Game console repair stories from a small bench in Montréal.
I buy retro game consoles that don’t work, fix them, clean them up and find them a new home. This is where I write down how each one went, with the photos to prove it.
BeforeAfterThe first console I brought back. A PSone covered in spark plug stickers, sold as a non-reader, with a picture full of noise. The drive was fine. The real problem was a modchip a previous owner had stuck to the board with hot glue instead of solder.
Read the storySold as "doesn't recognize discs", this SCPH-9001 booted every game I put in it. A slightly slow audio CD, one pass over the lens and a soapy bath later, it's back in service.
This SCPH-9001 came from Québec City in a two-console bundle sold for parts, because neither console would read the seller's disc. Mine, it read all of them. What was left was dust, a rattle, and somebody else's handiwork inside.
Every dollar of profit from these consoles goes toward getting my girlfriend and me to the 2027 world karate championship in Japan.
Got a broken console? Looking for a repaired one? Get in touch
