Lynx Issues, Help?

[Nachoman]

Hi all,

 

New to here and my first time owning a Lynx, i'm normally more of an arcade and pinball guy, but I always wanted a Lynx back in the day so thought what the hell...

 

I picked up a non working one off ebay, I tried bridging from the middle audio jack pin to -ve terminal thinking it would be the common MOSFET issue, but still did not work, so after cleaning the battery terminals, reworking some very poor soldering on a couple of caps and fiddling with what seems to be a damaged LCD ribbon, it sprung into life.

 

My issue though is this, I am running only on batteries, and I had been using Duracel industrial batteries and everything worked great for a few hours, then the screen needed adjustment over the space of 5 minutes to the point I could no longer view any image, then the sound slowly died off. I assumed this was a case of dying batteries, fired it up about an hour later and did the same over the space of 5 minutes. So...I went and bought x20 Energizer industrial batteries, only to find that when I power on the lynx, I get back light, but no image or sound, tried fiddling with batteries for a while and always the same result. I switched back to the old batteries and it worked again, all be it for 5 minutes like before.

 

So, now im wondering if Lynx' are a bit funny with different battery types or I do actually have an issue?

 

 

Has anyone experienced anything that can shed any light on this?

 

 

[+karri]

Did you change all 6 batteries? I have seen Lynxes where the last two batteries are broken and stuck inside. The new owner is happily changing new batteries 4 at a time without realizing that there is 2 stuck batteries inside.

[Nachoman]

yeah all 6 I am changing, when I disassembled the Lynx I cleaned all the terminals out, so should be no issues of corrosion in the battery compartment.

 

all battery types are non rechargeable lithium 1.5v, so other than the energizer being better with power hungry appliances, they should be the same surely? I cant believe that it would effect the lynx working?

[Krip316]

Personally, I'd do a recap and replace Q12 and D13 and go from there. Unless you want the stock screen, I'd also McWill that Lynx

[Nachoman]

I want to keep the original screen to be honest, Id love a Mcwills, but I want an original mk1, perhaps get a Mk2 a mod that.

[Nachoman]

Right, just had a bit of a play, visual inspection suggests the 2 larger caps on the left section have been replaced due to the soldering work, also 2 smaller caps on the bottom left which look slightly like the tops are not totally square, suggesting to me they are weak?

 

What's stranger, the lynx worked for a period again on old batters, gradually having to turn up the contrast till eventually its not visible and then the sound fades. But, if I replace 1 battery, it then works again, if I replace 2 its perfect. If I replace all 3 in 1 compartment, it works but even with the brightness right down, its very bright but visible, if i replace anymore, I get nothing but backlight. No game play, no sound and brightness dial does nothing. If I replace all 6 I get the same result.

 

 

That says to me its something to do the voltage regulation maybe?

 

Attached a few photos of my lynx incase any of you can spot anything I have missed.

Edited November 21, 2016 by Nachoman

[Krip316]

Oh, I see it's a Lynx 1. I always think lynx 2. I mentioned D13 earlier, it's ZD1 in the Lynx 1 shown in your 2nd pic next to C38. I still believe replacing Q12, ZD1 and a cap replacement will solve the problem?? You may wanna have a chat with cowdog360 for a second opinion. He's my goto guy for anything Lynx.

 

BTW, that is one beautiful Lynx I!

[Nachoman]

Thanks for the reply

 

I may well give him a shout and see what he thinks, ill give the thread a few more days yet but yeah, i'm thinking cap kit and see how I go from there then. is there anyone on here that puts the kits together? I know you can get them everywhere for the Gamegear, but they are plagued with bad caps.

 

I was after a mint lynx, i'm a bit of a snob with my gaming stuff for condition and the case on this looked mint and it knocked me over when it arrived, looks new bar 2 small pin sized marks. The rear is the same, full unmarked labels.

 

The only downside is the doughnut who opened it up, they have put light scratches on the LCD itself and the same on the rear of the lens, I assumed used a dirty cloth rather than compressed air and microfiber cloth to clean it, plus some of the repairs are very poor, namely 1 cap that's very messy and the speaker connection points looked like a child did it with an iron.

 

But I only paid £27 with Todds adventure in slime world. So I thought it was a bit of a bargain.

[Krip316]

I get my cap kits here, https://console5.com/store/atari-lynx-i-ii-cap-kit.html

 

The more repairs I do and to save cash, I'm thinking of putting them together myself but for just one repair and save time, I'd get the kit unless you find somebody on here cheaper.

 

I use NOVUS to get scratches out on the lens only.

 

It's definitely a bargain for sure!

[Nachoman]

Yeah use Novus by the bucket load on my pinball plastics. I actually have a new lens, but its the LCD itself that bothers me and i wont risk using novus on that.

 

I have seen eBay sell the kits for about 6 quid, so ill grab one and take it from there i think.

 

Cheers

[cowdog360]

Hey there,

 

If you want I can try to put together a kit for you that would include:

Caps

MOSFET

Original spec Zener diode

 

I'd absolutely replace the Zener/MOSFET. On the Lynx 1, the power supply caps also seem to start leaking too.. not a bad plan.

[Nachoman]

Hey,

 

I have actually just bought a cap kit for it off ebay, but no Mosfet or Zener, could you supply them 2 or give me a link to somewhere I can get them please? I normally get my components from RS for my pinball machine, but the postage and quantity you have to get wouldn't be worth it for 2 items.

 

In your opinion which cap(s), if any, do you think would solve the issue? its sounds like i'm being really lazy, but i'm not sure if I want to invest in this unit at the minute other than just get it working OK, the case itself is mint, but the more I look at the board, the more issues i'm seeing. Spotted that the LCD ribbon has actually been pulled off the board, cut down and soldered directly on, its been done quite neatly but its been secured with a bit of tape to prevent movement and if you move the ribbon, it effects the screen output. So i'm actually considering buying a new unit and fixing that one up and keeping my casing.

 

Also, is there anywhere that gives a breakdown of the areas on the PCB (i.e. sound, power)