iFixit - Answers With Device "Sega Game Console"

Sega Game Gear: Sega Gamegear won't work.Searching for answers on what needs replacing

Sun, 24 Mar 2019 16:49:49 -0700

My gamegear is having issues and I'm not sure what needs to be replaced so I was hoping someone here might be able to point me in the right direction. When I turn the system on the red "ON" indicator light lights up for about 2-3 seconds and then goes out. The screen doesn't illuminate at all during the brief 2-3 second period either. My guess is the screen or logic board need to be replaced but I'm not sure. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your help

⟐ Answer accepted March 24, 2019 at 16:49 MST

Sega Game Gear: Device works, but has a plain blank screen

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 21:27:22 -0700

Hello there, I recently purchased a Game gear as it came with an adapter plug, at first when I tested it, it works as the power came on and the screen lighted (as well as the back light), but when I place a game in it, it still was the same screen as before, no sound, no animated screen, I was wondering if it was the device or the cartarage.

⟐ Commented January 10, 2026 at 21:27 MST

Sega Genesis II: Sega Genesis Power button

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 09:20:09 -0700

How do I fix the power button on my sega genesis model II that wont stay activated? Currently have to wedge a small flathead screw driver inbetween the button to have the system stay on.

Sega Game Gear: Game Gear Logic Board Damage. Fixable or recycling?

Thu, 21 May 2020 13:10:16 -0700

Hey everyone. I'm attempting to restore my old game gear. When I opened the system it became instantly clear as to why it had died in the first place. One, or a few, of the old capacitors had leaked and corroded in a small section of the logic board. I was able to get the majority of the material off the board by wiping it away with Qtips. However, in the process two small pieces fell off the board. C48 and Q3 are the pieces that fell off. I was being extremely careful not to damage anything and the slightest touch quickly removed them. Q3 was completely covered in dried up cap fluid and took quite some time to get the solder points to where they are in this picture. I haven't started cleaning the C48 solder point yet. Does anyone know if this is fixable? If so, does anyone know where I can get replacement parts for this board? I have no idea what these are called. I can say that the piece that goes on Q3 has the symbol XL 36 (same chip down and to the left of the yellow cap in the top left corner). No symbols are readable on the tiny piece that came off C48. R40 and R39 on the board will probably need to be replaced also just by looking at it. That's if this can be fixed. Thanks for your assistance!

⟐ Commented May 21, 2020 at 13:10 MST

Sega Dreamcast: Smudges on text on every game and even on the menu screen

Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:26:28 -0700

When I first bought my dreamcast a year ago it worked fine, put it on a few months ago and again it worked great. Stopped playing it for a few months, then loaded it again when I bought a new LCD tv and then when it loaded I got smudges on all the text everytime I loaded the game, so I tried another game and it did the same, tried it without the game and it does the same in the menu screen (including the dreamcast start-up logo).

The smudge looks like someones put their hands across a painting what hasn't dried horizontally to the right.

Oh, and I have tried an older tv (just your basic 60hz, not a wide screen or lcd before anyone thinks it's that).

I have also tried adjusting the switch at the AV point, and I have also tried it with and without and antenna. But every time I get the smudges.

I'm thinking it either needs a clean or it's buggered. Has anyone else had this problem? More importantly does anyone know how to fix it?

⟐ Answer accepted September 23, 2014 at 21:26 MST

Sega Genesis: Bad, Noisy, buzzy sound

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 10:25:33 -0700

Hi!

Today I plugged my old sega genesis (I'm writing from Portugal, here we call it mega-drive), didn't use for at least 10 years. The last time I used it, it was good, I'm almost shure didn't have any problem.

Today, I plugged it and I notice the image was bad, but the worst part was the sound. I'm gonna try to describe the best I can, with my bad english, the sound was buzzy, noisy... I thought it could be a problem with the tv, or the cable, so I plugged my headphones to the genesis, and it was the same. I'm sure the problem is with the console.

I've read it could be the voltage regulator, is there any way to test them? DO you have any idea of what could be?

⟐ Commented July 28, 2022 at 10:25 MST

Sega Dreamcast: How do you replace the clock battery?

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 09:41:25 -0700

Most times I power on my Dreamcast, it wants me to set the clock. I am told there is a rechargeable battery somewhere in it.

How do I go about replacing this?

⟐ Commented June 13, 2022 at 9:41 MST

Sega CD Model 2: CD drive not spinning

Sun, 07 May 2023 15:04:39 -0700

ive found that my sega cd is not reading disks ive had the unit apart and found that the laser will attempt to find the disk but the motor wont spin the caps on the board appear to be fine as do the other components i have attempted to clean the lens to no avail and suggestions as the what the problem could be?

⟐ Answered May 07, 2023 at 15:04 MST

Sega Game Gear: Sega Game Gear not working correctly

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 20:48:42 -0700

I bought this faulty Sega Game Gear. Original problem was that it turned on and off. I replaced all the capacitors and it was working fine except the screen. It had tons of horizontal white lines but you could see the game in darker lines. I started to mess with the screen controller chip thingy and the red light started blinking. After few minutes of messing the screen went black but not instantly. It went out line by line like if the chip was slowly cooling and restoring lines. But there was no more game on the screen. But you can hear the music.

If i heat the controller chip thingy white lines appear but if i let go of the heat they slowly disappear and you can see the game in fading lines.

But now there is another problem if I try to turn it on it shuts itself off instantly or it runs for few seconds and the turns off like there is a short. And also the red light is still flashing like the battery is low.

Is my screen dead? Did i mess capacitors while i was moving around? Short? If i press down on brightness wheel the screen becomes bluer and you can adjust brightness but only for few seconds then the screen turns back to "normal".

I will attach a video if that helps. You can see in the video that the display is trying to show something.

I can't sleep beacuse of this.

Anything will help.

⟐ Answer edited September 04, 2023 at 20:48 MST

Sega Genesis: Power switch only works sometimes

Fri, 19 Aug 2022 22:46:58 -0700

I have a Sega Genesis (model 1) that has some issues with the power switch only turning on sometimes. It takes a few tries of turning it on and off again before the on light even comes on at all, but even then it doesn’t come on in the on position, only when I’m halfway through turning it off again. With enough back and forth it does come on properly, but it’s been taking progressively more time for it to do this (was fine when I pulled it out of storage ~5 months ago).

I’ve also noticed it’s got some other issues. The video kind of flashes brighter and darker on some scenes, mostly on menus. My other tv shows wavy lines that get worse the longer you play. Probably just the tv, but it’s annoying nonetheless.

I’m currently using an adapter I got at Goodwill, not meant for the system but it’s the right voltage, amps, and I’ve switched it so the polarity is right. I’ve had the entire system apart and made sure the outside part of the switch was lined up with the inside. Everything looked fine inside, nothing damaged. I’ve cleaned the adapter in port in case that was corroded. I’ve tried moving the wires around in case of there being a loose connection, same thing with the tip of the adapter. I’ve tried the adapter from my Sega CD (it seems to fit better). It could be something just inside the console because once I accidently touched the adapter tip while it was on and it rebooted, but I really don’t know. Any ideas?

Edit: Circuit board

⟐ Commented August 19, 2022 at 22:46 MST

Sega Genesis: Why can't any controller plugged in as the first controller press up?

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 10:38:52 -0700

So I can use up on all my controllers in the 2nd controller slot so I know the controllers are fine. But whatever controller is in the first slot doesn't allow me to press up. I'm guessing there's something wrong with the connectors so I'm just wondering if I should just replace the whole thing or if there's an individual pin I could fix.

⟐ Answered July 28, 2022 at 10:38 MST

Sega Genesis II: Sega Genesis Controller port does not work

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 12:56:30 -0700

My Sega Genesis 2 second controller port is not working at all, I’ve tried desoldering and soldering the port a couple times. I’ve also reflowed everything on the back of the board and checked continuity from where the controller plugs in to the resisters just in front of where the pins solder to the motherboard. The weird part is in sonic 2 and 3 it actually does kinda work but then gets stuck going left. What can I do that I haven’t already?

⟐ Answered January 29, 2020 at 12:56 MST

Sega CD Model 2: Disc read errors, potentially belt related?

Sat, 04 Aug 2018 05:39:17 -0700

I have two of these Model 2 SegaCDs. Both seem to have succumb to the same problem over time, which has gotten to the point that they’re basically unplayable now. Basically, there’s a strange grinding sound when the disc needs to access data, and oftentimes the game will straight up freeze at this point. Playing back a regular CD seems to work fine, but if you try to skip ahead the same noise happens and it simply won’t read. It seems to be related to the belt the drives the lens perhaps? As if something has come out of alignment or needs greased or such? Not sure. If anyone’s experienced this issue and knows of a fix, I’d be happy to hear it. Thanks!

⟐ Answered August 04, 2018 at 5:39 MST

Sega Dreamcast: help my sega dreamcast wont read games anymore

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 22:30:17 -0700

i put it games and it wont load how do i fix this problem sonic adventure and jet grind radio are calling my name please help

⟐ Answer edited March 31, 2019 at 22:30 MST

Sega Game Gear: Screen has power but no picture

Sat, 25 Jun 2022 23:02:53 -0700

When i turn the game gear on, the screen lights up but only shows blue. I can hear the game audio playing in the background, too.

Is this a replacement screen issue, capacitor or something else?

Thanks!

⟐ Answered June 25, 2022 at 23:02 MST

Sega Genesis: Model 1 board, does this look normal?

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 19:20:15 -0700

I took apart My model 1 to clean it up etc and while looking around I came across a spot where it looks like a trace was damaged. I’ll post pics of the top and bottom of the board so you can see. The spot in question is circled in red.

So I somehow found a post on sega-16 about a genesis with a resistor on the bottom with a cut trace, exactly like mine. I'm starting to think this was just some factory "fix" or "repair" rather than a mod. Second post has a working image link which shows the same kind of resistor on the same spot with the trace cut.

https://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread...

⟐ Commented March 08, 2026 at 19:20 MST

Sega Genesis: Genesis won't play video.

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:40:23 -0700

So my genesis 2 wont play the games. I've cleaned it with a credit card and cloth/alcohol and the games. All it does is flash around the screen a few times and goes black. I don't know what's wrong.

⟐ Answer deleted January 02, 2020 at 6:40 MST

Sega Genesis: Controller port 1 is iffy at best. How can I fix this?

Thu, 05 Jul 2018 07:21:03 -0700

Recently picked up a free genesis out of the trash. Everything about it works fine, except the first controller port. I'm guessing the pins aren't connecting right, because every controller i've tried with it has the same problem. If anyone has had a similar problem or knows how to fix this please let me know.

⟐ Answered July 05, 2018 at 7:21 MST

Sega Saturn: Sound problems for music and FX

Fri, 07 Jul 2017 06:12:24 -0700

Not so much of an error but nearly every game I put in the sound is similar to a scratched cd. Clunks here and there. FX and music is all over the place and impossible to listen to without wanting to break stuff. I checked the discs and the condition is still fair. Would this issue be directly related to the discs or the machine itself?

⟐ Answered July 07, 2017 at 6:12 MST

Sega Game Gear: Help identify which board version this is?

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 03:44:45 -0700

I bought this Game Gear years ago with the intention of modding it. But in order to buy an IPS screen kit for it, I need to know what version it is.

Also, whilst I've modded a load of Game Boy DMG-01's, I've never done a Game Gear before, so suggestions for the best mods to do would be much appreciated.

⟐ Answer accepted January 02, 2025 at 3:44 MST