Original Xbox Loud Power Supply

Hi,

I recently dropped my old original Xbox while trying to get it out of a cupboard after many years of hibernation - I know these things are renowned for their sturdiness, but I was a bit worried when I turned it on and got a fairly loud buzzing coming from inside.

I opened the thing up and switched it on again and found that it's coming from the PSU. It's been so long since I played with it that I can't remember if it was always this loud, or if I have damaged something and it's in its death throes or something. It's not defeaning, by any standards, but it is quite audible - is this normal? I disconnected the system fan for a second to make sure the PSU is the guilty party.

I was thinking of buying another supply and swapping it to test the difference, but I thought I'd check if anyone knows if certain models of PSU are quieter than others (there seem to be many revisions of the hardware). Can anyone recommend a particularly good one? Or can someone recommend perhaps a replacement part for the coil on the PSU I have already (I assume that's the exact component that is buzzing - it's difficult to pin down exactly).

Thanks for any help, guys.

 

Swap another PSU in. One of mine was doing this just on it's own without it being dropped.

 

Could be the solder for the power socket.

 

I had an early debug kit that had hard drive screws shorting out the power supply. I'm guessing they went to Loctite after this. Unit was sealed and all 4 screws were bouncing around inside the case.

 

I sourced another Xbox locally and swapped the PSU in, the new one is much quieter

Assuming I would want to fix the old PSU, could you be more specific? Do you mean the point where the socket itself is soldered to the PSU board? Can that sometimes be a source of noise?

I've opened the console now and not found any loose bits.

 

Yes, the point the power socket is soldered to the board. The solder can crack and you get a power arcing/buzzing noise.

Might not be, but it was definitely an issue.

 

OK, interesting. I'll resolder the power connector and see if it makes a difference. Thanks!