From Trash to Treasure? Trying to Restore a Sega Master System & Master System 2

In this video, we attempt to repair two Sega Master Systems and a Sega Master System game for Tom and Laci from Do You Nerd.

At MoGameCon 2019, I had a rather embarrassing encounter with Tom and Laci from Do You Nerd. When I ran into them, I called them Gaming off the Grid, and if you're familiar with Gaming off the Grid you know precisely what kind of an insult that was. We've maintained a friendship since then, even with my stupidity, and I saw an opportunity to help them out recently.

Tom had mentioned that they had received a Sega Master System Model 2 from a friend in the UK, however it was not working. I told them to send me the system and I will take a look at it for them, even potentially installing a composite output mod into it. So they boxed their system up, and sent it my way. In addition, they also sent me an original Sega Master System and a game that they were having some issues getting to work.

From the box, I got video output and power from their model one Master System, a very good sign. I could not get it to read any cartridges, so that told me that I really needed to open it up to try to clean the system itself. Their copy of Miracle Warriors would not read on my system or theirs. That told me I needed to clean that too! Finally, I tested out their model 2 Master System, and could not get anything out of it at all. Unlike the original model Master system, the model 2 does not have a power indicator for when it is turned on, so this one would be a long shot for me to get working again.

Getting Miracle Warriors up and running was fairly simple. I used my traditional cleaning methods, 1Up cleaning cards and Brite Boy, and after just a few minutes of cleaning and polishing I was able to put the game in my personal master system, and it worked perfectly! This repair was off to a great start!

Up next it was time to clean out the model one Sega Master System. After just a few minutes, I was inside the system and able to check out the condition of everything on the PCB, and the cartridge connector as well. 1Up card does not make a system cleaner for the Sega Master System, so I had to get creative. The Sega Genesis cartridge connector is actually slightly wider than the Master System, so that one would not work. The Super Nintendo cartridge cleaner, however, was slightly narrower and I was able to use that. After a few minutes of inserting and removing the system cleaner from the cartridge slot, I hooked it up to my power supply and HD Retrovision cables, and put in their copy of Miracle Warriors. We were two for two, their system played perfectly.

The final system up was the Sega Master System 2, and one of the curveballs for this system is the fact that it is a PAL system. Unfortunately, my voltmeter recently died on me and I have not been able to replace it, so I knew I was behind the curve on being able to get this fixed. I used the same technique with the Super NES 1Up card to try to clean the connector slot, and I pulled out a ton of crud. No matter what I attempted, however, I could not get any life out of their Master System 2.

Tom did inform me that he was unsure if the system ever worked in the first place, so at least I know I didn't break anything further. Getting their original Master System and their game working was definitely awesome, I just really wish I could have gotten their second Master System to working as well. It's a neat system, and a neat part of Sega's history, I just really wish it had more than RF outputs!

#ConsoleRepair #Sega #MasterSystem #MiracleWarriors #1UpCard

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