrolytic capacitors and therefore do not need to be replaced. While they can fail doing so usually
requires a significant surge through the board that would fire the circuit board. So you can effectively
not worry about them for the purposes of this repair.

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2 ASIC Capacitor Index

Mother Board

Part Listing Value

C1 33uF 6.3V
C3 10uF 6.3V
C6 10uF 6.3V
C31 100uF 6.3V
C35 4.7uF 35V
C37 68uF 6.3V
C39 100uF 4V
C44 0.47uF 50V
C45 0.47uF 50V
C48 10uF 6.3V
C49 22uF 6.3V

Audio Board Listing

We included audio grade capacitors for use on the audio board. They are marked as such. They are more
expensive to use, although produce superior sound quality. The audio board is the circuit board with the
audio dial on it

Part Listing Value

C1 100uF 6.3V
C2 100uF 6.3V
C3 100uF 6.3V
C5 47uF 4V
C7 47uF 4V

Continued on next page

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Power Board Listing

The power board is the circuit board with the power plug on it.

Part Listing Value

C5 22uF 35V
C11 100uF 25V
C13 820uF 6.3V

Note

While examining the circuit board you will notice a variety of small parts that also have numbers that
start with C that are not on the above list. While these are indeed capacitors, they are not aluminum
electrolytic capacitors and therefore do not need to be replaced. While they can fail doing so usually
requires a significant surge through the board that would fire the circuit board. So you can effectively
not worry about them for the purposes of this repair.

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Troubleshooting Section

We are sorry to hear that you ran into complications from your repair. Unfortunately this particular
repair is difficult to troubleshoot due to the complexity of the repair job, although here are some
general guidelines.

1) Make sure that the terminals of each capacitor are firmly soldered in place.
2) Make sure that none of the terminals are bridge with solder
3) Make sure that none of the leads of the capacitors touch each other.

We do apologize that we cant be more helpful than this.

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