Print

[hooshang]

QUOTE(rcpaynewv @ May 29 2005, 01:30 PM)

14 million xBoxes, all Dell laptops, all HP laptops and many other mis-designed low voltage power connections are at risk!

MS has issued a recall of the power cords for 14 Million xBox power cords.

The problem is not with the cord but with the power connector that is connected to the motherboard using solder! as the mechanical connection method.  Engineers should not use solder as a mechanical connection.  They have done so and this mistake is still going on.  Pushing the box against a wall a few times will positively demonstrate this problem.  While this may be excused as abuse, it will happen many many times.

With many connector uses, plug and unplug, it is just a matter of time before the solder joint cracks and adds resistance to the power circuit which creates heat which can easily result in intermittant failure or worse fire.

My grandson's xBox showed intermittant turn off as well as "fizzing", (like sparking) in the area of the power connection at the back of the box.  Without opening the xBox, I tested by adding alligator clips between the xbox and the power cord, not recommended for non-electonic knowledgeable people, nudging the various possible failure points produced predictable failure at the error point. The real failure was the female power connector, mounted on the motherboard of the xbox, not the power cord.

I discussed in detail the problem with a MS Tech, me guarenteeing that my problem was not with the cord but with the xbox female connection.  after haggling about who would pay what to get it fixed, I compromised for ~$55 to send the xbox back and they would fix.  MS sent me a new xBox, my grandsons are back in business and I have a $55 bad taste in my mouth.

This same thing happend to my HP Pavillion N5435 2 years ago.  HP offered a motherboard replacement for ~$450.  Not wanting them messing with my hard drive and not wanting another failure to occur, I engineered a wiring change which put flexible wires soldered to the mother board and clamped to the chassis, connecting to a compatible $7.50 Radio Shack female power connector waving in the breeze on the back of my laptop, with a velcro connection of the power cord to the chassis, providing a strain relief for the many times the power cord gets plugged/unpluged.  This has worked under heavy use for 2 years.

This fix puts a flexible buffer between the male/female power connection and the motherboard which should be a redesign feature of 14 million xBoxes, all Dell laptops, all HP laptops and any other mis-designed power connection that does not account for 100+ uses of the connection over the lifetime of the product.  Desktop systems do not have this problem because they have a very strong 110V connection with wire provided strain relief between the power plug and the rest of the chassis.

I am qualified and experienced to know that this is a serious problem that probably has gone unrecognized because of the short life span of many systems and by the "throw-away" mentality of our computer use.  It is not a MS problem only.  Look closely at your power connection.

Hope this helps

Bob Payne <[email protected]>

You, my friend deserve an applause for all your hardwork+research.

 

[vollrathdude]

QUOTE

Download and install Config Magic. It should show you all the information in the eeprom.
Altough the mfg date is a bit harder, pretty shure that it isn´t included in the eeprom info.

just a note- anybody trying to get theird manufacture date without the sticker, get config magic, get your serial number, then go to the determining xbox version by serial number page
then using your serial number match it up with the little chart explaining what the numbers are. Start with the 8th digit of your serial, that will be the year your xbox is manufactured. Then move on to the 9th and 10th digit. These 2 numbers will represent the # of the week of the year it was made. eg- 13 would be the first week of april. Now look at the 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th and 7th digit of your serial number. Using rough estimates of the 6 digit number you can be sure of the day (give or take a day on either side) If your number is in the first 1/7 of 999999 you can guess that it was made on a sunder or monday. If its in the second 1/7 of 999999 it may be a sunday monday or a tuesday. If you phone M$ and give them the date within 1 or 2 they wont really care.

[DarkSector14541]

regarding the first post the i heard the same sparkling sound but instead my xbox doesnt turn on.... did i fry my motherboard, or is it the power supply, or is it the cord, i need help badly*cries*

[DarkSector14541]

regarding the first post the i heard the same sparkling sound but instead my xbox doesnt turn on.... did i fry my motherboard, or is it the power supply, or is it the cord, i need help badly*cries*

[Allegro1]

If you read the link to Llamma's site, it is not the cord, it is the power receptacle on the power supply board.  It is making intermittant contact because solder is the only thing holding the receptacle to the PCB and after enough wear and tear, the solder breaks and it starts arcing.  I fixed one Power Supply board by cleaning the break and resoldering the joint with a strip of solder wick along the trace to beef up the connection.  That makes the power plug blade take all the stress which should make it last longer.  It is simply a lousy M$ design and newer PS boards use rivets to hold the receptacle to the PCB.  M$ should replace all power supply boards for free whether the box was opened up or not, but fat chance on that.

Your motherboard should be fine.

[RUDEBOY8686]

ordered my new cord today not like i need it my xbox is fraging red and gree restarts ,well any way i rang the number for the new cord and they didnt no any think about it but finnaly they look at there own site and said ok now they sending one now .

[vexus13]

hey i have an extra cord you can have its a 1.6 cord though tell me ur adress and you can have it

[CJLee89]

i called them and told them that the writing on the stickers wore off and i cant read them....they took my address and sent me a new cord with the GFCI on it.

[alexpb1]

I just got off the phone with them, took me literally 30+ mins to order the cord.

The woman could barely speak english, and she kept asking me things that had NOTHING to do with the cord or xbox at all!

When she took my info about where i am, she started telling me she was from ontario too, from toronto. She then started asking me about the weather here and then started telling me about the weather in Vancouver (im guessing thats where the xbox place is? oh ya FYI - it was 18 yesterday in Vancouver aapparently ) It didnt stop there. She then started asking "are their any good movies out?" im thinking what in the hell is this? You'd think it'd end there? No.
Next its "did you hear about the explosion in the tim hortons in ontario?" I say yeah, i think i read something about it in the paper. She then starts asking if i know if it was a terrorist?!

Im not one to be rude, so i just sit thru all of this, thinking maybe its supposed to take this long. All thru-out this convo though there was 2-3 mins of silence, but int he background i would hear somethign moving...like shelves.

Finally she told me id get my power cord in 3 days and gave me my confirm # and told me to phoneback right away if any problems.

WTF? lol

[Textbook]

QUOTE(alexpb1 @ Apr 7 2006, 09:57 AM)

I just got off the phone with them, took me literally 30+ mins to order the cord.

The woman could barely speak english, and she kept asking me things that had NOTHING to do with the cord or xbox at all!

When she took my info about where i am, she started telling me she was from ontario too, from toronto. She then started asking me about the weather here and then started telling me about the weather in Vancouver (im guessing thats where the xbox place is? oh ya FYI - it was 18 yesterday in Vancouver aapparently ) It didnt stop there. She then started asking "are their any good movies out?" im thinking what in the hell is this? You'd think it'd end there? No.
Next its "did you hear about the explosion in the tim hortons in ontario?" I say yeah, i think i read something about it in the paper. She then starts asking if i know if it was a terrorist?!

Im not one to be rude, so i just sit thru all of this, thinking maybe its supposed to take this long. All thru-out this convo though there was 2-3 mins of silence, but int he background i would hear somethign moving...like shelves.

Finally she told me id get my power cord in 3 days and gave me my confirm # and told me to phoneback right away if any problems.

WTF? lol

Wow, that is funny.  I probably would have started to get a little irritated, even if slightly amused.  That lady must have been bored out of her mind - I don't blame her for striking up a conversation.

Anyways, about these power cords.  My friend bought a bunch of broken Xboxes on ebay, some of them didn't come with power cords.  So, what I'm thinking is we'll just get power cords for all the Xboxes in my dorm hall and that way we'll have enough extra power cords, even if we don't need them.  Is there any way to order them from the site like it used to be, or do you have to call in like these other people did?

[CJLee89]

not for sure..but i think it is one per address....could be wrong?!?!?

[DaShogun]

I'm getting one for my xbox. Needed one as my secondary xbox has no power supply. Made an excuse that my power supply made sparky noises.

[afruff23]

It's just a power cord with a huge GFCI unit on it. If you still haven't gotten one, then order it from MS online. It was painless for me. No need to talk to outsourced dumbasses (I once got yelled at from the XBL support because I watned to cancel my XBL account a month before it ended   ). If for some reason you don't want to get it from MS(it's free), you can buy the cord with GFCI from some retails tores. I know bestbuy has it. It's around $6 I believe.

[Cowhunter]

would just like to add my experience to this post. i ordered the new cable back when it was offered last year for free and have been using it fine for over 6 months when all of a sudden it started triping.  It would trip even when the xbox was off, my first reaction to this was to turn off my LED mods that were running off the auxilary power but it still would trip

I came looking to the forums to see what was up and when i saw that repair the PSU link, i took apart my xbox only to find 2 perfect solder points still.  maybe my xbox has a different "electrical problem" as the cord says it identifies.  

the big thing i found was that the red button would pop if i just pluged the cable alone (with no xbox) into the wall and hit the test button.  makes me wonder if its just irregular voltage comming from my wall outlets and not an xbox problem at all. i am probably just going to go back to the old cable.

[jcdenton2003]

I thaught this was pointless, i just resoldered my psu. sorted!