Another broken Lynx II, another adventure!

Issue: garbled static screen, no audio. Backlight works.

Diagnosis: power circuit has gone bad. Possibly 9V hit the main chips.

I fixed the power circuit by replacing Q12, D13, Q7 and Q8. I verified 5V is correctly delivered to the board.

For testing, I connected 5V to C41 to bypass the power circuit as an extra safety measure.

I removed and tested ram chips - they're both good. So I resoldered them to the board.

Thermal cam shows some activity in ram chips, Suzy and Hayato.

I verified Hayato is working. Clock output on pin 59, audio signals are in place.

So at this point I suspect Suzy has gone bad. I replaced it and the game boots, I got video!

However, audio is distorted and low volume, and both headphone and speaker audio are distorted.

I checked all audio circuit components starting from Hayato output pins and they're good (the 74HC04 was desoldered and tested in a logic chip tester).

I started checking signals around the two amplifiers chip U12 and U5. From what I understand, U12 is the amplifier for headphones while U5 is for the speaker. On both chips, the input pin 3 shows a waveform, while the output pin 5 shows HALF waveform (only the negative part).

I also measured the speaker resistance, should be 16 ohms but multimeter says 6 ohms.

So I suspect some bright boy connected a DC power supply to the headphone jack, damaging both amplifiers and the speaker.

Has someone replaced these chips? They look like LM386, even though the schematics says NJM2073.

I recapped and (almost) completely refurbished a v1 Lynx. I was able to establish the Toshiba TC4069UBF chip is faulty. The console turns on if I just directly rig power to C39 and everything works.

I've found several stores online that sell the chip, but shipping is anywhere from 15 to 50 euros for a 0.9 euro chip. How do you guys manage to get parts without having to buy dozens you won't ever need?

Any tips?

Thanks!

I am aware that visibility is not great (I don't have a Lynx yet). However, I have been able to use other handhelds just fine with the right lighting (DMG, MGB, CBG, AGB, AGS-001, NGPC, WonderSwan, etc.)

I've seen photos of modded screens across all consoles and I think they only look passable at best when a pixel grid is enabled. At all other times I think that you might as well just get an Android emulation handheld, unless you:

A: Still want the original physicality of the console body

B: You want to use your cartridges

C: The original LCD is non-functional

I grew up with software emulation, so I don't really want to see the 'raw pixel' look anymore. I'd also rather not be introducing input lag.

What is lost if you use a BenVenn or McWill LCD screen? I read that you get a lot of screen tearing or something because of the refresh rate? Does the motion look 'off' compared to the original screen?

Update:

I have a Lynx now. I think that the original LCD looks good. Losing this would take away much of the charm of this handheld. I won't be replacing the LCD if I can help it.

Hi everyone, I have 2 broken Lynx II. Both have a power circuit issue, D13 blew and 9V traveled across the board. I replaced the power circuit components using a specific kit and now I see 5V everywhere.

Of course, they are still not working :( one black screen, one has a static lines pattern. Games don't boot, no audio from the speaker.

Let's focus on Lynx A for the moment. Motherboard is the very common C104471-001 REV A.
I repaired a trace near Q8 because someone tried to replace it but failed miserably. I replaced the RAM because it was shorted. I did a full recap.

I checked with a thermal cam and I see C55 getting quite hot, Q5 getting a bit hot, and Hayato shows some heat in the whole core too. I suspect Hayato is gone because I wasn't able to see any meaningful output on the display. Now I bought replacements for both Suzy and Hayato chips, but I'm a bit worried... I don't want to blindly replace them and eventually break them because of some other fault on the board.

Now from what I understand, C55 is part of the backlight circuit and the backlight works. Q5 seems to be in the brightness/contrast circuit, not sure what's going on there.

Should I replace the custom chips and hope for the best? What else can I check to be sure I don't destroy them? They're quite expensive and I would cry a lot. Thanks to anyone who can help, I really want to save these Lynxes.

Hi everyone, I finally have my Atari Lynx :) But unfortunately, it has this screen glitch. Any idea what it could be? A problem with the LCD panel itself? The dots always stay in the same place; adjusting the brightness just makes them more or less visible.

Hi! I'm a video game collector and just picked up an Atari Lnyx 2. It came with some games. Screen looks good, and I may try to keep it vintage instead of upgrading. Seller said it worked fine, but unfortunately there's two issues:

1. Games show title screen. But when I press A button to advance I get a black screen (I think a freeze) or I get jumbled video. Roadblasters once got to the point of showing the track which looked OK. However, the top and bottom of the screen had video artifacts.
2. No audio through speaker. Only headphone. I think this may be minor so not as concerned.

I haven't opened the unit up for inspection yet. It seems clean and not abused on the outside (although far from new looking given its age). 9V Power supply measures 12V without load.

Any idea what could be going on? I appreciate the help!

So I bought this Lynx with power cable solder on to the pcb as it was missing the power jack, this is how I modded it into a modern USB-C , plus upgraded its sound with a cool laptop one, and it sounds truly amazing.

It's my first ever time possessing and working on this system , I loved how much room there is, I am thinking of modding it further with rechargeable li-on batteries as well.

The last pic is how it was with soldered wires from the PSU.

As the title says I'm a Canadian trying to get my hands on a Lynx. I've looked on eBay but the shipping is just way too much from the U.S. considering the ongoing trade dispute. I've also looked on Marketplace but come up with nothing.

Complete shock at this. Bought this lot a kid marked up with HEAL, and had heard mixed success from people using dry erase marker to lift sharpie on labels and also partial success using N-Heptane and thought “why not both?”

I used some red dry erase markers I got on amazon, smeared each sharpie letter around with it for a bit, erased, then wiped it with a swap with heptane.

I am flabbergasted how well it worked, so there’s a PSA for anyone with this issue.

hello mates,

I'm a long time retro games collector, and yesterday I've finally had the opportunity to find a second hand Atari Lynx first edition, one of my childhood dream! I will receive it in the next days and I have started to look for some nice, "on a budget" way to protect and display my new "baby" :-) is there any plastic case or similar that you are using for this purpose? thanks for reading my post, wish you all the best and enjoy your favorite games as much as you can

PS sweet old time,s 99,95$ for a brand new one!!

One of my cherished memories in my teens was from going to a sci fi convention. It had a bit of a video game scene at the time, with dedicated video game rooms etc. I brought my Lynx mainly to show it off (color!!). And I came across another guy who also had one! We compared cartridges and the only one we had in common that supported ComLynx was Warbirds. So there we stood in the kind of hallway / general area, and for the first and only time I was able to play a ComLynxed game. I won but he was tougher than the AI :)

I have a Lynx that I can't seem to fix; I've been working on it for a while and have already replaced the power supply components.
All the components in the bottom-left section of the motherboard were missing, so I put them back and replaced the U4 RAM because it was overheating. The console turns on, but the screen shows vertical lines and there is no game sound.
I can't find any similar topics online.
Any ideas?

I brought home this broken Lynx 1 and a working Lynx 2 plus Warbirds 10 years ago from a retro game store for whom I did console repairs. Instead of cash, I’d trade my services for consoles and games. It was a great deal and I got many great things as a result. The Lynx 1 had never powered on since I got it. Batteries leaked in the compartment long ago so I’m sure that contributed to its lack of function. But one thing that stands out the most is that hole below the D-pad. A common mistake people made was to use the wrong length screw on that side.

Now, I’m a purist - I usually keep old consoles in stock configuration with maybe an occasional LED swap but since the Lynx 1 has that hole and is scratched and chipped everywhere, I’m going for a full remodel. After filling the hole with plastic filler (along with any deep scratches), I’ll sand the whole thing down and airbrush it. I’m considering sticking with a typical Atari color for the shell. Maybe orange, red or gloss black (I’m leaning toward this one). Once that’s all done, I’ll dive into the electronics. Other than the battery leakage, the board looks fine but I’ll know more when I get the oscilloscope on it. After I get it working, I’ll do the IPS screen mod. As mentioned, I’m not one to mod stock consoles so my working Lynx 2 will never get that treatment.

What color do you think I should use for the shell? And besides the IPS mod, is there anything else I should do? I have a 3D printer so if there are interesting models of Lynx mods out there I will happily print them.

I got this duo from a flea market seller for $150 CAD. The crazy price tag he had on it was with a game and he claimed it worked years ago but testing it wouldn't power up. The DMG works flawlessly. I often have fun cleaning up and modding them. I'm hoping with my modding and soldering experience I can get this unit working and upgraded for some fun.

Finally got my first lynx, but I’m having some issues with the screen. The first time the screen was very flickery and all over the place. I decided to try my hand at a recap and now I’m having distortion issues. Was wondering if this looks like some issues with the soldering of the caps or I have another issue.

Game is gates of zendocon.

Any advice is appreciated thanks!

Hi there! After having a pair of Atari Lynx for over 20 years, I decides to buy a modded one from Retrosix, after seeing several videos. I want one professionally installed, before fixing my old ones.

I already contacted him, but maybe someone had the same issue. With DC power and new AA batteries, the console orange led light up but dies after a few seconds, so I haven't see the IPS screen in all its glory.

I checked all connections and looks fine. I attached a link to a video I made.Lynx

Any advice? I'm from the other side of the planet so shipping Will be expensive, and I already paid shipping to my country.

Bubble Trouble. No one ever talks about it. It's brutally difficult and I plan to beat it one day and see how it ends. I bust it out and play it every now and then. I think I like it because of the uniqueness of the story and gameplay. As far as Lynx goes, I wish there was a better homebrew scene of finished games.

If anyone has had to replace their original Lynx 2 button membrane, you know that the only replacement from R6 is pretty bad. The dimensions are not correct so cuts need to be made to make it fit, the buttons are flat and there is no tactile response when pressing, and the membrane does not fit their own aftermarket screen kit.

I managed to solve at least one of these issues by removing the tactile push button layer from some buttons and taping them in place. Along with various cuts to the membrane to make it fit in place, it now feels much more original.

... Is still the switch lite. Atari 50 + Epyx collection + Chip's Challenge + Toki. Fill the rest with Arcade Archives (Double Dragon, Golf, Ninja Gaiden, Pac Land, Pinball Action, Qix, Raiden, Rygar, Shanghai III) and maybe QByte The Humans.

It's a little small with too much battery life but it works.