Turbo Express not powering on

[Mishran]

Here is an interesting one for you guys...

The story begins with me having bought the thing back in 2002 from TZD. Played it a few times before tossing it back in it box. It was around that time I met my ex, so the game collection took a back burner and stored away. Skip the boring details...

Here is 2014 and having thought the system was lost or perhaps stolen, I come across it in a box tossed in a closet at my parents house. The box shows some wear, but the system and the rest of the contents are as pristine as when it came from the factory. Was excited to find that it while helping my mother "spring clean" preparing for a possible move to a new house. Popped a set of batteries in the bad boy along with Bonk's Adventure and flicked the power button. Nothing happened. Checked the battery placement, changed batteries, etc. and still nothing. Excitement turned to sadness thinking that perhaps the caps turned the innards into mush. Opened it up and examined the caps carefully to see no visible signs of leaking. Haven't done any extensive checks, just visual. Could dried up caps be the culprit? Would be awesome to have this thing working again.

[Necromancer]

Magic 8-Ball says all signs point to caps.

[Mishran]

With the notoriety of the caps in these things, that was my guess. Just hoped it would be something more... simple. 

Can anyone hook me up with a reasonably priced cap kit? My soldering skills are pretty good and I think I can tackle the task without trouble.

[johnnymad]

You're probably better off buying the caps from Mouser or Digikey. You can buy more than you need of each value and still probably be under the cost of a kit.

[crans]

you looking for a SMD kit or Leaded? if your in a real rush ratshack might have some hidden under the cell phones

[schweaty]

This thing is going to need to be re-capped no matter what, but it may not be the cause of your problem.  You say nothing happens, but does the backlight of the screen come on without a picture?  If you plug head phones in the jack, do you get sound?  If the answer to those is "no", you may have a problem other than bad caps (blown fuse?)

Was the system put into storage with batteries in it?  If so, the terminals may have been damaged by leaking battery acid. 

You can get a reasonably priced cap kit here:
http://console5.com/store/

[Mishran]

Well, flipping the switch with or without batteries gives the same result. Nothing. There was no batteries in the thing when I found it, so apparently I was smart enough to store it without them.

On a lighter note, I found the receipt in the bag with the rest of the paperwork. Bought the system, car charger, comm cable, wall charger, TV tuner, power league 5, and converter. Was when they were having the deal where you buy the system and the accessory bundle and get a free game. Wanted a game to play on my converter so I chose PL5. My first import. Lol

[schweaty]

check the fuse for continuity

[Mishran]

Spent a better part of an hour replacing the caps in a Game Gear, play tested it for about 2 hours (system is fun as hell) and now have the TE open again.

Well, this time I gave it a thorough look under a lamp for better light and definitely see some leaking going on. Hasn't begun to cause any real damage, but can't imagine it'll last too much longer. Continuity tested the fuse and it is good. I'm going to order some caps and perform the proper procedure on it before I lose my patient. Gonna slap it back together now and head to bed. That Game Gear operation wore my ass out.

[Mishran]

Well, my replacement caps showed up today and I got them installed.

Success!

Now before fully assembling it, does that annoying metal shield need to be soldered back in, or will it be OK to leave it out?

[Keith Courage]

No need to put the shield back on.