This is what's inside an Atari Lynx cartridge!

I was recently given a few items, one of them being this not working copy of Rampage for the Atari Lynx, so with nothing to lose let's dive in and see what's inside!
If you like what I do and want to encourage more, I appreciate your support through likes and comments below. If you have the means, you could also support me on Patreon as money helps me buy broken things to fix and build more projects - / silvervest
Any feedback is welcome, as always.
Credits!
Music:
* Masaru Setsumaru - Data Select (from Sonic 3)
Font: Riciery Leal - VCR OSD Mono (www.dafont.com/vcr-osd-mono.font)
Putting up with my weird hobbies: My wife
Disclaimer!
I am NOT an expert, I have genuinely NO idea what I'm doing, and mostly just glue things together and use a lot of Google-fu until stuff works. I've been tinkering with electronics since I was a kid but have no formal training and will probably do things incorrectly. If you learn something from this, that's awesome, but trust me - I'm learning too!
#atari #lynx #cartridge

[@Cornz38]

The Lynx was brilliant... One of the best handheld consoles of the era...

[@DanieruX10]

Always wanted to know what the insides of the lynx carts were like. Thank you!

[@MARCSLASH]

Me too. Thank you!

[@RetroDawn]

Ditto!

[@SonicBoone56]

I always thought that Lynx cartridges were too thin for their own good. I can imagine a lot of stress is put on the entire board.

[@roydriver8956]

You win some, you lose some.

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

Exactly. I think I might use the case for a programmable game cart with a bit of grinding

[@FatNorthernBigot]

I was fascinated to see how my favourite console's cartridges were constructed, but what a huge disappointment.

[@Shinquapin]

If you're feeling really adventurous, you could try grinding away some of the epoxy to see if any of the bond wires have broken, but it's very tricky and probably won't result in a fix. It was cool to see the inside of one of these games though!

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

That's a great idea, and I don't have much to lose! I guess I'm going back in 😅

[@TheSocialGamer]

@@silvestronsbitsandbytes How'd you make out. anything?

[@--Lam]

Pretty low chance of the bond wires breaking while being encapsulated in the hardest part of the cartridge. You'd deform the outer plastic and crack the PCB before that blob could realistically suffer in any way (like separating wires from the chip inside). There's a chance of the whole blob separating from the PCB (breaking the bond on that end), but we would probably already see it around 5:30. So no, I bet on the chip itself getting fried :(

[@ostiariusalpha]

Chances are something has failed inside the actual mask ROM. Might as well tear it apart and have a peek at what a ROM's innards look like.

[@baconeater312]

if you boil pine tar resin and submerge the blob top in there wouldn't it disolve the apoxy like that other dude does on youtube

[@thompsongooglehome107]

Great video!

[@ForwardBias]

Good video, love this kinda stuff :)

[@Raduga77]

I have 1 game that exhibits the same behaviour in my collection... It's Rampage! Seems rather coincidental.. I haven't gotten to taking a look at the cart yet but, thanks to your video, it looks like it'll be pointless to take a look. Thanks for the video :)

[@android01978]

That’s very interesting. I wonder if there were a batch of faulty rampage carts as I had an issue with one new one in the 90s that I bought very cheap at the end of the consoles life. On the plus side, it then gave me a cart that I chopped up and connected to 8 UV erasable roms to make m own programmable cart. Later I changed it to 8 stacked sram chips with a capacitor.

[@RetroDawn]

​@@android01978 Very cool! You put 8 stacked ICs on a PCB you managed to fit in a Lynx cart? In that divet for the blobbed IC? How long did the capacitor in your SRAM cart last when detached? I assume it "charged" while plugged into a turned on Lynx.

[@techboogaloo]

The dreaded blob chip... most likely whatever issues that game has is sealed in its epoxy tomb. Did you try checking continuity from the pins through the VIAs, I know you can only check so far before they disappear into the black void, but maybe you get lucky and its just a broken trace somewhere that you can repair. Either way I appreciate you showing the world what is in those paper thin carts.

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

Yep, checked all continuity from board edge to as close to the blob as I could get, no breaks. Cheers!

[@Thiesi]

Whoa, I was already getting my digital pitchfork ready, hovered the mouse pointer over the _Unsubscribe_ button, and prepared to report you to the retro community police for exercising violence on screen when I first read the title because I thought you'd just brutally tear that cartridge apart. After watching the video I can safely say _crisis averted_ and _I should have known better._

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

I would never rage bait my loyal viewers like that ;)

[@Mrshoujo]

The 1st Rygar cartridge I bought for my mom failed. Thankfully I was able to replace it at the time. It would be interesting to see an EEPROM put in place.

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

Yeah, I could definitely use this case for one of the recreation EEPROM carts, like BennVenn's blank cart, with only a bit of modding

[@wimwiddershins]

Try tapping it on a hard surface. If it's bond wire separation, you -might- just be able to jag it. 🤔 More likely is some failure/damage on the silicon though.

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

Oh interesting idea, worth a shot before I grind into the epoxy as well! Thanks!

[@JendaLinda]

I suppose game cartridges with exposed contacts could be easily damaged by static electricity.

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

That could definitely be the case! Ah well.

[@Thiesi]

Yet it happened surprisingly rarely - despite everything we were putting them through back in the day.

[@joshmiller887]

It looked like on the side that the chip was on had a couple traces to the left that look broken? Maybe it was just the angle of the camera.

[@pacsonic9000]

Try wiggling the game while it's inside and find a position where it works. That's how it's done on other game systems including the Game Boy line.

[@Tossphate]

My rampage is the game in my collection that's done this as well

[@Riz2336]

Very interesting. I always wondered what these and hu cards aka turbo chips look like in the inside

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

I do have some HuCards but they're all working so I don't want to sacrifice one... might have to hunt for a similarly dead one to play with!

[@Penfold8]

You could have put some hot air on that epoxy blob and it would have come right off.

[@BrekMartin]

Um, no you couldn’t.

[@RustBunny]

Too bad it's not working and likely won't. But now you have a potential home for another game if a PCB needs it.

[@Hypn0s2]

I'd never seen the inside of a Lynx cart before. I know it is just Rampage but only one EPROM chip? Wow. Yeah I'm not sure there was much you could of done. I was really hoping for a broken trace or something. If the EPROM is dead, meh, there's nothing to salvage. Literally the only thing on that cart. Not everyone shows failed repairs. Good on you for showing this.

[@ostiariusalpha]

It's mask ROM, no way Atari was paying extra for EPROM chips back then.

[@sysghost]

A thin flexible PCB and a flimsy plastic "shroud" didn't give the cartridge much protection at all. It almost entirely depended on the epoxy blob itself to be rigid enough to "protect" the chip and its bond wires. Due to flexing and rough handling those bond wires under the epoxy would eventually lift off the PCB and cause intermittent problems, only to fail completely later on.

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

I guess 34 years of mishandling got the better of it! As mentioned in some other comments, I might attempt to carefully "excavate" the chip under the epoxy and see what's what.. maybe I can do it carefully enough to see damage (doubt it though!)

[@Cornz38]

6:28, you right hand tweezer catches on the 2nd to the last pin on the right. is there something sticking through the via?????

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

Just a bit of leftover glue that I didn't clear out

[@Cornz38]

Ah, i wondered if the "ring" of the pad had come loose and was not making contact.@@silvestronsbitsandbytes

[@agenttexx]

I remember the Lynx and always thought it was very clunky and cheap feeling when compared to the Gameboy.

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

I only had a Game Boy back then, never experienced the Lynx until I was an adult, but I can definitely see how it would be compared like that! Oddly, I prefer the Lynx model 1 over the model 2 that I have as well, which is even clunkier!

[@robert5235]

I had the first one and it was better than that one. Thought it was better quality than game boy

[@EnigPartyhaus]

the fact the board's only rear defense is the label is pretty cheap and scummy for Atari

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

I'm honestly surprised how many are still in good working condition based on that, with such poor protection I'd expect worse but here we are

[@TheSocialGamer]

@@silvestronsbitsandbytes there's literally nothing to damage. Most likely it was electrically shocked at some point in its life.

[@BrekMartin]

Have you noticed the bulge in the back of 512Gb micro SD cards? That’s a little scary.

[@painter194]

I’ve heard that certain games only work on certain models of the Lynx. Maybe this is one of those games?? if you ever get your hands on the different model Lynx, give it another try.

[@braddl9442]

Seems like the rom might have got corrupted. Power surge or static shock to the cart?

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

Possible! I don't know the history of the cart, and I don't think the viewer that sent it in does either, so anyone's guess as to what happened and when!

[@tobiaskraft6695]

its rare, but sometimes the Eprom dies for years. Have one Mega Drive Cartridge from Tengen, didnt work to.

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

Based on comments from other users, it seems like a common fault in these Rampage carts for the Lynx, which is interesting!

[@tobiaskraft6695]

@@silvestronsbitsandbytes is it possible for you to melt the glue and change the eprom on a other Lynx Card? that is a opinion i think Greets from Germany ✋

[@greensun1334]

Still less fragile than a micro SD card...😅

[@SylvesterAshcroft88]

I forgot what a chunky boy the lynx was!

[@MichaelMcCallum712]

Great to sell you my 32x today. Let me know how it goes.

[@silvestronsbitsandbytes]

Great to meet you, looking forward to checking it out :D

[@allyoucaneatchili]

Depressing PCB for 1989. No solder mask, no silkscreen, no packaged ICs, no passives. While every company wants to turn a profit, Atari clearly wanted to squeeze that stone for every drop of blood.

[@android01978]

Why would you want to add to the cost? The fact that it’s a single chip that can fit on a card rather than gameboy multi-chip solution is brilliant.

[@AgentLazarus]

I don't get it. With a game this old we should be able to see the actual transistors or a shining grainy look. Wtf.

[@Kawa-oneechan]

The pinout on that thing is wack.

[@eadweard.]

You'd need to be more specific really.

[@waroonh4291]

Epoxy Chip is unacceptable.

[@johneygd]

I was actually expecting that you would also remove the epoxy to see what’s underneat it and maybe discover the issue of it as well,but sadly you didn’t go that far as of now,of well maybe next time.

[@robertomoi2044]

That accent lol