And here we are at the end of the Sega TeraDrive power-supply adventure. It’s been quite a journey, although perhaps not quite the successful repair story I’d originally imagined!

After replacing the electrolytic capacitors, the power supply was behaving somewhat better, particularly around the 12 V rail. Unfortunately, the 5 V output still wasn’t quite right, and the TeraDrive wasn’t starting properly.

I decided to investigate a few more components, including Q2 and IC2. There was also Q3 tucked away beneath some of the cabling, along with a collection of other parts that I wasn’t entirely certain about.

Unfortunately, all this extra attention still didn’t produce a reliably working power supply. After years of experimentation and attempts to track down the original fault, I eventually decided enough was enough.

The modern Mean Well replacement supply I’d been considering looked like a much more practical way forward. Sometimes replacing a troublesome assembly makes more sense than continuing to repair it, particularly when dealing with mains-powered equipment that you can’t confidently verify as safe.

So that’s where my involvement with this TeraDrive restoration comes to an end. I’ve since passed the machine on to another collector with considerably more experience of this sort of electrical work.

I hope it eventually finds its way back to full working order. The TeraDrive is far too interesting a piece of hardware to leave sitting around doing absolutely nothing.

It has been an entertaining project, even if the ending wasn’t quite what I wanted. At least we’ve learnt a few things along the way!

And on another completely unrelated topic, I think I’ve finally got Facebook working properly again for sharing links. Time will tell. Sooner or later. Time will tell!