No question is a dumb one

[Cousin Vinnie]

Except for this one:

 

I have over 40 Lynx games, but I'm tired of my Lynxes frying. Is there any console hardware that can play Lynx games like the GC?

 

CV

[atarianer2003]

AFAIK not. Only the never released "Panther" should become a ComLynx interface.

 

Mike

[TTman]

You can run a Lynx emulator on the Dreamcast

[Justin42]

I think the better question is what are you doing to your Lynxes to make them fry?

[chris_lynx1989]

I think the better question is what are you doing to your Lynxes to make them fry?  

 

yes.

i've never fried any of my lynxes in very nearly 15 years of owning them.my first lynx one unit still works.some seem to be very,very hard

on their lynxes.

i remember reading a small article several years ago in a lynx fanzine

about a fellow who had been through 6 or 7 of the them over a period of

around two years after having had fatal cigarette lighter adapter accidents

with them and they were frying on him.hmmmm,is this the problem here

too?

i've used mine in the car with no problems before.sort of wierd that others

are having problems with their lynx for whatever reason.--the lynxer

[crc_73]

Maybe these guys are using unofficial power supplies. I think the universal power supplies don't supply the same current as the official pack, but I was under the impression that if anything would fail first, it would be the universal PSU that would fail before the Lynx.

 

Just a thought, I'm not an electronics engineer.

[chris_lynx1989]

Maybe these guys are using unofficial power supplies. I think the universal power supplies don't supply the same current as the official pack, but I was under the impression that if anything would fail first, it would be the universal PSU that would fail before the Lynx.

 

Just a thought, I'm not an electronics engineer.

 

 

i've used the "official" lynx adapter and many other unofficial adapters i've

converted to lynx use with 1.3mm coax plugs that i got at radio shack and

soldered on myself.i had an official adapter burn up on me at the stress

relief end by the coil.the cord on it just burned in half right where it goes

in to the stress relief.so i've used other adapters that i pick up for nothing

and convert ever since.the original adapter i had was not very old when it

decided to die after i had bought my lynx one unit in july 1990 as a deluxe

set.back then lynx stuff was rather hard to find at places other than toys r

us and a few others that carried them--i had to drive a hundred miles aw-

ay to get my first lynx unit at toys r us,even after the supposed national

lynx rollout that atari did in feb. 1990 after the release on oct. 11th,'89 a

lynx was hard to come by till the fall of 1990,i guess.did not have ebay and stuff then to find them readily.

so i don't think an "unofficial" adapter is the problem either.i don't know

what the problem others seem to be having is.you tell me.--the lynxer

[CMA Death Adder]

Merry Christmas, forum patrons!

 

i remember reading a small article several years ago in a lynx fanzine about a fellow who had been through 6 or 7 of the them over a period of around two years after having had fatal cigarette lighter adapter accidents with them and they were frying on him.

 

I can confirm this. On the trip to Classic Gaming Expo 2003, I brought one of my Lynx II systems with me. During the trip I plugged it into the cigarette lighter adaptor (Atari model, of course) and handed it back to one of my buddies in the back seat (he'd never played w/a Lynx before... the poor, unfortunate soul). Darned thing shorted and wouldn't start up. I'd never had problems with any of my Lynx machines before, and later testing found the lighter adaptor -wasn't- broken...

 

In any case, I arrived at the CGE2003 without a working Lynx machine, so the games I bought from Songbird went unplayed until I returned home. D'oh!

[Wilbur McCalmont]

I've never 'fried' a LYNX, but I've had to repair a number of them because of the power connector failing and the annoying LYNX 2 problem with the button acting as if they were constantly being pressed.

 

What was the actual problem with your LYNXes?

[blackhood87]

Hello, my name is Blackhood87, and I have a Lynx II. I've never had one before so I'm pretty excited. I put the game in and turned it on but the picture is odd. I can't look straight at it. I have to tilt it forward to get a real good look at it. Is that normal or is it somewhat busted?

[+Mitch]

You can try adjusting the brightness knob to get a better picture, but usually you aren't looking directly down at it. (At least I don't)

 

Mitch

[chris_lynx1989]

no,with a lynx you have to hold it at a slight angle with the proper bright-

ness while looking down at it.lcds have this problem generally.the active

matrix screens seem to avoid this quite a bit.the lynx uses a passive mat-

rix panel--which for the time in 1989 and on was pretty good.i liked the

screen better than the one in the game gear.the turbo express and the

sega nomad screens were better in some ways.--the lynxer

[Gunstar]

Yes, the AC power port on the Lynx 1 and 2 seems to be a commn problem. I had it go out on both a Lynx 1 and 2, both still work, but only with batteries. Actually, I just repaired a Lynx 2 yesterday for someone. It too, had a bad AC power port, it was a unit that was bought used, and whomever had it before had rigged another power "cord" through the battery compartment, but it was a VERY unusual, unstandard cord that the current owner couldn't use or find a power adapter to use with it. The wierd thing was that whomever installed this ridiculous cord had torn up the battery contacts in doing so; there was no reason for this, the modification would have worked (if it ever worked at all) with the battery contacts being left intact. Anyway, I removed some battery contacts from and old tape recorder and solder&mounted them in place into the Lynx 2, so the person was at least able to play the Lynx with batteries. that's what I do myself, with my Lynx 1, I just use rechargable batteries and have a spare set always in the recharger, then I just swap them as needed. I suggest to this person to do the same. I may repair the AC port some day. The point here is two-fold though, 1) your Lynxes may still work, with batteries, just not through the power port, and 2) It seems to be a common enough problem that it may be of use to post a sticky here on the Lynx forum with instructions on repairing&replacing the power ports on Lynx's. There is a similiar sticky for repairing Jaguars in the Jag forum when wrong-polarity powerpacks have been used burning out the power regualtor chip, etc.

Now, I'd be willing to post such a thing myself, but I have not yet attempted repairing my Lynx, so i'd have to figure it out on my own first. I'm kind of hoping that someone else has ALREADY done something like this and can post the instructions; it wuold save me time in my own repairs too.

[Wilbur McCalmont]

Yes, the AC power port on the Lynx 1 and 2 seems to be a common problem. I had it go out on both a Lynx 1 and 2, both still work, but only with batteries.

 

The probable cause is the DC power jack, either a piece of the power plug broke off inside the jack (unlikely) or the pin inside the jack that connects to the PCB broke off (common). With either problem you'll just need to measure for the input voltage of your AC adapter across C-39 (less the diode voltage drop). You just need power connected to the power connector on the PCB to do this test - no need to connect anything to the other connectors: the speaker, LCD, buttons, backlight, or even a game cartridge. Also remember to remove the batteries first.

 

When the unit is on there will be about 5 Volts across C-41.

 

If you need to replace the jack it is part #CB102242 for the LYNX 2 & #CB101842 for theLYNX 1 through BEST ELECTRONICS. A dab of hot melt glue should be placed on each side of the jack after it is replaced (and as preventive maintenance) to keep it from "jiggling" which seems to be the cause of the pin breakage. You may also be able to purchase some of those 'defective LYNXes' on ebay. I've found that most of them have a lot of good spare parts in them - case, LCD (about 80% are perfect), buttons, etc.

 

The schematics for the LYNX 1 & 2 are very similar, BUT THERE ARE DIFFERENCES, so it might be helpful to download the LYNX 1 schematics at http://www.atariage.com/Lynx/archives/sche...l?SystemID=LYNX here on ATARIAGE.

 

If you have the RF shielding removed you may want to solder a jumper across pins 31 & 33 on the cartridge connector - that way you won't have to always have a cartridge inserted for testing, provided that you don't mind seeing the insert game screen .

 

 

It seems to be a common enough problem that it may be of use to post a sticky here on the Lynx forum with instructions on repairing&replacing the power ports on Lynx's. There is a similiar sticky for repairing Jaguars in the Jag forum when wrong-polarity powerpacks have been used burning out the power regualtor chip, etc.  

Now, I'd be willing to post such a thing myself, but I have not yet attempted repairing my Lynx, so i'd have to figure it out on my own first. I'm kind of hoping that someone else has ALREADY done something like this and can post the instructions; it wuold save me time in my own repairs too.

I've been considering doing something like this and include a couple schematics, one each for the LYNX 1 & 2, with the expected voltages included on the schematics. Also the BOM (Bill Of Materials) and sources for most of the important SMD components. Maybe I'll do it if there's enough interest.