Console FRAG after left alone for a few hours

[Games_Lover]

Hey,

Im a new member. Nice to meet yall. Hopefully i will get to know lots about the og xbox and have a good time.

(English not my language, but i will do my best)

So i have a problem and perhaps i could get some assistance here. I was gifted an og xbox, it was to be taken apart piece by piece and i said no no no lets see if i can do something about it. Took it home, power it on and after some attempts sure enough i get image asking for time and date. Deleted all save files and bought a game, game works. When the console is on and working theres no problem whatsoever.

So the console works, reads discs and saves to hdd. The console is not modified in any form it seems. I opened it up today for the first time and it has the original 10gb hdd, and the dashboard is stock. I removed the clock capacitor and it now asks for time and date. It had not leaked as far as i could tell. Looked around, did not see anything bizarre, just some dust. But i know nothing about this really so its my guess is it was ok, but im not sure. All connections seemed secure inside. Also AV cable and power chord are firmly in place when FRAG.

Console is 1.1 version according to kernel.

But it FRAG sometimes, everyday actually. So ill try to explain. If i leave the console alone for a few hours after last session, and come back to power it on, it FRAG. The longer i leave it alone, the harder it is to get it to boot and have video.

I have to keep to powering it on and off and eventually it displays video. I get no video when it does FRAG, no error codes. The FRAG is, it tries to boot two or three times, then flashes red and green. Other strange thing is if i keep trying to eject the tray i will get video sooner i believe. So that helps.

Also it does a noise, 2 or 3 times. The noise is exactly the noise from this video i found on reddit (in fact this is the same thing happening to my console, to a T, except mine eventually works)(hope the link is not against rules):

 

Im hoping its just the hdd dying because i intend to softmod and install a 2tb i have laying around. That im able to do.

But im a noob so i dont know how to read voltages, solder and all that stuff. But if there is anything simple i could do to try to fix this, im all ears.

Ill have a look around the forum to try and see all the good info around.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Cheers

[Fringle]

If I had to guess I would say it needs a recap.  So replacement of the capacitors.  You can lookup and buy kits for this or order them individually on their own.  Sounds like by power it on and off multiple times before getting it to boot is charging the capacitors enough to give it some life but once you turn it off they start to drain and once drained the problem returns.  I could however be wrong and the issue might be something else.  I did have an old TV like this though that I found on the side of the road.  If I plugged it in after being unplugged it would not turn on right away.  After some time of being plugged in the set would turn itself on and work until power was removed. Then the problem would then repeat.  I eventually replaced a bad capacitor and the problem was solved.

[Games_Lover]

2 minutes ago, Fringle said:

If I had to guess I would say it needs a recap.  So replacement of the capacitors.  You can lookup and buy kits for this or order them individually on their own.  Sounds like by power it on and off multiple times before getting it to boot is charging the capacitors enough to give it some life but once you turn it off they start to drain and once drained the problem returns.  I could however be wrong and the issue might be something else.  I did have an old TV like this though that I found on the side of the road.  If I plugged it in after being unplugged it would not turn on right away.  After some time of being plugged in the set would turn itself on and work until power was removed. Then the problem would then repeat.  I eventually replaced a bad capacitor and the problem was solved.

Hey thanks for the answer.

Makes sense. I did see something that i was not entirely sure was normal, a couple of small caps on the PSU that were not entirely vertical and there was something white coming out of them i think, or around them. I will try to search a photo of a healthy PSU and also open my console to try and take a picture and compare.

Im hoping its simple to change caps.

cheers

[FrostyMaGee]

7 minutes ago, Games_Lover said:

Hey thanks for the answer.

Makes sense. I did see something that i was not entirely sure was normal, a couple of small caps on the PSU that were not entirely vertical and there was something white coming out of them i think, or around them. I will try to search a photo of a healthy PSU and also open my console to try and take a picture and compare.

Im hoping its simple to change caps.

cheers

The white on the PSU is most likely an adhesive placed there on purpose if I had to guess based on your description. That’s normal but definitely compare to some others or post a pic here. 
 

As for the recap Fringle suggested…check the caps around the cpu heat sink. They should be in these locations C1E1, C2E1, C2E2, C2E5, C3E2. The 1.1 has five 1500 microfarad 6.3v caps there that tend to cause issues. A full recap would be best but I’d start there and then address any others on the mobo that look vented, leaking, etc. Unrelated you’ll want to remove or replace your clock cap. 

Edited March 7 by FrostyMaGee

[Games_Lover]

7 minutes ago, FrostyMaGee said:

The white on the PSU is most likely an adhesive placed there on purpose if I had to guess based on your description. That’s normal but definitely compare to some others or post a pic here. 
 

As for the recap Fringle suggested…check the caps around the cpu heat sink. They should be in these locations C1E1, C2E1, C2E2, C2E5, C3E2. The 1.1 has five 1500 microfarad 6.3v caps there that tend to cause issues. A full recap would be best but I’d start there and then address any others on the mobo that look vented, leaking, etc. Unrelated you’ll want to remove or replace your clock cap. 

Hey thanks for the answer.

Oh you´re right, i googled images of xbox og PSU and they have the white stuff.

I also did a quick search for those caps.. 1€ for 5 caps, sounds great. Reckon i might order some extra ones just in case. Know someone that might know how to install them.

Already removed the clock cap.

Cheers

[SakisTheDrifter]

That sound is your power supply(it does that when it powers off too fast when powered on). About the frag,i am going to tell you something similar that happened to me. I once wanted to add a fan on the gpu haeatsink(the passive one,without the fan on it)to make it cooler. I did, but the dvd drive was pushing on it when closing the chassis and after some days i started having this issue(frag,but after some attempts it boots normally). I removed the fan and it was fine again. So my guess for both of us is a cracked solder join. When it is cold,there is no connection and with all these attemps,the solder gets warm(expanding in the proccess)and then it makes connection. My suggestion here it to do a full reflow off the motherboard from both sides and check if that fixes the problem. Have a nice day