Dec. 13th, 2019

punktiger: (Teasel-tude)
Earlier this year at a Flea @ MIT, I found an original Xbox with all the cables, two controllers, and the box for the princely sum of $10. I took a quick glance at it and it seemed like it was in decent shape, so I bought it.

When I got it home, I gave it a good lookover. It was very clean, and all of the labels were intact. While I was at the flea, I picked up a copy of Halo (it only seemed right to go with the console). It booted right into the game and ran well. Well! Success!

I then went out to do a little research in case there was anything I should look out for on this nearly 20-year-old console. I was immediately clued-in on the "TIME CAPACITOR OF DEATH!!" Since the OG Xbox doesn't have the usual button cell to keep the time when the system is unplugged, it relies on a special capacitor that keeps the clock active for about three hours. UNFORTUNATELY, this component was made during the Capacitor Plague era, meaning it's liable to leak out electrolyte onto the motherboard over time, and destroy nearby components and traces if left unchecked. Much like the leaking Varta batteries destroying motherboards that the Amiga community is dealing with. I checked if my Xbox is one that has that particular problem capacitor, and it does.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago. After viewing one more video on the OG Xbox saying "OMG! GET RID OF THAT CAPACITOR BEFORE IT KILLS YOUR SYSTEM! GET OFF YOUR KEISTER AND DO IT NOOOOOW!!", I decided to just go ahead and do it.

It made me sad to partially cut some holes in two of the otherwise unmolested labels to access a couple of screws, but it needed to be done. I cracked open the console and was totally surprised at how clean it was. I mean REALLY clean. No dust in the rear vent fan, no dust in the chip cooling heat sink, not even a trace of dust. It looked PRISTINE. Made my way to the motherboard and looked for the offending capacitor labeled "POWERSTOR AEROGEL" and... it was totally clean. No electrolyte, no bulging, no rot or debris, the capacitor looked just as clean as the rest of the board. I removed it and looked beneath it... nothing. Everything looked brand new. That console must have had absurdly low hours of play on it.

I put everything back together and tested it out. It all worked without a hitch. Granted, I have to reset the time every time it's unplugged, but small price to pay to know I don't have that potential issue anymore.

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