Lynx Multi Card Preorders

[Igor]

Got my cart yesterday. Works perfectly on my 1st gen Lynx1 that I bought on launch day in '89. Great job SainT! Now I just need to find some time to install my McWill screen.

 

 

In case you get stuck with your McWill mod, I've written up my experience installing it here - https://www.igorkromin.net/index.php/2017/09/16/atari-lynx-repair-part-5-mcwill-led-screen-mod-installation/

 

There were a few unclear points in the instructions which had me stuck a while.

[DaveC1964]

I received my card the other day. Unfortunately it does not work. All I get is the "insert game" text with no menu, nothing. What should I do now? Yes I tried removing and inserting a few times, no work.

[SainT]

I received my card the other day. Unfortunately it does not work. All I get is the "insert game" text with no menu, nothing. What should I do now? Yes I tried removing and inserting a few times, no work.

Just make sure the edge is clean and give it another go, if it's still no good I'll send a replacement. Sometimes (rarely) they seem to die in the post! Drop me a pm to remind me and I'll sort it out.

Edited October 7, 2017 by SainT

[blackice]

I would like to purchase 2. Please add me to the list

[DaveC1964]

Just make sure the edge is clean and give it another go, if it's still no good I'll send a replacement. Sometimes (rarely) they seem to die in the post! Drop me a pm to remind me and I'll sort it out.

Yeah I tried cleaning the edge card, no luck.

 

As a last ditch effort I tried something else, I don't know what made me think of it. If I press firmly inward on the card and hold it when I turn on the Lynx it works. It is like the card isn't thick enough to make good contact. Maybe I will try to shim the part with the 3dprinted Lynx SD logo and see if it works better.

 

I found that some of my ROMs don't work though. I load some and it says "programming" for a few seconds then dumps back to menu. Other games say "Programing" for a while then The Lynx shows "insert game" screen. Some work OK. Is there something special that needs to be done to the ROMs? These ROMs work in an emulator so I don't understand what could be wrong, they are all .LNX extension.

Edited October 9, 2017 by DaveC1964

[Bstar]

The romcart I recieved initially worked well in my first gen Lynx 1 (had issues with my lynx2). I just upgraded my lynx 1 to a McWill screen and now I'm having all sorts of problems.

 

All of my original carts work. I've tried around 20 of my personal carts and they all work fine. When I try to use this romcart it's hit or miss whether I can get beyond the INSERT GAME screen. Usually it will just flicker after that or go dark. Some times I can get the menu to come up, but it's all distorted. Rarely I can get the menu system working, but I have done it. Sadly I can't get a game to run reliably when it does get as far as loading one.

 

If I take the romcart out and put it in at different angles, I get different results, but nothing that fully works. Any suggestions? I also copied over the latest menu files so I don't think that's the problem.

Edited October 9, 2017 by Bstar

[+karri]

Does the system work ok with fresh batteries? McWill screen takes a lot of power and so does the ROM cart. Perhaps the extra power is too much for your power supply?

[Bstar]

Does the system work ok with fresh batteries? McWill screen takes a lot of power and so does the ROM cart. Perhaps the extra power is too much for your power supply?

It definitely has something to do with the contacts of the romcart with my lynx. I was finally able to get it working reliably, but it took a long time to get it perfect.

 

Ive only been using rechargeable batteries. The lynx takes in 9v but only uses 5v so I dont think Im going to have any power issues.

 

If any one else has issues with the contacts Id be curious to know if there are any techniques to get this working quicker.

[SainT]

Yeah I tried cleaning the edge card, no luck.

 

As a last ditch effort I tried something else, I don't know what made me think of it. If I press firmly inward on the card and hold it when I turn on the Lynx it works. It is like the card isn't thick enough to make good contact. Maybe I will try to shim the part with the 3dprinted Lynx SD logo and see if it works better.

 

I found that some of my ROMs don't work though. I load some and it says "programming" for a few seconds then dumps back to menu. Other games say "Programing" for a while then The Lynx shows "insert game" screen. Some work OK. Is there something special that needs to be done to the ROMs? These ROMs work in an emulator so I don't understand what could be wrong, they are all .LNX extension.

 

I'll send another out, it does sound like an issue with dry joins on the SRAM to me.

[SainT]

It definitely has something to do with the contacts of the romcart with my lynx. I was finally able to get it working reliably, but it took a long time to get it perfect.

 

Ive only been using rechargeable batteries. The lynx takes in 9v but only uses 5v so I dont think Im going to have any power issues.

 

If any one else has issues with the contacts Id be curious to know if there are any techniques to get this working quicker.

 

Hmm, that's curious. I don't know if the screen has anything to do with it -- I am using a replacement screen in a Lynx 2 with no issues at all. I'm not sure if the Lynx 1 is likely to have different issues, but it's very odd issues should only start after fitting a new screen. But could well just be coincidence...

 

Give me a shout of you do have any further issues, quite happy to replace it if original games work. I have had some issues with dirty edge connections which have been difficult to get working, to the point I've had to resort to very fine grade sandpaper.

[DaveC1964]

The romcart I recieved initially worked well in my first gen Lynx 1 (had issues with my lynx2). I just upgraded my lynx 1 to a McWill screen and now I'm having all sorts of problems.

 

All of my original carts work. I've tried around 20 of my personal carts and they all work fine. When I try to use this romcart it's hit or miss whether I can get beyond the INSERT GAME screen. Usually it will just flicker after that or go dark. Some times I can get the menu to come up, but it's all distorted. Rarely I can get the menu system working, but I have done it. Sadly I can't get a game to run reliably when it does get as far as loading one.

 

If I take the romcart out and put it in at different angles, I get different results, but nothing that fully works. Any suggestions? I also copied over the latest menu files so I don't think that's the problem.

 

I was able to get it working so that the menu comes up fine every time. I had to put a thin piece of plastic like from a credit card over the 3D printed "Lynx SD" area to make that slightly thicker and make contact better. Try that. It seems like the cartridge slot in the Lynx II is a bit more finicky than the model 1. It also could be that the copper on the Lynx cartridge slot has oxidized being old so more pressure is needed to make good contact.

 

I still have issues with some games not working but that seems like a different issue. The same games will always work, and the same other games will always fail. That I don't understand. If it was bad static RAM wouldn't it be more random as in the same game sometimes working and sometimes not?

Edited October 9, 2017 by DaveC1964

[Bstar]

I think I'm having the exact same issue as Dave. If I put downward pressure on the romcart when it's plugged in so that the contacts have a stronger connection, the romcart tends to work more reliably. If I take the pressure off, the lynx tends to crash, presumably the next time it tries to do a read from the cart. I think it's possible a shim of some kind or maybe some tape on the bottom could alleviate this.

I'm not sure about some games working and others not, but I have seen some really wacky stuff when the connection sort of works, but is not reliable. When I get some time later I'm going to put some electrical tape on the reverse side of the cart to see if I can make the contact more snug.

 

Edit: I don't want to scare anyone away from buying the romcart, the thing is amazing. Even though my Lynx is in good shape it probably has thousands of hours of use (got it in '89) so the contacts may be quite worn out.

Edited October 9, 2017 by Bstar

[Bstar]

Here's a video showing the issue:

Edited October 9, 2017 by Bstar

[SainT]

Yep, that's also symptomatic of dry solder joints on the SRAM. If its a non-cased cart, push on the largest chip on the board (U6) and if this helps then there are dry solder joint issues. This does happen on some boards, and specifically with that chip.

 

Any issues I will sort.

[DaveC1964]

I think I'm having the exact same issue as Dave. If I put downward pressure on the romcart when it's plugged in so that the contacts have a stronger connection, the romcart tends to work more reliably. If I take the pressure off, the lynx tends to crash, presumably the next time it tries to do a read from the cart. I think it's possible a shim of some kind or maybe some tape on the bottom could alleviate this.

 

I'm not sure about some games working and others not, but I have seen some really wacky stuff when the connection sort of works, but is not reliable. When I get some time later I'm going to put some electrical tape on the reverse side of the cart to see if I can make the contact more snug.

 

Edit: I don't want to scare anyone away from buying the romcart, the thing is amazing. Even though my Lynx is in good shape it probably has thousands of hours of use (got it in '89) so the contacts may be quite worn out.

I tried putting something between the lynx and the card the other way, so that the cart was about 2mm *away* from the Lynx case. I did it just at the end of the cart not all of the way in so that the Lynx SD was at an angle. It passed the writing and testing phase. Games also seemed to program fine now. Pressing in like before failed the test. Putting the credit card in front like before failed too (probably why some games failed to program). It really seems like it is something with the cartridge slot that doesn't like this card. I may try a more permanent shim to see if that helps.

 

It seems a bit laggy though. When I press the dpad it doesn't respond sometimes unless I do it again. Also when pressing the button to load it doesn't seem to work sometimes. I am not sure if that is normal. The buttons respond normal in games.

Edited October 10, 2017 by DaveC1964

[SainT]

It seems a bit laggy though. When I press the dpad it doesn't respond sometimes unless I do it again. Also when pressing the button to load it doesn't seem to work sometimes. I am not sure if that is normal. The buttons respond normal in games.

 

I believe the "laggyness" in the menu is from where it tries to load in the preview screenshots, this has been mentioned elsewhere.

 

Did you try the memory test menu.bin I sent via PM? It will show if there is an issue with the SRAM. As mentioned above, the things you mention are symptomatic of dry solder joints on the SRAM on the board.

[DaveC1964]

 

I believe the "laggyness" in the menu is from where it tries to load in the preview screenshots, this has been mentioned elsewhere.

 

Did you try the memory test menu.bin I sent via PM? It will show if there is an issue with the SRAM. As mentioned above, the things you mention are symptomatic of dry solder joints on the SRAM on the board.

Yes, read the first part of my last message. It passes when pulling the cart away from the Lynx 2mm, fails when I press and hold inward.

Edited October 10, 2017 by DaveC1964

[SainT]

Yes, read the first part of my last message. It passes when pulling the cart away from the Lynx 2mm, fails when I press and hold inward.

 

Sorry, didn't see that! Ok, it does sound like an SRAM solder issue to me, I'll sort a replacement out for you.

[Bstar]

 

I believe the "laggyness" in the menu is from where it tries to load in the preview screenshots, this has been mentioned elsewhere.

 

Did you try the memory test menu.bin I sent via PM? It will show if there is an issue with the SRAM. As mentioned above, the things you mention are symptomatic of dry solder joints on the SRAM on the board.

 

So the menu is not supposed to be really laggy even if you have the screenshots loading? I just assumed loading the screenshots was inherently slow.

[Bstar]

I tried putting something between the lynx and the card the other way, so that the cart was about 2mm *away* from the Lynx case. I did it just at the end of the cart not all of the way in so that the Lynx SD was at an angle. It passed the writing and testing phase. Games also seemed to program fine now. Pressing in like before failed the test. Putting the credit card in front like before failed too (probably why some games failed to program). It really seems like it is something with the cartridge slot that doesn't like this card. I may try a more permanent shim to see if that helps.

 

I'm going to try and heat the joints up with my soldering iron later today. SainT has convinced me that's most likely the issue. I can get the cart to work reliably when I put pressure on the problem chip.

[SainT]

 

I'm going to try and heat the joints up with my soldering iron later today. SainT has convinced me that's most likely the issue. I can get the cart to work reliably when I put pressure on the problem chip.

 

Amazing how many retro game fanatics are into electronics...

 

If there's still no joy a replacement will be on its way.

[+OLD CS1]

I would also like to add my name to the list. I love my Lynxes (Lynxi?)

[Bstar]

 

Amazing how many retro game fanatics are into electronics...

 

If there's still no joy a replacement will be on its way.

 

Good news! Adding some flux and heat to the solder joints seems to have fixed the issue. I've tested around a dozen games and I have not had any issues yet. I'll keep testing, but I'm optimistic.

 

Thanks SainT! I used to mod just about every computer and device I had back in the day so I'm not intimidated pulling my soldering iron out. I'm fine to keep my romcart, but I'll let you know if any other issues develop. Thanks for supporting your product so well, but there's no sense in sending it back if it's fixed.

Edited October 11, 2017 by Bstar

[SainT]

 

Good news! Adding some flux and heat to the solder joints seems to have fixed the issue. I've tested around a dozen games and I have not had any issues yet. I'll keep testing, but I'm optimistic.

 

Thanks SainT! I used to mod just about every computer and device I had back in the day so I'm not intimidated pulling my soldering iron out. I'm fine to keep my romcart, but I'll let you know if any other issues develop. Thanks for supporting your product so well, but there's no sense in sending it back if it's fixed.

 

Fantastic, I was pretty certain that was the cause. Yes, if there are any issues please give me a shout!

 

As I have mentioned before, all issues will be resolved to the customers satisfaction! As with everything, some manufacturing issues will arise. I do my best to catch them all but sometimes issues develop after I've tested and sent the carts out. So far I have about 1% of carts developing any issue, and pretty much all of those issues have been on arrival (I think 1 or 2 have been after more than a month or so of use). All issues have been sorted with replacements (or people owning soldering irons! ).

Edited October 11, 2017 by SainT

[Valdez76]

I am interested in purchasing this product.