I have worked in the video coin-op industry for 23 years. For the last 15 years I had been an
integral part of the SEGA USA tech support team. As part of this team I worked in both video
coin-op and gaming divisions. In fact if you called for tech support during this period, it’s a
good chance you would have spoken to me. Also, it’s a high probability I had my hands on any
boards you sent in for repair. In January of 2006, all SEGA USA operations in California were
shut down. I decided to start my own repair center in order to continue to offer high quality
board repair to the field. My shop opened February 1, 2006 and has been doing extremely well
since. During the first ten months, I did over well over 500 repairs. Note, I do ship international.
I repair most Sega Video Coin Op Game Boards from 1994 (Daytona) thru 2005 Chihiro
systems (Ghost Squad). I do repair the CPU (Core) Board on the Chihiro system; Something
that is not done anywhere that I know of, even at Micorsoft. I can also repair other non Sega
titles now that I am no longer with Sega such as Marvel vs Capcom, Alien Front, Zero Gunner
(Naomi System), Max Tunes (Chihiro System) etc provided they are on Sega platforms.
World thru Ghost Squad). Aside from Game Boards and Gun Tracking items, I have set up
fixtures to do repairs on Card Readers used in Initial D, F-Zero, Derby Owners Club, Breeders
Cup and Max Tunes. Notice I stated repair. There are no other shops in the US or Europe that
repair these; Only exchange for a repaired one at a high exchange rate. As of June 06, I am
offering repair on GD-ROM Drives.
For a comprehensive list of all that I repair, hit the "What I Fix" button above. If you don't see
the game you need fixed, email me.
Note, if you have been told by ANYBODY that your board is not repairable or needs to be
replaced, call me first. With my years of unmatched service and repair experience, and given
the fact that I am considered by many in the industry as one of the foremost authorities on all
SEGA coin- op products in the USA, please check with me before unnecessarily writing off
any equipment.
BGA Repairs
What is a BGA? It's a Ball Grid Array. If you have any Naomi (like Crazy Taxi) or Hikaru (like
NASCAR) systems, those IC's under the heatsinks that you cannot see the legs are BGA's. It
is very common for these little balls to come loose from the chip. In some cases the whole IC
comes off. If you've owned any NASCAR's you've probably experienced this when you've
tried to ship the Game Bd in for repair. These IC's are not available for purchase and even if
they were, there is no longer anyone aside from myself in the USA that can put them down on
a pcb 100% successfully. Now since these are no longer available you might think your game
is junk now. Not the case. I can put all new little balls on those little buggers and put them back
down on the pcb, and it is more secure than the when the factory built the boards. I'm the only
one in the world that can do this successfully. I've been doing this for 6 years now and have
reballed hundreds of IC's and reinstalled them. Even when the IC falls off and takes traces /
pads with it, no problem; I can replace the traces too. There are rework facilities out there that
claim to be able to do this type of rework but I can assure you after 6 years of working with
these, that without the experience I've had with these specific applications, they cannot.
These BGA's come loose do to vibration or of course flexing of the pcb. Anything you can do
to minimize these issues will help to keep these pcb's happy. Shipping is the main killer here. If
you need to ship a Hikaru system, it should be shipped out of the cage on it's metal base. This
cuts down on a lot of mass and allows you to secure the pcb's in bubble wrap. This of course
hinders pcb flex and vibration. The Naomi platforms are nicely secured so that there is little to
no possibility of flex, so these are safe to ship in cages. Also I recommend air shipment on
these. When they go ground there is more possiblilty of damage occuring. Turn around time
varies on these repairs depending on severity of damage. Some can take a few days and
some can take months.
integral part of the SEGA USA tech support team. As part of this team I worked in both video
coin-op and gaming divisions. In fact if you called for tech support during this period, it’s a
good chance you would have spoken to me. Also, it’s a high probability I had my hands on any
boards you sent in for repair. In January of 2006, all SEGA USA operations in California were
shut down. I decided to start my own repair center in order to continue to offer high quality
board repair to the field. My shop opened February 1, 2006 and has been doing extremely well
since. During the first ten months, I did over well over 500 repairs. Note, I do ship international.
I repair most Sega Video Coin Op Game Boards from 1994 (Daytona) thru 2005 Chihiro
systems (Ghost Squad). I do repair the CPU (Core) Board on the Chihiro system; Something
that is not done anywhere that I know of, even at Micorsoft. I can also repair other non Sega
titles now that I am no longer with Sega such as Marvel vs Capcom, Alien Front, Zero Gunner
(Naomi System), Max Tunes (Chihiro System) etc provided they are on Sega platforms.
World thru Ghost Squad). Aside from Game Boards and Gun Tracking items, I have set up
fixtures to do repairs on Card Readers used in Initial D, F-Zero, Derby Owners Club, Breeders
Cup and Max Tunes. Notice I stated repair. There are no other shops in the US or Europe that
repair these; Only exchange for a repaired one at a high exchange rate. As of June 06, I am
offering repair on GD-ROM Drives.
For a comprehensive list of all that I repair, hit the "What I Fix" button above. If you don't see
the game you need fixed, email me.
Note, if you have been told by ANYBODY that your board is not repairable or needs to be
replaced, call me first. With my years of unmatched service and repair experience, and given
the fact that I am considered by many in the industry as one of the foremost authorities on all
SEGA coin- op products in the USA, please check with me before unnecessarily writing off
any equipment.
BGA Repairs
What is a BGA? It's a Ball Grid Array. If you have any Naomi (like Crazy Taxi) or Hikaru (like
NASCAR) systems, those IC's under the heatsinks that you cannot see the legs are BGA's. It
is very common for these little balls to come loose from the chip. In some cases the whole IC
comes off. If you've owned any NASCAR's you've probably experienced this when you've
tried to ship the Game Bd in for repair. These IC's are not available for purchase and even if
they were, there is no longer anyone aside from myself in the USA that can put them down on
a pcb 100% successfully. Now since these are no longer available you might think your game
is junk now. Not the case. I can put all new little balls on those little buggers and put them back
down on the pcb, and it is more secure than the when the factory built the boards. I'm the only
one in the world that can do this successfully. I've been doing this for 6 years now and have
reballed hundreds of IC's and reinstalled them. Even when the IC falls off and takes traces /
pads with it, no problem; I can replace the traces too. There are rework facilities out there that
claim to be able to do this type of rework but I can assure you after 6 years of working with
these, that without the experience I've had with these specific applications, they cannot.
These BGA's come loose do to vibration or of course flexing of the pcb. Anything you can do
to minimize these issues will help to keep these pcb's happy. Shipping is the main killer here. If
you need to ship a Hikaru system, it should be shipped out of the cage on it's metal base. This
cuts down on a lot of mass and allows you to secure the pcb's in bubble wrap. This of course
hinders pcb flex and vibration. The Naomi platforms are nicely secured so that there is little to
no possibility of flex, so these are safe to ship in cages. Also I recommend air shipment on
these. When they go ground there is more possiblilty of damage occuring. Turn around time
varies on these repairs depending on severity of damage. Some can take a few days and
some can take months.