Video Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 I have a Lynx 2, and something's wrong with the power button. I can turn it off fine, but in order to turn it on, I just have to jam a cart in quickly, which can't be good for the cart, or pull the batteries and reinsert them (or the power supply) once the cart is in place. I just don't want to get it apart and be hard to get back together. It seems the power button is probably jammed or something. Anyhow, I haven't tried it yet, but how hard is it to remove the grips without destroying them? I figure the screws are under there, and I don't want to tear up the rubber getting it off. Any hints to get it off in once piece? As I have heard, the lynx has lots of parts indide, I don't know what lots is, but I've had the GameGear, and GBA both apart, and their both the main board, and then the screen (though the GG has a second board for a transformer or something by the battery pack) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 (edited) The Lynx II isn't very hard to disassemble, and yes the screws are under the grips. Just carefully pry under them a bit on one end, lift up and continue prying up a bit a time to remove them. You probably could try a hair dryer to heat them and the adhesive a bit first as well. Be very careful of the ribbon cables if/when you separate the main board. There aren't 'lots' of parts inside. The two main ones are the main board and LCD. Edited December 20, 2006 by remowilliams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieAtari Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 Here's a guide to Lynx II disassembly that may be of help: Inside_the_LYNX_II.doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emehr Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 I've had mine apart to clean the buttons and it isn't too hard at all. There are no spring-bound objects that will go flying or anything like that. Like remo said just be very careful of the ribbon cables. I accidentally tore mine when I took apart my defunct Lynx II. Just take your time and be patient with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted December 22, 2006 Author Share Posted December 22, 2006 Cool, thanks for the help. I just seem to remember, for some reason, hearing hooror stories of the lynx being all complexated inside and difficult to work on. But maybe that was in reference to the chipset and programming or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xubidoo Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 i think the Lynx 2 is harder to take apart than the Lynx 1 ,the 2 seemed to be made to make things a bit more tricky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+karri Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Cool, thanks for the help. I just seem to remember, for some reason, hearing hooror stories of the lynx being all complexated inside and difficult to work on. But maybe that was in reference to the chipset and programming or something. The Lynx electronics is covered by a metal shield that is soldered to the Lynx PCB. It takes a lot of courage to remove the shields in case you need to access some chips on the board. I have removed them a couple of times when I have tried to fix dead Lynxes. -- Karri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted December 22, 2006 Author Share Posted December 22, 2006 Oh well, I shouldn't ahve to take any shielding off, unless it prevents me from removing the screen, and the screen is attached to the front piece. Just need to fix a button. I got a second lynx, that's dead, maybe I'll do surgery on it first to make sure I don't mess anything up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted December 30, 2006 Author Share Posted December 30, 2006 Well, I tore the Lynx apart, got it all stripped down to it's major componants, and.....Flex Circuit?!?! Some of a B(cencor, censor, censor) language, anger rage....Flex circuit. No wonder the button failed. It's a piece of rubber crap attached to a nother piece of rubber crap. In general, it's shit. And here I thought maybe they learned their lesson on the 5200. Damn...Oh well. It's kind of cool to see what the inside looks like. It's not nearly as complicated as peiple make it out to be, It's one circuit board, with four wires attached, a speaker wire, a backlight wire, a video flex circuit, and a controller flex circuit. And apparently I did something wrong, cause my non working lynx that I took apart, worked even less well once I got it all back together. Oh well, it was a junker anyways, but I'm definately glad that I took apart a dead system instead of my working one. Now I know, that what IS wrong with my lynx, can unfortunately, not be fixed, short of ripping out the flex circuit and replaceing everythign with microswitches, but I'm to lazy to do that Oh well. I'll just use my old method of 'unplug, put cart in, plug back in' as long as that works for me. Anyhow, thansk for the help, I learned something I don't believe I've ever seen anyone bring up about it at least. Better get a new lynx as replacement for when this one craps out (hmm...I wonder if the dead lynxes controller works still? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 (edited) Actually, the flex circuit probably can be fixed. Disclaimer: I've never worked on an actual Lynx, but I've worked on some handhelds (Game Boys have flex circuits for the video, and IIRC, 'Gear video is soldered to the motherboard) and I've sucessfully repaired 5200 flex circuits. It sounds to me like the 'Gear is actually the most complex portable mentioned here. the second board in case you're curious, deals with incoming power and the little transformer you see by the screen is what starts the backlight with a burst of several thousand volts. Find the break first. It'll show up as a crack or a fold in the dark part of the flex circuit. You can fix this with a circuit pen or with fine wire and solder. You will need an xacto knife, too. If you're going to use a cicuit pen, use the knife to scrape the plastic insulator off on both side of the actual break. Now you can "draw: a new circuit back in place. Once the ink cures, you're good to go. Check it before you reassemble it. I prefer solder and fine wire myself. It's faster and more durable. To do this, find a flat spo on either side of the break. It's got to be big enough to solder to with out the solder spilling onto any bends or flexes in the circuit. Scrape the plastic off the flat spots to make some redneck style solder pads. You don't need to put a hole in the conductor. Now you simply solder in the fine wire to each of your new pads. Use a 25 watt or smaller iron for this, and keep the heat on just long enough to do the job, lest the flex circuit melt. If you do it right, the wire will remain stuck to the flex circuit. Edited December 31, 2006 by shadow460 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 Well, that would work if a trace was broken, but the problem (at least seems to be) is that the button is permanantly pressed. It has no problems working once it's on, or being turned off, if I pushe the off button. But the on button doesn't work if pressed, and the system will come on, if the power plug is pulled, and reinserted, a battery is removed and replaced, or a cart is pulled out and put back in (though that last option I assume is bad for the carts so I dont' do that.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+karri Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Well, that would work if a trace was broken, but the problem (at least seems to be) is that the button is permanantly pressed. It has no problems working once it's on, or being turned off, if I pushe the off button. But the on button doesn't work if pressed, and the system will come on, if the power plug is pulled, and reinserted, a battery is removed and replaced, or a cart is pulled out and put back in (though that last option I assume is bad for the carts so I dont' do that.) The "on" and "off" buttons work with the same chips. So if "off" works then the "on" should work too. As you already have a dead Lynx also why not swap the working board in the dead Lynx. It may be faster than ripping out the flex circuits from both units. -- Karri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Dumb question, but the On button is jammed down, is it? I also wonder if the carbon pads in there might have slid off and got jammed. *thinks* isn't there a place where the flex circuit plugs in? I'd make sure that's tight. If it's twisted just wrong, it might be shorting some of the contacts on the board end of the flex circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+karri Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 (edited) Dumb question, but the On button is jammed down, is it? I also wonder if the carbon pads in there might have slid off and got jammed. *thinks* isn't there a place where the flex circuit plugs in? I'd make sure that's tight. If it's twisted just wrong, it might be shorting some of the contacts on the board end of the flex circuit. It is not possible that the "on" button is jammed to a short. If it was then the "off" would not work at all. What is possible is that the "on" button does not have any contact with the main board at all. When you press the "on" button there are two inverters connected to form a loop. You just force the state of the output to "1" by shorting it to +5V with the "on" button or to "0" by shorting it to the ground (through a RC circuit). The two inverters will then remember the last state. -- Karri Edited January 2, 2007 by karri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 I suppose it could out and out be missing the on buton internally. But I got a question that may help. With a properly working lynx (all buttons work as should and everything processorwise works, and is unmoded) Will the lynx come on when a power sourse is applied? Or will it stay off, untill the power button is pushed? Some systems, like GameBoy, will stay off,untill the power is turned on (of course, GameBoy has a physical power swithc) while something like game.com will turn on when a battery or power supply is hooked up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 With a properly working lynx (all buttons work as should and everything processorwise works, and is unmoded) Will the lynx come on when a power sourse is applied? Or will it stay off, untill the power button is pushed? It will stay off until the power button is pressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+karri Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 With a properly working lynx (all buttons work as should and everything processorwise works, and is unmoded) Will the lynx come on when a power sourse is applied? Or will it stay off, untill the power button is pushed? It will stay off until the power button is pressed. That's a very good point. So it really appears that the "on" button is stuck. I had a closer look at the schematics and there is a large capacitor that drains the power for a short time when you press "off". So it explains why you can turn it off even if the "on" is stuck. Obviously the "on" button has enough resistance value to allow "off" to work even if "on" is stuck. -- Karri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted January 7, 2007 Author Share Posted January 7, 2007 Well, darn. Maybe it can be cleaned or something then? Or I could try what you said and use the busted lynx for parts. That is, if the busted one's controller is in working order (it looked OK when I had it apart, but I wasn't really looking for problems) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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