06.17.09
Broken XBox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows
My XBox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows died. No more green light, no more being recognized by the OS when I plugged it in. Weirdly enough, the first one I got was like this on purchase so I exchanged it for this one which worked fine… up until now.
Luckily, I found this fix which worked brilliantly. Amazing the fuse blows so easily, and so irrevocably and yet nothing else on the USB chain had any issues at all. Bad Microsoft hardware I guess…
Opening the receiver (use a knife or something to lever the top off):
Unscrew and turn the circuit board over then solder across F1:
Notes from the comments:
- You can test whether this will work by connecting something like a paperclip across the fuse without desoldering it, then plugging it into your PC.
- Apparently you can use foil paper and electrical tape to connect across the fuse. Personally I’d recommend soldering, but if you don’t have a soldering iron it’s worth a try.
Nick Said:
June 28, 2009 at 4:08 am
Dude, you just saved me 20 bucks. Thank you so much. The trick worked just fine.
Shant D Said:
July 7, 2009 at 3:03 am
Wow, talk about Johnny on the spot. Particularly useful considering they no longer sell these things…at least not in my area. Frye’s, Target, Gamestop, Walmart, & Bets Buy all no longer carry it.
It took me nearly 2 hours to get it right, so I’ll just leave this message in case anybody else had the same issues. For starters, do yourself a favor and do not use rosin core sotter. It was all I had unfortunately, almost impossible to make a suitable connection without it dissolving away. For nearly an hour and a half, the best connections I made yielded no results. I was beginning to believe there was another problem, maybe the whole thing was fried, etc…What finally worked was getting a pair of adjustable plyers, clamping down on a perfectly sized piece of sotter right over the terminals, and then melting it. Make sure the sotter is flattened over the terminals as much as possible. If it sits too high, when you go to put it back together, it could get knocked off. Happened to me once, very frustrating. Seems to be working like new now, but I wonder how long it will last.
Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to post this. People like you are why I go online. Good luck to everyone else!
Shant
Craig M Said:
July 7, 2009 at 10:22 am
Just another note: Worked great for me, the soldering was pretty difficult, I did use Rosin core solder, I initially tried using tiny wires but in the end just a solder bridge worked for me. Messed with it alot till it looked right, plugged it in, perfection. The cosmetic look of my job is horrible, it’s charred, messy, and looks horrible. Practically? Works perfectly.
Thanks for the fix.
MRLoser Said:
July 11, 2009 at 2:21 pm
It worked like a charm for me. Removed the fuse with the soldering iron first and then bridge the gap with a little blob of solder. Workds great now. Thanks for this info!!!!
crmay1 Said:
July 25, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Worked great. Thanks for the tip!
Aleksander Said:
July 26, 2009 at 9:05 am
Thanks man. My reciever just died on me too, after just 3 days usage
I’ll try do what you did. Btw, does anyone know if this might cause it to melt in the future or short circuit?
jw Said:
July 26, 2009 at 9:15 am
Well, theoretically the fuse is there to protect the receiver from surges on the USB bus (I’d guess) and to protect the USB bus from short circuits in the receiver. However, a working receiver with less protection seems better to me than a broken one.
The real increased risk is damage to the PC’s USB port if something goes badly wrong, so perhaps plugging it through a hub is a good idea after this modification?
Mike Said:
August 17, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Holy Sh*t,
You saved my life… (btw i just got to college, and don’t have soder in my room, i used a piece of foil and electrical tape, then i used a wad of tape behind the board to create pressure on the foil to stay in contact. works like a charm.)
jeff smith Said:
August 30, 2009 at 4:47 am
SWEET i just did this on my new 1 i got off e bay it worked gate sept i pules the ols fuse off with the sodder gun lol but i just bridged it with sodder lol thanks live saver
Roydon Said:
August 31, 2009 at 3:30 am
How long does this last? Can anyone verify ? and why does the fuse blow in the first place?
Can some one verify if their ‘fixed’ recievers still work?
jw Said:
August 31, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Mine’s still going fine for the 2 months since I posted.
No clue why it blows - it does concern me a little, but I figure that having an irreplaceable fuse is a really, really stupid hardware design in any case. Had it been replaceable then this would all be simple.
Roydon Said:
September 1, 2009 at 12:51 am
Imagine, I just removed out of the packing and it never worked right from the start. Im hoping its the same issue. Before I go head with this I just want ot confirm a few things.
1) Should i remove the fuse and just put a blob of solder to connect the two (i gues it would be easier this way ) OR
2) Solder across (Not really sure how you do this. What if i just put a blob of solder on the fuse and spread it a little so it touches both the leads , will that work?)
jw Said:
September 1, 2009 at 7:25 am
If it didn’t work from the start, you really should think about returning/exchanging it rather than opening it up. Should that really not be an option then the easiest thing to do is just remove the fuse and connect the pads with a blob of solder.
However, to test if this really will fix the problem you can just get a small wire and hold it across the fuse while plugging it into the USB. That way you’re not soldering something up if it won’t fix it.
Roydon Said:
September 4, 2009 at 12:17 am
IT WORKED !!! Its easier to just remove the fuse and then add a blob of solder. WooHoo! Just hoping it lasts for a long time (*fingers crossed*)
anil Said:
September 6, 2009 at 3:53 am
Hi,
i think i have same problem. I connect it to my computer its not detected and no light glows. I did open the box. I never did any shouldering and I dont have any shouldering equipment as well:-(. Is there any easy way I can do it at home itself rather bringing it to hardware shop to do it. Any replies appreciated. waiting for reply. Thank you in advance
jw Said:
September 6, 2009 at 2:05 pm
To fix it you’ll eventually need solder. You can test it by connecting the sides of the fuse with a paperclip (or something else metal) while you plug it in and see if that works.
anil Said:
September 6, 2009 at 9:48 pm
thank you very much today i went out and did the soldering and it works perfectly now. I dont know how long this fix will be, But tell you what hats off to someone who found the solution and one who posted here. Really u saves so much money and time for all these people a big thank you for you. I think there are many people with this problem who wouldnot have made to this post I think microsoft should post this issue in their support as so many people are witnessing the same problem. Thank you very much once again for the help
phil Said:
September 7, 2009 at 3:12 am
hey, this saved me some money, i almost ordered a new one. Didn’t have any solder, so i used foil paper and electrical tape like someone posted above and it worked, thanks a million for this.
Ben Said:
September 7, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Just spent the evening unpacking a pallet of customer returns. Found 25 of these in there, all wouldn’t power on. Was about to bin them and then found this! Just finished fixing the last one and all 25 had the exact same fault!
Thanks!
Mr X Said:
September 12, 2009 at 1:56 am
Worked great. I used a 2mm piece of metal from a resistor to bridge.
Thanks from England UK!
Bruce Said:
September 13, 2009 at 9:34 am
It worked for me. My old Radio Shack soldering iron would barely get hot enough to melt the solder, but I finally got it to work. So far so good. Thanks for this excellent info.
Jeff Said:
October 7, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Thanks for the tip! I was pretty mad When I realized my receiver stopped working and searched the net for answers and I’m glad I came across your page! I did what you said and Not so far my receiver is working. The soldering was a bit tricky being that its so small of a space for a noob solder’er. I managed to get a very small piece of wire and lay it across the two points and solder it there and cut off the extra wire. Trying to get a blob of solder to lay across to bridge it was just to difficult without burning the board up.
Matt Said:
October 8, 2009 at 10:59 am
Thank you very much for this! I had to go the tinfoil/electrical tape route but it works like a charm.
Chuck Said:
November 10, 2009 at 9:59 am
Not the best soldering job. A big ball of solder over the fuse, but works perfectly!
Thank you!
Bosh Said:
November 19, 2009 at 10:04 pm
I love you so much for this man!
YOU ARE THE CHAMP
To everyone experiencing shitty reciever problems, THIS IS MOST LIKELY YOUR ANSWER YOUVE BEEN PRAYING FOR
I have never soldered before, but after four or five goes of placing a giant blob of sodder inbetween where the fuse is ment to go i got it. DONT GIVE UP HOPE KEEP TRYING
Thanks man!
RaresH Said:
December 1, 2009 at 11:23 am
Thanks man, worked perfectly, soldered across fuse, hope it lasts
Altoid Said:
December 2, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Funny how everyone who’s had this thing has had the same problem. I took a piece of foil, bridged the two points, taped it up, and it works fine. I’ve had this thing for over a year and it’s sat in my closet because I thought the problem was bad drivers. Today I installed Windows 7 so I figured I’d give it another shot. Didn’t work, so I googled and found this page.
Hopefully there won’t be any ill effects of bypassing the fuse. I don’t plan on leaving this thing connected while unattended, that’s for sure.
microsucks Said:
December 5, 2009 at 10:52 am
hope this works! thank you very much kind sir! i was running amok inside our house asking who broke the damn thing! i had this receiver for less than a month! and i only use it on weekends. shouldve bought the wired. damn microsoft
Jim Said:
December 10, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Just had the same problem and found this little mod on here and this fixed my problem.
People having difficulty getting the solder to stick to the fuse to bridge.the connection. You must always heat the fuse as well. Solder will not stick to cold metal it will just fall off.
I may do a bit more research and see if there is an alternative to just bypassing the fuse. Maybe a fuse with more amps would work better. Adding a resistor which is what I think MS should have done so it lessened the flow of voltage to the fuse thus less likely to blow. Way to fail MS at making something work.
Also my receiver did last about 2 months which I think is pretty good for this controller.
anyways thanks for this post. It helped a lot and I imagine will help many more people to come.
James Said:
December 11, 2009 at 8:07 am
Great work bud! This is my 2nd controller. This one lasted 11 months, the 1st lasted 2 months. I’m going back to the shop today to see if i can still get the warrenty replacement but if they give me grief, i’ll do this fix.
Thanks heaps
Jason Said:
December 29, 2009 at 8:37 am
Nice work bud. Worked like a charm for me as well.
Ironic how the gaming community can fix all kinds of electronics, but M$ can’t even design a wireless receiver that works for more than 6 months without breaking.
Nasa Said:
December 31, 2009 at 6:13 am
NICE WORK PEOPLE
dont leave it on 24/7 (ie unattended) as there was a fuse there for a reason….
have fun gaming
Ryan Said:
March 9, 2010 at 7:54 am
Thanks, worked great! Saved me some cash cause I heard you can’t buy the receiver on its own anymore.