Unit completely dead; no response to power button.
9 repair logs
+41 photosWork in progressSharp — X68000 XVI Compact
Won at auction with its mains cord cut clean off the PSU, taken as a gamble at a below-market price. A replacement lead was spliced in from another Japanese cord using solder-ring heatshrink sleeves, with extra insulation over the joint. It powered on once, then refused entirely, so the PSU came out for a recap: fully decapped, scrubbed with white vinegar and isopropyl, new capacitors fitted and marked, and every joint on the solder side reflowed. That brought it back reliably and it booted Human68k from disk. The rest of the machine was worse, with electrolyte contamination on every capacitor pad on every board. SMDs came off the mainboard and the expansion card, the pads were reworked with fresh solder, flux and braid until all were clean and none lost, then the through-hole electrolytics followed. The floppy drives had leaked internally and were recapped with their motor shafts cleaned and lubricated, and the peripheral input board's single capacitor was replaced. Still powers on after reassembly, pending fuller testing.
+34 photosSuccessful repairNEC — PC Engine LT
An epic of strife, perseverance and adaptation. The NEC PC Engine LT is the 1991 laptop-format PC Engine with a built-in colour LCD. Almost always dead from cap leakage. This one needed a full recap, a new voltage regulator, and an off-the-shelf voltage inverter module to replace the T500 LCD bias transformer, killed by the electrolyte. Without that, the screen stays dark.
+57 photosSuccessful repairSega — Game Gear
Had lunch with a couple of friends and one of them brought a Sega Game Gear along, wondering if anything could be done with it. Power LED only, nothing else.
+55 photosCould not fixSharp — X68000
A proper exercise in stubbornness on this Sharp X68000. Two rounds of repair, a full recap, FDD surgery (one of the floppy drives had clear signs of a blown capacitor with charring on the PCB), a new oscillator, and still no picture. The X68000 remains on the 'future date' pile.
+135 photosPartial fixSega — 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.
+40 photosPartial fixSharp — X68000 Pro II
Proper saga on this Sharp X68000 Pro II. Magic smoke from a reversed capacitor, an accidental probe short, and enough replaced components to fill a parts drawer before a single faulty transistor finally gave the game away. Got it booting and running R-Type, which was a hard-earned win. Video output later stopped working, so the story isn't entirely over.
+8 photosNintendo — Nintendo 64
Full service on a Nintendo 64 (NUS-001) for a friend: recap, PSU reflow, controller overhaul and a freshly lubed joystick. Validated with Super Mario 64.
+5 photosSuccessful repairNintendo — Super Famicom
This Nintendo Super Famicom (SHVC-001) would not power on due to a failed D1 diode. Tracing and replacing it, plus a recap, had the console booting again.
+16 photosSuccessful repairSega — Mega-CD 2
Dead Sega Mega-CD 2 that turned out to have a single blown fuse. Fuse replaced, region-free BIOS installed, then fully recapped in a follow-up session. Also tidied up some interesting factory bodge cap placements along the way.
