Sega Rally 3 rebuild/repair

[Bigblue709]

I bought a non-working Sega Rally 3 a few weeks ago. It’s a single-seat USA model. I can’t find very much solid info out there about these, so I figured I’d document my progress on repairing it. Hopefully I can get it running again!

 

[Bigblue709]

I can’t find a manual for the USA model; there are some differences between this machine and the more common ones you see online. Notably, the hardware is not under the seat; it’s all in the back of the unit.

Accessory boards are in okay shape, this cabinet was definitely stored somewhere moist because there’s lots of light rust all over the frame and even some mild corrosion here and there on the boards. Hopefully nothing too serious.

The Europa-R is tucked beneath these boards, behind a fold-down panel.

 

[Bigblue709]

Getting all the connections in a single photo is tricky. The USB I/O is plugged in directly below the security dongle; both are obscured in this first photo.

With the power and video cables detached, it’s easier to see what’s left.

The PSU is very large and the fan doesn’t spin when you turn it on. From what I understand about PSUs, this is Bad. There’s a screw missing, so I assume someone has already tried to “fix” it…

 

[Bigblue709]

The screws were all removed from the lid of the Europa-R, but the security sticker was still intact. I guess they didn’t want to risk it 😂

Inside, the cards and RAM are held in place by brittle globs of hot glue. There’s lots of surface rust on the case and also signs of corrosion around the CPU fan…

The machine starts with the stock PSU, but doesn’t post. Jump-starting it with a working PSU provides the same results.

 

[Bigblue709]

Let’s take a look at the CPU. The heat sink is in bad shape with rusty mounting hardware… and things do not look nice underneath.

Socket itself looks okay.

CPU doesn’t look so bad after a wipe, but this is a $7 part, so I’m just going to order a new one, in case it’s fried. I’ll need some thermal paste and a new heat sink/fan combo as well.

 

[Bigblue709]

The HDD is 500GB, but contains only a single 80GB partition. I made a backup disk image using dd. Maybe the USB I/O and force feedback drivers would work on newer versions of Windows?

All caught up now — next steps are replacing the CPU, heat sink, fan, and PSU.

The computer itself is a bit of a potato, so if I can’t get it working with those new parts, I might switch gears and try running it on modern hardware… 🤷‍♂️

 

[Bigblue709]

There’s some sort of hazy residue on the bottom of the motherboard that doesn’t come off with isopropyl, and some corrosion around areas where the crappy heat sink was. Some of this was able to be removed with a light isopropyl soak and wipe; I’ll do a deep clean of the affected areas and check the traces for damage. Yikes!

 

[CoolFox]

If you need a motherboard, I have one around here somewhere.

 

[Bigblue709]

Thanks, I might take you up on that! I’ve got a new heat sink and fan located, and a new CPU should be here next week.

 

[Bigblue709]

New CPU didn't solve the issue so I'm suspecting a bad PSU. I'll order a replacement. Hopefully it's that and not the hot-glued RAM!

 

[SBDESIGN]

I had the super deluxe, great fun restoring it.
I don’t think it will run on a different spec pc, or at least the FFB controls maybe an issue.

You can boot grid on this cab too.
Which even tho I’m the biggest sega rally fan, I found it a better game than sr3
But both worth playing