Sega
4 repair logs
Sega — Wondermega
Someone else's Victor RG-M1 Wondermega, JVC's branding of the Sega Wondermega, sent in for refurbishment and described as fully functional. It arrived with a blown supercapacitor and a loose capacitor rattling around inside the shell, later traced to a pad beside the DC input jack where the machine had taken a hard knock. Carts played happily but it would not read a single CD. A full recap followed, roughly 70 capacitors across every board, with white vinegar and isopropyl baths, flux and fresh solder over dodgy vias and the regulators, and DeoxIT through the karaoke pots and microphone jacks. The cart side came back fine, the CD side did not. A detour along the way cured the vertical jailbars on the composite and S-video outputs with an Oleg Endo RGB kit, tapping the Sony CXA1145M encoder and swapping the stock S-video port for a Saturn-style DIN. The supercapacitor was replaced and later superseded by an F-RAM install. The CD fault survived a complete chassis swap, a clean bill of health on every board and a working spindle motor, which left the laser. The owner sourced new old stock, and once it was fitted and its board recapped in turn, the machine read both originals and backups. Finished with UV protectant and packed up.
Sega — Wondermega
Full board recap on this Victor RG-M1 Wondermega (JVC's branding of the Sega Wondermega), complete with a laser sled clean. Drew blood for this one; photo evidence in the thread. Everything works; the motorised tray is just waiting on a replacement belt.
Sega — Wondermega
A pig to take apart and put back together, but the end result speaks for itself. Both the Mega Drive and Mega-CD sides of this Sega Wondermega HWM-5010 are fully operational. Later fitted with an Oleg Endo RGB kit: a tap board on the Sony CXA1145M encoder, the factory bodge wire and stock S-video port removed, and a Saturn-style DIN in their place with audio, composite and power wired across. Clean RGB at last, without the artifacts and ringing of the stock composite and S-video outputs.
Sega — Wondermega
Absolute labour of love on this Sega Wondermega HWM-5010 from Japan: corrosion, missing components, broken traces and a RAM package with broken legs. The Mega Drive side eventually came back to life; the Mega-CD side continues to freeze on the BIOS animation, defying everything thrown at it.