Help me save a dying Lynx II

[Cynicaster]

Greetings Lynx fans

 

I pulled my Lynx II out of the drawer the other night and found that my d-pad has gone all wonky. Specifically, when I press up, it registers up + left.

 

Anybody have a problem like this before and know the best way to fix it? I figure taking it apart and cleaning the contacts would be a good place to start, but I just did that when I bought the thing a little over a year ago, so I wouldnt think it would gunk up again that quickly (especially since it has mostly just been sitting in a drawer).

 

Another problem is, there is a skimpy little plastic bracket that retains the fire buttons in place, and that bracket broke on one of my sets of buttons shortly after I bought the system (the upper set of buttons, with d-pad on left). The buttons themselves still work, but without that retainer clip doing its job, the whole button assembly sinks into the case when you press the buttons, leading to intermittent contact (not to mention, an uneasy feeling that its about to break even worse).

 

Lastly, I just remembered, the little socket on the main board that accepts the ribbon cable for the display has a broken clip, so I had to create a friction fit by sticking in a little piece of cardboard behind the ribbon and force it to make contact.

 

So yeah... this thing is a bit of a wreck, but I'd still like to salvage it if I can. I was wondering if maybe the best approach would be to pick up a busted one for cheap on eBay and cobble together one good system with the best parts from each. On that note, I have no idea if there are different design revisions that might make bits and pieces incompatible between the two. Anybody know?

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

Edited July 25, 2014 by Cynicaster

[sirlynxalot]

I don't have experience with the lynx 2, but on most controllers there is a rubber piece that gets pressed down by the button, which completes the circuit and registers the button press on the circuit board. It kind of sounds like this rubber piece might be brittle/broken in some way on your lynx. If everything else works alright with your lynx, I'd get one of those $15 broken lynxes off ebay and see about scavenging some parts.