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Lynx LCD Replacement/VGA-Out by McWill


Jungsi

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  • 2 weeks later...

Would love to see the Game Gear VA4 (Majesco) supported.

A few months ago I pulled my childhood game gear out of the attic in my parents house. Fired it up to a burning smell.... decided it was probably bad caps.
So I decided to get a cap kit (which sat here a good 2 or 3 months) and just a few days ago took a crack at changing them out. Wasn't too bad of a job. I have

a decent solder station, and decent soldering skills. I took my time, and tried to do a good clean job. After about an hours worth of effort (spread out across 3

hours as I took some breaks) I had it all recapped and ready for testing.

On my VA4, cap C58 (which I think is cap C70 on VA0/VA1) is a high voltage ceramic cap in the backlight circuit.. she was smoking and arcing on one of the legs.

So that was the cause of my original fault I believe. The unit does play, but it plays blind... no backlight, nothing on the LCD. But it does respond to button presses

and I can hear the sound nice and clear....

Looks like a perfect candidate for a McWill mod and a good chance to put my soldering skills to the test!

Maybe also another reason to buy this really awesome USB microscope. it's cheap, works well... and it's a wayyyy better magnifier than microscope.

I could just as easy get another game gear cheap, recap it and then McWill it.... and might do that. But there is something about keeping that old game gear from my

child hood working!

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Would love to see the Game Gear VA4 (Majesco) supported.

 

A few months ago I pulled my childhood game gear out of the attic in my parents house. Fired it up to a burning smell.... decided it was probably bad caps.

So I decided to get a cap kit (which sat here a good 2 or 3 months) and just a few days ago took a crack at changing them out. Wasn't too bad of a job. I have

a decent solder station, and decent soldering skills. I took my time, and tried to do a good clean job. After about an hours worth of effort (spread out across 3

hours as I took some breaks) I had it all recapped and ready for testing.

 

On my VA4, cap C58 (which I think is cap C70 on VA0/VA1) is a high voltage ceramic cap in the backlight circuit.. she was smoking and arcing on one of the legs.

So that was the cause of my original fault I believe. The unit does play, but it plays blind... no backlight, nothing on the LCD. But it does respond to button presses

and I can hear the sound nice and clear....

 

Looks like a perfect candidate for a McWill mod and a good chance to put my soldering skills to the test!

 

Maybe also another reason to buy this really awesome USB microscope. it's cheap, works well... and it's a wayyyy better magnifier than microscope.

 

I could just as easy get another game gear cheap, recap it and then McWill it.... and might do that. But there is something about keeping that old game gear from my

child hood working!

 

I have repaired faulty units exhibiting this problem before. Try holding a powerful flashlight on the screen. With a bright light illuminating the LCD from the front you will be able to see a game running.

 

As the LCD is still functional and its just the fluorescent tube that is not working a LED backlight mod will fix your problem.

 

You can remove all the high voltage components associated with the fluorescent tube so you wont have to worry about it shorting again, also you will also have the added benefit of doubling battery life.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all :)

 

I ordered the GG mod from McWill in 2015 and finally got around to applying it. I never owned a GG but I saw one at a friends house (mind blown at the time) and seeing games on it now on a perfect display is quite a treat :grin:

 

The GG was fully recapped (base, audio and power board) before moving on to the LCD replacement.

I have not tested SMS games on it yet but GG games look beautiful and they're a delight to play.

 

One question I have, is the brightness thumbwheel supposed to do something?

 

I followed the 2 ASIC instructions closely which say:

"Solder PIN1 of the thumbwheel to VCC on the GG board. Then solder PIN3 of the thumbwheel to GND on the GG board"

 

Thanks for this lovely product and for the detailed instructions!

I'm attaching some pictures of the mod below.

 

https://imgur.com/1QLiP8a

https://imgur.com/kNJ1czi

https://imgur.com/3QJt0JW

 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Hello everyone just wanted to say thanks to McWill for creating these awesome mods as I have one of each from him directly! Just wanted to also verify if the screen tearing issue is just something that is a byproduct of this LCD screen? Specifically for the Game Gear on VGA output it seems to tear quite a but so not sure if there was any way to try and mitigate this. The Lynx on the other hand seems fine with very little tearing. Thanks again!

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  • 2 weeks later...

For those with a VGA out mod, is there a way to hook that up to an old-school CRT? I tried a VGA to component converter, but the output was too high @ 480p. I've tried a VGA to component cable adapter, which didn't work. I think maybe the Retrotek VGACTV1 does it properly, but I don't feel like spending 75-80 dollars.

 

I know there are VGA to S-Video/Composite adapter cables, for use on laptops. However, I'm not sure if those are designed to receive an S-Video signal from the device? I don't think they down-convert at all.

 

71Lbi4HLJ-L._SX425_.jpg

 

I've also seen these things, which are powered, and may actually work....

 

38104_3.jpg

 

Any ideas?

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I've had my McWill screen since 2016, but only just got around to recapping my Lynx 2 and installing it.

What can I say, it's amazing.

Combined with the SD card from SainT, I'm in Lynx heaven. :-D

 

Thanks so much, McWill. What a fantastic product!

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  • 1 month later...

Does anyone on here offer an install service for this screen by chance? My hands just aren't what they used to be and I have 2 systems that I'd love to upgrade.

 

probably help to post your location for those who want to recommend someone to you.

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Thanks folks. I'm in the US, but I'm open to options regarding where it's done. It's a Lynx 2 that I'm needing the screen installed on at this point (2 of them actually.) I'll check out the Video Game Repair on Facebook and see if I can go that route. Much appreciated!

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Does anyone on here offer an install service for this screen by chance? My hands just aren't what they used to be and I have 2 systems that I'd love to upgrade.

The answer to your question lies in the question itself (phrased differently of course) - "Does anyone know who I can get to install a McWill screen for me?" The answer: McWill himself. International shipping may be intimidating, but don't let it, and now it can be mostly tracked at USPS both going and coming. Plus - if you can keep the weight under 2 pounds and don't mind limited/no tracking - International 1st class is quite cheap. I am sure there are many fine vendors out here though, but the quality of McWill's workmanship can not be bested(actual customer here - not a paid spokesperson). Plus, its a nice conversation piece :-D to be able to say (or at least believe) that your McWill screen replacement was done by McWill himself.

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The answer to your question lies in the question itself (phrased differently of course) - "Does anyone know who I can get to install a McWill screen for me?" The answer: McWill himself. International shipping may be intimidating, but don't let it, and now it can be mostly tracked at USPS both going and coming. Plus - if you can keep the weight under 2 pounds and don't mind limited/no tracking - International 1st class is quite cheap. I am sure there are many fine vendors out here though, but the quality of McWill's workmanship can not be bested(actual customer here - not a paid spokesperson). Plus, its a nice conversation piece :-D to be able to say (or at least believe) that your McWill screen replacement was done by McWill himself.

More excellent info, thank you again!

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  • 3 weeks later...

With the thumbwheel you can switch between VGA and internal 3.5" LCD on the GG. You don't need to wire VCC and GND to the thumbwheel, if you don't use VGA out.

 

 

Sounds good! I was wondering about how to switch back and forth.

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  • 2 weeks later...

hey just asking for some input, I've had a Lynx 1 and and a Lynx 2 modded by a local service. Got them both back and they well to be honest blew my mind they are just amazing. The screen is just gobsmackingly brilliant.

 

However, the Lynx 1 also had a VGA port added and for the life of me I can't get it to work - I'm chatting to the tech who did it and i think i'll be returning it but has anyone experienced this.

 

- with the VGA cable attached the Lynx does not switch on, it does not matter what position the brightness wheel is at. there is no sound or anything.

- if the VGA cable is attached while the device is running then unplugged after a bit it reboots.

- have tried two different VGA cables and displays (a tele and a monitor).

- it does the same thing as above even with the cable plugged in and the other end not connected to anything.

 

Now, to me it feels like a short or something not sure.

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  • 3 months later...

Has anyone seen issues with the VGA output not being able to be switched to? The screen works fine. The menu pad is not shorted to ground. Whenever the backlight button is pressed, the power led turns off. I can switch between the scanlines and no scanlines, but never switch to the VGA output. I am considering using a separate button instead of the backlight button, since the primary use case of this install was VGA output. As far as I can tell the membrane for the Lynx 2 seems to be having issues.

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56 minutes ago, mobiusstriptech said:

Has anyone seen issues with the VGA output not being able to be switched to? The screen works fine. The menu pad is not shorted to ground. Whenever the backlight button is pressed, the power led turns off. I can switch between the scanlines and no scanlines, but never switch to the VGA output. I am considering using a separate button instead of the backlight button, since the primary use case of this install was VGA output. As far as I can tell the membrane for the Lynx 2 seems to be having issues.

Interesting you mention this. I recently repaired a Lynx II that would always reset the game when you pressed option 1 or pause. it was always as if both were pressed. I ordered up some new flex from Best and all 3 of the ones I ordered fixed that issue, but then presented the EXACT same issue you are talking about. Now when you press backlight, it would just turn the Lynx off. Power button obviously turned it off as well. I took everything out and found that the Flex wasn't the issue, but that somehow the replacements were offset a bit in their making and I suspect the backlight button is actually pressing down between the backlight and power off buttons triggering the power off instead. Again, this would only do this when fully reassembled and put back together. Run the flex outside the case but attached and everything worked as it should. I eventually was able to line up the flex on that Lynx II where it was working properly. But then of course once the client received it about a week later, it was turning off when using the backlight button again. No other mods in this lynx, just a cap replacement, power circuit replacement and new flex to correct original issues.

 

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Yeah that is a perfect explanation of what I am encountering. I was considering just adding a separate button to control the mode switching for this customer. Since ultimately the VGA mode was what they really care about. The membrane used on the Lynx 2 has been problematic as long as I can remember, so it doesn't surprise me at all. Thanks for giving me hope that I am on the right path.

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So looking into this more. I think the newest revision boards have a mistake in them. The board I have here is new this year. I noticed that right away since the ground pad is no longer under the flex cable and it says McWill really big on the silk screen. It appears that the menu pad is ALWAYS connected to ground now. So no matter what you can never get into VGA mode. The only thing I can think of to try and stop this is to cut the trace leading to the via that is connecting it to ground. However I am wary of doing this since I believe this is likely a defect or a new change in the install that has not been disclosed to people. I'd love to get some feedback here from McWill himself.

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