Game Gear Shut Down problem after caps change...

[retroborg]

Hi all!
I recently changed all the caps of a nonfunctional game gear (Mother board, Audio board & Power board), it was a routine job that I have performed many times before, but this one acts very weirdly now.
When I started it, either with batteries or via the SEGA 9V 500mA AC adaptor, both video and audio worked fine, but when I connected the audio jack to the PC speakers the game gear turned off.
When I restarted it, the LCD turned on without displaying anything and no audio but after a few secs both the power led and LCD shut down and it persists with each try now.

I tried the motherboard with a different working audio board & power board but the same problem persists.

So, I changed all the caps again with different ones in case I had ran into a defective one, but again the game gear worked for a few secs and again it shut down after some time and the same phenomenon persists.

If I leave the game gear off for some hours and start it, it will work but again after some time it will shut down and the same problem will repeat itself.
I have carefully checked the main mother board for any other defective components including the 2 fuses on the side of the LCD, but I have not been able to isolated anything defective which would explain this behavior.


If anybody has an idea of what could be wrong and how I could fix this, I would highly appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.

Some photos:

[ApolloBoy]

Doesn't look like you tried cleaning up the pads after you removed the old caps. Try cleaning those areas and also keep an eye out for any cold solder joints.

[retroborg]

Doesn't look like you tried cleaning up the pads after you removed the old caps. Try cleaning those areas and also keep an eye out for any cold solder joints.

Hi thanks for the reply.
I checked for cold joints and everything seems to be ok.
I've successfully re-capped many Game Gears in the past, this is the 1st one that has given me troubles.
No, I guess I neglected cleaning them, as it never caused a problem in the past, until now.
What is the best method to clean the pads?

[BRIK]

What is the best method to clean the pads?

I use a q-tip with rubbing alcohol, but there are a few ways. Whatever you do, don't try to scrub it with a toothbrush like a stupider, younger self did. It will rip the pads right out!
Flushing the old solder out with new solder while using a solder sucker or a wick never hurts either.

I also can't help but notice that the gold contact pads are damaged in the first and second photos. I can't remember exactly what those did, but wasn't it to do with connecting one half of the GG to the other (besides from the obvious cables)? If I'm right, that might be causing the problem even when you do try different audio and power boards (which are in the other half).

[retroborg]

Thanks.
That's actually not damage on the golden pads, it's just some solder that dripped on them and I was too lazy to clean it off
But it doesn't seem to short anything, it has happened before in other game gears and everything worked fine without fail.