Atari lynx 2 powers only from wall unit

[Endor 16]

finally broke down and scored a somewhat broken Atari Lynx 2.  upon my testing the unit will not power with new batteries at all, however it will power on with the wall unit.  Is this just replacing the zen diode or would really require a full power rebuild?  any help would greatly be appreciated.

[+Stephen Moss]

You have just jumped straight to a completetly pointless conclusion that the Zenner diode is the issue with no evidence to support it, if the Zenner was the issue the effect should be the same effect whether powered from batteries or the external power unit.

 

The power connectors is effectively a switch, when you plug the external supply in the switch is opened and battery GND connection is disconnected, when you remove the external power connector the switch should automatically close reconnecting the batteries.

It is far more likely that the issue lies there than with the Zenner, either a bad solder joint on the power connector or a faulty power connector, I cannot remember what it is off hand but if you use the forums search facillity search I am sure a part number or link to it will have been posed somewhere.

 

If you have a multi-meter you can trace the circuit through from both battery connections through to the respective ends of C66/D16 (D11/C35 in the Lynx 2) first to identify if the problem does indeed lie in that area of the circuit or not, otherwise I would suggest replacing the power connector before doing anything else as that is the far more likely source of the problem.

 

[endor16]

much appreciated for the response and will start figuring out the problem based on your data points.