opportunist part time FRAGing v1.0 with PSU capacitor questions.

[hubbanubba]

Hello, i bought a used v1.0 xbox some months ago, which i've modded. but lately i've had problems with it.

It manifested by some times i would turn it on and it does the 3 on/offs then christmas lights. Then all of a sudden it can work again for 5 times, next day i turn it on again, and it won't boot. Have to take out the motherboard and inspect my solderjoints, all ok, into the xbox and it might work again, if not repeat process etc. past 2 days i've used it, it's been working perfect then i noticed it just suddenly freezes and throws a high pitch sound on the speakers without me doing anything but just idling in xbmc menu somewhere. And now it won't start sucessfully at all. just christmas lights. And no occasional luck booting it up successfully either.

I installed a aladdin modchip in it and have long been suspecting the solderwork there, since sometimes it boots and sometimes not. But now i'm thinking it might be the PSU that is the root of the problems.

I looked at another thread  and did the voltage testing on the 12v plug pin by starting the PSU and not connecting it to the motherboard. All the wires showed correct voltage except two. The blue wire (or grey as it is on the plug pin) is supposed to be 3.3v but shows 0.04v and the yellow wire which is supposed to be 12v but is showing 5.89v. I'm posting a picture of the psu and you can see 1 capacitor that is very bulged, i've marked it with red arrow. Should i swap out these caps with new ones? are they responsible for the incorrect voltage on specifically those 2 pins? Also the big caps on the motherboard is not bulged but i understand they can very well be off also, even it doesn't show to the naked eye. So basically are the problems coming from the PSU or the motherboard, Would it be enough to just swap out the 3 caps on the psu, you think? What about the big black 400V 180uF one? that can be a culprit too? Btw, when i started up the PSU with no load i can hear a sound coming from the big black 400v capacitator. it's buzzingsound with short 10milliseconds stops in between like as if electrolytic fluid is boiling and hissing in there.  is that normal? With load it makes a lower clicking sound. it's prob just the hz from the powerline maybe.

 

Edited October 17, 2021 by hubbanubba

[hubbanubba]

additionaly with motherboard connected the power shows 3.31 on blue, 2.50v on white, 11,72v on yellow. and normal ranges on the rest. btw.

[hubbanubba]

It's working again after two resolder attempts.

Turns out it was the soldering afterall. i lifted the pad on D0, and have been trying alot to repair it in all sorts of ways. so what i'm left with in the end here is a wire thatmoves a little and slid over some of the other lead traces next to D0 while in the box or lost connection with that tiny solderingpoint that i have ripped the copper trace off of.

I have taped the modchip wire stuck to the motherboard now, and fluxed and laid the wire more straight while achieving a good connection to whatever is down in that tiny pcb hole. I had no idea it would move, oops. Maybe just delete this thread, admins, unless you think it's mr bean funny.

Here are some pictures from how it was before i redid it. BTW, I am not connected to the D0 point on the motherboard here, that thing is lifted and burnt. I tried repairing it and was successful i guess but the modchip wouldn't work as long as i was connected to it. Now i'm just connected to this bridge you see here, and that works. It's a bit weird? I thought it had to be connected to the d0. if you understand what i mean. it doesn't show the d0 hole so good in the pic since it's right under the crossing modchipwire.

 

[hubbanubba]

ah, actually it's still not working. Maybe i should just buy a new one?

[SS_Dave]

I am not going to sugar coat it that solder work is scary.

 

With the D0 wire not connected to the mod chip will the Xbox boot with the original animation?

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

[hubbanubba]

yes it does work if i were to pull of the modchip. I've played a long time without modchip installed after i made that circuit. i tried a old executer2.6 with a v1.6 bios i had from 2006 with stiff telephone coppercore wires, making those stick was how i ruined the d0 area originally hehe. I couldn't wait for the modchipmail. But that's another story.

However i found out what's ailing it. I think i've destroyed it with thermal paste. I opened up the cpu and gpu and the thermal paste had flowed nicely out over the entire gpu and cpu chip,even a little down on the mainboard too. Btw, to my defence it said "non conductive" on the label.

the xbox was flashing green/orange or red/orange, i don't remember quite but that faultcode means theres a trace lifted or the video output is damaged i think. It would also explain the 2-3 incidents with freezes the last day while idling in dash.

it permafroze up and i had to reboot. it was functioning impeccable the last 3 days with runstimes at about 15 minutes,  except the last day saturday when all these freezes happened, so on saturday i had it on for about 18 hours.just let it stand idling and turned the tv off over night, next day it's a frozen picture of the dash on the screen and a highpitch sound. next bootup was not successful... ever...since. hehe. It has no video output either and the gpu is cold. cpu still gets hot though. (as in normal operating temp.)

I read another thread here a guy had used a little too much thermal paste and it dropped down on his gpu, and he could barely see the text in the dashboard, however he saved it by a  cleanup job.

In my case it's a bit more extreme thermopaste spill and i don't think it's salvageable now, right? properflocked? Is there anything i can try to save this board? i was thinking about doing the "revive old graphics cards trick" which is to put the entire motherboard intothe oven at 70 degrees C or something for 4 hours. unsure about the temp though, it's a youtube video.

What do you think?

I'm also in the process of getting a new one at the used market btw.

[hubbanubba]

Hello, I have experimented a little more with my v1.0 box. And have made some progress. What I've done now is i took out the board and sprayed citrus cleaner on it, washed it under hot water then used my waterjet hydrofloss apparatus to spray under the cpu and gpu chip,

Some paste came out from under there, since the watercolor was pastecolored when it flowed out here and there. I reinstalled another modchip on it of same brand aladdin xt 2.

Now it's starting normally every time with green lamp, opens tray, and works a little with any disc. However i have no video output or splash screen. there is a signal or voltage or else the screen wouldn't stand and glow, but would revert back to pc signal. this was with wii2hdmi adapter. On the tv with composite the tv said no signal. You can see picture.

On the d0 points, the midpoint which goes into the MCPX is not reconnected, it's just "the bridge" still. I have not attempted to reestablish the do pointry as it's supposed to be since this was the setting that worked for me last time. Other then that i haven't done anything else. Additionally, i don't remember if the HDD has original dash or xbmc, i think i put xbmc on it before it went out last time with red green lamp.

Is there anything i can do to get video on it again, what is the problem here?

[hubbanubba]

oh my, i let it stand on for 4 minutes and suddenly the modchip started smoking immensely. hark hark, wtf.

[Bowlsnapper]

Reading this thread is like watching a soap opera; i keep getting thrown off by every new plot twist.

I would get a new xbox from ebay for 50 bucks. Your current console has gone through the equivalent of four rounds of chemo and radiation. At this point, it's impossible to say what issues it has.

[hubbanubba]

hahaha. yes. time to die gracefully. i have another one and that works like a tank. i'm very happy with it. i'm just experimenting with this one. idk, i think it has a curse onnit.