gamegrid2084

Ok, so if both working and non working sound boards produce the same problem, then you're right it's probably the main board that's the problem. Low sound has usually been an electrolytic capacitor issue, but it may be one of the ceramic SMD caps. The clicking is interesting. Are the clicks regular? That is, do they sound like they are 1 second apart (or 1/2 second or anything regular)? If they are regular and not random, that sounds like a capacitor wave (charging and discharging) and the clicks you hear are when the capacitor is probably at full charge and releasing... I'd also wonder if the "clicks" are just the audio at full volume for a fraction of a second. That would make it harder to tell if the clicks are random because if it's what I'm describing, you would hear the clicks during normal game audio, but not when the game has no audio or low audio. One thing I'd definitely do is to reflow the solder joints on the main board connector cable (that goes to the audio board) ... just to rule that out.

So the Game Gear (recapped) that doesn't have sound - has never had working sound (even when you put a known working sound board in). And, your recapped sound board, when put into another game gear, works fine. Is that correct? What about the headphones port, do you hear any audio? It could be that the speaker is not working 100%.

I've seen a lot like this where the Game Gear doesn't engage with all of the pins of the cart. Usually, if you have no cart in the GG, the screen is black. However, when you have a cart that has corrosion or other problems where some pins connect well and others don't, I have seen solid color screens (pink & white are the most common). The cart slot pins can get worn and bent and don't easily recognize a game anymore (because not all of the pins are connecting). It's a possibility. Has the Game Gear been stored away with a game inserted for long periods of time?

Regarding the Game Gear that has the horizontal line on the screen after you recapped it, it's most likely either the screen or connecting ribbon cables. This is pretty rare. I've only seen 1 out of 100 with a real screen issue and I just decided to turn that one into a McWill LCD Game Gear. The other 2 that have the power-on-for-a-few-seconds then powers off could be cold solder joints on some of the SMD components. I have encountered a several of these and I fixed them by reflowing the solder joints on all the SMD components around the brightness wheel. I started with all SMDs within an inch radius, then moved out from there until it worked. Your problem might not be the same, but since I've seen this in more than a couple of GGs and fixed them with the same process, I think it could be similar. One giveaway that your problem is the same as the problems that I've encountered is the brightness setting when powering on. If I put the screen up to full brightness, then the GG will power on and off in less than 1 second. If I put the screen brightness down to the minimum, it either will last several seconds before powering off or it won't power off at all. I'd try that to see what happens.

Well, because you have 2 or more Game Gears, the problem will be a little bit easier to find. I'm not clear as to how you ruled in/out the main board. Did you move the newly recapped power and audio boards to another GG and then everything was fine or did you move other, currently working, power and audio boards to the new recapped main board? The clicks when you turn the volume wheel either up or down mean that there's probably some dirt, corrosion, or oxidation in the volume pot. This is common and some DeoxIT or other electrical cleaning solution will help with this.

There are always some available on eBay. Are you looking for a specific board version (for VA1, VA4, VA5/Majesco)? I believe the VA4+ Game Gears have different connectors and won't connect to a VA1 power board.