Fixing My Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows
I have been using two Xbox 360 controllers going through an Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver from Microsoft for several years without issue. Today, I unplugged it to plug it into my girlfriend's laptop, and it would not turn on (Windows didn't even detect that anything was plugged in).
A quick search helped me to discover that the F1 Fuse on the circuit board is prone to failure, and the symptoms matched perfectly. It had been ages since I fired up a soldering iron, but I decided to give it a go.
First, I pried apart the halves of the receiver. If you can get something really thin, you can simply shove it between the two halves and gently pry them apart. I had to be a bit forceful with mine, and it no longer looks new, but I don't really mind. I unplugged the single plug connecting the USB wire to the circuit board, and unscrewed the board from the plastic shell to access the bottom of it.
On the upper right-hand corner, there is a very small fuse labeled F1. Yes, it's practically the smallest thing attached to the board. The fix involved simply bypassing the fuse altogether by applying a small amount of solder to connect the two posts on both sides of the fuse. This will make a connection between the posts, and should allow power to flow normally.
Since I can be a bit ham-fisted, and the work area where the fuse is located is tiny, I was somewhat worried I had damaged the board or something else around it, but I put everything back together and alas, it worked like a charm.
I just avoided having to purchase a replacement Microsoft component--today was a good day!
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- Best Xbox 360 Mod Ever: Turn Your Xbox 360 Into a Toaster (crenk.com)
Asus WL-500g Premium Power Supply Issue
I got up this morning to find the Power and WiFi lights were off on my Asus WL-500g Premium router. It had worked fine for an extended Battlefield: Bad Company 2 session before I went to bed only 5 or 6 hours prior.
I tried resetting it to no avail. When it turned back on it was switching between having all LAN and WAN lights on (no power/wifi) and having the Power/WiFi lights on (no LAN/WAN), every second or so.
So I reset it again and put it into Recovery mode. I manually set the IP on my computer and used a TFTP client to re-upload my firmware image and reflash the device. To my happy surprise, it was working again. Problem solved.
Or not. I logged into the web interface to change my settings, which went great. I enabled Wireless, chose to Apply settings, and my router almost immediately reset and went back to the flashing lights again, just like before.
I tried this several times with the same result every time. Trying to avoid going insane, I ended up leaving for work and doing some investigation. It turns out I am experiencing the exact same symptoms as a lot of other people whose Asus power supplies have gone bad.
The problem is that a round-topped capacitor in the power supply is prone to electrolytic leakage. It essentially "blows its top" and its contents leak out into the unit. When there is not enough left in the capacitor, the PSU is not able to provide stable power.
The reason the problem only occurred after I enabled WiFi is that the router requires about 0.75 amps to boot up, but 1.1 amps is used when WiFi is powered on. It seems my PSU has enough juice to boot up, but as soon as it tries to enable the WiFi, there is simply not enough power and it gets stuck.
I am very hopeful (and 99% sure at this point) that it is the same issue I have as well. I'm going to stop by Radio Shack on the way home and get a replacement capacitor (hopefully 1200uF / 10v or close). I will report back my results afterward. If all goes well, I'll be making that post from my home computer through my working router!
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