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Attention Original Xbox owners - Remove the Time Capacitor before it's too late!

dofry

That's "Dr." dofry to you.
"Xbox timed exlusive leaked! Capacitor photos and videos inside"

MS cannot keep anything a secret these days
 
6a01348660b2b3970c014e865b26ee970d-pi

Someone needs to shop a real MS execs face into this one.
 

HF2014

Member
Ok. QUESTION!:

- Is the first Xbox the only console you need to watch out for that??? Does this concern any other gaming system???
 

Manp

Member
thank you OP... sure enough the capacitor was leaking.


nice and tidy :)

EDIT: lol i just installed a bigger HDD... can't believe i did it now after never taking the time back in the days
KuGsj.gif
 

Kolgar

Member
Thanks for the heads up.

I performed this surgery on my Xbox (manufactured in 2002) today and, though I am all thumbs without a mechanically minded bone in my body, I managed to remove the capacitor and get her all back together with minimal fuss.

No leak, by the way. Capacitor looked fine. Though my Xbox is lightly used and has spent the past several years stored in a Tupperware box in the cool, dry basement.

Anyway--peace of mind.

Now to finally play and finish Silent Hill 2!
 

Christof

Neo Member
I checked my Xbox and found that the capacitor was leaking. I simply wiggled it off and cleaned it up with distilled water. What added a tiny bit more difficulty for me was that I wanted to confirm the model type first but the back sticker with the serial info had somehow been rubbed blank. I opened the console up and used the steps on http://www.xbox-scene.com/versions_1.php to determine I had a 1.4 model. Also as the capacitor layout is different than the earlier models shown in the video, I used http://dannygalaga.com/xbox.html as an additional reference to make sure I removed the right one.

This was really easy and the experience has lead me to start researching how to properly repair my old 360

PS: first post
 

goldenpp72

Member
Any tips on cleaning out the inside of a console (dust wise) ? I just did this procedure on mine (not much leaking, should be good) but figured I should clean it while i'm in there as it's filthy.
 

MMaRsu

Banned
Holy shit I just bumped into this topic via google search, I know it's old but I might as well bump it for any other folks like me who just discovered this and have a few Xboxes in their home.

I have two myself, will open them up tomorrow and tear out these time capacitors.

Thanks for the tip!
 
I recently stumbled upon this thread/issue. Is there any reports of Xbox's manufactured after 04/2004 (1.6) having leaking capacitors? I'm doing some searching around and it seems the only capacitors going bad are Xbox's made before this date.

I don't know if versions Xbox 1.6 onwards are truly ticking time bombs or have improved capacitors.
 

Az987

all good things
I removed mine today after stumbling upon the thread a week or so ago.

Pretty easy to do. Now I should buy a DVD drive that actually fits in my console, this after market samsung one I have in it with half the case not screwed shut is ugly.

I should just buy a new Xbox actually.
 
When I added a new HD to mine a few years back, I accidentally snipped the fan cable. I have since put it away because I was too lazy at the time to fix it. Now this thread is having me consider just chucking the damn thing out. At one time it was a nice all-in-one emulator machine for me but a lot of that appeal has worn off.

I still want it to play Shenmue 2 and a few other exclusive games to be honest... and I definitely don't want to get a new one and have to track down a mod and install that all over again. Oi vay!
 

daTRUballin

Member
What is this old thread doing back up? I remember I warned my friend about this a year ago when this thread was first made. :p

Edit: I wasn't even registered on GAF back then yet. :p
 
The moral of the story is, if you want to keep your Xbox in working order, you better remove or replace the time capacitor as those particular ones tend to blow up!

Hopefully someone will find this info useful.
This thread may have saved some lives, actual lives. Kudos, OP.
 
My Xbox has never maintained time while unplugged, not since I bought it. And I don't mean unplugged for hours or days. During a minute or two of being unplugged to move it into another room, it will reset the time and date. It's a launch model. I guess mine was pre-detonated?

I'm a bit confused as well, from what I understand, the capacitor is supposed to keep the time going even when the Xbox is unplugged right? But as with the dude that I quoted, my Xbox from day 1 has always resetted the time after being unplugged...

So what the hell does that mean? Our Xboxes doesn't have a capacitor or something?

Edit: Tooked it out of storage and fired it up, everything seemed to be in working order as far as I can tell
 
D

Deleted member 126221

Unconfirmed Member
Thanks for the bump. I completely forgot to remove mine. Good thing this thread reminded me to do so; it had already started leaking. Thankfully, I removed it and cleaned everything up without problem, and the console is still working perfectly.

I imagine working Xboxes will be super-rare and valuable one day if all consoles are affected by this problem!
 
Thanks for the heads up! I've just removed the capacitor from my PAL 1.2/1.3 Xbox, the process was simple once I worked out what version I had and that I was removing the correct thingymajig. There seemed to be some mild leakage, so I got rid of that and most of the dust.

Haven't tried the system again yet though, I pulled it out of a drawer and put it back afterwards. Need to hook it up to a telly soon just to check though.
 

EBE

Member
finally got around to checking my xbox (despite posting on page two that i would, and that was several months ago) and sure enough my xbox is version 1.6.
gold capacitor, no leakage.

i'll probably still have to fix this sooner or later.
my question is if anyone with v1.6 has experienced leakage
 

hiryu64

Member
I've pretty much deduced that I have a version 1.4 (Focus video chip, 1.5 is rare enough that I can assume it's probably not that), and I'm wondering if I have the right capacitor.
The circled one, C7G2/C7G3, is what I believe is the time capacitor, but I'm not 100% certain. Also, it looks like nothing's leaked yet, but I do see a slight bit of corrosion here. Anyone here able to confirm that I have the right one before I rip this bad boy out?
 

Leynos

Member
I've pretty much deduced that I have a version 1.4 (Focus video chip, 1.5 is rare enough that I can assume it's probably not that), and I'm wondering if I have the right capacitor.

The circled one, C7G2/C7G3, is what I believe is the time capacitor, but I'm not 100% certain. Also, it looks like nothing's leaked yet, but I do see a slight bit of corrosion here. Anyone here able to confirm that I have the right one before I rip this bad boy out?

I have the same model motherboard, and that circled capacitor is indeed the correct one. Go ahead, and yank that sucker right out. I pulled mine out today, and everything is kosher. No leaking yet, but I was glad to nip that problem in the bud. And since it was open, I went ahead, and cleaned the inside, and replaced the thermal paste on the CPU, and GPU. I don't know what the hell kind of thermal goop Microsoft used on the GPU, but it was like very sticky gum, and a pain-in-the-ass to remove.

How difficult would it be to replace this with a battery? Is it even possible?

1728369924_yes_it_is_answer_1_xlarge.jpeg


I've read that it possible, but the hard part is finding a place to put it where it won't make contact with anything on the motherboard, and cause a short. I didn't even bother, and will live with the very slight hassle of having to set the time every time that the Xbox is unplugged.
 

sono

Member
Good post op, thank you.

(Time capacitor sounds awesome; I thought you were making a sci-fi comparison at first!.)
 

catabarez

Member
I've read that it possible, but the hard part is finding a place to put it where it won't make contact with anything on the motherboard, and cause a short. I didn't even bother, and will live with the very slight hassle of having to set the time every time that the Xbox is unplugged.

What kind of battery would I use? I would probably just end up gluing it somewhere on the case.
 

Leynos

Member
Don't quote me, but a CR2032 might do you. The capacitor is 2.5 volts, and the CR2032 carries about 3 volts but that comes down a bit as it is used. Again, this is just off the top of my head with no real research behind it.
 

catabarez

Member
Don't quote me, but a CR2032 might do you. The capacitor is 2.5 volts, and the CR2032 carries about 3 volts but that comes down a bit as it is used. Again, this is just off the top of my head with no real research behind it.

Just a regular non-rechargeable one?
 

komarkaze

Member
I followed the instructions tonight and successfully removed the clock capacitator. Unfortunately I have a cluster of capacitators on the other side of the motherboard that have leaked all over each other. My Xbox will run for an hour at most before it automatically shuts itself off.
 
It looks like I've got a 1.6, so here's hoping I'm in the clear. I didn't want to dig the thing out, but I lucked out by finding out that Panzer Dragoon Orta had some very specific output issues on 1.6 models that I thoroughly remember having.
 

Leynos

Member
Just a regular non-rechargeable one?

Don't quote me, but a CR2032 might do you. The capacitor is 2.5 volts, and the CR2032 carries about 3 volts but that comes down a bit as it is used. Again, this is just off the top of my head with no real research behind it.

Yeah, you would probably want a rechargeable battery in there.

I JUST got an Xbox from my Uncle who no longer wanted it. It was manufactured on April 2nd, 2005. Am I affected?

Yours is probably a 1.6 motherboard meaning that you must have the capacitor. You cannot simply remove it, and expect it to run like the earlier models. Good news is that your capacitor is likely of a higher quality, and should last a good while.

Check this website to help verify what revision you have.
 

ScHlAuChi

Member
Thanks OP, YOU RUINED MY XBO.... ....wait a sec, it still works!

That was easier than expected - mine wasnt leaking, but it already had some white stuff at the bottom of the capacitor, so I guess it would have happend eventually - thanks for bringing this to our attention!
 

chrislowe

Member
A battery like CR2032 is pretty common for making realtimeclocks tick.
It will probably last 10 years.

But why dont you guys just replace the supercapacitor instead and put in a new one of better brand (if its not a Rubicon/Nippon/Panasonic etc)
 
I've got one of the last consoles they produced (July 2005) and it's definitely a 1.6 - no capacitor leak last time I looked at the motherboard. I wonder if having a softmod (auto sets the clock) would let me remove it though.
 
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