Had to pick between a recap kit and a new power supply for my Genesis model 1

My Sega Genesis started showing this weird vertical line on the left side of the screen last month. I opened it up and saw the capacitors were bulging on the board. I spent like 4 days debating if I should just buy a whole new power supply board off eBay for $25 or get a cap kit for $8 and try soldering for the first time. I went with the recap kit because I figured I'd mess up less and learn something. Turned out okay except I accidentally bridged two pins on one of the smaller caps and had to redo it with some solder wick. The line is gone now and the colors look a bit punchier actually. Has anyone else here fixed a screen artifact by just recapping rather than swapping whole boards?

2 comments

2 Comments

butler.mark1mo ago

That vertical line sounds exactly like what I fixed on my model 1 Genesis last year. I had the same debate between a cheap recap kit and buying a whole new board, and I went with the kit too. It took me three tries to get all the solder joints right but the picture cleaned up and never had that issue again.

mark7311mo ago

Same thing happened to me years ago with a console my buddy dropped off. He wanted to just toss it and buy another off eBay, but I talked him into trying the cheap recap first. Cost him like 12 bucks and an hour of my time, and it ran perfect after that. It's funny how often that little bit of extra effort pays off in the long run. In my experience most people just want the quickest fix instead of fixing the root cause, even if it's cheaper and better. @butler.mark your three tries sounds about right too - I've had to redo joints on those old Genesis boards more than once because they're so finicky with the solder pads. Sometimes the simplest approach is the one that works best if you got the patience for it.