Zarlor Mercenary doesn't work on my Lynx II

[OldAtAtari]

13 hours ago, Bstar said:

Ahh, wish I saw the rest of this thread on Friday, lol.  Anyway, I have a dead Lynx 1, so desoldering the 2 ram chips was trivial.  Problem I'm having now is getting the shielding off my Lynx II and I'm pretty close to giving up on it.  Definitely feel like I might damage things at this point.

 

Karri, you are much more knowledgeable on this than I am, but I thought replacing the ram would be a good start.  Do you think transplanting the Suzy chip is a better bet (can a Lynx 1 Suzy be transported to a Lynx II)?  I'm not finding a good photo diagram that shows which chip that is, but I'm assuming it's one of the ones that will be ridiculously hard to solder.  I can reflow the chips with the small contacts, but I don't have the right equipment to do a transplant.

My heart is breaking for you, Bstar. I hope your Lynx II gets back up and running soon.

[Bstar]

9 hours ago, karri said:

Just replacing chips at random is not a good idea. Perhaps we need Lynx repairing instructions for diagnosing the troubles. All the info is in the forum already, you just need to find the correct pages. We could set up a Wiki about this at the AtariGamer site. It might be the best way to share information.

I did not mean to give the impression that I'm just swapping out chips at random with no regard for logical repairing practices.  Problem is that these devices work perfectly fine except for these bizarre crashes- not the easiest thing to debug.  That's not something a multimeter can find.  The first thing I would do on any computer or device is replace the memory.  I've tried every possible way to run diagnostics on the system that could bring me closer to solving this issue, but nothing has helped.  It seemed reasonable that swapping out the memory chips with known good ones would at least remove that variable from the equation.  Obviously the shielding problem was unexpected, but it literally too me 5 minutes to get those chips out of my dead Lynx1 (which never did exhibit this problem). 

 

22 minutes ago, OldAtAtari said:

Bstar, I was able to replace the caps on mine without too much issue. I did the power regulation circuit too, which was more difficult, but doable. While I was in there, I also did the USB power cord mod at cap 41, which was really easy, and has been amazing since I can run my Lynx with a 5V power bank, or with an extension USB cord, I can use a 5V wall charger. https://atarigamer.com/articles/adding-a-micro-usb-power-socket-to-an-atari-lynx
I didn't do the thing in those instructions with the little USB port. I just ran the other end of the USB cord out through the battery compartment, and it just hangs there waiting to be plugged into a power source.

Thanks for the link, I'm definitely going to look into the USB cord mod.  My Lynx 2 has the most unstable power cord ever, you breathe on it wrong and it reboots the device.  Getting that addressed would be a huge bonus.

[OldAtAtari]

23 minutes ago, Bstar said:

Thanks for the link, I'm definitely going to look into the USB cord mod.  My Lynx 2 has the most unstable power cord ever, you breathe on it wrong and it reboots the device.  Getting that addressed would be a huge bonus.

I should mention that I wrapped the usb cord around one of the screw posts inside, to relieve the stress on the solder joints. I think I saw that tip in a YouTube video.

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by OldAtAtari

[Bstar]

1 hour ago, OldAtAtari said:

I should mention that I wrapped the usb cord around one of the screw posts inside, to relieve the stress on the solder joints. I think I saw that tip in a YouTube video.

 

Hmm, so you have to be wired now?  Are you able to fit a lithium ion battery in the case?

Edited February 8, 2021 by Bstar

[Bstar]

dupe

Edited February 8, 2021 by Bstar

[OldAtAtari]

4 minutes ago, Bstar said:

Hmm, so you have to be wired now?  Are you able to fit a lithium ion battery in the case?

These are good questions. Perhaps I could still cram some double-A batteries in there and get the battery cover on it. I haven't tried. And I decided not to try the thing with the internal lithium battery. I don't know how it would fit.

 

So I just keep a couple rechargeable power banks in my case, and when I play, I just have it plugged in, with the battery in my lap.

 

Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/POWERADD-EnergyCell-Compact-Portable-Charger/dp/B07Y572SDR/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=5v+power+bank&qid=1612799235&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&smid=A2UX2NOV6U33XD&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzMDFJNTZRQU1SRUVXJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMTA2NTk4M0M1QUQ2Q09PQkVZQiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzQ5ODM5MTk3UURHNTg2TVpQSSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

[Bstar]

Got it.  I'm not sure I want to compromise portability... since upgrading to the Bennvenn screen I get really impressive battery life with some cheapish (powerowl) NIMH batteries.  I like the idea of stuffing a LIION battery in the battery compartment with a way to directly charge it, but I have not done any research on doing that with a lynx.  I've seen a few Game Gear projects that do this and figured I might be able to do something similar with the lynx.

 

It's hard to put so much effort into modding this device when one of my favorite games doesn't work... why couldn't Hard Drivin' be the one that crashes ?

Edited February 8, 2021 by Bstar

[OldAtAtari]

11 minutes ago, Bstar said:

Got it.  I'm not sure I want to compromise portability... since upgrading to the Bennvenn screen I get really impressive battery life with some cheapish (powerowl) NIMH batteries.  I like the idea of stuffing a LIION battery in the battery compartment with a way to directly charge it, but I have not done any research on doing that with a lynx.  I've seen a few Game Gear projects that do this and figured I might be able to do something similar with the lynx.

 

It's hard to put so much effort into modding this device when one of my favorite games doesn't work... why couldn't Hard Drivin' be the one that crashes ?

 

Yeah, I thought about going with rechargeable AA batteries, but I have such a fear of battery corrosion. So the USB solution works for me. Like I say, I just carry the battery in the case. I think I've seen the LION instructions for the Lynx I, not sure about the Lynx II. It would be really cool, for sure.

Yes, I like California Games, too. It would be tough if that didn't work... I want to like Hard Drivin', but I just don't.

 

 

[Bstar]

I'm a BMX fiend, I have achieved higher scores than anyone I've seen documented.  It's my goto usually.  Hard driving' and its 3fps is rough.

[OldAtAtari]

I struggle with the BMX. I can rarely reach the finish line, unless I totally give up on doing tricks.

I haven't actually played Hard Drivin' on the Lynx. I have it for the Sega Genesis. It's bad enough on there. I can't imagine it on the Lynx.