Xbox Common Repairs, Capacitor Removal, Belts, & Controller Cable 

that BAR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE AD you absolute legend

The v1.6's clock capacitor is the gold nichicon by the IDE header. Those aren't known to leak like the powerstor aerogel caps used in earlier models.

I like that you connected the xbox to a PlayStation tv

13:35 well there's your problem. The drive belt appears to be in wild perpetual motion.

That Purple Xbox is swank Personally i have a soft sport for the Xbox. And have two of them, a standard black one and a crystal one. Both modded. As for that ejection hole it does work, on standard Xbox drives. I also never knew the Xbox is a dark dark green not black.

Heeeeey, you got a Playstation 3D Display! I'm currently using mine as my main PC monitor! :D

The clock capacitor is actually more useless than you made it out to seem. All it does is keep power when the console is disconnected from AC mains power. And I never did realize the plastic is actually is dark green. I thought it was but I just deduced I was crazy.

At least there’s not some sort of insect colony in it.......

I work at a retro game shop as a technician and have gotten my cap replace time down to 15 minutes. As for the belts, in my experience they're usually slipping on the wheels from dirt/dust. I take them out and give them a rinse with some dish soap. Works pretty well. The disc drives are by far the biggest pain because Microsoft used about 5 different brands that are all very different in terms of quality and parts. For instance many drives don't have the manual eject in the same place as the pin hole on the outside of the case, if they have them at all. I've also noticed that storing the systems stacked on top of each other can warp the plastic and ruin the drives. (Serviced 30+ OG Xboxes.)

A M$ XBox running on a Sony Playstation branded TV... dogs and cats, living together! MASS HYSTERIA!!!

One minute and I'm in like the early 2000s. Glad to see keeping your old project pieces keeping other devices alive. And wow, that green cable makes perfect sense, why did they use black for that?

Thank you for knowing and telling people that a standard Xbox shell is dark green, not black. I have argued with many people about this... Do you also agree that a US Super Nintendo is very light purple, not grey like the Super Famicom?

Hi great video as always! Another common failure on this lovely old machines are the traces underneath the motherboard for the power button. They usually get corroded by the leaking clock capacitor and you lose the power button functionality. An easy fix if you know what you are looking for just two bodge wires to bypass the broken traces.

thank god you didnt say NORDVPN

Almost sounds like you didn't wanna even work on the xboxes.

At least the on the Xbox controller you have a pcb to work on. The PS2 controllers have plastic paperthin printboards that melts within an inch of a hot soldering tip. In the end I never bothered repairing those as I now use wireless Logitechs.

At the time it was an amazing leap forward in console technology, and it's just a mid-range desktop from the period with power saving in mind.

As a particular fan of the original Xbox I greatly enjoyed this video. I've only got a single, superstock crystal one, but had to replace a bunch of caps on the thing recently... and learn soldering to do so. I actually super like some of the things done to that modded one, being able to see the disc spinning is nice~

Burnout 3, man that brings back memories. I have it on PS2. Played the hell out of it in the late 2000s.

I cooked my belt in hot water and it works fine now.

Do you have any disk drive error tips? I ordered a $15 laser replacement on eBay. Hoping that will do the trick. I tried cleaning the laser on mine but no luck.

Strange that you take the time to disassemble, but then you do not take the time to fully clean???

the bad time capacitor that has the capacity to give you a bad time

For the 'black' xbox, the power connector looked a bit askew when you closed it up. Also, I wonder if you could make an adapter for the PicoPSU for the OG Xbox.

It isn’t Microsoft’s fault the clock capacitor was leaky, most of the 2000s saw “capacitor plague”, and many electronics suffered from capacitors that would leak years down the line.

Anyone readingthis If you have 1.6 version dont NOT remove clock cap its not needed Its orange colored

the reason people didn't like the 1.6 revision was because they weren't hardmoddable. and softmodding was pretty hard at that point. I remember softmodding my 1.6 in 2010ish and had to quickly unplug and replug the IDE cable for the hard drive to an Athlon XP box to get it working properly with the softmodder. Said Xbox isn't powering anymore so I'm not even sure if it's a 1.6 or if I have a 1.5 and need to open it to inspect for cap juice. pretty sure my belt on the drive is good though, but once you get them all running you should consider modding them and dropping in IDE to SATA adapters and some SSDs since that is a much more viable option... and honestly, I'd love to see you try to compile xbmc4xbox for one of these since the source files are out there but it requires some drawn-out time to compile it. I got to the point in an XP VM where unpacking all the source files was too many nested folders for NTFS to handle, meaning it needs to be compiled on a Linux machine, most likely.

Personally I love taking apart the Xbox. I put all my rage into the Wii for using 20 different screws

Microsoft choose the same belts for the 360. Really common problem.

The reason Xbox is in my wish list, is the _Steel Battalion_ controller. Now that's a controller!

People don't like 1.6s because they aren't TSOP-flashable

Did he just call Black Green....

The pin hole in the front is exactly to open the drive manually by just sticking like a paper clip...

Fucking a right buddy! Og Xbox was the best one.

Power supply is not ATX, different pinout, +3.3V standby, +3.3V poweron signal etc.

I think 1.6 revision was the one that removed the extra ram option to flash debug kit firmware, which is why people may hate it

2:07 I have late 90's Sony cassette decks with belts that have turned to goo, and have replaced belts in 80's stuff that was only slightly stretched out.

If your drive is stuck, you can usually get it to open bu pushing the tray upwards and pressing eject. Worth knowing if you want to try to replace the belt without opening the drive. As stated though, it's worth opening the console to check the timing cap.

First time I played Doom 3 was on the OG xbox. It was more powerful than the pc I used at the time. Good times! :P

Words can't describe how awesome it is to see an Old School X-Box these days! 🌟💯🎮 Thnx @AkBKukU😎

I've had good luck renewing belts by putting them into a cup of hot water from a coffee machine with a drop of soap for ten minutes. It shrinks the belt a bit and becomes more pliable, as well as cleaning slightly for better grip. Obviously won't work on belts that have turned to dust or rotten goo, but if it's just loose it works pretty well.

Yeah, it was quite an enjoyable video...👍🏼💯✔

"stupid torx screws" is what I muttered the first time I worked on my SAAB lmao

My xbox just biffed it because of the time cap and has a belt problem, then this video pops up in my recommended, coincidence? i think not

Worth noting that adding a modhip allows for an NTP server to be used to keep the time up to date. Gotta pull mine apart and do a belt change when I can be bothered, Xecuter 3 means I don't have to load discs any more.

I have two Xbox units that for some reason have a noisier image compared to all my others. What could be the cause of this if I already replaced clock capacitor?

When it comes to the 1.6 & 1.6b revisions, the plus side is they have a more reliable clock-capacitor that doesn't leak as easily. But the downsides are you cannot run the system without it (again, applies to 1.6 & beyond), and the xcalibur video encoder is notorious for not working properly with 480p resolutions, even with the component cords! That's why many OG XBOX enthusiasts prefer revision 1.4 and/or earlier!

I have an xbox that won't fully boot unless you open the disc tray. Any idea what the problem might be with this one? Cheers :)

To be honest, I don't understand why you think these are a pain to get into. As opposed to what console? They are hands down the easiest to open of their generation, and don't even think about the 7th generation consoles. The first time I opened one I was marveling at how EASY it was, not how hard. And coincidentally, I'm currently at 8 Xboxes too, and 5 of them have bad belts, so yes, that's a very common issue.

All my Xboxs have bad clock caps, but mine (like my original one I got for Christmas years ago when I was younger), needed the traces repaired. It was a long and tedious process but I managed to fix it. Then to find out my Xbox's DVD laser is shot. Reads CD's fine, but not DVD's, just buzzes trying. Replaced the drive out of another Xbox, no buzz, but says that it cannot read the disc (the first drive issues no error). So......damn. Time to hunt down a working optical drive on eBay and hope I don't get screwed.

Attention, if you have an Xbox made AFTER 2003, DO Not remove the Capacitors, or else you will brick the console. The Faulty Capacitors ONLY affect SKUs manufactured from August 2001 to December 2003. Beginning with the February 2004 Model, the Capacitors were replaced with 1.6b Models which are non corrosive. You’re AOK if you own a 2004-2007 Xbox.

the dislike of the rev1.6 boards are specifically due to the nerfed LPC port used for modchips for some reason even with the native lack of ability to reach the LPC header port, the need to solder in a pin header, the torx screws, the natively ATA locked drives, the non-standard DVD drives, the lack of compatible software and hardware to hack them and so much more, microsoft actually thought it was a good idea to remove some traces to the LPC port, literally absolutely no reason to nerf the debug LPC port as the vast majority of users never even opened their xbox in the days when it wasn't abandoned, and the ones dedicated to piracy or hacking would figure out how to LPC rebuild the reason for rev1.6 hate is just the FU from microsoft for intentionally disabling a port most people never saw in the small chance it could be used to run games off the HDD instead of wearing out the disc laser later in the console life the best console to hardmod is actually rev1.5, it is new enough that it has minimal issues with the older GPU/CPU chips, but is just before the completely asinine LPC nerf of 1.6

Trying to replace 5 caps on my original 2001 Xbox but the solder just wont melt. Ended up pulling the caps with pliers cold then drilling out the holes. I got caps of same uf and v on ebay. Yageo is the brand. hope they are ok, they are a bit smaller than originals. Now im having trouble getting the solder to stick the legs to the board. Will have to try tinning the legs maybe. Have i killed my Xbox? I dont know what to do. If I buy another one it could have same issue. It powers on for just a second and more if i hold the button. 5 caps are bulging and leaking. its v1.6 btw.

SOMEONE PLS HELP ME WITH MY XBOX! I've opened it up and cleaned it more times then I can count and the time capacitor thing is gone. Some games it recognizes as a DVD so I cleaned the eye as best I could. It still does it sometimes but I just open it and close it again when my tray doesn't stick. The load times are ridiculous at points. I've been working on it for days and idk what to do for all of these problems, today was playing for about an hour and it froze and I lost everything. Any advice?

Does part 2 exist? Couldn't find it. I have 3 original xboxes rusting and gathering dust, all 3 don't work and I need to repair them for the past 5 years lol.

I was given as a semi-gag gift an original XBox with a weird problem. The DVD drive won't open. Now, when I use the paperclip method, it does open and even open and close, but it doesn't read disks Aaaand, here's the fun bit, it doesn't open and close after being powered on and off again. I've powered it on, and it works near as I can tell otherwise, hooks up to my TV just fine and the controller works great, just that drive problem.

After cleaning the disk drive up my xbox still won't read disc's. I've tried all of my games, to no avail. Even bought a game that is known to be working from a retro shop and it still doesn't. Is it possible that the clock capacitor caused this?

I bought my og off a guy for 50 bucks it worked for about 30-45 mins straight randomly shut off and won’t turn back on any advice?

This is a very late comment, but I'm not really seeing anyone pointing out the reason people don't like the 1.6 revision. It's because it's either super super hard or impossible to TSOP flash/hard mod. \

I have 2 Xboxes have black and got hold of crystal Xbox about 3 weeks ago I am glad I don't need to Capacitor Removal I have version 1.6 on both

Yo I got a question for you bro. So my original Xbox powers on immediately after being plugged in and the fan start roaring and is completely unresponsive and will not power off unless unplugged. Any idea on what could possibly be causing that issue, I kinda want to get it into working condition again.

Therefore, the so called consoles are just low end pc or now higher end competitive. However, still just PCs. We haven't had a console since Switch.

Hi Buddy, I just tried turning an old xbox on and it is not working. It won't turn on. I am wondering if you can help me fix it. Anyway let me know. I have a lot of games on it and I would like to play.

Why are you hating in their Design you dont know how hard it is to Design an Console and all i heard from you where minor Issues. I dont hate your Vids like ThEIr BaD YoUR DUmB.

I took mine apart a while back noticed 4 completely ruined traces on the back of the board and after I read a guide kinda pushed it under my desk and forgot about it. Maybe I'll give it a go now that this popped up and reminded me.

My console stopped turning on. I found out the time capacitor blew. Took it out and cleaned it up. Waiting on a new power supply in hopes for it to be resurrected. Hopefully.

So... the clock capacitor is not needed? If not then ill remove it from mine. Also, do you know where you can get a dvd drive for the xbox? Mine is unfortunately one of the bad ones

Ah Microsoft. When all you know is PCs, even a game console looks like a Pentium III desktop in a fancy case. I'm more than a little annoyed at the plethora of @$&hole design decisions, like burying screws under stickers that you have to ruin irreparably to service anything (even on the controllers!); hard disks locked by a unique key stored on each motherboard; and how you can't replace the 360 HDD with an OTS model AT ALL. You know, because security. Never heard of encryption, guys?

I miss my og xbox I had such good times on it and it was my first console to play halo 2 online.

The Xbox does have a manual eject there is a small hole that you can shove a paperclip into that is very easy to miss if you don't already know about it.

If an Xbox disc drive sometimes doesn’t open, but sometimes does, would that be a belt problem or something else?

My xbox has a weird problem I just can't find a tutorial for. When you press the power button it tries to boot up but after a second it shuts off, then a couple seconds later does the same thing but lasts on for two seconds, then after yet another reboot attempt it goes from green to flashing orange and yellow and does absolutely nothing except for spinning up the hard drive. I have it disassembled now and I just can't see anything obviously wrong with it, what could the problem ever be for it to behave in such a strange way?

I know old video but id really appreciate help. So many contradictions online. I have 1.6 xbox and people say i still need to remove all caps and replace them anyway. God I hope not i cant solder at all. Ruined many pokemon games trying.

I was always & will always be a PS2 person. Good to see more old consoles bought back up to fully operational condition.

I turned my xbox on without a game in it, and a few minutes later it started making this sound like something was jammed and then I got the rrod... Anyone know what likely needs fixed on it?

I love that purple xbox! It looks (personally) better than a green/halo spec ed !

An hdd conversion/upgrade would have been nice. The og hdd is 20 years old.

I have a clear plastic xbox which will not power up, what shopuld I look at to repaire, where would I start?

I once fixed the dvd drive rubber belt by ejecting the drive, and rubbing it with a q-tip dipped in an alcohol cleaning agent. Then manually pulling the drive in and out a few times, clean again and then done. Worked like a charm.

so you dont need the clock Capacitor is it on just this one or on most of them i have 2005 x box never done anything to it and works good just wondering if i should check mine out see how bad it is i have 2 other xbox too but have to take them apart see what year they are got them off ebay

Damn opened my xbox up and there is a bunch of white stuff leaking out of alot of parts

Ordered new belts and caps. My xbox is the GPU fan edition. 2002.

the halo xbox is worth $425 fixed up. i wouldn't cut corners

Such a short attention span for Halo that you never looked in the menu to adjust the look speed.

You must take out the board, there could be corrosion on the underside.

The pinhole to open the drive will work but you need to have the power on senor Akbkuku

Look like flight to Moon and back ...player..krispi831

At this rate, skillshare is going to own all of fucking youtube before long

the fact that an xbox is connected to a PSTV is the reason you got a new sub

People dont like ver 1.6 because its less mod friendly

The 1.6 had a Hitachi drive, those are pretty rare

Throw the whole thing in a dishwasher. Comes out good as new.

i think i need to look at my xbox and check to see if it's killing itself

Please oh please clean out those xboxs, I nearly lost it

You're tripping man. That plastic is not green!

I run a 360 repair and modding business, bad drive belts are a VERY common thing I see. Don't understand, I also have DVD drives from the 90s that works just fine.

Excellent video, thank you!

Man that controller is full of gamer seasoning xD

i love the old xboxes easy to work on thans for your video

IIRC, 1.6 revision boards cannot be homebrewed and that's why people don't like them. But, I may be wrong, as I was never in to the OG Xbox homebrew scene. EDIT: Responses say they can be softmodded, but not flashed. So I was partially right and partially wrong