Timeline Lynx Repair?

Alex Gerst

New member
Hi Guys, I just purchased a Studer A 827 with 289 hours on it!!
It came with 2 TIMELINE LYNX -2's But both of the timelines don't power up unless you hit the power button like 50 times, I got it to boot up about 3 or 4 times in a 3 hour time span, Once they are running they work fine I have recapped the power supply for them and no change. and I have reseated all of the IC chips too..Is there anybody that can work on these?
Or does anyone have a pair to sell?
Thanks in Advance!
Alex Gerst
 
I don't think there is anyone on the planet who can or will repair those...but if you find anyone, post their contact info.

The Lynx-2 are the older Timeline sync boxes.
Your best bet is to try and find some of the later/last Timline units that were made, the MicroLynx...but even they are pretty rare these days, and that they are in working conditions. You need the MicroLynx unit and the keyboard...and the unit needs to have the necessary cards, plus you will need to find (or make) the communication cable that works for your deck.

If you search the Analog forum here, there is plenty of info, including schematic for the com cables, along with other info.
Oh...and don't forget the PSU...they need a specific type, and it seems most people that have a unit to sell, don't have a PSU because they lost it or it died.
There are alternatives....but all that you can find here in the Analog forums...just search for it.
I've posted that info several times, and so have others, and I hate to have to type it all out and try to remember everything...but it is here already for you. :)

I have a couple of the MicroLynx, but I use them with my deck, and also want to have the spares...because like I said, there's probably no one on the planet that repairs these...or that would have the parts. Timeline has been out of production for about 20 years, with less and less users....but those that use/need them, well, we tend to hoard and cling to our working units. :D
 
It's possible that the ROM is starting to lose its contents and only reading back the OS intermittently, but the PSU seems more likely. If it were me, I'd hook up a multimeter to the outputs and see what it's giving you in its working and dead states. I'd guess the 5v line is acting up. At a pinch it might be possible to build a replacement PSU in an external box.

EDIT: on the MK1 it's just a linear supply in the corner of the machine, a transformer, rectifier, some capacitors and voltage regulators. If I had to guess I'd say 5v for the logic and +12v/-12v signal processing.
If the MK2 is the same, I'd check the 5V regulator and see that it's outputting 5V.
 
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Stable and clean +5V...I don’t know what you have for test equipment, but in addition to checking DC voltage of the +5V rail, it should be steady at right around +5V, but also check AC voltage. It should be zero.
 
Hey guys thanks for the responses! So the voltages are the same dead or working, I took the Timelines to A tech here in town and we put a scope on the rails, they weren't terribly noisy but not that as good as he would like to see. But he really want's to try and track down the schematic's. So we are not just shooting in the dark so to speak..
JPmorris yes we were wondering if the roms are going bad too. I think I might have seen someone posting ROM images here when I was looking around.
 
Hmm. I am not finding a ROM image for the Lynx 2 online. It might be a good idea to take the ROMs you have and image those, if your tech has the equipment to do so. If possible, dump the image back into a fresh ROM and see if that helps any. If it still behaves intermittently it's probably not the ROM, but at least you'll have a copy of it in case the data does fade out.
 
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