Aiwa Sega Mega-CD CSD-GM1 01-01 Mainboard (Part 1: Capacitor Replacement)

Nix McRetro // 23rd July 2013 // Repairs, Sega, YouTube

Electrolytic capacitors can deteriorate with age, heat and use, and these Aiwas have plenty of ageing capacitors to investigate. Here we have a great example, recapping an Aiwa Mega-CD boom box. Not the Sega Mega Drive part, just the Aiwa boom box part in this four-part series of videos.

We pull out the mighty Hakko 808 desolder gun and replace the capacitors.

And for the most part, I think we can label this one as a partial win? I mean we got the CD drive LED to light up? On to the next part - Volume check!

Sources

Nichicon - Application Guidelines for Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors

AI-assisted revision: This post was reviewed and edited with OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol on 28 September 2026 for fact-checking, sourcing, and editorial cleanup. Final editorial responsibility remains with the author.