Help please

[Bobzilla]

I've got an OLD xbox (1.5 or earlier) with an xecuter 2.6 ce running avalaunch, on a solderless xapt3r mount. But it's misbehaving. In a few ways.

Loading has now become very hit or miss. With modchip turned off, it has stopped reading certain discs, getting progressively worse and I think it might be won't read at all now.

With chip on, I am getting lots of frag boots - failing to boot, auto reset, fail, auto rest, red green flagging eject button.

When it finally boots, it is taking a long time to load, and usually crashes.

I'm suspecting that it's time to replace the hard drive, yes? If so, I cannot remember at all how to set up the new hard drive.

Is anything else likely to be dying, like the optical drive? I've not opened anything up since I fitted the chip in 2008.

All help gratefully received. Thanks.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Bobzilla
Add detail

[lopenator]

have you checked the capacitors? I would start there.

Edited December 5, 2023 by lopenator

[Bobzilla]

2 minutes ago, lopenator said:

have you checked the capacitors? I would start there.

You reminded me. It won't hold the clock any more.

[lopenator]

6 minutes ago, Bobzilla said:

You reminded me. It won't hold the clock any more.

definitely look at the capacitors. the clock cap may be leaking and causing irreparable damage to your beloved xbox and can cause many of the issues you are experiencing. Also if you HDD is still ide it is most likely on its way out and I would update that also.

Edited December 5, 2023 by lopenator

[Bobzilla]

Just bought screwdrivers to take it apart - Don't want to wait until the weekend. Thanks.

[dtomcat]

I agree. Caps.  Sounds like clock cap for sure.  Notorious for leaking and eating away at the MB.  Make sure you have isopropyl alcohol on hand and soft bristle toothbrush on hand. 

[fox]

2 hours ago, Bobzilla said:

With chip on, I am getting lots of frag boots - failing to boot, auto reset, fail, auto rest, red green flagging eject button.

 I had a 2.6ce and xapt3r which did those things all the time ( a year long ), too. I assume you've re-seated the xapt3r at times and noticed the problems go away for a awhile?

All this is because the xapt3r provides a crappy connection. It's so bad I seriously doubt that the clock capacitor, even if it has leaked as mentioned, is contributing to the symptoms. 

I suggest learning to solder and installing the pins for the xecuter if you can find or possibly make some. Using the pins fixed those boot problems for me 100%.

[FrostyMaGee]

As others have mentioned I’d definitely check and either replace or remove the clock cap. Also definitely look on the top and bottom of the motherboard for any electrolytic leakage from the clock cap and get that cleaned up if present. I’d check out the state of the capacitors near the cpu as well. Depending on the version there will be 3-5 caps and they’ll be either 6.3v 1500uf or 6.3v 3300uf. Since you’re going to have it open anyway it would be worth giving the mobo and quick look to make sure the traces look ok, double check the solderless mount you mentioned, and give the PSU capacitors a quick look as well just to make sure no caps look like they’re bulging or leaking.

Edited December 5, 2023 by FrostyMaGee

[big F]

Maybe its about time I dusted off my old guide that was on Xbox scene showing the removal process and replacement with coin cell battery for those that wanted the time to stay more permanently.  Coin cells last about a year.

Probably needs an edit for the 1.6’s as back then they didnt leak.

Edited December 5, 2023 by big F

[Bowlsnapper]

1 hour ago, big F said:

Maybe its about time I dusted off my old guide that was on Xbox scene showing the removal process and replacement with coin cell battery for those that wanted the time to stay more permanently.  Coin cells last about a year.

Probably needs an edit for the 1.6’s as back then they didnt leak.

That's actually a REALLY good idea. The coin cells are rechargeable also, correct? You could keep the time during unplugs for years...

Please do post that.

[big F]

I use CR2032 cells you need to disable the Xbox’s ability to charge the capacitor that would normally be there other wise bad things happen.   

I had cheap pound store CR2032 batteries that lasted 6 plus months where the Xbox never saw mains electricity.

the decent cells can last a year and can be hot swapped when the unit is turned on.

 

 

I will pull the guide and get it posted up here to be useful.

[Bobzilla]

Yep, clock cap has leaked. It doesn't look too have damaged the board - certainly the underside of board is perfectly clean, but I'll need to clean with ipa before I can be sure. I think I'll remove the cap rather than replace.

The other caps looked OK, but there was quite a lot of dust that will need cleaning off.  I'll check them properly when i sort the clock cap this weekend. And look at soldering pin headers in. It's a 1.0/1.1 board so should be easy enough.

[Bowlsnapper]

On 12/5/2023 at 1:49 PM, big F said:

I use CR2032 cells you need to disable the Xbox’s ability to charge the capacitor that would normally be there other wise bad things happen.   

I had cheap pound store CR2032 batteries that lasted 6 plus months where the Xbox never saw mains electricity.

the decent cells can last a year and can be hot swapped when the unit is turned on.

 

 

I will pull the guide and get it posted up here to be useful.

I haven't looked yet, but is there anywhere in these guides that mentions placing the battery socket maybe on the underside of the console so you don't have to open it every time? A molex connector would make this easy if the mobo needs to be removed for any reason.

[FrostyMaGee]

3 hours ago, Bobzilla said:

Yep, clock cap has leaked. It doesn't look too have damaged the board - certainly the underside of board is perfectly clean, but I'll need to clean with ipa before I can be sure. I think I'll remove the cap rather than replace.

The other caps looked OK, but there was quite a lot of dust that will need cleaning off.  I'll check them properly when i sort the clock cap this weekend. And look at soldering pin headers in. It's a 1.0/1.1 board so should be easy enough.

Yeah that should be pretty easy on the 1.0/1.1 lpc. Once you get the board cleaned up I’d just take a closer look at the traces around that leaking clock cap just to double check everything is cool like you mentioned doing. As for the cpu caps I’d just go ahead and replace them even if they look ok. I replace them by default on every Xbox I open up due to their age. Regardless of appearance. That’s just me though.  

[Bowlsnapper]

10 minutes ago, FrostyMaGee said:

Yeah that should be pretty easy on the 1.0/1.1 lpc. Once you get the board cleaned up I’d just take a closer look at the traces around that leaking clock cap just to double check everything is cool like you mentioned doing. As for the cpu caps I’d just go ahead and replace them even if they look ok. I replace them by default on every Xbox I open up due to their age. Regardless of appearance. That’s just me though.  

I am lazy and don't do it almost ever. It's NOT good practice. I should probably just get a shit ton of the typical caps and have them on hand to use when needed.

[FrostyMaGee]

17 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

I am lazy and don't do it almost ever. It's NOT good practice. I should probably just get a shit ton of the typical caps and have them on hand to use when needed.

You might as well. The caps are cheap from mouser and Digikey and you get a price break at different levels when buying in bulk. Plus you know how to solder so it wouldn’t take much time to hit the main problem caps. I found I was replacing cpu caps frequently enough (and if I had to replace one I just replaced them all) that I started just doing it every time regardless. I’m sure best practice is to recap the entire board but I almost never feel like doing that and it takes a while. Lol

[big F]

7 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:

I haven't looked yet, but is there anywhere in these guides that mentions placing the battery socket maybe on the underside of the console so you don't have to open it every time? A molex connector would make this easy if the mobo needs to be removed for any reason.

I mentioned it in my guide but never went further than that.  Reason being the batteries last a year, and at the time none of my OGs stayed shut for that long.  
Theres no reason way that wouldnt work.  A micro molex connector is all that would be needed. This would make it very discrete.

[Bobzilla]

18 hours ago, FrostyMaGee said:

Yeah that should be pretty easy on the 1.0/1.1 lpc. Once you get the board cleaned up I’d just take a closer look at the traces around that leaking clock cap just to double check everything is cool like you mentioned doing. As for the cpu caps I’d just go ahead and replace them even if they look ok. I replace them by default on every Xbox I open up due to their age. Regardless of appearance. That’s just me though.  

That's my Christmas sorted then. Just ordered a set of magnifying glasses to make it easier on my old eyes...

I'm tempted to take my second one apart, but I'll sort this one first.

Is there a list of the caps I could do with replacing so I can get new ones ordered?  Thanks

[FrostyMaGee]

Magnifier definitely helps. I know the feeling. Lol. Here is a link from @KaosEngineer for the 3300uf 6.3v caps. These are the same caps I get but since I’m in the US I order them from Mouser Electronics. Wasn’t sure of your location. If you’re in the US I can send you the link from Mouser. If you’re just going to replace the cpu caps these will be all you need. 
 

 

“3300 microFarad 6.3Vdc rated, I suggest

• Panasonic FR series
• Nichicon UHW series, or
• Rubycon ZLQ series

electrolytic capacitors.

Order the capacitors from  https://uk.rs-online.com/. They have the Panasonic FR caps in 5 or 200 packs.

5 Pack - https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/aluminium-capacitors/7660044 

Price Each (In a Pack of 5): £0.974 (exc. VAT) £1.169 (inc. VAT)

200 Pack - https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/aluminium-capacitors/9232770

Price Each (In a Bag of 200): £0.576 (exc. VAT) £0.691 (inc. VAT)”

[Bowlsnapper]

7 minutes ago, FrostyMaGee said:

Magnifier definitely helps. I know the feeling. Lol. Here is a link from @KaosEngineer for the 3300uf 6.3v caps. These are the same caps I get but since I’m in the US I order them from Mouser Electronics. Wasn’t sure of your location. If you’re in the US I can send you the link from Mouser. If you’re just going to replace the cpu caps these will be all you need. 
 

 

 

“3300 microFarad 6.3Vdc rated, I suggest

• Panasonic FR series
• Nichicon UHW series, or
• Rubycon ZLQ series

electrolytic capacitors.

Order the capacitors from  https://uk.rs-online.com/. They have the Panasonic FR caps in 5 or 200 packs.

5 Pack - https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/aluminium-capacitors/7660044 

Price Each (In a Pack of 5): £0.974 (exc. VAT) £1.169 (inc. VAT)

200 Pack - https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/aluminium-capacitors/9232770

Price Each (In a Bag of 200): £0.576 (exc. VAT) £0.691 (inc. VAT)”

I know it was just explained but I'm confused by this post. Lol. Forgive my retardation, but do you have any idea how much it may cost to have 200 of each capacitor necessary for the 1.0 to 1.4s?

[FrostyMaGee]

32 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

I know it was just explained but I'm confused by this post. Lol. Forgive my retardation, but do you have any idea how much it may cost to have 200 of each capacitor necessary for the 1.0 to 1.4s?

Having 200 of every capacitor for each revision would add up to a lot. Lol. This was just for the 6.3v 3300uf  3-5 cpu caps. He obviously wouldn’t need 200 even of these. Since he only has two Xboxes the max would be ten (5 per board) but probably not even that if he has different versions where they cut them back. I’ve ordered 50, 100, and 200 of these at a time but I go through them fairly fast. 
 

For every capacitor on a board I have no clue on the cost. A lot of them will be the same or in cases like the 6.3v 1500uf caps you can use the 6.3v 3300uf caps. You wouldn’t necessarily have to get the former. 

Edited December 7, 2023 by FrostyMaGee

[FrostyMaGee]

1 hour ago, Bobzilla said:

That's my Christmas sorted then. Just ordered a set of magnifying glasses to make it easier on my old eyes...

I'm tempted to take my second one apart, but I'll sort this one first.

Is there a list of the caps I could do with replacing so I can get new ones ordered?  Thanks

It also occurred to me you might want to know the location of those caps on the motherboard. If so let me know what version you have and I can tell you that as well or DM me a pic of the motherboard. Whatever is easiest.  

[Bowlsnapper]

33 minutes ago, FrostyMaGee said:

Having 200 of every capacitor for each revision would add up to a lot. Lol. This was just for the 6.3v 3300uf  3-5 cpu caps. He obviously wouldn’t need 200 even of these. Since he only has two Xboxes the max would be ten (5 per board) but probably not even that if he has different versions where they cut them back. I’ve ordered 50, 100, and 200 of these at a time but I go through them fairly fast. 
 

For every capacitor on a board I have no clue on the cost. A lot of them will be the same or in cases like the 6.3v 1500uf caps you can use the 6.3v 3300uf caps. You wouldn’t necessarily have to get the former. 

Fair point... Maybe 50 of each then. Every board I touch should be seeing recaps... and I go through quite a few at this point. lol. I need to go shopping.

Also need to get some more resin for the resin printer, on an unrelated note.
 

  

10 minutes ago, FrostyMaGee said:

It also occurred to me you might want to know the location of those caps on the motherboard. If so let me know what version you have and I can tell you that as well or DM me a pic of the motherboard. Whatever is easiest.  

Yep! Thank you very much. I'll look at prices now. 

I've done recaps for CRTs before... this should be a cakewalk as long as they are all electrolytics.

[FrostyMaGee]

3 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Fair point... Maybe 50 of each then. Every board I touch should be seeing recaps... and I go through quite a few at this point. lol. I need to go shopping.

Also need to get some more resin for the resin printer, on an unrelated note.

Are you thinking of doing full recaps or just the problem areas? Full recap will take a little while. Lol. I’ve did a few of them years back. Mostly just hit the problem areas now and anything that looks suspect. 

[big F]

I think going on experience recapping will be the norm for us in a few years.