Received this Genesis 3 all the way from a customer in Alaska! They had reached out inquiring if I would be willing to install a Function Restore Helper board from ConsolesUnleashed in the UK. Initially they were disappointed to find out it was a VA2 which limits how much you can restore (no 32X or SMS support) but still wanted to proceed. Told them that was no problem at all, and after discussing the console they decided they wanted a refurbishment as well as a Triple Bypass V2+ Install to get the best audio/video from it, and finish it off with a Power LED mod!
I began the work like I do all other jobs, tearing down the shell and removing all internal components that cannot be washed. The Genesis 3 is quite small and a cost reduced version of the Genesis 2 so very basic reset button (no springs) and power slider. It does feel cheap in some ways but thats the nature of selling a late model console and trying to squeeze a little more money out of the platform before its successor launches. Once I had all plastic parts separated, they were soaked for 30 mins, scrubbed and cleaned then airblasted dry and set overnight in front of dehumidifier while I moved on to the rest of the work.
Board had all capacitors removed and then deep scrubbed the top and bottom side with ISO, especially getting the dirt and grime that accumulated under the capacitor cans. Once board was cleaned, I confirmed any caps that should NOT be reinstalled and marked them exempt (CE7) and proceed to reinstall the rest of the caps using my Console5 kit and capacitor map.
I then started on the helper board. I noticed the cart slot pins seemed kind of cloudy so the ones I knew I would be attaching helper board too I removed solder completely, aligned the board correctly to the pins then added all fresh solder with flux and ensure they flowed well and connected properly. I then tinned the 2 Bypass Audio points ill be wiring to on the next step.
Once helper board was in place, I began on the Triple Bypass. I’ve installed so many of these kits at this point its pretty straightforward. Cleared solder on the 9 pin din so I could snip the leads and reflow, removing the solder completely from all the din pins also allows me to push the board nice and tight to the mainboard before soldering in place. I always apply Kapton tape to the underside of the board just as a precaution. Once the 3BP board was soldered in place, quickly fluxed and tinned all the pads I knew I would be running wire to, correct jumpers and cleaned up any unspent flux. I used to run wire bundles but found I can make cleaner angles and corners with my 28awg stranded wires if they are separated, I then just use some heatshrink to pull them tight once I have them laying exactly where I want final routing to be
Only 2 points get connected on the underside and with this helper board it was even easier! Ran the other 2 bundles topside and then following Zaxour’s instructions removed the necessary components and soldered R/G/B/S and the RO/GO/BO and audio points to the correct spots
Once the Bypass kit was done, all that remained was the Blue LED, JRG Sticker and reassembly. For the Blue LED, 150ohm resistor in line on anode side is recommended to avoid burning out the LED from the 5V source. On a Genesis 3 I simply tap the “out” pin on the nearby 7805 Voltage Regulator that gives us 5V. The cathode side gets wired to the GND pin on the same regulator. From past Genesis 3 jobs I had designed and printed some small LED surrounds that help hold LED in place, then drill a small 1/8″ hole and shove some of my acrylic light pipe up from the inside and then cut flush. The 3D printed bracket gets hot glued to the top shell and then the LED gets glued into place inside that bracket. All pretty easy, most important thing when reassembling shell is making sure the wire isn’t getting pinched or caught on anything, so I bent it around to the center of the console where there is empty space above the top RF shield
By this point the shell and all parts were dry so I reassembled fully so it could be hooked up on the bench for testing and getting some 4K captures!
Once the console was fully assembled and on the bench, did a quick power test to confirm operation and that the blue LED was working, and it was! Grabbed my copy of Sonic 3D Blast and staged it on my PVM for a capture showing operation, success!
As with any RGB or HDMI mod, I then fired up my RetroTink 4K scaler and loaded up FirebrandX 10X Sharp Profile for Genesis to get some captures. Picking random games, got a good representation of the final video quality seen in the above shots. They look WAY more impressive in person on the 4K screen of course.
Confirmed with customer that console was done and working as expected, then got it boxed and shipped out for another job in the books!