Recap guide

Recap the Aiwa CSD-G1M (Mega-CD)

Aiwa's version of the Mega-CD. Console5 lists capacitors for six of its boards: the main board, the CD board and four smaller ones, and has a cap map for each. Read your board number off the silkscreen before you pick a list.

Open the interactive checklist Tick off each capacitor as you replace it. It saves in your browser.

Worth a recap. Reports say it is a common and useful fix on this machine.

Where to start

We did not find a clear list of what fails first on this machine, so we are not guessing. Read the guides below, check the board for leaks, and replace what you can see.

Before you start

• Boards changed during production. Check your board number against the guides before you order parts.

Aiwa CSD-G1M main board 171-6655C

Forty-three capacitors, mostly 10 uF 16 V. This is the board with the Motorola 68000 chips, the DRAM and the Sega custom chips. Console5 supplied the list and the cap map.

Aiwa CSD-G1M CD board 033-000011-102

Nineteen capacitors. This board carries the CD servo and signal chips (CXA1782BQ and CXD2500BQ), so the electrolytics here sit close to the laser and the disc motor drivers.

Aiwa CSD-G1M board 033-007410-101

Seven capacitors, mostly 1 uF 50 V.

Aiwa CSD-G1M board 033-007410-102

Thirty-four capacitors, including two 3300 uF 25 V cans (C905 and C910) and several 470 uF parts. The TA8127N, TA8227P and AN7310 chips sit on this board.

Aiwa CSD-G1M board AW4CD-10-01-04

Two capacitors. The LC651102N microcontroller is on this board.

Aiwa CSD-G1M board AW4CD-10-01-09

Eight capacitors. Console5 also lists position C961 as empty, so it is left out here.

Shopping list

113 capacitors in all, grouped by value. Buy a few spares.

• 33 x 10 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 16 x 100 µF, 10 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 12 x 4.7 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 8 x 1 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 7 x 10 µF, 25 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 7 x 470 µF, 10 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 4 x 47 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 3 x 22 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 3 x 220 µF, 10 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 3 x 470 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 0.47 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 33 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 100 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 220 µF, 6.3 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 3300 µF, 25 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 0.1 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 0.22 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 2.2 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 3.3 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 10 µF, 6.3 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 33 µF, 10 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 470 µF, 6.3 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay

Skip the sourcing

• Ready-made kit: Amazon · eBay
• Already recapped: Amazon · eBay

While you are in there

• Need the machine itself?: Amazon · eBay
• A box of spare capacitors: Amazon · eBay

Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. These links only search by name. Disclosure

Step by step

1. Photograph both sides of the board before you touch anything. Zoom in on every capacitor. The photo is your map when you are three hours in.
2. Unplug it, take out the batteries and let it sit. Old power supplies and CRT parts can hold a charge. If your machine has a tube, leave the tube and its board to a professional.
3. Open it up and keep the screws sorted. A muffin tin or an egg carton works. Different screws go in different holes, and the holes never forgive you.
4. Look for leaks. Clean any sticky residue off with isopropyl alcohol and a soft brush. A leaked capacitor leaves brown crust and can eat copper traces. Look at the traces under it, not only the part itself.
5. Mark the polarity of every capacitor on the photo before it comes off. On an electrolytic, the stripe marks the negative leg. The board usually shows a half-shaded circle or a bar for the same spot.
6. Remove the old capacitors one at a time. Surface mount: add fresh solder to both ends and rock the part off, or use flux and a low-melt alloy. Through-hole: heat one leg at a time and clear the hole with wick or a pump.
7. Clean the pads and check for lifted pads or damaged traces. Clean flux off with isopropyl. A bad pad needs a jumper wire, not hope.
8. Fit and solder the new capacitor, matching polarity. Same capacity, same or higher voltage, and it has to physically fit. Work from the smallest parts up.
9. Clean the flux off and look at every joint. A good joint is shiny and shaped like a tiny volcano. A dull blob or a ball is a cold joint: reflow it.
10. With a multimeter, check for shorts across the power rails before you power it on. Use the continuity or resistance setting. A reading near zero means stop and look for a solder bridge.
11. Power it up and test everything: video, sound, controls, the lot. If something is wrong, check polarity first. It is the most common mistake and the easiest fix.

Tools

• Temperature-controlled soldering station. Steady heat so you do not cook pads. Most recaps are done between 320 and 350 C. Top: Hakko FX-951 · Mid: Hakko FX-888D · Budget: Pinecil
• Good solder. Rosin-core 63/37 flows and looks right. It is cheap and it matters. Kester 44 63/37
• Flux. Flux is what makes old joints let go and new joints flow. MG Chemicals flux pen · Chip Quik flux syringe
• Low-melt alloy (for surface mount). Melts old solder on both ends of a surface mount part at once, so it lifts off cleanly. Chip Quik SMD1
• Desoldering tool. Clears the old solder out of through-hole pads. Top: Hakko FR-301 · Mid: Engineer SS-02 pump · Budget: Solder wick
• Fine tweezers. For holding small surface mount parts exactly where you want them. ESD-safe tweezers
• Board holder. A third hand for the board, so both of yours are free. PanaVise circuit board holder
• Magnification. You cannot fix what you cannot see. Surface mount parts are tiny. Top: Stereo microscope · Mid: Head visor · Budget: Lighted magnifier
• Multimeter. Continuity, shorts and rail voltages. The one test that saves boards. Top: Fluke 117 · Mid: Fluke 101 · Budget: AstroAI
• ESR and capacitor tester. Checks old capacitors and your new ones before they go in. Top: Peak Atlas ESR70 · Budget: LCR-T7
• Isopropyl alcohol (99%) and a brush. For cleaning leaked goo and flux. Use the high-percentage kind. MG Chemicals 99.9% isopropyl
• Brass tip cleaner. A clean tip transfers heat. A dirty one does not. Hakko 599B
• Fume extractor. Pulls the smoke away from your face. Hakko FA-400 · Budget: Small bench fan
• Precision screwdrivers. Most old gear uses a mix of Phillips, Torx and security bits. iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit
• Kapton tape. Heat-proof tape to protect parts that sit close to the one you are changing. Kapton tape

Safety

• Good airflow, or a fume fan. Solder smoke is not for breathing.
• Safety glasses on. Solder spits and clipped legs fly.
• Iron in its stand when you are not holding it. Know where the cord is.
• Touch bare metal first, or use a wrist strap. Static kills old chips.
• No tube, no mains power supply. Leave those to a professional.
• Wash your hands after, especially if you used leaded solder.

Values are shown as published in the guides above, and boards changed during production. Check the board in front of you. A recap involves hot tools and, on some machines, dangerous voltages. You do it at your own risk.

More

• All recap guides
• The interactive Recap Bench
• Fix a dead vintage computer