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Xbox turns on for a second, turns off, and then on again with an orange blinking light.


sgtsaughter
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Hey everyone, I'm having a problem with an original xbox that will turn on, with a solid green light for a second, then turn itself off.  Then back on with an orange blinking light, then turn itself off and on again until finally staying on with a blinking orange light with it's fan running what I think is full power (haven't confirmed this).  I can open the disc tray when in this state, but I can't power the xbox off unless I unplug the power from the back. 

I opened up the xbox.  I believe it's a v1.2 motherboard. It was in pretty good condition I thought considering the original owner said it sat in a closet for the past decade or so.  This xbox was not modded.  

I read that an orange blinking light could mean the xbox was overheating, which would explain the high fan speed.  So I removed the old thermal paste, and added new thermal paste, put it back together, plugged it in, and the same issue is happening.  I have tried a brand new A/V cable and power cord that I bought on amazon and that didn't seem to make a difference. 

Does anyone know what an orange blinking light and this sequence of powering on and off mean? I can't find good documentation on it anywhere.  I'm also looking to try anything else at this point if you have any recommendations.  

Here is a link to a video of the symptoms described above and some pictures of the montherboard.  Thanks for any help in advance!

https://imgur.com/a/7hMZWFn?

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The System Management Controller (SMC) is detecting an overheating condition.  This can be falsely sent to the SMC by the ADM1032 8-pin surface mount temperature sensor at location U6F1.  If clock cap electrolyte reached the two support caps on the left side or between the pins of the chip, the false reading can be sent.  Or, if the chip has died, another condition that can cause the false overheating signal to be registered by the SMC.

Fix:   Clean the motherboard in and around the chip with cotton swabs and 91%+ isopropyl alcohol.  If that doesn't fix it, unsolder it and replace it with a new one.

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/ON-Semiconductor/ADM1032ARMZ-REEL?qs=t2BMfLoP1KQzRXaQRzFLxA%3D%3D

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I noticed that you have pics of the white stuff on the PSU, That is a type of glue and is normal.

As KaosEngineer has posted clean the board after removing the clock cap but I would use a tooth brush instead of cotton swabs.

 

Cheers

SS Dave


Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

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Thanks for the responses. I cleaned the ADM1032 and the area around the ADM1032, including the area around the clock capacitor, with 91% isopropyl alcohol with qtips until there was no longer any residue getting on the qtip anymore. I let it dry and then plugged it back in and was having the same issue. I still haven't removed the clock capacitor so I'm going to do that next and clean around the area again.

I'm starting to think the ADM1032 is dead. Is there any way to check that (with a multimeter or something) before buying a new chip and replacing it? Also, does anyone have a manual or video on how to replace this chip? 

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2 hours ago, sgtsaughter said:

I'm starting to think the ADM1032 is dead. Is there any way to check that (with a multimeter or something) before buying a new chip and replacing it?

Not without proper test equipment.  Oscilloscope, logic analyzer, etc.

Quote

Also, does anyone have a manual or video on how to replace this chip? 

Find any YouTube video on the removal/replacement of a surface mount chip.  Hot air workstation comes in handy to heat all the solder and lift the chip off.

here's an example using a standard soldering iron and tweezers:

 

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Perfect, this is exactly what I needed.  For an update, I removed the time capacitor with my soldering iron, and cleaned the front and back of the board with IPA and cotton swabs.  I cleaned the ADM1032 multiple times and used extra IPA on it.  Then I put it all together and tried to turn the xbox on.  Basically the same issue occurs, however it takes a little while longer for the orange light to display.  If I leave the A/V cable out and power it on, it will first flash green and orange indicating that the A/V cable is unplugged, but will then go into its usual blinking orange and shutting on and off sequence. This wasn't the case before, so maybe I'm getting somewhere with cleaning it.  I'm going to try to clean it one more time, this time with a tooth brush, and see if it fixes the issue.  If not, I will order a replacement part for the ADM1032 and use the video you posted as a guide.  Thanks again! 

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On 4/23/2021 at 11:22 PM, KaosEngineer said:

The System Management Controller (SMC) is detecting an overheating condition.  This can be falsely sent to the SMC by the ADM1032 8-pin surface mount temperature sensor at location U6F1.  If clock cap electrolyte reached the two support caps on the left side or between the pins of the chip, the false reading can be sent.  Or, if the chip has died, another condition that can cause the false overheating signal to be registered by the SMC.

Fix:   Clean the motherboard in and around the chip with cotton swabs and 91%+ isopropyl alcohol.  If that doesn't fix it, unsolder it and replace it with a new one.

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/ON-Semiconductor/ADM1032ARMZ-REEL?qs=t2BMfLoP1KQzRXaQRzFLxA%3D%3D

Where the heck did you come up with this info? Did you work for Microsoft or something?

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From reading a lot of information about the Xbox shortly after they were released/modded till present day and repairing them.   It's getting harder each day to find much info since many of the old Xbox scene web sites no longer exist.

 

Xbox Temperature Sensor

The ADM1032 chip is an I2C bus connected dual-temperature sensor.  One sensor is used to detect the ambient air temp around the chip and one to process the CPU thermal diode signal.  

When an overheating condition is detected by the PIC processor (System Management Controller - SMC), it flashes the eject ring orange and speeds up the fan(s) to cool things down.  After a short time if that has no effect, the SMC shuts off the console to prevent damage.

 

The ADM1032 chip can die and the SMC sees that as an overheating condition.  Sometimes the clock cap's leaked electrolyte if it reached this chip can cause a false reading.  If the electrolyte reached the temp sensor, cleaning the electrolyte from the printed circuit board can sometimes clear the problem.  However, if the chip is dead, it has to be replaced.

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  • 9 months later...

@KaosEngineer

Thankyou for posting this obscure info about the ADM1032 chips relation to the temp sensors and fan high RPM/flashing orange light.

My Xbox decided to only show the logo then nothing and shutoff, then eventually no logo even.
Replaced every capacitor, and swapped the PSU, still no life.

Then I found this post.
Replaced the ADM1032 from a spares motherboard and everything is running solid again.

Thanks again, you saved another console :)

 

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@Bowlsnapperthat is an understatement lol. He's like the xboxlopedia. Mad Props. This is great to understand, so i had to dig more.

Found this from old Xbox-Scene knowledge:

GREEN/RED Flashing: Probably a bad chip or bad image.


SOLID GREEN/No EJECT/No AUDIO/No VIDEO:
Probably a bad solder point. Check all your points again.
It could also be a heat problem , make sure your fan is connected and don't put your xbox near heat sources. You can also try to open the top of the xbox and check if it goes better.


SOLID GREEN/No AUDIO/No VIDEO:
This is probably a problems with your audio settings. Try to boot your xbox with a standard a/v pack instead of a HD pack.


ORANGE/GREEN Flashing:
No AUDIO/VIDEO (A/V) pack.
This may also be down to a solder splash on the board or a damaged track.


ORANGE Flashing:
This may also be down to a solder splash on the board or a damaged track. May also be due overheating.


GREEN for half a sec then RED Flashing:
Bad/Corrupted or Empty Eeprom.


SOLID RED:
System overheated , hardware failure , ...


FLASHING RED:
Dead, broken or empty eeprom.

 

and: This would be good images/knowledge to save on the site.

 

The solution for the Orange Circle error and then turning off the console. After a lot of research, changing capacitors, power supply, forced cooling on the motherboard, I found the problem, it was the temperature controller, a chip that has a sensor connected to the CPU and internally has another one, which checks the temperature of the motherboard.


25329204291_90fc646328_z.jpg

24791611224_17b7c2bf34_z.jpg

The chip in question is located in the vicinity of the MCPX


25055413699_5999d6a526_z.jpg


marked on the motherboard as the U6F1

25126572880_49d68acca0_z.jpg

25396032316_202bf0131d_z.jpg



25329203421_ec0f6352f9_z.jpg

 

They are extremely cheap, but from China it takes at least a month to arrive, it occurred to me that, being a chip for general use, it could be found in other devices, and yes, it is in many electronic devices, even in notebook motherboards, the which checking some broken ones, I found that they all had one, from different manufacturers but the pinout is the same.


25126572030_4bbdac6422_z.jpg

And finished, several ignition cycles, stress control, more than 9 hours of operation, without problems.


24791779634_5532350e46_z.jpg
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  • 7 months later...
1 hour ago, lagoa12 said:

my Xbox is flashing orange and red, what could it be?

Memory Error - for some reason the memory on the motherboard is not functioning properly. 

It could be a broken trace, dead drive transistor, bad RAM chip, solder splash on the motherboard. So, many things can cause this problem to occur. 

Was it working before then after doing some work on the motherboard it started showing this error code on the eject ring?

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25 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

Memory Error - for some reason the memory on the motherboard is not functioning properly. 

It could be a broken trace, dead drive transistor, bad RAM chip, solder splash on the motherboard. So, many things can cause this problem to occur. 

Was it working before then after doing some work on the motherboard it started showing this error code on the eject ring?

I didn't do anything, I just stopped using it for 8 years and now I wanted to use it but it doesn't work

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  • 1 year later...
On 4/23/2021 at 4:22 PM, KaosEngineer said:

The System Management Controller (SMC) is detecting an overheating condition.  This can be falsely sent to the SMC by the ADM1032 8-pin surface mount temperature sensor at location U6F1.  If clock cap electrolyte reached the two support caps on the left side or between the pins of the chip, the false reading can be sent.  Or, if the chip has died, another condition that can cause the false overheating signal to be registered by the SMC.

Fix:   Clean the motherboard in and around the chip with cotton swabs and 91%+ isopropyl alcohol.  If that doesn't fix it, unsolder it and replace it with a new one.

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/ON-Semiconductor/ADM1032ARMZ-REEL?qs=t2BMfLoP1KQzRXaQRzFLxA%3D%3D

Wanted to say that I ran into this issue just this past week and this solution worked wonderfully. Bought another chip from Mouser, swapped it out with the original, and everything has been working wonderfully since. 

This was after cleaning the board, replacing the thermal paste, etc. 

Thank you!!

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