BennVenn Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 Is that just with the SD cart? or all carts? I know our SD cart retains its memory if you don't power it off long enough and it can boot in an undefined state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicero Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 Only with the SD cart. I have not had the issue with regular carts. Brownout may not be the accurate term. When the issue occurs the GameDrive boots and the logo screen displays. However, when it should go to the menu it displays a white bar at the bottom of the screen and the screen gradually brightens to a blank screen. I can blindly boot to a game which will load (as indicated by the game's sound/music), but the screen remains blank. The issue began intermittently when I installed the new screen. Eventually the problem became permanent. It only began to resolve after I discovered C7 had come loose from the screen PCB and replaced it. Now the problem is hard to replicate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BennVenn Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 Interesting. I think a recap will be the best first step to diagnosing this. Or else you could be chasing your tail. I'll be following! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicero Posted March 15, 2021 Author Share Posted March 15, 2021 Found time last night and this evening to replace Q12, D13, Q7, Q8, and all electrolytic caps. After a couple of hours of testing, I haven't been able to replicate the issue. Thank you everyone for your help and advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicero Posted March 16, 2021 Author Share Posted March 16, 2021 (edited) Welp, it's doing it again intermittently. It does it with batteries as well as with an external power supply. No problems at all with standard cartridges. Any suggestions would be welcome. Edited March 16, 2021 by Cicero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SainT Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 The only thing I can think is it's something odd to do with shutting down the LCD controller and starting it up again. However I've never heard of this issue before, so it's not a normal issue, it's something specific to your hardware (possibly in combination with the new LCD). However, did you say the odd white screen issue also happens with the original screen? In which case it could be an issue with Mikey or surrounding support parts. Very odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicero Posted March 16, 2021 Author Share Posted March 16, 2021 It never happened with the original screen or with original cartridges. After more testing it seems that once I've been playing it for a while, the issue is harder to reproduce. I'm going to go back in today and replace R74. I didn't do that because the Console5 kit I bought said it was not always needed. Also, even though it's listed as a replacement for R74, the diagram Console5 has for the kit has an arrow pointing to R75, so I'm a little confused. It may very well just be a quirk in my 30 year old Lynx. The problem seems way less common now than it was before I did a recap and replaced Q12, D13, Q7, and Q8. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cicero Posted March 17, 2021 Author Share Posted March 17, 2021 replaced the 120 ohm resistor (R74) with a 30 ohm resistor. The issue still presents if the Lynx has been powered off for a few hours or more. It generally takes about 2 to 5 power on/off cycles before it starts working consistently. I'm going to call this a fix(??) and be done with anymore troubleshooting unless anyone has any other suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fab64 Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 I'm having the same problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SainT Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 7 hours ago, Fab64 said: I'm having the same problem. If you read this thread, it generally seems to be a hardware related problem. If you need assistance in what to try, far more details about your system and what you’ve already tried will be required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Cream Jonsey Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 I am having the same issue. A black (with vertical stripes of color along the side) or white screen with the GameDrive 1.04 after the first screen with the QR code displays. It seems to load games blind but after doing so does not change the screen. I only have batteries for it right now but I am going to order a power supply tonight for it to be shipped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SainT Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Is this with the bennvenn screen? I did have someone willing to send me a console with this issue so I could investigate, but it has not happened yet. I am happy to try and fix the issue if someone can send a faulty console to me, but I can’t do it blind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Cream Jonsey Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 On 1/11/2022 at 1:06 AM, SainT said: Is this with the bennvenn screen? I did have someone willing to send me a console with this issue so I could investigate, but it has not happened yet. I am happy to try and fix the issue if someone can send a faulty console to me, but I can’t do it blind. Yes, with BennVenn! That would be incredibly kind. Let me write you a direct message through here so I can send it to you. Thanks for being so great about this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epsilon748 Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 Late reply to this post - actually registered here just to tack on. So I've been having the exact same problem as OP with my Lynx. I bought it with a damaged screen and did the BennVenn drop in mod back in December. Mine is a Lynx 2 C104471 model. Screen replacement worked excellent for original games but when booting the Gamedrive it would load the splash screen, then the next screen would be a gray bar at the bottom and the whole screen would rapidly go white and be unusable. Same behavior after every boot and regardless of using batteries or DC power. Unlike op I see no issues on my IPS board - all caps are solidly in place. GD was updated to 1.04. I didn't recap or change the MOSFET or zener at the time but it was in my backlog to try that next. Well I just did a full recap this week and replaced the MOSFET and zener with no change in behavior. I've been going back and forth with BennVenn on discord who's been very patient and helpful. He recommended a 100uf cap added to C7 on the IPS board to rule out a voltage sag issue, but unfortunately that didn't help either. Self test on the GD checks out as well. I don't have an original screen to test with so for now I guess my Gamedrive is basically a paperweight. I got it to boot to a menu exactly one time on my test power on after recapping the whole board but I've never been able to get it there again. BennVenn had noted there had been several reports of an issue with this specific combo of IPS and GD as well. I'm going to order an elcheapoSD model to see if I can definitively rule out my Lynx as the problem. I'm out of ideas unless someone else can recommend anything else to try. I've offered to ship him my GD to test with or if anyone is US based I'd be willing to ship off both the Lynx and GD. 20220530_003515.mp4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SainT Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 (edited) I'm still waiting on a defective Lynx to be able to fix this issue! The cause seems to be pretty clear, there is a brown-out issue in BV's screen controller when the LCD controller in the Lynx is turned off switching between sections of the GD menu, but only with very specific Lynx motherboard / chipset revisions. I should still have a Lynx coming to me to fix the issue, but I'm still not sure why BV's screen can't just reset itself on brownout using a watchdog. McWill's screen doesn't have any issues with this specific Lynx motherboard / chipset as this was ruled out by a previous poster in this thread. Edited May 30, 2022 by SainT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epsilon748 Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 30 minutes ago, SainT said: I'm still waiting on a defective Lynx to be able to fix this issue! Where are you based? I can definitely ship my Lynx and GD over to you for testing if needed (and you're not half a world of expensive international shipping away). It's stumped BennVenn at this point and he had suspected it was a code issue with the GD after testing with the additional capacitor on the lcd board. In the meantime I ordered the elCheapoSD to see if that will work or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SainT Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 It's not technically anyone's "fault" as such. ? It's just an odd situation caused by a combination of specific hardware setup and software settings. This only happens on early Lynx 2 models where they were using the Lynx 1 chipset (or at least not the final Lynx 2 chipset). So it's a very unusual case only affecting a few people. I'm based in the UK, I'm quite happy to take a look and sort the issue out if it's feasible for you to ship it over. I'll cover return shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 1 hour ago, SainT said: It's not technically anyone's "fault" as such. ? It's just an odd situation caused by a combination of specific hardware setup and software settings. This only happens on early Lynx 2 models where they were using the Lynx 1 chipset (or at least not the final Lynx 2 chipset). So it's a very unusual case only affecting a few people. I'm based in the UK, I'm quite happy to take a look and sort the issue out if it's feasible for you to ship it over. I'll cover return shipping. I wasn't aware that Ben had a drop in replacement for these earlier model 2 units? The only 2 I've encountered like this one used a McWill but I had to use the model 1 LCD replacement for it and get creative with mounting of the screen. And the other used a BennVenn model 1 LCD but with a model 2 bracket. In either case, they weren't drop in replacements and I had to solder up the wiring for the signals to the LCDs. Far as I know, I've not heard about any issues with that earlier Ben screen Lynx II setup. But it is something I'd like to know what the specific cases are so that I can advise my clients going forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Cream Jonsey Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 On 5/30/2022 at 3:40 AM, Epsilon748 said: Where are you based? I can definitely ship my Lynx and GD over to you for testing if needed (and you're not half a world of expensive international shipping away). It's stumped BennVenn at this point and he had suspected it was a code issue with the GD after testing with the additional capacitor on the lcd board. In the meantime I ordered the elCheapoSD to see if that will work or not. Hey there! I have had so many problems with my post office and other local shippers lately that I didn't feel comfortable shipping mine to SainT while all the nonsense was going on. (And I apologize for not communicating that to SainT.) Epsilon748, if you end up shipping yours to him in the UK just let me know and I'll send you $25 through Paypal or Venmo or whatnot to help offset some of the shipping cost, as we'd all benefit here by investigation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SainT Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 No worries at all, it's expensive to ship stuff! I did have one other issue specific to a console revision where the guy was fortunately in the UK, so I was able to fix the issue and return his console quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epsilon748 Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 6 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said: I wasn't aware that Ben had a drop in replacement for these earlier model 2 units? The only 2 I've encountered like this one used a McWill but I had to use the model 1 LCD replacement for it and get creative with mounting of the screen. And the other used a BennVenn model 1 LCD but with a model 2 bracket. In either case, they weren't drop in replacements and I had to solder up the wiring for the signals to the LCDs. Far as I know, I've not heard about any issues with that earlier Ben screen Lynx II setup. But it is something I'd like to know what the specific cases are so that I can advise my clients going forward. I don't know if mine is an "early" Lynx II. Based on the Atari gamer page I used when I got my kit I thought it was actually one of the late model/more common ones (C104471 Rev A). I was mistaken though in calling this an IPS kit - it is a drop in kit from BennVenn but I think it's actually TFT and I confused it with my game gear bennvenn. I ordered it back in Nov and I think it was the rev5 version of this kit which is IPS now but I'll have to open it up and confirm. https://atarigamer.com/shop/LCDModKitsandParts/5701626568376320 As for shipping I can probably get it to the UK pretty inexpensively through work, but they only ship DHL. Last time I shipped there it got stuck in duty limbo and I don't know if there's a way to avoid paying duties on something going back for repair. Either that or if I should just use the local mail service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SainT Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 (edited) On 5/31/2022 at 8:39 PM, Epsilon748 said: As for shipping I can probably get it to the UK pretty inexpensively through work, but they only ship DHL. Last time I shipped there it got stuck in duty limbo and I don't know if there's a way to avoid paying duties on something going back for repair. Either that or if I should just use the local mail service. Sorry, your post was not approved and I missed seeing it until now! I use DHL regularly shipping internationally and have no issues, the duty side of things is no problem as I claim back anything paid through the business, so it just ends up being £10 or so in fees, which is fine. If you're happy to do this just drop me a DM and we'll get things moving. Edited June 4, 2022 by SainT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Cream Jonsey Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 I am sending mine to SainT tomorrow so hopefully something in there is solvable! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Cream Jonsey Posted July 30, 2022 Share Posted July 30, 2022 UPS wanted $230+ to ship it. I'm going to a DHL spot on Monday to check with them. ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SainT Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Just checked the price from UK to US for that size of package via UPS, ~$43. I have no idea why postage from the US to the UK is apparently so expensive when I can ship relatively cheaply to the US from the UK. It's bizarre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.