Genesis game not working

Hello,
I bought a Genesis game that did not work, assuming it had dirty contacts, but cleaning did not help. I replaced the 47uf cap and it fired right up. Then I tried it again about 15 minutes later and it was dead again. There is another component labeled 'c2' which makes me think it's a cap, but it looks like a resistor. What is this?

 

It is a resistor.

 

It's a CAPACITOR.

https://wiktel.com/standards/capa.htm

@ OP: Those capacitors are on the cartridge to filter power to the ROM chip so the cartridge meed EMI requirements by FCC. It would operate perfectly without them. So your fault has nothing to do with the capacitors. I would check for bad traces on the board if the operation is intermittent.

 

Hey thanks! You're right, I replaced the little cap from a working identical board game and it didn't work. I did get it going though, I put the replacement 47uf cap in backwards like a moron. It's not clearly labeled. The lot I bought had two labeled not working and the other I can't get going. Sonic 3? It has 6 of those little caps. It's not those?

 

In the case of more complex game boards with more chips, some may be resistors. You should be able to tell resistors apart from caps by the color of the body of the part. Capacitor body will have a more pink-ish color.
Also the pcb will have resistors marked Rx instead of Cx.

 

How did you clean the pins, and with what?

 

Cleaned with deox it and microfiber. It works awesome.
The little caps on sonic 3 are all brown with no distinguishing features.

 

Here is sonic 3:

 

all of them have a code written on them , read it and google the value... most likely they are all 100nf ones (code 104)

 

Thanks. I tried, I didn't have much luck(A5E 223 and MIJ 346 on all of them). Looking at the art makes me think it was submerged or something:
I doubt it's the little caps anyway. It's not expensive or anything but it's definitely nice to get "broken" eBay stuff going

 

Are those pins post-cleaning? In that case there is still work you can do on them. Try electronic cleaning spray, then contact spray. If that still doesn't do it, try a soft eraser and then swab with the sprays again. Forget alcohol, it doesn't bite on that level of oxidation. The board looks fine, but you never know.

That label was definitely soaked in something. Any blue "shit" (corrosion) upon closer inspection of the board?

 

I will try further cleaning. Thank you. Yeah, the board is clean, I even touched up all the joints. Hopefully it just needs some additional cleaning.

 

The fact that it worked once and then didn't points to dirty pins in my experience. I think you'll be successful. Let us know how it goes!

 

If it still doesn't work after cleaning I would trace every pin on the Mask ROM going to the cart connector