Lynx Mobo Swap

Most people have never heard of an Atari Lynx, it's an awesome gaming handheld from the original GameBoy era with some cool games. While the GameBoy was all black and green and impossible to see in a dark area, the Lynx had a nice backlit color screen.

I got my first Lynx a few years ago at a yard sale and loved it, but one day I came home and the screen was shattered, I never did find out how it happened. It sat on a shelf for 2-3 years.

A good friend of mine took me game shopping a little before Christmas, we went about 2-3 hrs away and visited a fellow collector, and we also went to a few retro game shops as well. At the last shop we went to, there it was, another Lynx :D My friend helped me buy it (they wanted $30, but I only had $15 left :P) and I was HAPPY!

Well, I decided to play my new Lynx today, went to turn it on, and nothing happened. I was like "WTF? Well maybe the batts are dead."(The Lynx eats thru batts like crazy) So I changed the batts, same thing. Unplugged the game and plugged it back in, nothing. Tried a different game, nothing. (The Lynx doesn't turn on without a game in it) So I was like "WTF!? I just got this a few weeks ago!"

Since I still had the Lynx with a broken screen in my game system graveyard, I decided to do a mobo swap.

My two Lynxes

I started by disassembling the one with the bad screen, the screws are hidden under the rubber grips




I removed the good board for transplant




I then disassembled the other Lynx. I noticed that the shielding had some kind of burn mark on it O_O

Do you see it?

After putting the good board in the good screen Lynx, I re-assembled it and checked it out.

It Lives!! xD

After I tested the working one, I re-assembled the broken one for storage. I threw the batteries in it, put a game in, and tried to turn it on for the lulz... It actually came on O_O I did a mobo transplant for nothing. What was actually wrong with the good screen one? I never found out...